Gasifier in SW Missouri

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dkw45

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Oct 6, 2010
13
SW MO
Does anyone know of any dealers in the Southwest Missouri area that carry indoor gasifiers? My wife is ready to get the wood stove out of the house. She's pushing for an OWB. For numerous reasons, I'd rather not do that. I think she would be fine with a gasifier since I can put it and the thermal storage in the detached garage. I've noticed a couple of members on here, in my area, that have them. I can't find anyplace even remotely close to me that sells them. I don't need installation. I can handle that part.

For a little background; We've burned soley with a freestanding wood stove for a couple of decades. Right now, we're heating approximately 1800 square feet of 1900 farmhouse. I remodeled and it does have decent insulation and windows. I typically use between 2.5 and 3.5 cords of wood per season. I don't have any problem staying 3 years ahead on my wood supply. I worry that I can't keep up with an OWB. Even if I could keep up, I don't relish the thought of burning substatially more wood for the same results.

On the other hand, I don't use much wood compared to alot of others I read about on here. Maybe an OWB with well seasoned wood and remote thermal storage wouldn't be so bad. Neighbors aren't an issue and my wood lot is sizable enough that I could double my consumption and still have plenty of wood just from the dead and downed trees.

I appreciate any and all feedback
 
You don't need a local dealer to buy a boiler, but you might want to find/use one if you need installation and/or after-the-sale support. But to simply buy a boiler, any outfit that advertises on this website will be happy to ship one to you. You may need a way to unload it, such as a nearby business with a forklift or a tractor with a decent front-end loader.

You will burn more wood with a boiler than with a wood stove, but you'll burn a lot less with a gassifer than you will with an OWB. Five to six cords per season in your area sounds about right to me. I burn between 8 and 10, but I have a bigger house (1865 farm house) in a much colder climate.
 
Agree with Eric regarding distributors. I drove to West Virginia to pick up an EKO and left with a BioMass. We're south of Nashville near the AL line. At that time New Horizons was selling EKO, BioMass, Attack and I think another brand. I did our BioMass install and maintenance. The local guys had only seen Hardy's (lots of those around). We had our pellet boiler shipped to us which worked well also. Even if the wood is free, you time is worth something and as I got older my time became even more valuable. The extra cost of a gasser amortized over it's life is negligible compared to processing time for 30-50% more wood processed. My 2 cents. Lots of good gassers to pick from and satisfied users here. Welcome
 
Agreed - if you are doing it yourself & pretty handy, you don't really need a nearby dealer. My dealer is 1500kms away & in another country, everything worked out great. I think I even had my boiler before he got his money. Seems the good equipment doesn't have that many dealers, so going for something available close over something better further away might not be a good thing.

One comment about storage with an OWB. The advantage to having storage is that you can burn wide open until the fuel is gone, then use the heat from storage as needed. That would also usually mean batch burning - or periods of time where there is no fire going. So, it might also not be a good idea to have an OWB sitting outdoors for periods of time with no fire in it. It would take a lot of wood just to keep bringing it back up to temp again, and what heat was in it when the fire goes out would be lost to the outdoors - and something might freeze up in between, all depending.

If you're only burning around 3 cords per year right now - there is a small gasifier made by a company with a very good & long standing name that might suit you just fine on sale right now at a very good price. It pops up here in a banner ad once in a while, but you could also likely find it by googling 'Tarm Bonus'. It's likely a limited time thing.
 
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@maple1 has good advise. I was gonna suggest the Tarm Bonus too.
Is there any way you could keep the boiler in the house if it was in the basement? You lose a ton of heat radiating off the boiler into the house if it goes in a detached garage (unless you wanna heat the detached garage anyways) Also, make sure your local codes and ins company are OK with a wood burner in the garage, many aren't
 
Thanks for the input guys,

I saw the special on the Tarm Bonus the other day. I tried to reach them by phone with no luck. I filled out their online contact form; no response. Today I checked their website and not only is the special no longer showing, but the product link for it is a dead link. I'm not sure what that's about. I'll keep trying them.

The detached garage installation won't be an issue. No code issues to worry about and my insurance doesn't consider it any different than my barns or machine shed. It's just an outbuilding to them. Since it doubles as an occasional workshop, the extra warmth out there would be welcome.

Our basement is too small. It's the original cellar to the house that has very low headroom and a rudimentary floor and walls. The outside entrance wouldn't be ideal for daily use, either. Plus, we actually use it for root cellaring.

Unloading wouldn't be a problem if I had one shipped. Getting anything bigger than a 10 wheeler down my county road might be. That's an issue that should be easy to solve, though.

I'll keep researching. I've pretty much got my head set on a gasifier set up in the garage. I'd like to keep the cost of the unit itself @ $5000 or below. From what I've seen, that should be feasible. I don't foresee installation materials or storage costing me any more than $3000-$4000. That would keep me in the same ballpark that the wife was expecting to spend in an OWB. After 25 years I've learned that the house feels ALOT colder when she's not happy.

If anyone had good or bad experiences from an online supplier, I'd be grateful to hear about them.

Thanks
 
dkw45 said:
Thanks for the input guys,

I saw the special on the Tarm Bonus the other day. I tried to reach them by phone with no luck. I filled out their online contact form; no response. Today I checked their website and not only is the special no longer showing, but the product link for it is a dead link. I'm not sure what that's about. I'll keep trying them.

