Gassification guys, a question for you.

[Gasifier]

I am curious about this. When the cold weather finally does arrive. How much wood do you guys generally put into your combustion chamber at one time? For the longest burn time you are shooting for. Please let me know if you are using storage or not. Thanks in advance. Have a good one.

 

[flyingcow]

Have storage. usually fill it up when i do a burn

 

[Duetech]

1700 sq ft home. No storage. EKO40 holds 6.55 cu ft. Coldest part of winter was usually 2.5 full loads per day. At 20 deg night time about 1.5 fillls. at 25 deg night time a little over one complete fill. Except for the hardest part of winter the loadings were usually split in halves or thirds as the boiler worked as an idler and not as a strict gasser with storage. When it idled there was little evidence of smoke except at start up to respond to a call for heat ar during the built in purging of the combustion chamber. Rough average was 5 cords of dry 20+ million btu wood per winter. I am currently using a ceramic (cement) OWB that has a fire box 4x of the EKO and have learned to get through the winter for a little over 2x of the wood used by the EKO.

 

[Gasifier]

Have storage. usually fill it up when i do a burn

Okay, so because of storage, and being able to store the energy of a full load, you fill your combustion chamber all the way. Do you ever have "puffing" because of low oxygen?

 

[Gasifier]

1700 sq ft home. No storage. EKO40 holds 6.55 cu ft. Coldest part of winter was usually 2.5 full loads per day. At 20 deg night time about 1.5 fillls. at 25 deg night time a little over one complete fill. Except for the hardest part of winter the loadings were usually split in halves or thirds as the boiler worked as an idler and not as a strict gasser with storage. When it idled there was little evidence of smoke except at start up to respond to a call for heat ar during the built in purging of the combustion chamber. Rough average was 5 cords of dry 20+ million btu wood per winter. I am currently using a ceramic (cement) OWB that has a fire box 4x of the EKO and have learned to get through the winter for a little over 2x of the wood used by the EKO.

So you are using full loads when you know the heat demand is going to be there. And just what you think you need to meet at lower heat demand times. Cool. Thanks.

 

[flyingcow]

Have storage. usually fill it up when i do a burn

Okay, so because of storage, and being able to store the energy of a full load, you fill your combustion chamber all the way. Do you ever have "puffing" because of low oxygen?

Yes. Basically summer or winter, I wait until the tank is down to a level where I can build a fire and fill firebox and leave it. It will usually burn the load in approx 4 hours. Sometimes less. I get about 4 or 5 days DHW out of 1 fire in the summer. Winter usually a fire a day, real cold night refill firebox appropriately.

I get no puffing, the Tarm Innova has what i call a negative draft. Fan is located on the outlet of exhaust. Located on back of unit. I can open the door anytime and get minimal(if any) smoke roll out. Also my chimney gets a good draft anyways.

Keep in mind, my unit is located outside the house, but i've spent quite a few evenings with a couple buds, sippin' on a couple of Buds just seeing how the unit performs.

 

[Duetech]

1700 sq ft home. No storage. EKO40 holds 6.55 cu ft. Coldest part of winter was usually 2.5 full loads per day. At 20 deg night time about 1.5 fillls. at 25 deg night time a little over one complete fill. Except for the hardest part of winter the loadings were usually split in halves or thirds as the boiler worked as an idler and not as a strict gasser with storage. When it idled there was little evidence of smoke except at start up to respond to a call for heat ar during the built in purging of the combustion chamber. Rough average was 5 cords of dry 20+ million btu wood per winter. I am currently using a ceramic (cement) OWB that has a fire box 4x of the EKO and have learned to get through the winter for a little over 2x of the wood used by the EKO.

So you are using full loads when you know the heat demand is going to be there. And just what you think you need to meet at lower heat demand times. Cool. Thanks.

Actually to better explain I would usually fill up the available room in the fire box. Sometimes that would be a quarter of half or 90% depending on what was used by the heat demand and for the period of time involved. There were times that coming home from work I would find few coals in the firebox and at other times there would be half a load still there. My EKO was in an unheated building and probably used more wood just to keep the temperature up than an idling unit would do in a heated building. I had a second circ that ran 24/7 taking heated water into the home. The blower on the boiler would only run to keep temps up and would shut down when the temps got to the set limit. In moderate temps the air purge of the EKO would be/supply all the gasification I needed to keep the temps where I wanted them.

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

I fill the Atmos all the way. My first year I had lots of puffing because I was burning some kiln dried & splits that were too small. Now that I use the recommended wood I don't get any puffing at all. I have pressure storage, Randy

 

[jebatty]

Once a good bed of coals, fill it all the way, have storage, never any puffing or idling.

 

[SnowTraveler]

Fill mine all the way, 2 or 3 times per day depending on the weather. Have storage. The huge benefit of storage is being able to have a thorough, hot burn and put the extra heat into the storage and minimize idling. Keeps the chimney and turbulators clean.

 

[Gasifier]

Fill mine all the way, 2 or 3 times per day depending on the weather. Have storage. The huge benefit of storage is being able to have a thorough, hot burn and put the extra heat into the storage and minimize idling. Keeps the chimney and turbulators clean.

