Thinking Wood Gun...any advice or experience?

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My condolances on not getting the Tarm. The Wood Gun also seems like a nice unit.

On another note, your fuel tanks might last forever, but maybe your fuel won't. I've read of micobiological fouling that can occur. I think there's a biocide for that.

Are your emitters baseboards? Does that factor into any of this, like the higher temps they might like when it gets real cold out?

Oil will grow microbes if you keep it forever. I will run my tractor from my fuel tanks to keep things "flowing" a bit. Worst case, treat with a biocide.

My emitters are baseboards. That is one of my main reasons for liking the WG. It is designed around normal boiler functioning keeping temps up where my radiators will be happy.

ac
 
I'll let you convince my wife the cats and dog get to be in the house at 50F :).

I have no intent of using oil or wood to make hot water in the summer. I am plumbing in an electric hot water heater for use during the non-heating season. My tanks are in my basement. Should be essentially good "for life".

I have no desires to start fires and have a hot basement below my living space I am paying to air condition.

ac

OK - I was thinking the house would be empty. Even then if it would take a while to recover, likely not the best.

The Wood Gun is sounding good.
 
Does the WG have a control to shut off the draft fan if the wood fire goes out? In other words, does it look for stack temp or shut off if water temp drops below a certain threshold?

ac

If you go with the WG remember to ask for that plug and also get the low temp shut off aquastat. This will shut down the fan and close the air intake at a certain low temp. The temps it runs on are not stack, it is the water temp. Another option I would suggest is the cycle timer, this will help in shoulder season by "restatrting" the fire for short periods of time at regular intervals so the coals stay hot and are aviable to you when your thermostats call for heat. These 3 items are options and unless you ask for them they will not be included. I was not even aware of the low temp and plug when I got mine.
 
725 gals of oil tanks? FWIW- I was using about 1000 gals of oil a yr before I switched to what i have now. I am still hooked up to oil, only as a backup. I might use 30 gals of oil a yr now? Curious, how much oil did you burn in a yr before? I also have a tractor, but don't use it much more than 125 hours a yr. Might burn 200 gals of fuel through that.

since you didn't ask me, i'll throw another idea out there. How about a propane/nat gas tankless heater as back up? Would it satisfy your heat load retirements? If it does, this would be a nice source of DHW in the summer also.

You just need to give a few of us one of your credit cards and a few beers in the frig(or at least a good coffee pot) , we'll get you set up.:)
 
If you go with the WG remember to ask for that plug and also get the low temp shut off aquastat. This will shut down the fan and close the air intake at a certain low temp. The temps it runs on are not stack, it is the water temp. Another option I would suggest is the cycle timer, this will help in shoulder season by "restatrting" the fire for short periods of time at regular intervals so the coals stay hot and are aviable to you when your thermostats call for heat. These 3 items are options and unless you ask for them they will not be included. I was not even aware of the low temp and plug when I got mine.

Does the low temp aquastat ADD an aquastat, or simply replace the high only aquastat?
Sounds like settings would be:
High: 190F
Differential: 10F
Overtemp: 210F
Low: 170F
Would that make sense?

I am well aware of the cycle timer and plan on installing one. I spoke to WG and Ben suggested I install my own to save a few bucks. Seems easy enough and a no-brainer.

Definitely going to ask about the oil burner plug. Is it easy to remove/install? I hope I dont have to pull the oil burner on/off.

ac
 
Does the low temp aquastat ADD an aquastat, or simply replace the high only aquastat?
Sounds like settings would be:
High: 190F
Differential: 10F
Overtemp: 210F
Low: 170F
Would that make sense?

I am well aware of the cycle timer and plan on installing one. I spoke to WG and Ben suggested I install my own to save a few bucks. Seems easy enough and a no-brainer.

Definitely going to ask about the oil burner plug. Is it easy to remove/install? I hope I dont have to pull the oil burner on/off.

ac

I believe the low temp is a replacement, ask WG about it. The plug is inside the bottom front door, very easy access.
 
