Any damage to boiler from burning wet wood

[rschoensta]

What are the consequences of consistently burning improperly seasoned wood in a wood gasification boiler aside from not burning properly.

Will it damage the boiler at all.
Will the interior heat exchanger tubes be covered with creosote and other gunk.
If so can this gunk be cleaned out in the future by clean burning using dry wood or will it need to be cleaned by hand.
If so do all boilers permit access to the areas that need to cleaned.

 

[pybyr]

What are the consequences of consistently burning improperly seasoned wood in a wood gasification boiler aside from not burning properly.

Will it damage the boiler at all.
Will the interior heat exchanger tubes be covered with creosote and other gunk.
If so can this gunk be cleaned out in the future by clean burning using dry wood or will it need to be cleaned by hand.
If so do all boilers permit access to the areas that need to cleaned.

more than a little will depend on your species of wood and your make of gasifier

some species, like ash, are lower in moisture to begin with, and will lose even that moisture relatively rapidly; some boiler makes are apparently more tolerant than others to high moisture or variations in moisture content

most of all, if you are burning wet wood, you are getting a lot less heat than you would with dry wood- much of the energy in the wood is being used to boil out the water, which, unlike other things driven off during gasification, has no net heat given off

 

[Nofossil]

Burning wood that's too wet will cause the same basic problems in any boiler or woodburning appliance: cooler than desired combustion, creosote, condensation, and reduced efficiency.

In a gasifier, it can also affect secondary combustion. With wood that's too moist, you will have a hard time getting secondary combustion started, reducing your expensive gasifier to an expensive conventional boiler.

In addition, the primary combustion chamber is relatively cool in a gasifier. With wood that's too moist, you can get condensation in the primary chamber, which can leak out around the seals and generally make a mess.

I doubt that you'd cause catastrophic and irreversible damage, but you'll burn a lot more wood and perhaps not get the benefits of the gasification boiler's efficiency.

Is there any chnace to put aside most of the wet wood for next year and get some seasoned wood for this year? You have to have dry wood to get it started, and then you can mix some moister logs with seasoned ones and be OK.