The detached garage installation won't be an issue. No code issues to worry about and my insurance doesn't consider it any different than my barns or machine shed. It's just an outbuilding to them. Since it doubles as an occasional workshop, the extra warmth out there would be welcome.

Our basement is too small. It's the original cellar to the house that has very low headroom and a rudimentary floor and walls. The outside entrance wouldn't be ideal for daily use, either. Plus, we actually use it for root cellaring.

Unloading wouldn't be a problem if I had one shipped. Getting anything bigger than a 10 wheeler down my county road might be. That's an issue that should be easy to solve, though.

I'll keep researching. I've pretty much got my head set on a gasifier set up in the garage. I'd like to keep the cost of the unit itself @ $5000 or below. From what I've seen, that should be feasible. I don't foresee installation materials or storage costing me any more than $3000-$4000. That would keep me in the same ballpark that the wife was expecting to spend in an OWB. After 25 years I've learned that the house feels ALOT colder when she's not happy.

If anyone had good or bad experiences from an online supplier, I'd be grateful to hear about them.

Thanks
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I have an Effecta and cannot say enough good things about the product and the company. Sadly the previous US Distributor passed away unexpectedly. I was actually in the middle of swapping from the 35kw to the 60kw, I was getting full credit for the 35kw because it was undersized for my needs and ended up working directly with the company in Sweden. They were awesome and one of the owners even stopped by my house on one of his trips to the US and dropped of some extra things I wanted. One of the Effecta's big features is the boiler/computer controlled mixing valve. This mixes water from the storage tank with the return water and selects a target temp based on a heat curve tied to the outdoor reset. Guessing that things aren't quite so cold where you are which would allow you to run really low temp water. This low temp requirement will allow you to be very stingy with your storage. To give you an idea, when it was upper 30's or so at night and 40's during the day I was getting 48 - 72 hours out of the burn plus my tanks. I have 1000 gallons and am heating approximately 5,000 sqft to 72 Degrees - I think my flow temp for outbound supply was 100 - 110F. I know they just set up a Distributor for Pellets in Boston and I believe AHONA in NY is handling the woodboilers. I'm sure others are equally happy with theirs. Good luck and I'm happy to answer any questions.
 
I live in the western part of Virginia and ordered my Tarm Solo Innova from Tarm Biomasss up in New Hampshire. They provide excellent support over the phone, even years after the original purchase. I spoke with them two days ago so they're in. Did you use the 1-800-782-9927 number to reach them? Chris Hoskin there sold me mine. You might try his extension through their staff directory when you call.

Mike
 
I am in southwest mo bought e 100 wood gun have been using for 5 years to heat about 2,700 sq feet had it delivered to a dock in town. it's not a fancy as a lot of the other brands. Just wish i had found this site before i started using i would have save myself a lot of frustration. and phone calls. mine sets about a 100 feet from house on the side of my shop building.i use about 5 cord a year. Compared to my Dad's hardy he use about 10 per year little bigger house though.
 
Don't be tempted to go OWF. Many of my neighbors have them and they generate as much smoke as heat energy.

I'm in SW Missouri, a former dealer for Atmos, EKO and PK Pyro. It is a tough go trying to sell against the steel drum OWF, including some of the local built brands. Hardy seems to be the most common around here I don't know of any local or nearby gasification dealers.

Econoburn is another brand to consider, built in the US, good support.

I have parts and pieces around still for your install, just east of Springfield.
 
Mike, I'm not sure which number I called. I called from work, so I can't check right now. I'll try to get ahold of Chris when I call back. Thanks.

Pblormis, thanks for the info. It's reassuring to hear from others in this area that are using gasifiers.

Bob, I had sent you a pm shortly before you replied to this thread. Thanks
 
dkw45 said:
Mike, I'm not sure which number I called. I called from work, so I can't check right now. I'll try to get ahold of Chris when I call back. Thanks.

Pblormis, thanks for the info. It's reassuring to hear from others in this area that are using gasifiers.

Bob, I had sent you a pm shortly before you replied to this thread. Thanks
Click to expand...
dkw45, where are you located? I might have something of for you to look at. pm me if your interested.
 
My Boiler and Storage Tanks were in the garage, I've since moved them both into the house. Made a significant reduction tot he amount of wood I use, and how warm that part of the house (near the boiler) is. If they are going to be remote from the house I would significant over-spec the insulation - both flow/return pipes (mine were all covered in a thick layer of Cooltherm and still lost enough heat to be annoying ...) and the insulation of the boiler room area itself. We don't get many winter days below 0C here, and nights below -5C are very rare, so this would be more of an issue in a colder region I expect.
 
If your boiler is not in your house Please what ever you do put some good underground line in or you will be sorry like they say it not the place to go cheap. First hand experience i had water pouring through 4 inch s/w pipe to crawlspace my run is about 125 feet 30 inch deep, it's a bad day when standing kitchen and you hear water run in under your house. I found it after digging holes every ten feet and a shop vac. It took 4 1/2 years for this to show up. I was loosing so much heat to the ground from shop to house . I have leaks stop for now but will have to dig up this spring and replace. Ran a small blower to dry lines. you have a good start here at hearth to learn from others just wish i had found hearth.com before i installed my boiler.
 
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