Considering an indoor wood boiler...need advice

[curdy]

Hi everyone, brand new to the site here. I enjoy scrounging, cutting, splitting, and burning wood for heat. We're getting ready to buy a farm out towards Harrisburg and I need to get some heating options squared away. I'd like to eventually have an OWB, but I think its a bit out of the budget since we'll be getting started out with a lot if things over the next 2-3 yrs. So I was thinking a used indoor wood boiler may be a nice option.

Currently the house is set up with an oil fired boiler and baseboard radiators. The house is about 85 yrs old and does have old windows. Heated space is about 1000 sq ft, and then the bedrooms over top are about 750 and unheated. There is a 3rd floor that does not have piping to it at this time. The exterior was completly redone with brick and had insulation blown in a couple of years back. The owner was a mason and looks like he did an outstanding job on it. So at least the walls are well insulated The layout of the house and the position of the chimney doesn't work well for a single stove, and I'm not interested in having to tend to multiple stoves. So I figured a boiler was the way to go.

The existing boiler is in the basement and it does have an exterior cellar door to make wood and ash logistics work well. I am currently considering a used Buderus wood/coal boiler that was used for about 3 yrs and then sat in dry storage for 7. The owner told me its rated at 140,000 BTU's, which I'm going to assume is the rating for coal. Still, I think it would work nicely but need some input from you guys. He has it priced at $1250.

Thanks so much for the help!

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

Welcome! From everything I've read that is one of the better conventional boilers & is a fair price. I think the majority of the boilers on here are gasification & something you might want to consider if your budget will allow. OWB, in my humble opinion, just say no. There are a lot of regs coming down the pike & you would be lucky to have the Buderus pass much less a smoke dragon, Randy

 

[curdy]

Thanks, for the warm welcome. Gasifier is outside the budget right now. I'm hopeful that I won't have to deal with regs like that once we are on the farm. Its a big reason we're moving out of where we are now.

Found out the model # of the Buderus is 02-40-6. I couldn't find anything on it. Can this have an oil back up installed on it? Harman was also a brand that was recommended to me.

The existing flu for the oil boiler would be fine to use right?

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

Thanks, for the warm welcome. Gasifier is outside the budget right now. I'm hopeful that I won't have to deal with regs like that once we are on the farm. Its a big reason we're moving out of where we are now.

Found out the model # of the Buderus is 02-40-6. I couldn't find anything on it. Can this have an oil back up installed on it? Harman was also a brand that was recommended to me.

The existing flu for the oil boiler would be fine to use right?

There is one of these on Ebay right now with the specs listed. Is this the one you are talking about? If not you lucked out, info is sometimes hard to find. You can normally neck a 7" boiler down to 6" if that is what your oil boiler was. I don't see why you can't put a gun on this, somewhere. As mentioned Buderus is a very nice boiler & except for a Tarm you probably won't find an equal, Randy

 

[curdy]

I did see that auction and saved it to keep an eye on it a couple of days ago. I didn't realize it was the same model though with being listed as 2.40/6. Makes sense, I just glanced too quick I guess. Thanks goodness the one I'm looking at is much closer to me Any particular Tarm model I should keep an eye out for? Age?

Any suggestions on what I should keep an eye out for when I go to look at the Buderus? Any tests I could do before making the guy and offer?

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

I did see that auction and saved it to keep an eye on it a couple of days ago. I didn't realize it was the same model though with being listed as 2.40/6. Makes sense, I just glanced too quick I guess. Thanks goodness the one I'm looking at is much closer to me Any particular Tarm model I should keep an eye out for? Age?

Any suggestions on what I should keep an eye out for when I go to look at the Buderus? Any tests I could do before making the guy and offer?

You could take an assortment of pipe plugs & bushings & a bicycle pump so you could pump this up to about 10 psi. Most of the Tarms are nice from what owners have reported here. If the Buderus is close you don;t need to look further from what I've heard though, Randy

 

[muncybob]

Welcome curdy!

You'll get lots of help here with your situation. I can say from experience in an older home with old windows that one of the better things I've spent $$ on was installing new windows(they are well sealed!) and insulating our attic floor. Don't know what you currently have, but our windows were the old wood double hung with storm windows. You could see the curtains move on a windy day! Now they only move from the heat rising from our baseboards.

