ALWAYS storage for any type of cord wood boiler!
ALWAYS return water temperature protection for a cord wood boiler! Do a good heat loss calculation, within 10%, and try to undersize the boiler output slightly.
ALWAYS burn wood that is below 20%, or better 18% in moisture content.
Succes guaranteed.
Did I miss something?
20 to 25 full cord of wood? Holy chit! I can be comfortable now with 8-10 cord in my old furnace. People around here tend to burn 5-10 cord in their owb depending on insulation, m c & wood quality. I've got a buddy that runs his 365 days a year for dhw, family of 4 good tight house @ 2500 ft, & he only uses 12 cord a year. Fills the boiler 2X a day in winter, & once every 2-3 days in summer. This is a non gasifier CB 5036 classic I think.
Please understand, I'm not trying to argue or be critical here @ all, just curious as to what I'm missing. I wouldn't spend a nickel on a boiler if I didn't think it would save loading & splitting time, & maybe it wont? A C
A grossly misleading post, at best. It's unfortunate when folks come on sites like this one looking for proper information and see these types of posts as "gospel" from someone who might be in "in the know".
You will not find any highly trained boiler professionals that will be able to provide you with concrete data suggesting storage measurably improves performance or efficiency of a PROPERLY sized boiler installation. Storage is first and foremost a convenience item. It can potentially increase efficiency in those cases where an oversized boiler has been installed in a system. A properly sized and properly operated boiler does not need storage. That being said, I will agree that many boilers seem to be installed in an oversized condition without storage. This does not, however, validate the position that "all boilers need storage" because that's just not the case. It's far better to say "all boilers should be properly sized OR have storage if oversized".
Why would anyone in their right mind ever undersize a boiler on a system with storage (since you initially said we should ALWAYS have storage)? What is the logic? I've never heard such a suggestion. In fact it's the opposite of what 99% of the experienced storage users on this site would likely recommend. I'm not aware of any downside associated with oversizing a boiler on a system with thermal storage. In fact I beleive there are numerous advantages to oversizing boilers in this case. Users are able to charge storage more quickly with larger boilers potentially reducing the number of trips to the boiler during burn cycles and quite possibly reducing the overall length of time the boiler actually has to run. I have on more than one occasion wished I had a 60 as opposed to the 40. Even though the 40 is technically still oversized for my home (not taking into account storage capacity). A 60 would likely have allowed me to start my fires later in the day during normal heating season.
Just my two cents of course. I am not a heating/cooling professional.
The highly trained professionals- Eco , Biomass,Effecta, Tarm in their manuals all point out increased efficieny can be attained using storage .
The Properly sized boiler installation could not be a year round operation without storage !
Why would anyone in their right mind undersize a boiler? Physics. Bigger boiler larger mass in the boiler itself to heat each time you heat your storage.