Anybody Have a BioMass Combo, or Know Any Details About It?

[velvetfoot]

(broken link removed to http://www.newhorizonstore.com/Products/142-biomass-combo-boiler.aspx)

I wonder if you have to use their Euro. oil burner - I'm thinking parts availablility.
I don't recall reading about any seamless transition from one to the other.
Plus, how does one feed in "biomass" like pellets? I'm thinking a shovel.

What's nice is that it seems to have separate combustion chambers for oil and biomass.

 

[mikefrommaine]

I have the biomass, but not the combo. Never tried to burn anything other than wood since it did so well with the junk pine I get for free. Though a shovel wood be the way to feed it as it doesn't have any other special auger, etc. available.

I believe that the wood and oil would still share the same heat exchanger tubes. So the oil would be inefficient unless the tubes were clean. Not a hard job and my tubes were pretty clean when I checked halfway through last winter but still not ideal for oil.

 

[velvetfoot]

I think there is a separate chamber on the bottom for the oil burner.

What is the attraction, then? Couldn't you burn the junk pine in one of the EKO models?

 

[mikefrommaine]

You could. But after looking at both the Biomass line seemed more refined than the EKO's. For me it came down to a choice between the two. Don't remember all the reasons but the door seals (comes standard with sillicone seals) and refractory seemed higher quality and better designed. The lower refractory is in several pieces so easy to replace if needed. Though showing no wear after 8 cord. The nozzle should last 5+ years the way it currently looks.

The loading chamber door is not at the very top of the chamber so less chance of smoke spilling out from the top. I think there is 6-8 above the door to prevent the smoke from rolling out. Similar to the idea of the smoke flap on the wood gun.

There is a hinged access door to primary and secondary air controls so it is easy to make adjustments. I believe the EKO has a panel with multiple screws that some had a hard time getting a tight seal on -- might be wrong about that.

Being 'approved' by the manufacturer for other types of biomass was a bonus. Figured that if something went wrong with burning something other than wood the insurance company would have one less thing to argue. It's also UL listed. I didn't need that by code, but it doesn't hurt to have.

If I had to do it over I would probably make the same choice. There is not much on the unit that I couldn't fix myself. Though a garn would be nice too.

 

[velvetfoot]

Thanks. The price diff. between the two Orlon models is not that great.