 

[sgrenier35]

If you could get him down to say $500 that wouldn't be a bad deal. I have this boiler and am in my first year with it, so I can't speak for it's performance. But I Install buderus oil and gas heating systems and they are the absolute best systems out there. Having said that search the forum for buderus 02.40 and read what the moderator had to say about the boiler being primarily designed for burning coal, with wood as kind of an after thought. You should be able to find a good used tarm for the $1250 this guy wants. Good luck

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

If you could get him down to say $500 that wouldn't be a bad deal. I have this boiler and am in my first year with it, so I can't speak for it's performance. But I Install buderus oil and gas heating systems and they are the absolute best systems out there. Having said that search the forum for buderus 02.40 and read what the moderator had to say about the boiler being primarily designed for burning coal, with wood as kind of an after thought. You should be able to find a good used tarm for the $1250 this guy wants. Good luck

In the past I've seen similar Buderus boilers bring almost $2000.00 on Ebay. If he can get that for $500.00 he's a better flea market chiseler than I am, lol, Randy

 

[shoeboxlen]

go gasser you will never regret it I promise. I thought it was too much when we put ours in but I have eaten my words ever since. it has made my life so much easier. I plummed my indoor gasser eko 25 in with our oil fired boiler so if the fire goes out the oil will pick up and no risk of freeze up. also as a benefit I dont have to freeze my butt off to load the stove. as well as all the resdiual heat stays in the house dont waste those BTUs

 

[bigbobs]

Is the Buderus boiler a cast iron boiler? It may be similar to my Tasso, a 1979 model, Type 1310, 162,000 BTU. I think Buderus bought what was left of Tasso at some point in time. I would think that a cast iron boiler would be better than a steel boiler, such as the Tarm, especially at the age I think it is. Probably an early 80's vintage.

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

That's a horse apiece Bigbobs, cast iron can take a lot of abuse, it is subject to cracking & the sections leaking. The Tarm is made from Swedish/Danish plate & there is no better steel that I have heard of. Steel non gassers also do not have the plate degrading issues that gassers have. Did you get your Tasso off Ebay? I saw a couple of those on there. Looked like a nice boiler, Randy

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

If yer price conscious, try these guys:

http://www.google.com/products/cata...og_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDgQ8wIwAQ#

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

Thats a nice one alright! Probably be 5 times the interest in that as my Atmos had, Randy

 

[curdy]

Well, we officially bought the farm. Lots of work to do there. Looks like several windows will need replacing sooner than I thought. I did go look at the Buderus on the way home. Looked pretty good. Still trying to decide if I should try to figure out a way to get the $ for a gasifier, or if I should use the Buderus for a couple of seasons while we fix everything else up. Money could be a little extra tight for a couple of years and some extra effort to burn more wood might be a better option than the cost a gasifier would set me back.

Anyone have some input to some expectations on how much wood we could go through and how often we would have to tend the boiler? We keep the thermostats pretty low, usually around 65. That of course is when we had a wood stove going on one level that would give people a place to go warm up extra if they wanted.

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

I know I like my gasser a lot & would certainly advise buying one. That said, you would probably want to run without storage as this is going to run the cost up. You cannot run without inlet temperature protection on a gasser without lessening it's life. So, my opinion, buy the Buderus for now. You are not going to lose when you resell & might even make some money. The Buderous will tolerate idling better than a gasser. You are going to want dry wood with any of them, the worst part with the Buderus is you will need to watch your chimney for creosote, I still think this is the way to go for you though, Randy

 

[curdy]

I know I like my gasser a lot & would certainly advise buying one. That said, you would probably want to run without storage as this is going to run the cost up. You cannot run without inlet temperature protection on a gasser without lessening it's life. So, my opinion, buy the Buderus for now. You are not going to lose when you resell & might even make some money. The Buderous will tolerate idling better than a gasser. You are going to want dry wood with any of them, the worst part with the Buderus is you will need to watch your chimney for creosote, I still think this is the way to go for you though, Randy

Thanks, that's along the lines of what I was thinking too. Any thoughts on how much wood we're going to go through and the burn times?

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

A bunch! lol. Sorry I can't nail it down better than that. As for burn times I would caution against continuously trying to stretch these out(some idling ok), that could turn into a real creosote problem There are some very knowlegeable people on here that will hopefully chime in soon, Randy

 

[Willman]

Any thoughts on how much wood we’re going to go through and the burn times?

No one could really say what your actual wood consumption would be let alone burn times as they are all different depending on house and T stat setting.

See if you can find out from previous owner about their past oil consumption. Or find out who they bought their oil from (tank fill might have their name on bracelet) and call them for a history for the last couple of years. Then you can get an idea of what you would need to convert to wood. Not really knowing what they set Tstat on doesn't help though. All woods have differing btu contents. Wood also has to be @ a low enough MC to make it worthwhile to even burn.

Fuel consumption is a direct relation to the actual heat loss of building at design temperature. Do a HL calc and check it with past oil usage.

Better get out and scout out a bunch of standing dead wood and get it in the shed asap. Wimters coming

Will