I have a colleague at work that is interested in buying some wood for the Econoburn 100 they are installing. My ideal split is 8x8 but I know the gassers need to be smaller. How small should I resplit to?
Ideal split size for Econoburn 100
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Kudos to you for taking this into consideration and offering to resplit - most folks would just deliver and collect the $$. Split size isn't the most important thing - moisture content is. The EB wants 20% or less, best being around 15%. That being said, we know that it will take longer to get an 8x8 spilt down to 20%, than our old favorite playing card size split, hence the reason many folks need to split smaller. So if the insides of your 8x8 splits are 20% or less, then leave them alone. If not, split to playing card size and hope the 3 months or so that are left is enough time to finish drying them.
I haven't sold wood before but she sent a wide office email looking for green wood and by chance it caught my attention. I guess I need to ask if they intend to be online this year or next. I have more than enough 2 year old stuff to give them the 5 cord they are looking for. If bone dry is the goal, how small is too small?
I have no idea why she would specify green wood - maybe she thinks it's the only thing available at this time. If they are firing this year, looks like you are going to save them from making the typical beginners mistake. Just for convenience sake, I wouldn't go smaller than playing card size - smaller would mean that much more handling time. Well seasoned 8x8s would actually be a very nice reduction in handling time.
In my EKO 4-5" was ideal though some could be larger. 7" was the mfg suggested max. 3" might cause huffing or puffing because of over oxidation in the primary chamber and could easily mess the burn efficeincy by throwing the mix ratio. I would suggest a mix of 50-50% mfg max and of your 8's split in two. Also dense hard woods are suggested for the above suggested sizes as lower density woods will oxidize more easily at the smaller sizes.
For my biomass it does best with splits the size of a playing card. Even if bone dry it don't do as well with the larger splits. No such thing as to small.
About 3-5" is what I split for my Tarm, and of course smaller left-over splits, branches, etc. are OK also. Some larger rounds or splits also are OK, which I generally place on top of the wood load where they can partially burn down as the burn progresses, plus the added weight on top helps the wood load to settle down easily as the burn progresses. As others have said, dry wood is really important.
I've used larger 20% splits a few times and didn't notice a difference in my EB, but also don't think they were actually as big as 8x8. Since you're so amenable to resplitting, anything in the neighborhood of 4x4 will be fine.
willworkforwood said:
As I am new in the marketplace, I want to make sure my customer is delighted ;-P More importantly, I'd like to make sure they get off to a good start. Between intentionally going without storage and the request for a green firewood supplier, it sounded like a recipe for disaster.
Burning green wood would be a problem in multiple ways. But operating an EB without storage is not necessarily a mistake, provided they are fully aware of what the advantages of storage are, and what it will mean to run without it. It works for us to run without storage - our circumstances and lifestyle (not away from the house for significant periods of time) allow the boiler to be tended more frequently. But others would find doing this to be either impossible, or simply just a major PITA. If your "customer" falls in this later group, they definitely should have storage installed on day 1. You might suggest that they join this forum. 3 years ago, I made all of my decisions only after spending weeks reading archives on this forum - saved me from making a number of bad mistakes. If they haven't already installed the boiler, posting a diagram of their proposed system might avoid one or more design issues. There are a number of pros and semi-pros on this forum who drool on schematics - they sniff out the bugs in a heartbeat. The best wood boiler advice available anywhere, and it also happens to be free ;-).SolarAndWood said:
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