Anyone here have a Wood Gun?

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

The creative juices are flowing her in NY today, what with ski season almost here, and thinking about how to make my current heating system more efficient. Before I bought my GreenWood, I almost bought

http://www.alternateheatingsystems.com/woodboilers.htm

so, anyone here have one of these?

Jimbo

 

[Eric Johnson]

I saw one at a trade show last summer. They wanted $11,500 for the 120K btu demo model. It's built like a tank. Really impressive design and workmanship. Stainless steel firebox. It's the only gasifier I've ever seen with a cyclone.

This boiler used to be called the Eshland. They were made out of carbon steel and had a tendency to corrode out before their time. The company that makes them now switched over to stainless for that reason. I'd be a little concerned that there's some design flaw that causes early failure that might not be completely solved by the use of stainless steel. But maybe that's just me being paranoid. If I was going to lay out that much cash, I'd want to know a lot more about it.

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

Yeah, the moving parts and complexity (my GreenWood is about the simplest thing on the market) somewhat scared me off. I also considered the EKO, but the web-contact and misspellings made me steer clear. Call me crazy.

Jimbo

 

[Eric Johnson]

There ain't much to the EKO either, although it does have a fancy controller and blowers. I'm impressed with how well something with so few moving parts works. Really not much to it--which I think is good.

The EKO documentation leaves a lot to be desired, especially when you throw the Polish translation into the equation. But everything else about the boiler is first class, from what I can tell.

 

[leaddog]

I just about bought a wood gun before I got the eko80. They are a very solid unit. I went and talked to a guy that had one and he was very satisfied. The big selling point to me was it had a oil tube build in and I had a oil gun so it would have been easy to have that for my back up. I wanted to get away from the high price of propane for my back up and I had the gun,tank,and I use fuel oil for my tractor so it was a big draw but,,,, the price was just to high. I had gotten a price before they got a dealer here and the price of stainless went up and it wasn't to bad but when the price went up I found that I could
buy a propane tank and get it filled cheaper that way. I don't ever use my back up but I needed something for just in case.
leaddog

 

[Nofossil]

Yeah, the moving parts and complexity (my GreenWood is about the simplest thing on the market) somewhat scared me off. I also considered the EKO, but the web-contact and misspellings made me steer clear. Call me crazy.

Jimbo

OK - You're crazy ;-)

Actually, I went through much the same thought process. I ended up with the EKO because at that time (2005) Zenon was desperate to get a few of them out there.

 

[jklingel]

Glad you asked about the Wood Gun. I've been "looking" at them, too. SOUND good, but... time will tell. I have a year or two to wait and watch.

 

[antknee2]

A great guy to talk to is Wayne Bryant in Greene NY . He is a distributor for Wood GUN boilers and he has one in use at his own house and shop . His truck can put the boiler ware you need it . Wayne said he loves his Wood Gun and is very light on tour wood supply . Anthony

 

[antknee2]

Sorry link did did not work http://heatall.com/

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

OK - You're crazy ;-)

Now you sound like my wife . . . she thinks I'm crazy because I refuse to stop 'getting wood' until the snow is too deep . . . of course, the OTHER reason she thinks I'm crazy [and this is where YOU come in, nofoss]

is that I want

dataloggers on my outdoor GreenWood for combustion temp, watertemp, damper door state, load door state
I want all this data (along with dataloggers to replace the existing 6 zone thermostats throughout the house, and dataloggers on both sides of the HX to replace the ridiculous strap-on aquastat) to be accessible live on my pda and/or cell phone so I can KNOW exactly when to reload, and can control flow remotly as the need arrises. And all this data should be graphed real-time.

I thought I was crazy until I realized yer already doin' it Dude . . . .How, how how???

Jimbo

 

[Nofossil]

OK - You're crazy ;-)

Now you sound like my wife . . . she thinks I'm crazy because I refuse to stop 'getting wood' until the snow is too deep . . . of course, the OTHER reason she thinks I'm crazy [and this is where YOU come in, nofoss]

is that I want

dataloggers on my outdoor GreenWood for combustion temp, watertemp, damper door state, load door state
I want all this data (along with dataloggers to replace the existing 6 zone thermostats throughout the house, and dataloggers on both sides of the HX to replace the ridiculous strap-on aquastat) to be accessible live on my pda and/or cell phone so I can KNOW exactly when to reload, and can control flow remotly as the need arrises. And all this data should be graphed real-time.

