New guy looking for a garage-safe boiler

[fredtheturd]

Hey everyone!

Great site you guys have here. I have grown up cutting, splitting, stacking, and burning or selling firewood. (I have a scar above my right knee from a Stihl 026 from when I was 12 years old to prove it.) However, I just bought my first house in a relatively large subdivision. The house is well insulated and is about 1600 sq. feet. Our lot is about 1/3 acre and the neighbors can smell what we cook for breakfast is how close they are. Currently the house and domestic water is heated with NG. We're looking for a solid wood boiler that'll go nice in our garage and won't smoke out the neighbors. We also want to be able to heat both the house and domestic water with firewood. I have an endless supply of firewood where I live. Pellets/corn are not really a viable option due to the climbing prices & availabilty of both in my area.

Any help with advice and hyperlinks are very appreciated!

Brett

 

[ssupercoolss]

might want to go talk with your local building inspector about putting a boiler in a garage. it seems that its kind of an issue with cars and gas.....blah blah blah. you may have to build a seperate room within the garage to make the building inspector happy. as a general rule i believe you can have a ng or oil burner in your garage, but not a solid fuel device. anyways....i would talk to the building inspector first, but there are plenty of boilers that pretty much run smoke free, but ya gotta pay for it.

 

[stee6043]

I have a similar situation as you. I live in a pretty tight subdivision on 3/4 acre. I ended up buying an EKO 40 for it's "nearly smokeless" operation when it's up and running. Instead of the garage I had a 9" hole cored in my foundation for the flue and stuck the boiler in my utility room in the basement. The garage, for me, would present more problems than solutions (not to mention it won't meet code where I live)....

 

[ssupercoolss]

just as a side note, i live in the same type development and i just put a conventional new yorker wood boiler in my basement. i dont really care for my neighbors, or what they think. have a nice day

 

[BrownianHeatingTech]

Installing a wood-fired appliance in a garage violates national fire code.

It's a silly rule, given the wide variety of wood-fired appliances that exist, but such is life. Whether that matters to you would depend upon how strict your local code enforcement is, and also whether you actually have a garage, or a storage room with an overhead door. Garages are used for storing vehicles. Many folks just have these storage rooms with overhead doors, which store many things, but not vehicles.

If you do have a garage, and your local code enforcement is going to stick by the NFPA rules, ask them about building a partition to make a separate boiler room. Check on what thickness sheetrock they want, and such, before you begin.

Joe

 

[fredtheturd]

thanks so far for the replies... basement idea is bad as my house is built on a slab. My utility room is right inside the door that enters the house from the garage but it only measures roughly 8' x 12' and already has the gas furnace, water heater, washer & dryer. Is there an outdoor boiler that isn't a wood hog and has a flue long enough to get the smoke out of the neighbors faces? Normally I could care less about what neighbors think, but I just moved here and am not trying to make enemies OR get the fire dept called on me. Thanks!

 

[flyingcow]

As Brownian pointed out, it's about classification. I have an unattached garage(24x36) that I used to store vehicles, lawn mowers, etc. I am putting a wood furnace in the back room of the garage. I would have to have a fire rated wall, no entry into the garage from the furnace room, outside entrance only. May not be a big deal to achieve this. But I wanted to store my wood inside(and I also hate handling wood too many times). So after talking to my insurance agent, I have reclassified this building to a wood shed. I will not be storing any gas or related equipment in there. Alot of other junk, but not gas related. I only had to deal with the ins agent. There is no local building code officer. But i wanted to make sure I was on the same page with them, no excuses if anything happens.

One other big deal with the ins co was UL listed or its equal. A licensed installer should require this also. If he doesn't care about this item, don't use 'em. Who knows what other things they don't care about.

