Burning Spruce in my Gasifier?

[James Reimer]

Hi all,
It's getting to be wood cutting season again and I have been given access to a stand of Colorado spruce. What are your thoughts on burning this in the Portage and Main Optimizer 250? Does spruce coal well for good gasifier performance? Will the tars and sap cause problems in the heat exchanger tubes?
Thanks!
James.

 

[hobbyheater]

The wood that you are about to cut and split . Do you plan on burning it this season or next?

 

[James Reimer]

I would be sure to season it a year or two first. I wouldn't be burning it wet.

 

[JP11]

I burned hemlock in mine last year. Not the best (coaled up a bunch, bulky in the upper chamber, and needed a bit more tending than I liked)

Other than that.. It's DRY.. it's FREE.. It'll burn fine!

 

[hiker88]

If it is seasoned I would try it.

I burn any and every kind of wood I've been able to get my hands on.

 

[skfire]

I burned hemlock in mine last year. Not the best (coaled up a bunch, bulky in the upper chamber, and needed a bit more tending than I liked)

Other than that.. It's DRY.. it's FREE.. It'll burn fine!

I agree and had the same experience with 2.5 year dry hemlock, ultra fast burn, huge coal stacks in the upper chamber. I literally have tons of hemlock(I am surrounded by 100footers..whole forest) so I use it, but do not count on it in dead of winter, use in shoulder seasons.

But like it says above: DRY & FREE, GOOD FUEL

 

[mikefrommaine]

Pretty much all I burn is pine/spruce/hemlock/cedar etc. It all burns fine. But I do batch burning with 1000 gallons of storage. Not sure if it would go as well if the boiler was ever idleing.

 

[begreen]

Is this high altitude spruce? If so it should be very good fuel. It grows a lot slower and denser than low altitude spruce.

 

[maple1]

I cut up a whole pile of spruce blowdowns a couple of months ago because I was behind in my wood pile for this season - have no doubts it will give me lots of heat. I'll just need more of it that I would if using dry hardwood. Did burn a bit of it scattered through my pile last year - no problems. As long as it is dry, these things will burn any kind of wood. I think.