Help Find Good Outdoor Wood Gasification Boiler?

[LegendsCreekFarm]

Thanks for the good info! I am not worried about underground pipe as it would be less than 10 feet from my basement foundation, on an existing cement slab. Just trying to find out the most cost effective way to make it happen should I decide not to replace the inside wood stove and keep searching for a boiler.

 

[Coal Reaper]

I hope ur referring to the barn being ten feet away and you are not considering putting an OWB only ten feet from house. And still want to use a quality insulated tubing.

 

[LegendsCreekFarm]

No, the home and barn are attached to eachother, and both would be 10 feet away from the house. Why would this be an issue? Local people told me it's safe?

 

[Coal Reaper]

The home is attached to the barn which is ten feet away from house? Your house? Neighbors house?

 

[Coal Reaper]

Well start by checking with your homeowners insurance. I think i remember most requiring OWBs to be 50' from structures and one called for 500'. These things smoke, especially a $5k unit. Is it acceptable for smoke to infiltrate your home? What about fly ash that close, let alone embers. I have seen sparks shooting from the short stacks of OWBs before. If its a space constraint i would at least make sure my chimney cleared the roof of house.
Another consideration is a closed system vs.an open one. Most if not all OWB are open system. Search it.

 

[leon]

No, the home and barn are attached to each other, and both would
be 10 feet away from the house.

Why would this be an issue?

Local people told me it's safe?

Which local people? The dealer?, Your insurer?, NOT SAFE especially from a clearance standpoint
especially when you have shingles and no spark arrestor. be very aware that embers will travel a long
distance.


Your better off spending you money on a coal/wood boiler and five hundred gallons of storage
for less money as a Batch burner will be much less problematic and troublesome as it will burn hotter and cleaner.


You have come to the right forum for the experience and advice, and none of us have our hands on your wallet.

 

[LegendsCreekFarm]

My insurer and recent appraiser said they both have theirs right up against the house, and there is nothing stopping me from putting it where I want. I am so confused about all the different things I am hearing!

 

[Dan Rondeau]

you need to follow the guideline in the manual. when the inspector comes to sign off on the installation, he will ask to see the manual and you can show that you have safe clearances on all sides.

 

[leon]

My insurer and recent appraiser said they both have theirs right up
against the house, and there is nothing stopping me from putting
it where I want.

I am so confused about all the different things I am hearing!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
======================================================

Your right, there is nothing stopping you from installing your heating source
next to your home, EXCEPT A DENIAL OF INSURANCE CLAIM FROM A FIRE DUE TO A FAULTY INSTALLATION.



YOUR local fire code enforcement officer is your friend and not your
enemy by the way.

Local codes must be followed and as he or she has had the required training in
post fire investigation, fire prevention, and casualty loss control and abatement
he or she will approve the installation after a building permit is applied for with the required drawings.

For your own sake and the possibility that you will not be covered in the event of
a fire by your insurer(NOT YOUR AGENT).

You need to call the national fire underwriters BECAUSE THEY ARE THE
BE ALL AND END ALL IN FIRE AND CASUALTY LOSS PREVENTION
and the Insurance company (NOT YOUR INSURANCE AGENT) will follow thier guidlelines/recommendations.

You can and will get bad advice from your insurance agent-been there done that.

 

[LegendsCreekFarm]

I understand guys.. I talked to my town, and to the fire department. There is no code here on these. I live in a town where they don't bother you.

Of course I don't want to burn my home down, and I would follow the manual regardless, but it just happens that I have the perfect spot for it on an existing slab and could set it 10 - 15 feet from the house. I would probably talk to the product manufacturer before I did anything.

My insurance company has no regulation on them.

 

[leon]

I understand guys.. I talked to my town, and to the fire department.
There is no code here on these. I live in a town where they don't bother you.

Of course I don't want to burn my home down, and I would follow the manual regardless, but it just happens that I have the perfect spot for it on an existing slab and could set it 10 - 15 feet from the house. I would probably talk to the product manufacturer before I did anything.

My insurance company has no regulation on them.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The product manufacturer is not going to say no to you by the way so....................


I would love to hear who your national fire insurance carrier is simply because you have both
set back issues and clearance issues for a non fossil fuel combustion unit/heat source.


The amount of wood you will be burning will surprise you and the amount of time it spends idling and smoking will also surprize you as well. And the amount of smoke at idle will generate lot of interest from a lot of folks especially if there is no wind as smoke will stay close to the ground too.


You should seriously look at the smallest Garn wood boiler to do this for you or a Harmon wood
and coal boiler and build an insulated shed over either one.

 

[Frozen Canuck]

Have to agree with the cautious ask lots of questions approach: re placement. When we installed ours, it nor the wood could be any closer than 50' from any insured structure. They could have cared less about any uninsured structures on the farm but those that the policy covered needed that minimum 50' clearance. From the combustion appliance & the fuel source.

Thinking back our agent really had no clue how to classify these appliances but was smart enough to ask the code & fire officers that did.

Knowing sure beats hoping you are covered.

 

[Chris Hoskin]

1200' in CT means that any wood gasification boiler that I am aware of will be grossly over-sized almost all the time. This would be especially true of an outdoor boiler as these tend to have very large fireboxes and large outputs, especially the less expensive, older style units. Totally inappropriate for a smaller home like yours. In order to effectively use a wood boiler with your relatively small heating load you will need at least 400 gallons of thermal storage. You are looking at a $10 - $15,000 project depending on the boiler and thermal storage you choose. If this is not in your budget, I think a new woodstove, professionally installed, would be a great way to heat your home and could almost certainly be done within a $5000.00 budget. You will burn a lot less wood too, so the mess in the house will also be a lot less.

 

[shawn6596]

to Coal reaper
Your statement about wood not drying in the round is not true for all wood. I am right now cutting up cherry logs that have been piled up for 3 years and they are dry as a bone. The sapwood is punky but comes off when splitting. the heart wood is solid and dry. I just burned some in a camp fire and it took off like match lite charcoal.

 

[Coal Reaper]

to Coal reaper
Your statement about wood not drying in the round is not true for all wood. I am right now cutting up cherry logs that have been piled up for 3 years and they are dry as a bone. The sapwood is punky but comes off when splitting. the heart wood is solid and dry. I just burned some in a camp fire and it took off like match lite charcoal.

Ok yes they may dry. But that same medium btu cherry wood had it been split and stacked would have been ready to burn in less than nine months with no lost sap wood.

 

[Fred61]

I am able to burn wood in a campfire that will not burn in my gasser! Use a moisture meter to gauge the water content. And if you are using higher moisture wood in your unit, how many times do you need to open the door and bust up the bridging.

 

[Coal Reaper]

Yeah was visiting mothers house yesterday and neighbor was finishing quartering some oak rounds that he will burn in fireplace this year to keep the natural gas cost down. Was using wedges and sledge so i went over with the x27 and finished things up for him. "Why did you split it so small? You ruined my wood! It will burn too fast now. ". See yah later pal.

 

[heaterman]

Don't want to rain on your parade but the term "Good Outdoor Wood Gasification Boiler" contains words that are mutually exclusive. Particularly the word "good" in front of the whole phrase.

Econoburn has n outdoor unit that will actually function as a gasification boiler should, but the words good and outdoor used together do not go together well. Too much loss of efficiency.

I was in Austria at a trade show last February and there were all kinds of wood and pellet boilers displayed. Central Boiler had an outdoor unit there and it drew quite a crowd. Mainly engineers from the Euro companies staring at it and trying to figure out why a person would put a boiler outside in the first place. That whole concept made no sense to them and there was a lot of head scratching and chin rubbing going on amongst the group.