Home made vrs. Store bought boiler [photo]

[ozzie88]

Well I finally got to do these test some of you ask for. To start I ran boiler last night at 7;00PM was 4* out at night, water ended up at 200* at 17lbs. preasure, heated house,we took 2 showers,dishes, it is 10;30Am. now water is at 125*. Have 300 Gal. storage, house is 1000 Sq. feet plus I heat basement all time also,so be 2000 sq. feet.
Started 10;35 with 20 lbs. of ash. wood, just under 20% moisture.at 10'41 I had second chamber fired up. At 11;10 water at 145 on first load small wood now I add 22lbs. maple [no smoke when open door] At 11;30 water at 160*, and 12;15 unit shut off at 185* then the cir. pump is set up to run in loop so I get ALL heat from unit left over from burn ,at 12;50 water is at 200* which is good.
With way I fiqured this I got 91% effencey,The gauges are at boiler tank and center of water tanks.
I did alot of work on this thing and alot of hit and miss with sizeing air chambers.I would think I got it as good as some of those high price ones out ther. I have all safty switchs over heat, and can run with no ele. also. And with pre heating the air I burn no inside air at all. If I start it cold and is cold outside just takes little longer to get second chamber fired up.

 

[woodsmaster]

Have any plans ? I have a friend that would like to build his own.

 

[ozzie88]

Oh, the one photo is the bottom chamber and other is second chamber, you can see the choker [flat piece] cordnite in there to swerl air to burn [also red hot] rated at 2500* and the bottom of a bolt that is red hot.

 

[ozzie88]

NW ohio, I grew up in Toledo, I can send you the sizes of all spaces and air openings if that will help?

 

[jebatty]

Congratulations! Nothing is better than success. Some more info on how you determined efficiency would be helpful, as 91% puts your boiler at the top end of performers for gasifiers.

... now water is at 125*.... Started 10;35 with 20 lbs. of ash. wood, just under 20% moisture.at 10’41 I had second chamber fired up. At 11;10 water at 145 on first load small wood now I add 22lbs. maple [no smoke when open door] At 11;30 water at 160*, and 12;15 unit shut off at 185* then the cir. pump is set up to run in loop so I get ALL heat from unit left over from burn ,at 12;50 water is at 200* which is good. With way I fiqured this I got 91% effencey,

As best as I can piece together from your description, you started with your entire 300 gallon tank, top to bottom, fully mixed, at 125F, and your fire was out. Starting at 10:35 you then burned 44 lbs of wood and the tank, top to bottom, fully mixed, reached 200F and the fire was out, time was 12:50. Your tank rose from 125 to 200, a 75F rise, which translates to 75 x 8.33 x 300 = 187425 btu's. 44 lbs of wood at 20% MC, 400F stack temp, is 6050 x 44 = 266200 btu's available energy. Efficiency would be 187425 / 266200 = 70%. This of course does not account for draw on your system, if any, from 10:35 to 12:50. If none, then based on your info 70% would be the efficiency. If there was draw, then we would need to know how many btu's were drawn from storage, and with that it would be possible to determine more closely your actual efficiency.

I might have missed something, but regardless of the technicalities, you have a real accomplishment. Keep providing info.

 

[Gasifier]

Very interesting Ozzie. Congrats on your build. Do you have pictures of the unit from the outside so we can see a little more of it? More details would be cool. Thanks for sharing. Keep us posted on how it performs as you move along through the winter.