Thanks for the info SnowTraveler. I am finding out in my first season how nice it is to have storage. My 400 gallons has been great for the fall season. I am thinking that down the road, after a season or two, it may be better to add another 400 gallons. The Wood Gun can heat that 400 gallons up pretty fast. But, it will be interesting to see what happens when the real cold hits and the heat demand goes up. Lots to learn.

 

[SnowTraveler]

"Lots to learn" Very true, gas. My first season was hard as I did not have storage and was not burning small splits. Came here and got a world of help from the experts, they got me pointed in the right direction and after adding storage and splitting my wood smaller things got very, very good. I had to move my boiler from my finished basement to a dedicated boiler room addition on my garage due to smoke, but it turned out to be a huge plus as now I am heating my garage too. My wood useage went up a bit after adding the garage load, but well worth the effort. You have a lot of posts for a newbie!

 

[Nofossil]

I think the previous posters have pretty much covered it. I'd add that as far as I can tell, the 'puffing' that I see is a result of too much wood gas being generated - from wood that's too small and/or too dry. If I'm burning a load like that, I'll close the shutter on the front of the EKO fan to about 1/2" - 3/4" to slow the rate of the burn.

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

No storage here, so I try to maintain 3 loads a day. Very the size and/or quality of the load based on anticipated heat demand. More of an art than a science

 

[Gasifier]

"Lots to learn" Very true, gas. My first season was hard as I did not have storage and was not burning small splits. Came here and got a world of help from the experts, they got me pointed in the right direction and after adding storage and splitting my wood smaller things got very, very good. I had to move my boiler from my finished basement to a dedicated boiler room addition on my garage due to smoke, but it turned out to be a huge plus as now I am heating my garage too. My wood useage went up a bit after adding the garage load, but well worth the effort. You have a lot of posts for a newbie!

How are you Snowtraveler? How the fires burning for you man? I had my first "bridging" experience not to long ago. Smaller splits seem to be helping. Then heat demand went back down, so I went back to shutting the boiler right off when I go to work or bed. But just now we are back to cooler weather, so back to burning around the clock now. I have storage, but only the 400 gallons. I am glad I have it, really glad I have it. Really glad I found this site. I can only imagine how much the Wood Gun would be shutting down without storage/buffer. My boiler and tank are in my basement and I love it down there. Don't have to go outside to load the boiler. The heat that comes off of it is awesome, and heats my house, which is what I want. I don't get much smoke, but I have a small fan I am using when I load to get any out of the basement I do get. I am going to get a smoke hood. Probably break down and order the factory one next year. Couple Wood Gun guys that have them say they are happy with them. I am trying to learn as much as I can, I guess that is why the high post. I watch and partake in several of the forums. Interesting stuff. It is a great site. Even when I argue a point, always with good intention of course, if I win or lose the arguement, I am learning. ;-) I have lost more than a few! :lol: Alright, alright, no comments from the peanut gallery! Please. Keep the laughter down. :lol:

 

[skfire]

Hey All

first season with Froling FHGL 3000 40/50, set to 50.
800 gallons of vert storage with 2 layers of 3" JM duct wrap and 4" of dow board side enclosure.
Supplying all radiant heat & DHW.
2,850sq ft (2 floors, basement loops(additional 1,800 sq ft) hooked up but never runs, set to 65)

When in 20s last week, one fire a day, filling box 75%. House zones(7)all set to 69-70 and setback to 68 at nights/away.
Getting DHW out of the one burn and trying to time laundry or kids' showers ) with burn.
So far so good. LP boiler has kicked on maybe 1 time per day in the last 6 weeks to make DHW(I have an overide aquastat set to 150f),
because I did not time the burn with the "boss".

When in the 40s-50s, one fire every 2 days, 60% box full, same results.

The FHG has a 7.4 cubic ft capacity and 20"log length, but I have been using anything between 14-19" lengths
(about 8-12 logs per burn varying from 3"wide to 7" wide).

Very impressed with the boiler's ability to chuck BTUs in the tanks at the rate it does,
especially withe the little amount of fuel it consumes(for now anyway...waiting for January).
The main concern was the smoke issues and thankfully we have zero issues there(except a chimney cleanout problem(masonry opening) which I rectified early on..)

Still dealing with some learning curve issues and set up adjustments, but I am extremely happy with the arrangement.
According to the wife and kids, the boiler is my "new imaginary friend" and she finds it "interesting" that I have a fridge and tv down in t he basement, not too far form the boiler(wonder what's in the fridge??).
I am trying to monitor burn parameters and log data for performance analysis in order to setup a baseline, so a man needs refreshment..no?

Scott

 

[Gasifier]

I am trying to monitor burn parameters and log data for performance analysis in order to setup a baseline, so a man needs refreshment..no?

You are correct. Sounds like a nice system man. Got pics?

 

[skfire]

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/77159/

 

[Gasifier]

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/77159/

SWEET! Nice set-up. I was off the forum for about 2 months or more during the summer, to much to do and not enough time in the day.