Econoburn outdoor boiler

I hope to see one in person in May, but what I like that I can see so far is:

1. It is based on their indoor design, so it likely uses ceramic refractory for the the gasification area.
2. That is preheats the combustion air to compensate for being outdoors. This will reduce shock to boiler.

With their reputation for rugged build I think this will be a good product. It is way easier for a proven gasification design to be adapted for outdoor use than for an OWB to be redisigned into a gasifier. I would suggest this unit over any of the ones made by OWB manuf. Just my $0.02!

Saw an Econoburn detached structure unit at the farm show in Syracuse this morning.

If I understood him correctly, Mr. Furman reported that the pressure vessel is identical to the corresponding non-detached-structure model.

The structure itself appears to be sensible and well done, with good access, controls, and quality insulation. He wasn't able to quote a UA value, but then again neither could any of the OWB representatives. The doors looked to me like they might throw a fair amount of heat, but again, without any hard heat loss performance measurements, who's to say.

Personally I would much prefer if it masqueraded more as a simple garden shed with wider eaves since I've never liked the OWB gambrel roof look, but at least it was smaller than most OWB units and could be tucked away nicely behind a privacy fence next to a wood shed.

For draft control the Econoburn unit is using an off-the-shelf PID temperature controller with 4-20mA interface to a Nimbus variable speed fan motor control.

All-in-all Econoburn seemed very much on-the-ball with a hockey-stick-graph product on market.

There was a big-name OWB booth there with what appeared to be arguably a gasification unit, but I failed to write down the company name in my notes. They made a big point in reporting that, according to them, non-gasification OWB units could not be sold after September 2011, in New York presumably. The unit had an interesting system of solenoid-lifted flap-valves for controlling primary and secondary combustion air using combinations of large and small ports to achieve various combinations of air flow. It had a nice fail-safe look to it but still a bit of a Whole Earth Catalog kind of kludge nonetheless.

AHONA was there featuring an Orlan PAXO, which appears to be a very robust and efficient unit with turbulators and variable speed draft control using one of the popular P.W.Key controllers. Having arrived first thing in the morning before there were many visitors I was able to converse with Mr. Schoellig a bit and came away convinced their strategy is simply to supply the best value with the most suitable solution for any given customer.

The Outdoor Econoburns have the same water volume as the same size indoor Econoburn's. The boiler and pressure vessels are the same, take the blue outer shell off, add high temperature spray foam insulation, pre-plumb it, add the pre heating air induction system, add the weather proof outer shell and you have the Outdoor Econoburn! Specs are available at http://www.altheating.com/outdooreconoburn.htm