Hi all. First of all, thank you for this fantastic resource and everyone's input!
After doing a ton of reading here, I installed a Biomass combo 40 with 500 gal storage last month. So far, it has met every expectation and seems to be running great. I don't have the oil hooked up yet, only plan to use that if i am on vacation anyway. I'll get a round-to-it.
3000 sf house with so so insulation and standard baseboard radiators. Relined the chimney with a 6" SS liner and poured in insulation. That including breaking out the old tile liner. It's been quite the DIY project, not for the faint of heart!
We've been heating with wood for years and replaced a relic from the 70's that was basically a short barrel turned sideways with a water jacket, no storage. That supplemented a standard oil boiler, though we only used 75 gallons of oil per year on the coldest of days. I used to just run the oil alone and it would not be uncommon to use 1200-1500 gallons in a season. The old wood burner had a voracious appetite! I think we are using between 1/3 and 1/2 the wood we did before while keeping the house warmer and only burning 5 hours per day this time of year.
I do have a couple questions from this thread. Someone mentioned trying a steel plate on top of the nozzle to help protect it from erosion. Did that help? I can see some rounding of the corners already on mine.
Any report from the Oxygen sensor in the flue idea?
I am also interested in a flue temp setup, but not impressed with the cheap looking sheet metal gauges. Anyone have some ideas on a digital setup?
I can already see I would like to have more storage and also want to install some sort of domestic hot water heat exchanger. Upgrades for next season most likely.