garn or other options

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dodgetech

dodgetech

Member
Apr 15, 2009
16
central iowa grundy center
hi guys, i have been looking into the garn units and wow, so much more efficient than my central boiler 6048 heating my 2500sqft house and 2 car garage. Is this something that would work good with my existing 1' thermopex and forced air heat exchanger,maybe just have to fire 2 burns a day to keep it upper range. the 6048 is heating well down to 150 range and i have it set to 165 on and 175 off. i have tried to contact dectra but nobody's ever there i guess. The reason i would like to get out of the cb6048 is the smoke, i am in town and was a poor choice on my part, the cb brochures made this sound like the more efficient units, but more like 35%.
i would like to make a better choice this time with the garn, any smoke reduction would make me feel better and it sounds like these are in the 15k range plus building.
i would like to see a burn in a garn in person, i have seen them on youtube. it sounds like everybody that has these units really loves them,i see why. Am i on the right track?
 
CB sux. . .but then, I'm biased. Just ask the CB salesmen ;-)

Garn was on my short list when I was deciding. I have heard that they are difficult to get a response from. But, and more importantly once you've been running a while, the people who use them day in and day out seem very happy with their Garns.

While awaiting an intelligent response to your concerns, I'd suggest searching the Boiler Room for GARN. I believe you'll find it enlightening.

Rock on!
 
dodgetech said:
hi guys, i have been looking into the garn units and wow, so much more efficient than my central boiler 6048 heating my 2500sqft house and 2 car garage. Is this something that would work good with my existing 1' thermopex and forced air heat exchanger,maybe just have to fire 2 burns a day to keep it upper range. the 6048 is heating well down to 150 range and i have it set to 165 on and 175 off. i have tried to contact dectra but nobody's ever there i guess. The reason i would like to get out of the cb is the smoke, i am in town and was a poor choice on my part, the cb brochures made this sound like the more efficient units, but more like 35%.
i would like to make a better choice this time with the garn, any smoke reduction would make me feel better and it sounds like these are in the 15k range plus building.
i would like to see a burn in a garn in person, i have seen them on youtube. it sounds like everybody that has these units really loves them,i see why. Am i on the right track?
Click to expand...

My house is also located in town and your reason's listed above are the same concerns I had when I sold my 6048. I ended up going with a EKO and 2000 gallons of storage as I got a real good deal on both and it was allot cheaper than going with a Garn. If I had to do it all again and the prices were within a couple thousand dollars of each other I would go with the Garn. 3 years into my EKO and I extremely happy with the performance of my system, but you just can't beat the simplicity of the Garn system. Any of the major gasifiers brands will be better than the 6048 in my opinion. Keep reading and try and find someone around you running one, its worth a road trip to see the difference.
 
I always wonder why the OWB manufacturers do not publish their rates output, even with caveats. It would be handy for somebody who knows to do a comparison chart.

If there is enough flow going through your system at the moment, then changing to another suitably sized Boiler should make no difference.

Most gasifiers use a combination of burn rate and storage, the bigger the burn rate the less often you have to re load. The storage takes care of the bit in-between.

Issues with the Garn:

They are big
They need to be in a building
They are not the ultimate in efficiency, however probably twice as good as what you have if not a bit more.

I was talking to a guy who has an OWB, not sure if he would go that route gain but it works and is paid for and it would take along time before the wood savings paid back.

Seems like your major issue is emissions, so I guess it is down to that versus cost.
 
does anybody know of any garns in iowa,when i talked to dectra they havent benn down to this area. he did say that martin would do a burn for me at the test lab,but that is in st.paul which is a little too far,i do have some clue here i've seared throughout some posts and the youtube videos, but nothing like seeing it in person.
i would appreciate any advice or other things to check out, thanks
 
well i jumped in and bought a garn 1500 from a guy in ohio,never been fired, but needs a new exhaust section(got ripped out) the manual states duratech pipe only,but i have like 25 feet of selkirk supervent that looks exactly the same, i have to twist a section on and see if it will.
manual also states not to use clorinated water, am i going to have to get well water from somewhere else? or is city water have a low concentration.
still running the 6048 owb for the rest of the winter and have been running temps lower to see what my refire for the garn will be,seems to be at 150 the fan runs way too long.
i have a 140k btu air coil now,so if i do get a larger coil 180 or 200 i thinking i can go lower with my temps right? with the increase of garns here and they all love to run them i will love to get rid of that smokin 6048. thanks guys
 
