Anyone Ever heard of Energy-Tech Wood Boiler??

[donnieo]

I am trying to get more information on this boiler. I have the picture and can see Energy-Tech on the front door but there are no other markings other than the "ECTC" with Eau Claire, Wi. I assume that is where the manufacturer was. I spoke with Energy King and they said they believe they are no longer in business. Thanks in advance!!

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

This sure looks a lot like my old Energy Mate boiler made in Tomah Wis. Do you have a forced draft fan on the front, I can't tell from the pic. Is the area above the grate V shaped? Randy

 

[donnieo]

I posted an additional pic of the front draft fan. I thought that the Energy Mate and Energy Tech names on the fron looked similar. I was going to buy this unit and lost it to someone else. Needless to say it is a moot point now. I am trying to find a used indoor boiler to setup at my house. Been looking for a couple years. I just cant spend 5-8k on a new one. I've got about $2-2.5k. They are just hard to find. Any ideas on where to get a hold of one??

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

Hi Donnieo; You won't get a gassifier for the 2.5k. My suggestion would be Ebay. There is a guy in NH I believe that never seems to run out of used Tarms. They go for about $1200 + shipping. Out east these boilers are all over, as you said they are hard to find in Wis. If you are not willing to pay the shipping I think you will have a hard time finding something. You can get a brand new Biasi 3 Wood for about $3000.00 delivered to your door(nearby business). These are well made cast iron sectionals. You will want to run storage with these so you can run it flat out. If you try to idle one of these non gassers you will have creosote like you won't believe. The inside of my chimney looked like it was lined with black tile with my Energy Mate. My Atmos was cheap about 4 to 5 months ago. The exchage rate isn't what it was & they are much more expensive now. My suggestion for you would be a good quality used boiler from Ebay run into a 500 gallon propane tank. I think thats the most bang for the buck, Randy

 

[donnieo]

Randy, Thanks for all the info!! I have been in my home for 7 years and when I moved in I was thrilled to see a wood stove. The problem was the stove was an old Franklin that was not safe. When the first fall came around I put in a 2000sq ft Menards wood stove for $500. My bro is a HVAC guy so he got me some stainless 6" pipe and we lined the 25' external masonary chimney with it. I ended up having draft problems and tons of backsmoke for the first year and then got into a Tjerland draft inducer the 2nd year and all of my problems went away. I have been hooked on wood since and burn about 3-4 cords a year. I have a 2100 sq ft tri-level and luckily the wood stove and family room are on the lowest level. I have cut a few holes in the floor to get some of the heat upstairs but it just isnt enough. I have to get that family room at 90 degrees on the cold days and still cant get the upstairs truly comfortable. I have a Weil-Mclain gas boiler and cast iron baseboard heat throughout the house. I have the perfect setup for an indoor boiler. I have two external 25' chimneys that are about 8' apart (one for the gas boiler and one for my wood stove - which would change to the indoor wood boiler) I have a window to the basement between the two chimneys that goes right to the gas boiler and the piping for the baseboard heat. I am going to build a lean-to off the side of the house and put the indoor wood boiler there. My brother told me that him and I could have that thing up and runnng in no time if I could just get my hands on a wood boiler. I screwed up and waited too long on this Energy-Tech. I dont necessarily have to have a gasification boiler although I know it would probably be the best. I have more than enough money to buy one right now but I would like to learn more before I drop $5-8k on one. I learned so much with my stove and I want to find out what works for my situation. I know that everyones situation is different. Like you said about the creosote buildup on your chimney. I dont have a storage tank but would love to learn more about them so I can understand it. I have no problem getting my hands on wood so quantity is not an issue but I dont want one of those smoking/smoldering Outdoor wood burners. I know that is fine for some and I have nothing against them. But if I can get 10-12 cords piled up and have that to heat my home for 2 years rather than 1 and not have tons of smoke why wouldnt I try to get an indoor wood boiler or gasification unit?? Any additional thoughts now that you know my whole wood burning story!! (lol) I know I am a newby but I'm hooked and ready for the next step!! Also saw you were in Milwaukee area. I am west of Kenosha in Paddock Lake area.

 

[sdrobertson]

To burn solid fuel (wood) efficiently, it needs to be a hot, sustained burn. Any wood appliance that shuts down to a idle will loose efficiency. The idea with storage is that it will give you a place to put the extra btu's the boiler will produce as normally the wood boiler will produce more btu's than your heat load will call for. Without storage, the heat load will get satisfied and you will have no place to put the extra btu's. You can size your storage to what you would like your burning to be. Most people size their storage to be able to burn one or two loads a day, let the fire burn out and then the heat load will be carried by the storage until you start another fire. The sizing depends on if you need to go thorough the night (no getting up at 3:00 in the morning to reload to get you through the night), or to my extreme several days. You need to first know your heat load as this will tell you how many BTU's your house will need. This will tell you what size boiler you'll need and then you can size the storage accordingly. With enough storage, you can oversize the boiler (up to a point) as you will have enough room to store BTU's. Its easiest to think of storage as a battery....you charge the battery by burning the boiler, and then you live off the heat stored in the tanks for heat while you do not have a fire burning. When sizing storage, remember that no matter how much insulation you put around it you will still loose a small amount of heat, so if possible, storage in the dwelling that your heating means that this loss is into the house. Do a search and you'll come up with several ways to find out how much your heat load is as there is several free programs available but I don't remember them at this time.

