Burn time of gasifiers...

First off, thanks to everyone here for all the insight on wood stoves, I'm just starting out and trying to learn all I can. What a great reference this site has been. I was just looking for real-world info on burn time for gasifiers, especially EKO's and Econoburns. I won't be adding heat storage right away, and was just trying to get an idea on what kind of burn time I can expect on a full load of wood. I've got a 3500 sq ft, 2 story, moderately insulated house, and I'll be adding the stove onto my hot air system, if that helps. Thanks in advance, guys.

Welcome to the forum and to the boiler room. Let me preface my answer by saying that there's a lot of variables. In my case, my boiler always runs flat-out. I have a control system that dumps any excess heat into storage to try and ensure that the boiler never idles. Of course, the fule is a variable. Wood species, size, and moisture content have a big effect.

In my EKO 25, burning medium sized (4-5" diameter) hardwood at 15-20% moisture, I get around 4-5 hours out of a full load. However, that's enough heat to keep me going for 12 to 24 hours depending on outside temps. Usually I do one fire and two loads per day. I'll adjust that a bit depending on the temps in my storage tank and outside.

I can get 6-10 hours out of my Tarm depending on weather and loading...Typically, I fire the boiler with a full charge 3 times a day (24hrs) if the weather is in the single digits. In the manual it says: load for an 8 hour burn and that is what I shoot for. If the weather is mild I may only load the boiler 1/2 full. It took a couple of seasons for us to get the firing scheme figured out but we may be slow learners. ;-)

About the only prediction I feel qualified to make is that with the right setup, you would have to load a gasifier less often than an OWB or a conventional indoor boiler. And by "setup" I mean heat storage and the right size boiler.

Thanks for the fedback, guys. 5-8 hour burn times don't seem really practical for me, as I work 10 hour shifts. I was hoping to avoid adding heat storage for a few years to trim the cost a little. Guess I'm back to the drawing board.