Wood Boiler for PEI

[CMAC]

Hello Andrew
This will be my 5th winter with the Harman SF360, not sure if they make it anymore. It is a size larger than the 260. Very happy with it.
I am in MT Herbert, 8 cords per yr heats 1800 sq feet rancher on slab with in floor and detached 2 storey garage 24 x 30.
Just picked up some Anthracite coal today...burning in the boiler as I type.
Thanks
Cory

 

[AndrewPEI]

Hi Cory,

Harman SF260 here. Pretty pleased with it as well, heating roughly the same sq feet minus the garage. What kind of burn times do you get with the 360? I usually get 8-10 hours each load. Where did you get the coal by the way?

 

[CMAC]

Depends on conditions...I let it go out frequently due to slab holding heat for hrs....but 4-6hrs would be normal. Thats why i bought the coal for the cold nights. I have only burned one bag of it so far. It burns quite hot but I think my firebox is too large to take full advantage. A guy is Souris bought a trailer load of 50lb bags (12.50/bag) from Penn state.

 

[Nofossil]

Seems pretty simple to me.... Dry wood is way more efficient for any woodburning appliance, and is virtually a requirement for gasifiers. If you're going to heat with wood, plan on getting at least a year ahead as soon as possible. We're two years ahead now so we just cut and stack four cords each year, replacing what we burned. If you're not able to get ahead (or buy seasoned wood), your wood burning experience will fall far short of ideal. This is true whether you use a top-of-the-line gasifier or a barrel stove.

Gasifiers use a lot less wood to produce the same amount of heat, with virtually no smoke to annoy yourself or your neighbors. They're more expensive and have a learning curve. This site can really help with the learning curve, though. It's a fair question whether the benefits of a gasifier outweigh the cost in any individual situation, but for myself, less wood and happy neighbors makes it an easy choice.

In order to get maximum efficiency, any wood burning appliance needs to burn hot. Idling leads to creosote and smoke. If you're burning wood, you have four broad choices:

1. Load the sucker to the gills and let it idle if there isn't any heat demand. Less work loading and starting fires, but lots of creosote and smoke, and much higher wood consumption.
2. Build a lot of short, hot fires, with the size and interval matched to your heat load.
3. Allow the house temperature to make wider swings in exchange for less frequent fires.
4. Add heat storage. Dump excess heat into storage when burning. Heat the house from storage when not burning.

These are the only choices as I see it, whether you have a gasifier or not. OWBs use option 1. Pellet boilers modulate by in effect automatically doing option 2 to at least a limited extent.

Since people who buy gasifiers are likely interested in maximizing efficiency, a goodly percentage go with option 4. However, adding storage will increase to convenience, comfort, and efficiency of any wood burning system. Even pellet boilers (which can modulate much better than chunk-wood boilers) still work better with storage. Some models require it.

Like a good many things in life, there are tradeoffs. If wood is cheap and funds are limited, a wood stove operated using some blend of options 2 and 3 is a fine choice. A gasifier with storage is the other end of the spectrum. There's no single right answer and one size does not fit all.

 

[Gasifier]

Hi Im currently building a new home , it will be a split entry on a concrete slab, 28x40,, so roughly 1200 sq foot per floor. I will have in floor heating in the slab with 2inch sm Styrofoam under the concrete. The walls will be r35 with the standard r-20 in the walls with 2 inch sm on the outside walls.Ive been looking at several models and am now dizzy with all the info. I was looking at a Harman SF 260 but this is not a gassifier and seems to be a wood hog but far less cheaper then the gassifier units. Which one would be the most efficient wheter it be strictly wood boiler or the gassifier unit. I looked at the empyre elite and wasn't so sure..i looked at the central boiler but have read a lot of negative reviews about their steel walls being to thin and no customer service whatsoever...then I looked at the EKO..any info would be greatly appreciated...Thanks....This will be to heat the home and also hot water supply.

AndrewG. You said you have in floor heating in the slab. How is the heat going to be distributed in the second floor?

 

[andrew goodwin]

Hey Andrew, I'm up in Souris if you want to check out an Empyre Elite. I would suggest you go with something that has storage if your house is going to be that well insulated. Are you wrapping the structure with blue seal? If you are smart with your build, you will have very little heat load due to your insulation and air infiltration measures. A wood boiler with storage will be on the edge of overkill, one without storage would be overkill and frustrating to operate.

The old place I'm in is 2700 sq ft, with a 660 sq ft garage. R12 walls, r52 in the roof system, 12 yr old windows with low e and Argon. We went through 4.5 cords of wood last year, while we were learning to run the gassifier. Once you get on to the system it works great ( as long as you have a load for the heat to go to).

The 3 main points I need to stress are

#1 you can't process wood like your fellow Islanders, you must get ahead of it and burn DRY WOOD
#2 You don't load it up so you don't have to relight the boiler(relighting is no longer a chore because you have DRY WOOD)
#3 Clean your boiler tubes and remove ashes every week( very little ash because you're using DRY WOOD)

Let me know if you want to come up and check it out.

Hi There yes I would like to go and see it if possible,,i was thinking about either that model or the harmon sf260...send me a email at [email protected]..

 

[andrew goodwin]

I have the Harman SF-260 bought new last year from Corrigans. Break in year went pretty good. Thought about getting the Empyre Elite boiler, but after hearing about the issues with them I decided to stick with the Harman, less parts, less maintance, tried and tested design. I burned a little shy of 7 cord last year, with no other heat source at least 1/3 of that was junk wood or dead. Other than cleaning the chimney this fall and emptying the ashes every 7-10 days it has been maintenace free. Small hot fires are key. I never filled the firebox full even on -20c days as to avoid idling as much as possible, although I'm only heating 2,000 sq feet. Putting firebrick on the back half of the unit over the grates has enabled me to have hot coals 12 hours later. Before I did this the unit would be cold after 7-8 hours. I may still upgrade to a gassifier in a few years or so, perhaps when more of the kinks have been worked out.

 

[andrew goodwin]

Hi Andrew How is you system working for u...im thinking about the harmon sf260 or the empire elite....would like to see your wood boiler in action if u don't mind send me a email at [email protected]