I thought I was crazy until I realized yer already doin' it Dude . . . .How, how how???

Jimbo

It helps to be crazy....

Seriously, there are lots of ways to do what I'm doing. I chose my path because it was an interesting challenge to me. It's not the easiest route, but I'd be glad to help anyone who is interested. There are a couple of things that I already had before I started:

1) Lots of programming experience, especially in the C language.
2) Lots of Linux experience
3) A Linux computer that could act as a development system
4) A fairly extensive network in my house, including a web server and database server (another Linux computer)
5) Some electronics experience, parts, and tools
6) A pathological obsession with doing it myself
7) Most important, an indulgent spouse ;-)

For those without all of these advantages, a more off-the-shelf solution might be more realistic. I've heard good things about a system sold by ourcoolhouse, for instance.

If I haven't scared you off, I can be bribed. Beer works.

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

Well, you drive a ford, so I assume you'd be satisfied with Genny . . . :vampire:

Anyway, though my house is wired for network, and my programminf experiance is strictly VB and SQL, I am reluctant to purchase like 20 data loggers at $500 a pop knowing the wife will be very unhappy as nothing works in our house for a year or so till I get the major bugs worked out.

Clearly, I need to check out that website.

 

[Nofossil]

Well, you drive a ford, so I assume you'd be satisfied with Genny . . . :vampire:

Anyway, though my house is wired for network, and my programminf experiance is strictly VB and SQL, I am reluctant to purchase like 20 data loggers at $500 a pop knowing the wife will be very unhappy as nothing works in our house for a year or so till I get the major bugs worked out.

Clearly, I need to check out that website.

I'd be interested to see what you think about ourcoolhouse. I've hesitated to bring it up on the forum here since I have no first-hand experience with it. Seems like there are a few people here who might really appreciate it, though.

Where are you in NY? I'm about 25 minutes south of Burlington VT. Visitors with beer are nearly always welcome....

 

[Eric Johnson]

Not if he shows up with a sixpack of Genesee, I suspect.

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

When I met my wife 20 some years ago, she drank Genny. "Splains why she married me. Anyway.

Did you say Burlington? Is Perrys still open and as good as it used to be? And more importantly, can you get me lift tics at Stowe and/or accomidations at Stoweflake??

Jimbo

 

[Nofossil]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

When I met my wife 20 some years ago, she drank Genny. "Splains why she married me. Anyway.

Did you say Burlington? Is Perrys still open and as good as it used to be? And more importantly, can you get me lift tics at Stowe and/or accomidations at Stoweflake??

Jimbo

You're pushing your luck.....

Sadly, Perry's is gone, replaced by an unmemorable Italian wannabe restaurant. On the bright side, there's yet another generally excellent microbrewery in Bristol - it all evens out over time.

 

[Nofossil]

Well, you drive a ford, so I assume you'd be satisfied with Genny . . . :vampire:

I don't always drive the Ford. Here is one of my other rides. Note the forum-appropriate setting of freshly felled trees. Just put away for the winter today, on its 14th birthday.

If Genny goes with the Ford, what goes with this?

 

[Tony H]

GREAT CAR We have a 1st gen and its fun to drive but I would prefer the 3rd gen. I hear they are not so good for hauling wood. Maybe some Sapporo would go well with that car.

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

Hey! NoFo didn't even REMOTLY reference the woodGun in that post. . . . will someone please demote him ;-)

On a serious note. . . .please tell me you are not running spruce through your unit?!!

 

[Eric Johnson]

That looks more like fir to me.

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

LOL, the GW manual has this chart at the back that tells you what woods have the best BTU output. The BESt thay listed is 'Pitch Pine'. Not sure how Pich Pine can be so good, yet red and white (the only types I've ever seen in this area, be so bad. In any event, spruce, Hemlocj or fir, none of them are firewood.

Oh, don't let me forget to mention the WoodGun.

:coolsmile:

 

[Nofossil]

Staying on-topic, those trees are white cedars that I cut down to burn in my Wood Gun. I didn't end up buying it, so there they are....

Actually, they were blocking our view and crowding some hardwoods. They're being made into supports for wood stacks. White cedar is the balsa of the north - it's amazing how light it is when it's dry.