Gassification sizing

If I were to load up my stove 3 times a day. Doing the math, I would go through one full cord every 12 days.
My firebox holds about 5 cu. ft.

besjoux said:

We now have a formal quote for a gassifier. We are looking at an Empyre. Any comments on this manufacturer?

Also, we are trying to correctly size. They recommended the smaller gassifier. Empyre Elite 100
http://www.profab.org/products/profabproducts/elite/index.html

They mentioned that in colder weather we may have to fill 3x's during the day. I was just wondering of your experiences (or maybe more info is needed). What gassifier do you have and how does it work for you?

We have a 2000 sq foot home, 2x6 insulated exterior walls, and live in Michigan.

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Go here for a heat loss calc:

http://www.builditsolar.com/References/Calculators/HeatLoss/HeatLoss.htm

It's not ironclad but it will give you an idea. Once you have a number you can plug it in here and play with boiler and storage sizes:

http://hillsideenergy.com/thermal_storage.htm

I did a hypothetical calc on my home post renovation (1300SF, R-30 walls, R-60 attic, single story, so-so vinyl windows and insulated doors, reasonably well sealed) and came up with a heat loss of 85,000 btu/hr at design temperature (coldest temperature you'll see during the year) which is only single digits here. Wind is not much of a factor given the local topography either. Once I got that I plugged it into the boiler sizing calc and estimated that with a 200K btu boiler and 1000 gallons of storage I'd be burning twice a day only on the coldest days-during the rest of the winter (20s and 30s) I could stretch it quite a bit more-and that's not even accounting for the fact that we have a ton of southern exposure and that I plan on adding solar collectors to the system as well. Happy number crunching!

chuck172 said:

If I were to load up my stove 3 times a day. Doing the math, I would go through one full cord every 12 days.
My firebox holds about 5 cu. ft.

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Chuck I sent you a PM, as a fellow NJ resident I'm wondering how cranky code inspectors get about pressurized systems. My local guy is pretty mellow, but I have a feeling that a pressurized storage project might be an issue given the rampant nanny-state-ism in these parts.

Hi besjoux

I'm not up on Empyre, but it looks similar to my Tarm solo 40 which heats my 2700 sq ft log home with 18 foot cathedral ceilings. I don't think that it should have any problem keeping up with your heat demand. What is the net output of your present system? From looking at the specs, I did notice that it is not a pressurized system, therefor you will need a heat exchanger to hook it into your existing baseboard/radiant heating system. Heat exchanges are not 100% efficient. Also unpressurized systems don't have the longevity that sealed systems have. Rust needs oxygen.

Forced air is going to be independent of your pressurized/unpressurized system, as you could use either. You will just have a hot water coil in your air handling unit, and those can be set up to work with either type of system. The water temps will need to be relatively high to get the heat out of the hot water coil, but depending on how that is sized, that will impact things as well.

I have storage, but I usually fill it twice a day, right before I go to bed and then before I go to work in the morning. The morning load is usually not a full load, depending on how cold it is, I fill it with my best guess for the day and then let the file go out. On those few days that it is really cold I will put wood in when I get home from work while there are still coles.