725 gals of oil tanks? FWIW- I was using about 1000 gals of oil a yr before I switched to what i have now. I am still hooked up to oil, only as a backup. I might use 30 gals of oil a yr now? Curious, how much oil did you burn in a yr before? I also have a tractor, but don't use it much more than 125 hours a yr. Might burn 200 gals of fuel through that.

since you didn't ask me, i'll throw another idea out there. How about a propane/nat gas tankless heater as back up? Would it satisfy your heat load retirements? If it does, this would be a nice source of DHW in the summer also.

You just need to give a few of us one of your credit cards and a few beers in the frig(or at least a good coffee pot) , we'll get you set up.:)

Last year I used ~750 gallons of heating oil. It was a mild winter and the house was FREEZING cold. Literally 64F only in the zone we were in. We kept the wood stove rocking, but due to the house layout that only helps 1 zone. Family dynamics are changing, I need a WARM house in more than 1 room.

I would LOVE natural gas. I am not interested in propane. I had a 100 gallon tank for heating my workshop. Nothing but nightmares in my area. I would get quotes for propane from $3 to $7 per gallon. Plus having to rent the tank, or buy one. Having to look at the tank in my nice backyard. No thanks, not interested. My oil is in the basement and I never really have to see it. Plus I can shop the price and at least pay a competitive market rate.

I have 2 275 tanks in the basement and a skid 275. I pull the tractor out of the 275 usually. If I run out of heating oil in the winter I would pump the skid into the 550 in the basement to burn oil bought in the summer cheaper than the winter rate. Refill everything in summer. That will probably change to just refilling the 275 skid in the summer when I am using oil as a backup.

ac
 
It's interesting to hear what others expierence with LP is. It used to (like two years ago) be like you say ac, but now we have some competition in the propane market and things have come to the point I'd consider LP. I had two 100 gal tnaks for an on-demand, dryer, and range. The price was anywhere from 125% to 150% of oil, and only 2/3 the btu content. It really ticked me off, as it is the cheapest fuel for the company to buy. I switched to oil as my water heating fuel (summer only) and now wish I'd kept the propane. Sold the on-demand, and bought the Toyo on CL, free oil tank still is half full from two years ago. But I hear ya with oil, you can shop around, but now that we can with pro-PAIN, it's way cheaper than oil.

TS
 
A true point with propane, but it's still a backup, usually dependable.No big volume as back up.

Another direction....these mini split units are sweet units. Even with the high cost of electricity up here in Maine they are selling quite a few units.
 
I simply can't wrap my head around abandoning what I already have in place to go out and replace it with something else.

No way on Earth running electricity or propane in my area will be cheaper than running oil. Especially with them starting $2000-$4000 in the whole from buying a boiler and setting it all up.

ac
 
Don't forget to get the exhaust hood! Sounds like your going to Chambersburg? Why not bring an empty pickup and just haul it home with you?
 
2 Reasons:
1. They have a 3-4 week back log right now.
2. PA sales tax is more than shipping!

ac
The tax/shipping deal worked out the same for me too. But seriously, check out the smoke hood.
 
The tax/shipping deal worked out the same for me too. But seriously, check out the smoke hood.

I plan on going over EVERY option with them. When I spoke to Ben he was adamant that the smoke hood was unnecessary when run properly, but I have read that it is absolutely required in real life.

I WISH someone would post real life videos on You Tube!

ac
 
I plan on going over EVERY option with them. When I spoke to Ben he was adamant that the smoke hood was unnecessary when run properly, but I have read that it is absolutely required in real life.

I WISH someone would post real life videos on You Tube!

ac

I don't have any experience with woodgun but after being around here awhile it seems they want tend to tell people all they need is the boiler. They say things like storage, smoke hoods and timers are only necessary if you don't go with their one of a kind super boiler to keep the initial cost down.

In real life most people realize they did need the "options"
 
I don't have any experience with woodgun but after being around here awhile it seems they want tend to tell people all they need is the boiler. They say things like storage, smoke hoods and timers are only necessary if you don't go with their one of a kind super boiler to keep the initial cost down.

