NooB, Glad to be here.

[cityboy172]

Ok, so here's my story. I'm on my 7th season of burning wood in my central boiler, and while looking up some things for a different projest, I stumbled across this place and have been reading up ever since. I had no Idea. I totally fell victom to Central Boilers marketing. So, this spring, I will be buying a gasser.

My last straw with my OWB is the consumption. In this wonderfull weather that we are having this winter, I am going through roughly a cord a week. A little less when the winds are down. I haven't burned any fuel oil in about 6 years. I am doing about a 1,400 sq ft, old, uninsulated, single pained windowed farm house. I planed on adding my 30x30 ish pole barn to my heat load in the fall (after insulating). The boiler and possibly the storage will be in the garage.

There are also plans to start remodeling the house, one room at a time, but does not have a start time yet. It will be time and funds dependant, and both those things hindge on my wifes employment status.

I'm looking indoor gasification boilers some where in the $6,000 range, boiler only. It looks like the 45kw, or 150,000 btu range seems like it should fit my needs. I am really liking what I am seeing from the Attack dpx boilers, but I am not sold on anything yet, and would like to have any usefull advice that anyone here has to add. As far as storage, goes, I am looking around. I am a HVAC service tech / pipefitter by trade, and have a couple friends with full blown welding shops, so, I'll make something work. I'm shooting for the 1,000 gallon mark, but I'm not too sharp on the storage concept yet, so I'm open for sugestions there.

So, constant run times of the boiler makes for high efficency rates, and storage allows the boiler to achieve that, correct? And Gasifiers need wood at about 15-20% moisture in the wood to run anywhere near correctly. Other then that, what is going to be different then my OWB? What do I need to know to get the sizing close?

And does anyone have a decent guess at how much all this will cut my wood consumption back ?



Anyways, Sorry for being a little long winded there, and thank you for this forum that you have here, It is a wonderful resource.

 

[rombi]

I am in the same boat with the forest eating OWB, not fun this time of the year when the pile before winter looked like " that will be plenty of wood for this year" turns into , " I don't think I am going to make it".

 

[Coal Reaper]

i have been average about a cord a month since october. i love having my boiler in the barn. yes, i have to go out there to fire it but i keep a winters worth of wood in the barn so it aint all that bad. no matter how clean you think you can be, there will be dust. expect the boiler itself to be close to half of the total install cost if you are doing storage and underground lines as well.

 

[maple1]

So, constant run times of the boiler makes for high efficency rates, and storage allows the boiler to achieve that, correct? And Gasifiers need wood at about 15-20% moisture in the wood to run anywhere near correctly. Other then that, what is going to be different then my OWB? What do I need to know to get the sizing close?
And does anyone have a decent guess at how much all this will cut my wood consumption back ?

Yes - burning wide open until the fuel is gone gets you the best efficiency. Which will require storage to take the heat when the house won't take it all. Which also leads to the biggest change for me in burning practices - making a new fire every day. But I wouldn't go back no how. In this run of weather we've been having the last week or so (-20c at night, -12c highs, calm & sunny but cold), I only have a fire actually burning for 5-6 hours a day, in the evening. The rest of the time the fire is out, and storage is coasting me to the next lighting. At the worst of our winter (those temps and colder, no sun, and wind blowing), the absolute most I will have a fire burning is 12 hours a day. We're in a 20 year old 2700 sq.ft. two storey on an open hilltop. Storage has some side benefits - one of them IMO is taking a lot of the calcs out of trying to size your boiler to your heat load. As long as you have adequate storage, over-sizing a boiler is not much of an issue. You just won't have to burn as much - the storage will cushion the heat output. I'd say you're in the ballpark with 45kw - I wouldn't go smaller. If you can get everything inside, in your basement, you will really optimize your efficiency as all heat lost will go into your house - except for what makes it up your chimney when you're burning. You can also make use of your storage tanks as big radiators, if you want to - mine are in an enclosure that I just crack open on one end a bit if my basement is too cool. Not sure anyone can say how much less wood you will use - but I'm on track for about 6 cord of not the best wood (1/3 of it is windfall spruce, 1/3 white birch) for this colder winter we're in now.

EDIT: Welcome, by the way. I had no idea either until I stumbled on this place from a Google search 3 or so years ago when looking for ideas on replacing my old unit. Been through a lot since then, but some glad now that I went through what I did. A bit ironic - it was a new steel roof on the house and having to get up there & sweep the chimney 3-4 times a year that brought me here, now I don't even have to go up there anymore. Awesome.

 

[cityboy172]

I am in the same boat with the forest eating OWB, not fun this time of the year when the pile before winter looked like " that will be plenty of wood for this year" turns into , " I don't think I am going to make it".

I know the " I'm not going to make it feeling. I've already started harvesting some standing dead wood I was saving for next year.

 

[rombi]

I am pretty good about estimating how many boiler "fill ups" are in a standing dead tree. I bought this boiler about 7 years ago so it has saved me a ton of money over propane so it is what it is.

 

[cityboy172]

i have been average about a cord a month since october. i love having my boiler in the barn. yes, i have to go out there to fire it but i keep a winters worth of wood in the barn so it aint all that bad. no matter how clean you think you can be, there will be dust. expect the boiler itself to be close to half of the total install cost if you are doing storage and underground lines as well.

Yeah, I forgot about lighting it. No big deal. As far as dust and dirt, that's a non issue. The "system" is already there from the central boiler. Should just be the boiler and storage.

 

[velvetfoot]

The idea of opening the door on storage enclosure for a little basement heat is intriguing.

 

[Coal Reaper]

most all of the time i still have enough coals even after 12 hours to get the fire going without a match/torch. even if not, it is really easy and quicker than most would think to light a fire in a gasser. there is a bit of plumbing associated with adding storage and dont forget a loading unit. im sure you know how fittings add up but you can probably get them on the cheap. check out the link in my sig for everything in my setup. i did the labor (except for spray foam) myself and materials ran $12.5k including all the insulation, sheetrock, data/elec runs, temp monitor, and backhoe rental. what sort of temperature drop do you get in your supply line from CB to house?

 

[cityboy172]

most all of the time i still have enough coals even after 12 hours to get the fire going without a match/torch. even if not, it is really easy and quicker than most would think to light a fire in a gasser. there is a bit of plumbing associated with adding storage and dont forget a loading unit. im sure you know how fittings add up but you can probably get them on the cheap. check out the link in my sig for everything in my setup. i did the labor (except for spray foam) myself and materials ran $12.5k including all the insulation, sheetrock, data/elec runs, temp monitor, and backhoe rental. what sort of temperature drop do you get in your supply line from CB to house?

Not sure about my temperature drops. From boiler to house should be minimal. There is only about 30-40' of rehau underground.

 

[flyingcow]

I am pretty good about estimating how many boiler "fill ups" are in a standing dead tree. I bought this boiler about 7 years ago so it has saved me a ton of money over propane so it is what it is.

Good point. Also figuring out when you want to reinvest in a new set up, it helps not having the fuel truck backing in the yard going beep,beep,beep. that's almost as annoying as an alarm clock at 2am. 7yrs old? The OWB still should have some value as a cash sale.

You're already a pipe fitter? perfect. You'll have the costs of materials, maybe even at wholesale price, plus your labor is "free". I prefer the looks of cast iron in a boiler room.

 

[flyingcow]

Get a really good figure on heat loss in the underground.

 

[cityboy172]

Get a really good figure on heat loss in the underground.

Will do, my vans in the shop getting some work done, when I get it back I'll pull a bunch of readings.