Gasifier or conventional for dirty pine?

[Mitch323]

Hi I’m new here. I bought a 3000sq ft house last year with an oil furnace and an old wood master boiler (25 years old) and the first month it started leaking everywhere, it’s totally rotted out. After heating with oil for a year I’m looking to get a new boiler lol. My question is I have a 110 acre forest on the property that is mostly dead standing pine trees and swamp birch. I was looking at getting a heat master g200 but worried that it won’t like the dirty wood. Would I be better off with a conventional?

 

[salecker]

Pine isn't dirty wood.
Gassifiers need dry wood,once pine is dry it is like any other wood,usable.
You may have to make a few adjustments.I have an Econoburn that was designed for hardwood.All i have to burn is spruce.I have made adjustments to the air and size of my splits over the years to try and capture all the BTU's that are released quickly by the spruce. I am slowly lowering my stack temps with bigger splits and less air.

 

[maple1]

What do you mean by dirty? Dry it and it will burn ok.

 

[Mitch323]

What do you mean by dirty? Dry it and it will burn ok.

I just mean the forest is all wetlands and by the time I drag the trees out they’re covered in moss and mud.

 

[Mitch323]

The 100 acres of my property that is forest is like this. The forest was logged at some point and all the hardwood was taken.

 

[hobbyheater]

I would go with the gasification boiler . Get a trailer you can pull behind your quad and buck your logs into rounds where they fall you will save yourself a fortune in chain and frustration

 

[brenndatomu]

After the wood is cut/split/stacked for a few years the dirt/moss shouldn't matter much.
Have heard a lot of good things about the Heatmaster G series stuff...

 

[CincyBurner]

Looks like hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) - https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=116

 

[Mitch323]

Looks like hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) - https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=116

Thanks I don’t know my trees very well will have to do some reading. Everything that is green with needles is a pine to me haha

 

[brenndatomu]

I just mean the forest is all wetlands and by the time I drag the trees out they’re covered in moss and mud.

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[Mitch323]

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Aha that would be nice. I have a 12 ton skidder winch on the back of my tractor to pull the trees out of the forest. Most of it is pretty dense.

 

[Bad LP]

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That would ruin an already sunk ship on the ROI.
If I was still getting big bonuses I’d think about it.

 

[Highbeam]

Doesn’t it dry up in the summer? Usually evergreens won’t grow in wetlands, they don’t like wet feet. Can you build roads on high ground and winch out of the swamp up to that road?

muddy wood is harder on chains but the wood is still fine. I burn almost nothing but evergreen wood. Douglas fir usually. It’s great wood. There are much worse hardwoods.

 

[E Yoder]

So far I've found pine and softwoods burn fine in a G series, just with shorter burn times and you have to only load what it needs for the next 12 hours or so. The softwoods gasify more easily and you can get smoke if you load to heavy on mild days.
Pine does tend to go out on warm days, that's when I start batch burning. Hemlock can be a challenge to burn if it's not really dry if I remember right. Doesn't make good coals in some stoves, but I haven't burned much of it.
As far as the mud, once it's dried it should fall off, and the rest can mix with the ashes.

 

[Bad LP]

So far I've found pine and softwoods burn fine in a G series, just with shorter burn times and you have to only load what it needs for the next 12 hours or so. The softwoods gasify more easily and you can get smoke if you load to heavy on mild days.
Pine does tend to go out on warm days, that's when I start batch burning. Hemlock can be a challenge to burn if it's not really dry if I remember right. Doesn't make good coals in some stoves, but I haven't burned much of it.
As far as the mud, once it's dried it should fall off, and the rest can mix with the ashes.

I learned hemlock is next to useless for coals. Had two 20" diameter trees get blown down a few years ago. We left them on the side on the road hoping the town would take care of them but they did not. (LOL) A few of the guys were hanging around on a party weekend and we went to work cutting them up and burning the limbs. Went so far as to set up the Super Split and took care of the logs. I have a bean hole pit so we were burning stuff as fast as we could trying to make some good coals. Those two trees barely produced enough heat to cook the beans but it worked.

Could have easily just burnt 2 wheel barrows and had plenty of coals.

 

[BoiledOver]

1. Gasifiers will burn anything that is sufficiently seasoned
2. Do your logging out chores in late January and early February

Unless you are located in a frost free climate, that would be a bummer.

 

[maple1]

If I lived in a frost free place, quite sure i wouldn't be burning wood. Neither of which would be all bad.

 

[SpaceBus]

Keep your logs clean, only skid when the ground is frozen.

 

[SpaceBus]

Doesn’t it dry up in the summer? Usually evergreens won’t grow in wetlands, they don’t like wet feet. Can you build roads on high ground and winch out of the swamp up to that road?

muddy wood is harder on chains but the wood is still fine. I burn almost nothing but evergreen wood. Douglas fir usually. It’s great wood. There are much worse hardwoods.

This is not entirely true. Balsam fir, spruce, Tamarack, cedar, and other types of Cypress like wet soggy soil. Perhaps out west there are few conifers that can deal with wet soil, but here on the east coast they are plentiful.

 

[SpaceBus]

I learned hemlock is next to useless for coals. Had two 20" diameter trees get blown down a few years ago. We left them on the side on the road hoping the town would take care of them but they did not. (LOL) A few of the guys were hanging around on a party weekend and we went to work cutting them up and burning the limbs. Went so far as to set up the Super Split and took care of the logs. I have a bean hole pit so we were burning stuff as fast as we could trying to make some good coals. Those two trees barely produced enough heat to cook the beans but it worked.

Could have easily just burnt 2 wheel barrows and had plenty of coals.

My cook stove loves soft woods. Long lasting coals are a bit of a downside to me.