In real life most people realize they did need the "options"

Ben seemed more up front than that. He didn't seem like he down-played the options to keep the cost down. He told me flat out in NJ that I would need the cycle timer. He also discussed options for adding the oil backup and using the oil gun from my current boiler. Most salesman PUSH options, since each one has profit in it.

ac
 
I'm not sure if AHS had the current options available to me when I bought our boiler other than the smoke hood & timer, although I'm sure the low temp aquastat was something I could have bought on my own but I just didn't think of it until after the install was complete. At the time of purchase Ben said to go w/o the hood and just see how it runs. The hood is not a must have item but it should help a lot with the minimal amount of smoke that escapes at loading if the box is not down to just hot coals. I just installed the hood this year so this will be our 1st winter with it. If you have the $$, I agree...get all the options available as you will likely get them further down the road anyway.
 
I'm not sure if AHS had the current options available to me when I bought our boiler other than the smoke hood & timer, although I'm sure the low temp aquastat was something I could have bought on my own but I just didn't think of it until after the install was complete. At the time of purchase Ben said to go w/o the hood and just see how it runs. The hood is not a must have item but it should help a lot with the minimal amount of smoke that escapes at loading if the box is not down to just hot coals. I just installed the hood this year so this will be our 1st winter with it. If you have the $$, I agree...get all the options available as you will likely get them further down the road anyway.

The only thing I am NOT considering is the domestic coil. I have an indirect water heater setup currently and Ben said that would be ideal over the coil. Agreed?

ac
 
The only thing I am NOT considering is the domestic coil. I have an indirect water heater setup currently and Ben said that would be ideal over the coil. Agreed?

ac
I did the same thing. My indirect was already set up as a zone of my system. I left it alone. It's a call for heat just like any other zone.
 
I went and visited Ben today at AHS. It took me ~3 hours to get there on the bike and the weather was favorable so it was a good excuse to skip work for the day.

We spoke for close to an hour going over the different features of the units. We spoke a bunch about maintenance and operation. I was very impressed with the knowledge he had, I could tell he owns and runs one.

I can confirm a few things:
- There is a low limit on the aquastat so the fan won't blow if the water temp goes below a set point.
- There is a separate oil chamber. It is basically a tube in the water bath the oil burner fires into. The oil heat must then pass through the front and find its way through the exhaust. There is a plug for this chamber when firing on wood ONLY so the oil burner doesn't see fly ash and get fouled.
- All of the boilers come with the DHW coil port, so one could be added at a later date if my indirect crashes and burns.
- I was very impressed with the quality. All of the welds look first rate and the units are very impressive.
- I REALLY like that all of the maintenance items are simple and can be found locally. All of the aquastats are Honeywell. The draft motor (all are direct drive now) is Baldor.
- There is a bearing on the door handles to allow them to close and seal easily, nice detail.
- Nozzle bricks need to be replaced ~3 years, whole refractory should be good for 15+.

I put a deposit on an E180 with the oil burner tube installed. I plan to do my own controls/wiring for the oil side as I don't want it to be an automatic backup at the moment. I also plan to wire in my own cycle timer.

ac
 
This will be interesting to see how it all goes avc.

TS
 
Wow! Thats great. I cant believe you will get it so fast.

I think it's great. But have nothing to compare it to.o_O

I dont' think anyone asked this question, but why not leave your current oil system as a back up. Then you wont have the expense of the oil gun.
I have my existing oil tied into a primary/secondary loop.

I am also concerned about the plug. If for what ever reason the wood doesn't light and the unit drops below the low temp and the oil tries to come on you may have a problem with that plug in. even while being home I had the oil kick on just because of something dumb like the wood bridging or the wood not reigniting. Something to think about.

REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE
1. get the low temp shut off or do it yourself Its easy just need a dual aqua stat and a light switch.
2. get the cycle timer ( i don't have one and want to add it)
3. ** get the smoke hood** an absolute must!! I have mine in the garage and the ceiling is black and the placed filled with smoke many times.
chalk it up to inexperience if you want but I say spend the $350 ( just bought one for this season)
4. Set the unit up on something 12" high its makes the fire box at a nice loading height. (i'm 5' 11")
5. get the Danfoss return water temp protection valve.

I will be shooting a video soon to prove to all the non believers that it does shut off the fire!!

The fan shuts off, the air valve closes and the fire goes out. period!
No oxygen = No fire. very simple.
 
so what is a good guesstimate on the price with all the fixins for a wg 100??
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