New system (gassifier) in an old house

[Como]

Mostly 14ft, some are 10ft.

I did it per floor originally, when we did it by area there was a major difference between the outside rooms and the inside rooms, especially where they had two outside corners. And our numbers per sq ft are lower upstairs but that maybe because we insulated the heck out of the attics. And there is not a lot we can do with the floors and only so much with the walls.

For comparison our Heating Degree Days is 10,500, so about twice that of New York for comparison. I do not know what it would be where you are, I guess somewhere in between.

Simplistically we are probably looking at the same sort of situation mine being higher because of greater ceiling heights and it is colder here.

I had a look at the link, we will be using hot water rather than steam and much lower temperatures, so a lot more radiator area.

 

[Como]

I should mention that I am not sure how accurate the Manual J calculation here are for older properties.

When I started my ball park numbers were coming in at 100btu per sq ft worst case, and our system design could put out that much but the Propane would probably kick in. After a detailed working we came down to about 80, but with major variations in the building.

We have a small house we live in during the winter, and it is very noticeable that the heating load during the day is very different from the night due to both major temperature variation and solar gain.

I am English, I was used to the heat demand day and night being very similar, marginally colder at night but not by much, and not a lot of sun!

I am really hoping that reality will be better than theory, my Architect thinks that will be the case, but not enough to put a number on it. But when it is -20 and the wind is blowing the snow horizontally at 100 mph plus, I am sure we will be loading it as fast as it burns.

 

[OldStoneHouse]

I think our heating degree days are about 4500 (Eastern Ontario) so we're quite a bit different from where you are. I hope your system works out for you! What is your timeline?

We had the contractor who put the Caddy in yesterday and he is going to quote on putting a boiler in. I'm a little concerned about putting good money after bad. He also doesn't want to take the Caddy out because it's too heavy and hard to move. We're getting quotes from other places for the piping and a gas boiler.

At this point I'm not sure if we should be getting a mod/con gas boiler (Weil-McLain Ultra or something similar) or a less efficient cast iron (I like the Burnham Revolution - 87%). I'm not sure how much the propane would be used after we get the wood in. Does anyone know how a mod/con likes sitting for extending periods? What about a cast iron?

 

[Como]

I was fortunate enough to get Grants, good for cash flow, bad for timing.

The idea is to get most of the Radiators/ Propane Boiler in by Feb, with the Biomass in by April.

Weather permitting.....

If you want the Caddy out maybe somebody else can do it, do they have a good used value?

My original idea was to get a lower efficiency/cheaper back up/secondary boiler. Decided against it as the extra cost as part of the overall install was not great, I really do not know how much Propane I am going to be using and it took up a lot less space.