Empyre Pro 200 Gasser

I finally finished the replacment of my central boiler with a Profab Empyre Pro 200 Outdoor Furnace on Sunday. After some small test runs for leaks and triple checking connections, i loaded the small ( as compared to a small Central Boiler) firebox about 3/4 full last night. I expected it to be empty this morning but it was still half full! Its mild now but it still was 22 degreee F last night. Its much steadier in maintaining consistant temperature also, where my old Central Boiler Classci was up and down up and down..

While some might see the engineering as low tech because profab uses firebrick and fans that can be purchased off the shelf, I think that is a great thing because I can repair it myself if a fan goes bad or a firebrick gets broken. The whole secondary burn chamber is made from conventional firebrick with a few special cuts here and there. I tell ya, when you open the small secondary burn chamber door its like a blow torch blowing out.

I put temperature gauges on the supply and return and it turns out my line losses are pretty low, when there is no demand from the house the two gauges are two or three degrees apart and I still have six feet of soon to be insulated bare pex exposed to the elements. I know this is prolly not the best accuracy wise as the return tempature gauge housing is probably picking up heat from the boiler itself but the supply side guage is getting the same thing.

any how, at this point, i highly recommend the Empyre Pro Series gassers..

Barkeater

yes it seems that Econoburn is very established. I ended up going with the empyre first due to the 2-3,000 lower cost and I needed a non pressurisesd system. I believe the Econoburn is pressuriezed. Tech support is excellant at Profab. Good luck going woody biomass in Kalkaska, join the revolution against oil barrons!

its probably better to compare the Empyre pro 200 to the Econoburn Outdoor furnace. I paid 8900 for my Pro 200, and the shop down the road is selling the Econoburn for 10900. Im guessing that the Econoburn might come out a head when comparing specs but is it worth, or can you afford, at least 1500 more. I will point out some weaknesses of the Empyre, you do have to send a water sample every year to maintain the Warrenty. It does smoke quite a bit while loading. They say there is a smoke curtain and a special short circut vent, but I havent figured out how to make it work yet. Im not sure how the Econoburn stacks up in this department, but I do know that absoultey everyone has told me that thier empyres and thier central boilers dont smoke in thier face ( I had a Central Boiler before the Empyre) but I never had such luck. They always put a lot of smoke in your face. Dont get me wrong, I like my Empyre and the downsides (if the econoburn doesnt ahve the same downsides) are not bad enough to outwiegh the cost difference, to me. Empyres are made in Canada, and from what I have seen as far as anything with energy or building science, the Canadien products are very well designed.

Also, i had a non pressurized system on my central boiler, ran it for seven years with no problems, and wanted to stay with a Non pressuriezed boiler. I just did not want to add the 300 bucks or more for a pressure tank and water injection thingy...nor did i want to do the work. Sure some folks will say it cost less than that but I know everytime i go to the plumbing store for a couple parts i drop serious bucks. You do get long burns out of small amounts of wood with the Empyre. Im burning close to two thirds less wood compared to by CB OWB, dead on truth. I expect the Econoburn can do the same.

I do like the fan mounted on the back of the Empyre vs the front of the Econoburn.

Empyre Pros access to pipe cleaning is easy, this is very important to me as my first year wood supply is on the border as far as moisture content. I need to get those flues/turbulators often to make sure they remain creasote free.
I asked the econoburn tech support about storage and they said it was not needed the way the Empyre was designed, meaning the way it will take a full load and distribute the heat over a healthy amount of time. Im sure everyone will say this is idle time and should be avoided but... I will say i put six or seven 4-6 diameter logs x 24" long in my burner at nine pm and it heated my whole house, supplied hot water for several showers, and its still burning strong at almost seven AM this morning. With this load amount My old CB would have been out of fuel at 2AM!

RadicalWRr asked if the Empyre has ceramic fire brick. I dont think they are. They seem to be regular firebrick except for the firebick around the openings into the secondary burn chamber, visually and according to the manufacturer, they are a more dense brick.

sURE THING i AM NOT FAR from Malone. I will PM you.

HOAGIE,

i have a empyre 200 question. WHere i knocked out the knock outs for the water and electrical..you know the place in the unit. Should i reinsulated that hole or is that where it gets air for the fan? I assume i can block it up since the back panel of the door is insulated and it must draw cold air in from another place.

thanks, barkeater