 

[ssupercoolss]

i dont like my neighbors, but i know i wouldnt get away with an outdoor wood boiler for very long. it seems we live in the same type development, owb's are really for people with some space, in fact i think some new regs in some states have them being 200' from a house. your options are still pretty open, maybe you should look at a combo unit, gas/wood? not really sure if they actually make a gas/wood but someone here will chime in. eventually you will find something that will work for you. maybe move the washer/dryer, get an add on wood furnace? just some ideas here.

 

[ManiacPD]

I think you'd do well with a Biasi, New Yorker, Kerr, or similar add-on wood boiler. But speaking from experience I wouldn't put one in without some storage, even if it's only 300-500 gallons. My old Memco itself holds 50 gallons and most of the newer add-ons only hold a fraction of that. Low heat demand with boiler that's running means you're going to make creosote. Storage is your buffer for those times when you've got a lot of fire and little demand, and vice-versa.

As far as putting in a small OWB, I don't think they make a small one, nevermind a low-emission small one.

If your neighbors are close put an extra few feet on your chimney and use a barometric damper to limit the draft. Your neighbors will never know if you're burning wood or oil. My neighbors cannot tell when I go from wood to oil and back.

Just my $0.02.

 

[flyingcow]

on the OWB idea. I watched a video, (youtube) and it showed i think a greenwood. Its a gasification OWB. And it looks like it did perform like a true gasifier. I don't know a thing about this boiler. Don't know about the efficiency of it , compared to a tarm,EKO, or econoburn. It smoked a little but once it got going , it was minimal. It was on this site that someone posted this video. In the last week or so.

I've got a brother-in-law that just put a newyorker in. 90,000btu unit. So far not impressed with it. Incedible amounts of creosote. Still above seasonal temps, and he's burned wood most of his life. Smart guy, but he needs storage of some sort, or a more efficient furnace.

You said you have an endless supply of wood available, so that helps with the costs. But buying the right unit to fit your needs. my thoughts are either go cheap and quick; or spend a little more and handle less wood. Figure your long term goal. Keeping the smoke out of the neighbors windows is a good concern. It's good to think of this. Check out local ordinaces is the 1st step. This unfortunatly is not the cheap and quick method.

 

[fredtheturd]

thanks so much for the input guys! I've already begun cutting & splitting wood in anticipation for this project. Looking seriously at the greenwood mentioned above but still haven't made a choice yet. I guess I didn't mention it before but I'd like to have an add-on type system to the NG system I already have. I am in the Army and if I deploy can't expect my wife to be out cutting & splitting firewood. Or can I... either way, any additional thoughts are appreciated.

 

[sublime68charger]

What ever you end up doing I would keep the boiler up off the ground.
1 it makes it nice to put wood in when the door is at Chest level and taking ash's out at waist level is even better.

2 if you set it up in your garage gas fumes and stuff like to hang out at the floor level so the higher your flame source the better.

mine is now in its own little room "I call it my sanua" since it's 85+ in there and It has it's own outside Air feed for the Boiler room.

this is a Pic of my setup in the early day's had been online for about 2 weeks at this time.

 

[Duetech]

Hey everyone!

Great site you guys have here. I have grown up cutting, splitting, stacking, and burning or selling firewood. (I have a scar above my right knee from a Stihl 026 from when I was 12 years old to prove it.) However, I just bought my first house in a relatively large subdivision. The house is well insulated and is about 1600 sq. feet. Our lot is about 1/3 acre and the neighbors can smell what we cook for breakfast is how close they are. Currently the house and domestic water is heated with NG. We're looking for a solid wood boiler that'll go nice in our garage and won't smoke out the neighbors. We also want to be able to heat both the house and domestic water with firewood. I have an endless supply of firewood where I live. Pellets/corn are not really a viable option due to the climbing prices & availabilty of both in my area.

Any help with advice and hyperlinks are very appreciated!

Brett

Here is a concept that may disarm the fire code problem with wood boilers in a garage...Remove the garage door and make the garage a "pole/utility building". Then just build a lean to to store your car under or buy one of those portable garages. :roll: For what it's worth...$.02...cave2k