Having used a standard Kerr wood boiler for 32 years, my observations on using a gasification boiler:
- Much easier to get heat and hot water - no putting in wood every half hour, getting cold overnight, no smoke from the firebox. Because of the induced draft fan, having the firebox door open for loading is not a problem. You can see the flame being sucked into the ceramic tunnel.
- Less wood usage, by this time last year I would have been further into the woodshed
- No hot water pumped into the cellar zone on overheating - goes to the water storage
- This time of year one heating per day does the job, I'm guessing that January/February will take 2 heatings. In the September warm spell we went 5 days with one firing. This bodes well for next summer.
- My wife and daughter have run the system and like it - they were reluctant to tend the Kerr because of smoke.
- The oil furnace backup has not been needed at all so far
- Cleaned it per the instructions a couple of days ago. The 12 tubes were not difficult to clean. The only pain was checking the 10 metal aprons in the firebox. Manual recommends monthly cleaning of the aprons, but there was no creosote or buildup of ashes behind, no vent blockage. They are heavy and not easy to move, so I won't do that again for a while.
- Even though we have baseboard heating, there has been no problem with house heating
- It seems to be difficult to get the water tank temperature above the 170s, but that has been OK.
Gasification has been what I hoped it would be - so far.
- Much easier to get heat and hot water - no putting in wood every half hour, getting cold overnight, no smoke from the firebox. Because of the induced draft fan, having the firebox door open for loading is not a problem. You can see the flame being sucked into the ceramic tunnel.
- Less wood usage, by this time last year I would have been further into the woodshed
- No hot water pumped into the cellar zone on overheating - goes to the water storage
- This time of year one heating per day does the job, I'm guessing that January/February will take 2 heatings. In the September warm spell we went 5 days with one firing. This bodes well for next summer.
- My wife and daughter have run the system and like it - they were reluctant to tend the Kerr because of smoke.
- The oil furnace backup has not been needed at all so far
- Cleaned it per the instructions a couple of days ago. The 12 tubes were not difficult to clean. The only pain was checking the 10 metal aprons in the firebox. Manual recommends monthly cleaning of the aprons, but there was no creosote or buildup of ashes behind, no vent blockage. They are heavy and not easy to move, so I won't do that again for a while.
- Even though we have baseboard heating, there has been no problem with house heating
- It seems to be difficult to get the water tank temperature above the 170s, but that has been OK.
Gasification has been what I hoped it would be - so far.