Help! Which Brand?

[jaytees820]

I really need some help figuring out what boiler is going to work for my situation. Our home is a split level 2500 sq feet with 3 zones of hot water baseboard. We currently burn wood in an old coal boiler with a fuel oil back up. The boiler is in our basement and the smoke is then piped through a wall and into our mud room and then into a chimney. We want to move the boiler to the mud room to reduce all of this piping and major creosote issue and the daunting task of bringing in wood and then down to the basement. Im getting to old for all this work! lol We have decided we do not want an outside boiler and want a gasifier. so the next decision is what brand?!?! All this reading is driving me crazy. Our current system has a storage tank of about 250 gallons ( this is a guess). I was hoping to only spend about $5000. Is the EKO 40 big enough for the task? Last question: We may eventually pipe the heat to another building about 50 ft from the house and in wishful thinking maybe heat a hot tub. Should we get an over sized unit for the eventual plan of heating other buildings or would it be better to add more storage when that happens?

 

[maple1]

Yes, an Eko 40 would be big enough.

(I think I may have heard concerns or complaints about them re. smoke escape when re-loading, which might be an issue in a basement - maybe others will chime in, I could be off there).

You should add more storage now though, when you put the new boiler in.

 

[Woodman1]

I would not want my eko in my basement due to smoke spillage. As far as size it all depends on the schedule you want to have. Are you going to be home most of the time or away at work during the day. If you are around most of the time probably a 25 would work. If you are only wanting to mess around with the boiler once a day then you will need a large amount of storage and a boiler big enough to recharge it in a relatively short time. Your first step is to determine your homes average heatloss per hour.

 

[ihookem]

I have a 25 and wish I would have went with the 40. I load my EKO 25 3 times a day . Had I spent 500 bucks more for a 40 I would only have to go out 2 times a day. This is my 10th year. I figure I load my stove 3 times a day for at least 100 days in winter. This makes 900 extra trips to the boiler about 100 yds round trip. It's not the walking, it's getting all dressed up for 5 minutes of work. Really wish I would shave went with the 40.

 

[maple1]

As far as brand recommendations, I am bias to Varmebaronen. Sold by Smokeless Heat. They advertise on here, watch for their banner ad. Their Vedo 30 is around $4800 now, the Vedo 37 around $6000. They have inducing fans vs. forced draft so very little if any smoke spillage, and are the easiest to clean on the market. Mine (UB40) is going into winter 7 with no money spent on parts. They will require more storage than you have now though. If you can swing that, they are very good.

 

[Woodman1]

I have a 25 and wish I would have went with the 40. I load my EKO 25 3 times a day . Had I spent 500 bucks more for a 40 I would only have to go out 2 times a day. This is my 10th year. I figure I load my stove 3 times a day for at least 100 days in winter. This makes 900 extra trips to the boiler about 100 yds round trip. It's not the walking, it's getting all dressed up for 5 minutes of work. Really wish I would shave went with the 40.

Yep, I'm really glad I have the output of the 60. I am sure a smaller boiler could work if I was around more but my work/family schedule would not allow it.