You're in the right spot with this forum to figure this out. Good luck with your search, and be careful, as this will become addicting and also save you a bunch of oil!

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

Hi Again; You are welcome to look at my Atmos that isn't installed yet. There are other deals on gasifiers & you might want to consider an EKO as these are great boilers also & the smoke smell from some wouldn't be an issue with your lean-to. There are deals on Atmos from CGH & others. The Atmos does not have the best heat exchanger, they needed to cut corners somewhere on this inexpensive boiler & this is where it was. There are no fire tubes on the Atmos. You do not want a smoke dragon in Wisconsin, they are being outlawed in more & more places. The 2 to 2.5k will buy a nice boiler off Ebay as mentioned with money for storage etc. I don't think this Energy Tech was any great loss. If it was like my Energy Mate it was a 50 percent efficiant boiler as advertised in their own literature. I guess you have a choice of doing it right with a gasser or doing it halfway with a non gasser. You are going to need to run storage either way with pressurized much prefered. I'm far from the expert that many others are on this forum, I haven't been a member that long. Hopefully someone like Nofossil will step in. If you want to look at the Atmos PM me & we can set something up. I do not believe that starting with a non gasser is going to allow you to learn any more than just how to operate this unit. It's a matter of money, do you want to spend it or not. On the plus side for a non gasser is that if you buy a good quality used one you can take it out & sell it for close to what you paid for it in Wisconsin. A gasser is a lot of money untill you look at your winter heating bills in Wisconsin, Randy

 

[donnieo]

Thanks again for all of the info. I never really thought about the storage tank idea before. I have heard others talk about them but never really understood why, now I do. Now comes the big questions:

#1 would be that I have a very small basement area that is about maybe 12x12. I really dont have much room for a storage tank(s) although it sounds like I will have to make room for something somewhere. Obviously these storage tanks you guys are talking about must be relatively small unless you have them outside the house, otherwise you wouldnt be able to get them through doors and into the house. Or would putting a larger tank in the same lean-to with the boiler off of my house be a better idea? I know I wouldnt get the residual heat.
#2 would be where do you guys get these storage tanks? It sounded like Singed Eyebrows (Randy) suggested using a 500 gallon propane tank. That would be fine with me but I guess I dont know where I would get a hold of something like that.

Forgive me if I am asking stupid questions about all of this. I really consider myself a newby to this wood boiler stuff but really am eager to learn. I feel I am somewhat of a veteran with my wood stove but this is a totally different animal. I love the smell of wood burning from my stove in the winter. That smell means money is staying in my pocket and not going to the gas company. I like the idea "sdrobertson" had of only filling up the boiler once or twice a day too. If that is something that can be done then I am in!! How much wood do you guys go through in a heating season??

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

I suggested the 500 gallon tank to save on install cost. Check scrap yards near you. You can get a large tank custom made from IPW(in Wisconsin) & put this in your lean-to. With fittings welded in & paint etc figure about $1000.00 The tank would be about 700 gallons for this money. You will also need a decent size expansion tank & these are not cheap. Keep reading the forums here & you will get a lot of great info., Randy

 

[Gooserider]

Welcome to the forums, and certainly you are asking a lot of the right questions...

You might benefit a lot from reading some of the past threads, and some of the members personal sites - I'd especially reccomend NoFossil's site as he has done a really great job of going through a lot of the issues that one should consider when designing a boiler system, and the pros and cons of the various choices. His site will answer a lot of your "beginner questions"

From what you've said so far, I'd suggest doing a gasser with two stacked 500g propane tanks for storage in your lean-to (Seems about 1,000 gallons is what most folks end up with for storage) These can generally be found 2nd hand for not unreasonable sums, ditto the industrial racking to stack them on. If practical, it might also be good to incorporate some space for wood storage in the structure as well.

Do you have a current heat loss evaluation on your house? That will be very useful.

One thing you will find is that baseboard heat tends to need higher water temperatures to operate than some of the other types of hydronic heating - this will mean you'll get somewhat less use out of the storage, unless you do other things to compensate, such as possibly adding more baseboard and / or other heating methods like cast iron radiators or in-floor radiant...

As a side note, I noticed you mentioning exterior chimneys - there are several downsides to external chimneys, including draft issues... I would suggest insulating the chimney liner, and using a bottom blockoff plate to improve your stove performance while putting in your boiler setup.

Lastly, in the rush to install a boiler, don't forget to work on improving the airsealing and insulation in your house - dollars spent on that will return much more benefit than money spent on boilers, much fun as they might be...


Gooserider

 

[Eric Johnson]

I would second looking into getting a new cast iron boiler mentioned in a previous post, if cost is a big issue. Used boilers are a crap shoot; you really can't tell from looking at whether corrosion is a problem.