You will be glad you got the garn if smoke is an issue.It will smoke on start up but 10-15 min. into the burn it goes clear.Do your research here and do it right and do it once you be glad.It's 0* out here and my house is as warm as I want and I fired it 12 hours ago.you may want to look into the new controller it's great and lets you understand whats going on digitaly.
Also no guess work on how long to set timer.You can up grade any time.
 
I am going to add more radiant to replace coil use in the living room. It seems a shame to operate the Garn in the 160-200* range just to feed the coil. At 160* supply my water is 150* coming out of the HX to the coil.
 
what is the price range on a garn..just approximate...they are big!

barkeater
 
barkeatr said:
what is the price range on a garn..just approximate...they are big!

barkeater
Click to expand...

This is a quote from a dealer 2008.
 

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dodgetech said:
well i jumped in and bought a garn 1500 from a guy in ohio,never been fired, but needs a new exhaust section(got ripped out) the manual states duratech pipe only,but i have like 25 feet of selkirk supervent that looks exactly the same, i have to twist a section on and see if it will.
manual also states not to use clorinated water, am i going to have to get well water from somewhere else? or is city water have a low concentration.
still running the 6048 owb for the rest of the winter and have been running temps lower to see what my refire for the garn will be,seems to be at 150 the fan runs way too long.
i have a 140k btu air coil now,so if i do get a larger coil 180 or 200 i thinking i can go lower with my temps right? with the increase of garns here and they all love to run them i will love to get rid of that smokin 6048. thanks guys
Click to expand...
Used OWB's still sell like hotcakes, just wait till it turns cold again so you get a decent price for it. I'm sure you will like the Garn, they are fine boilers, Randy
 
yes, this one was on ebay,you must have been the other guy from iowa trying to buy it, i got it for 9500 so i didn't think that was too bad, the air collar was spray painted silver and looked spotty,he thought thats why people were a little leary of it.
should have plenty to do this spring. At least now i have a couple contacts for solid information,i really hope i will be happy with this unit after all the work to get it from ohio and installed,can't wait for next winter to try it out.
somewhere i heard there was a garn southwest of des moines but know of no others, when i get it hooked up feel free to contact me if you havent got your own by then.
chet(dodgetech)
 
And while you are waiting to start installing your new boiler, start getting your wood supply in.
Cut and split according to manufacturers recommended size, not OWB standards.
Stack it and get it drying as soon as possible.

Id' say get the wood done before you even start on plumbing.
 
dodgetech said:
yes, this one was on ebay,you must have been the other guy from iowa trying to buy it, i got it for 9500 so i didn't think that was too bad, the air collar was spray painted silver and looked spotty,he thought thats why people were a little leary of it.
should have plenty to do this spring. At least now i have a couple contacts for solid information,i really hope i will be happy with this unit after all the work to get it from ohio and installed,can't wait for next winter to try it out.
somewhere i heard there was a garn southwest of des moines but know of no others, when i get it hooked up feel free to contact me if you havent got your own by then.
chet(dodgetech)
Click to expand...

Congrats of your purchase! Too bad it wasn't closer. Road tripping to Eastern Ohio in the middle of the winter with an open trailer was hard to sign up for! I assume you picked it up? The quotes I got on shipping were pretty pricey.
 
Sounds like he came down on his price and you got a great deal. I would have bought it for that price if it was avalible when I started planning my install. Best of luck with your install.
 
woodsmaster said:
Sounds like he came down on his price and you got a great deal. I would have bought it for that price if it was avalible when I started planning my install. Best of luck with your install.
Click to expand...

He told me he turned down offers higher than he ended up taking. I just didn't happen across it until late December, which was kinda late.
 
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