Hey all. Sorry for what will probably end up being a long post. New boiler owner here but I’ve been watching and reading this board for a while and thought I’d join in. I’ve gotten a lot of good information from here in the past and hope to add a bit when I can. Thanks for the help you all have given me without even knowing it!
I’ve been burning wood to heat my house for six or seven years now in an old Vermont Castings Vigilant stove. We average about 6-cord a year cut on our own land. It’s been great and has heated the house perfectly well even on the coldest nights and I’m almost sorry to pull it out of service. We have HWBB heat as well as an indirect-fired water store fired by a propane Weil-Mclain boiler so I’ve been wanting a wood boiler for a while now. I’d cringe every time the hot water was running and having more even and controllable heat would be a bonus.
I started doing some research, talked to owners of different brands and models and even went to visit the Tarm distributor in New Hampshire before settling on an AHS Woodgun E100ss. A good friend of mine is a plumber and was looking into them too so we struck a deal with AHS and headed down to Chambersburg. Last week we brought home my E100ss and he bought an E180. Mine was a simple installation and was done in a couple nights after work. It’s been up and running since Thursday. Though not demanding a lot of heat yet it’s a nice feeling heating the DHW with it and with the cycle timer it takes care of itself. I have a feeling I’m going to like this boiler.
My buddy’s is being installed in a barn about 100-feet from the house and is a little more difficult. We spent Saturday jack-hammering part of the old floor out for a pad and digging a 3’-deep, 100’-long trench for the insulated pex. (It’s his backhoe so you know who was in the ditch with a shovel!) With any luck he’ll be up and running this weekend.
And on a related note, between ordering and picking up this Woodgun, another friend of mine bought an old Austin Healy GT3000 MKII from a very nice older guy in town and he asked me to help him move it after work one night (I have a roll-back truck). This Austin was in the back of an old barn and I got to poking around (like I do) when I noticed a couple pallets of bagged coal in the corner. “What’s that coal for” I asked the owner of the barn. “Eh, it’s for a coal furnace I bought a while back.….Why?” he asked. “Well, I’m kinda into alternative heat and am installing a wood furnace in my house”. “Come here” he said and led me to his basement. Inside he showed me a brand new S130 Coalgun still sitting on the pallet and six more tons of coal. “Wow, that’s nice.” “Yup….you want it?” “Um, ah, what do you mean?” “I bought it five years ago and I never got around to installing it. I’m spending winters in Florida now and I’d rather see someone use it than see it sit here. If you want it, it’s yours.” “Well, I could heat my barn with it?” “Great, take it. And take this 8-tons of coal too. And this stainless storage tank.” So I’m going back this Saturday with a couple trucks and a tractor with a forklift to bring home my new Coalgun. Sometimes I think I’m the luckiest guy in the world!
Anyway, that’s my story of diving into the deep-end of the wood and coal boiler world. I’ll take some pictures of my installation of the Woodgun and when I’m picking up the Coalgun…Seems you guys like pictures!
I’ve been burning wood to heat my house for six or seven years now in an old Vermont Castings Vigilant stove. We average about 6-cord a year cut on our own land. It’s been great and has heated the house perfectly well even on the coldest nights and I’m almost sorry to pull it out of service. We have HWBB heat as well as an indirect-fired water store fired by a propane Weil-Mclain boiler so I’ve been wanting a wood boiler for a while now. I’d cringe every time the hot water was running and having more even and controllable heat would be a bonus.
I started doing some research, talked to owners of different brands and models and even went to visit the Tarm distributor in New Hampshire before settling on an AHS Woodgun E100ss. A good friend of mine is a plumber and was looking into them too so we struck a deal with AHS and headed down to Chambersburg. Last week we brought home my E100ss and he bought an E180. Mine was a simple installation and was done in a couple nights after work. It’s been up and running since Thursday. Though not demanding a lot of heat yet it’s a nice feeling heating the DHW with it and with the cycle timer it takes care of itself. I have a feeling I’m going to like this boiler.
My buddy’s is being installed in a barn about 100-feet from the house and is a little more difficult. We spent Saturday jack-hammering part of the old floor out for a pad and digging a 3’-deep, 100’-long trench for the insulated pex. (It’s his backhoe so you know who was in the ditch with a shovel!) With any luck he’ll be up and running this weekend.
And on a related note, between ordering and picking up this Woodgun, another friend of mine bought an old Austin Healy GT3000 MKII from a very nice older guy in town and he asked me to help him move it after work one night (I have a roll-back truck). This Austin was in the back of an old barn and I got to poking around (like I do) when I noticed a couple pallets of bagged coal in the corner. “What’s that coal for” I asked the owner of the barn. “Eh, it’s for a coal furnace I bought a while back.….Why?” he asked. “Well, I’m kinda into alternative heat and am installing a wood furnace in my house”. “Come here” he said and led me to his basement. Inside he showed me a brand new S130 Coalgun still sitting on the pallet and six more tons of coal. “Wow, that’s nice.” “Yup….you want it?” “Um, ah, what do you mean?” “I bought it five years ago and I never got around to installing it. I’m spending winters in Florida now and I’d rather see someone use it than see it sit here. If you want it, it’s yours.” “Well, I could heat my barn with it?” “Great, take it. And take this 8-tons of coal too. And this stainless storage tank.” So I’m going back this Saturday with a couple trucks and a tractor with a forklift to bring home my new Coalgun. Sometimes I think I’m the luckiest guy in the world!
Anyway, that’s my story of diving into the deep-end of the wood and coal boiler world. I’ll take some pictures of my installation of the Woodgun and when I’m picking up the Coalgun…Seems you guys like pictures!