ANY Garn Problems over the years? Or other gassifiers for that matter?

[bpirger]

Well, I'm really considering the plunge of the Garn. I looked at one last week..wasn't disappointed...just don't like the total cost.

But, I have the feeling these things are somewhat bulletproof, and from what I hear, they seem to keep on burning...year after year. I can only assume the smaller units wouldn't be quite as long term robust...but maybe that's wrong as well. Any long term EKO, Biomass, etc. burners here?

So, has anyone had ANY Garn problems at all? I know of the occasional fan replacement, timer, anodes, refractory, etc.

Has anyone here been buring a Garn for over 10 years? 15? 20?

Has anyone heard of Garn failures?

The dealer did tell me he has seen one with a leak right at install...the owner had a leak into the firebox...which Martin quickly took care of.

I'm still not settled on the decision, all due to cost.......

Thanks!
Bruce

 

[Como]

If you are not going to maintain it, yes.

But it will take a long time.

 

[jebatty]

I'm not aware of any failure problems, but keep in mind that all wood boilers, whether of the Garn type or gasification type, have applications in which they perform best and applications where they may not perform as well as others. The integral storage of the Garn has pluses and minuses, as does added storage to the gasification boilers. There also are other pluses and minuses with each boiler type. IMO you should carefully identify your optimum heat demand needs and then select a wood boiler which will do best to meet those needs. Several threads on this forum provide substantial information which will aid in this decision.

Regardless of the boiler type, it is important to maintain appropriate boiler water conditioning to prevent corrosion and other water-born sources of problems.

 

[bpirger]

Yes, it is a given that the chemistry, cleaning, etc. will be well maintained.

 

[Como]

Then the chances are that it will survive longer than you will.

The only failures I have seen were down to no maintenance.

 

[heaterman]

I just looked at Garn #WHI0004, installed in 1982 or 83 from what the owner could remember. It finally rusted through this spring and after cleaning several inches of junk from the bottom to look at the tank it appears this is the end for the old girl. Too much damage to repair and the HX tubes as well as the firebox exterior were pitted pretty good also.

The interesting thing about it is that the owner told me they had never checked or added ANY water treatment to it in the 27+ years that they ran it.

I have to say that I have seen very few instances that a Garn would not be the best solution for. The only one where it doesn't really make sense is an installation where BTU storage would not be advantageous and they are few and far between if designed and sized correctly.

I have never encountered anyone who after owning one, says they would not do it again. To me that says a lot and I can't say the same about downdraft gasifiers. You won't find anything that is easier to operate.

 

[bpirger]

27 years without any treatment in an open system? Wow. So the pitting was all on the "inside"? Presumably with water monitoring, which is FREE for life supposedly, and a little bit in chemicals, seeems like it would last a good long time.

In all the woodstoves I have ever burned, I know there is all sorts of metal deformation in time. I'm sure that front little "shield" panel in the garn will warp....that doesn't count. And I assume given the immersion in water the steel never gets hot enough to deform like in a stove. For example, there's never a problem sliding a new refractory into its chamber? I had a hearthstone stove where the metal "heat shield" over the top of the firebox burned right out, grates always burn out, etc. Seems like the nozzles on a downdrafter might have this problem in time. I know when I asked my local EconoBurn dealer about how to replace the refractory in the econoburn, he never did get back to me. It is clearly a poured cement thing, but weather it is poured in place or can be inserted and replaced easily....I don't know. I do like those advantages of the Garn. The Greenwood Aspen (or Pro-Fab Pro series) has a similar kind of deal....all the steel/refractory that forms the nozzles. Firebricks are easy to replace obviously, but once all that supporting steel structure gets warped....seems like it would become a hassle.