Gassification Boiler Reviews

[Eastham Farms]

Has anyone found a comprehensive long term review of all of the popular Gassification wood boilers ? I have talked to folks at Portage and Main, Alternative Heat Solutions and Econoburn and they all seem to think that they make the best boiler. I am looking for input from actual gassification unit owners. Inside installation, outside instillation, inside a wood shed, outside a wood shed. Storage, wood consumption ETC:

I am currently running a oil fired boiler with 3 zones of hydronic heat and 1 DHW plate exchanger. House is well insulated 2 story. On coldest of days with temp set at 72 boiler kicks on about twice an hour and runs for 10-15 minutes. Running .75 tip in Weil McLean boiler. Total capacity of system is around 150 gallons.

Looking to add a Wood boiler with additional storage tank with loop exchangers inside to add more volume of water for storage. Also want to run additional underground piping to 30x40 pole shed w/uninsulated concrete floor R19 walls and roof for supplemental heat.and a 27x24 minimally insulated garage for enough heat to keep stuff from freezing on really cold days only.

Would I be better off using separate storage tanks in all 3 locations due to limited storage space in the boiler room in the house. I only have room for (2) 250 gallon tanks or (4) 80 gallon water heater tanks.

I am handy at fabrication, wiring and sourcing stuff so finding what I need is not a problem. Also looking into the idea of using a gassifier to heat storage water inside a greenhouse on a tempering valve for fish tank water and floating troughs in aquaponic gardening setup in the future if anyone has put together a reliable setup for this type of application.

 

[Clarkbug]

I would say that you can do some searching here to see what you think. You can also take a look at www.woodnotoil.com to see if there are reviews for the units you want to look at. But I dont think that there is going to be a single site that has everything lined up exactly to pit all of the boilers against each other. Just everyone here who can share their experiences.

You are probably better off consolidating your storage in a single location, just to make it easier to charge storage with the boiler, then pump it where you need to go. You could consider using an unpressurized tank with a liner, that gets you more volume in the same space, at the expense of some heat transfer losses.

 

[Eastham Farms]

I would say that you can do some searching here to see what you think. You can also take a look at www.woodnotoil.com to see if there are reviews for the units you want to look at. But I dont think that there is going to be a single site that has everything lined up exactly to pit all of the boilers against each other. Just everyone here who can share their experiences.

You are probably better off consolidating your storage in a single location, just to make it easier to charge storage with the boiler, then pump it where you need to go. You could consider using an unpressurized tank with a liner, that gets you more volume in the same space, at the expense of some heat transfer losses.

Clarkbug: You and I are on the same page as far as thermal storage is concerned. Already lined up a 500 gallon used propane tank or (2) 360 storage tanks if they will fit, inside the basement boiler room. Planning on using it in a pressurized configuration with expansion tanks and automatic power failure dump zone. After all leaks and heat loads have been balanced I plan on building wrapping the tank in insulation. I am only considering the installation of a gassification wood boiler, fire it hard for several hours to heat up lots of water. then put it in standby until all of the heat is consumed from the thermal storage.Then repeat the process. I am just trying to pick the best made boiler for the job.

 

[maple1]

I am just trying to pick the best made boiler for the job.

There is no one answer to that one, and likely quite a few. First you would have to define what constitutes 'best made'. Then the overall 'job' you want it to do. Then you should take into consideration other factors such as ease of use & cleaning or whatever else might be a consideration. Then of course there is purchase price. An example with mine: there are likely other boilers out there that use thicker steel in more places than mine does. Someone might think that would make the other one the 'best made'. Someone else might think the opposite in that the reduction in thicker steel in more places comes from better & more thorough engineering, therefore it is the 'best made' one. But I didn't even get into trying to figure that aspect out - because to me the ease of use & cleaning trumps it either way.

 

[Eastham Farms]

I am just trying to pick the best made boiler for the job.

There is no one answer to that one, and likely quite a few. First you would have to define what constitutes 'best made'. Then the overall 'job' you want it to do. Then you should take into consideration other factors such as ease of use & cleaning or whatever else might be a consideration. Then of course there is purchase price. An example with mine: there are likely other boilers out there that use thicker steel in more places than mine does. Someone might think that would make the other one the 'best made'. Someone else might think the opposite in that the reduction in thicker steel in more places comes from better & more thorough engineering, therefore it is the 'best made' one. But I didn't even get into trying to figure that aspect out - because to me the ease of use & cleaning trumps it either way.

OK let me substitute "Best Made" with Quality manufacturing with minimal issues concerning the operation of the boiler over many years of use. I am aware that incorrect firing, wood with high moisture content, incorrect instillation, incorrect water water quality all will affect the operation of the boiler over time. Cleaning, heat loss, refractory replacement costs ETC: I have heard hundreds of complaints about stainless boilers cracking in the firebox due to stress cracks and weld failures. Because of that I have eliminated ALL stainless boilers from my wish list. Second, I am only looking at companies that have been in the business of building boilers for decades, instead of years. In order to do so they must be doing something right. Either by design or through customer service. I am really concerned about making a 10,000.00 investment in something that will take 5-7 years to break even only to find out that it was the wrong product and now I have to live with it.

I was hoping to find actual users of gassification units on this forum to discuss what they like about their particular unit, what they would change about it, type of wood, how long of a burn time on mild vs cold days, type of storage, heat load ETC. That way I can get unbiased views and ratings from the individuals who own them instead of customer testimonials from the manufacturer.

 

[maple1]

how long of a burn time

That is one thing that I would not consider when making a choice. Actually, if someone was trying to sell me their boiler based on touting long burn times - I would immediately take them off my list.

As far as most of the other stuff - I am extremely satisfied with mine, cannot think of anything to change on it, and would buy one all over again. If that helps. That is heading into season 3 with it. I think in order to get part of what you are looking for for feedback, you would have to find quite a few people that have owned multiple boilers over multiple years. You will likely find some, so hopefully you will get some feedback from that angle - but likely won't find a lot. And most of the 'best tech' or well evolved units likely have origins in Europe - they are years ahead of us over there in wood burning tech. But we don't have much user feedback from over there around this place. So I doubt you would ever get a truly 'full picture' or truly comprehensive 'this is the one' result. When I decided on mine, I just came to the point where I more or less simply took a plunge after finding nothing bad said about that brand and after taking as much of my personal preferences into account as I could think of. Don't know what I would have done though if there was no Google.

 

[Chris Hoskin]

Eastham, have you considered putting the boiler and thermal storage system in the pole barn? If you were just heating the house, a 100,000 btu boiler with a 500 gallon propane tank for thermal storage would do a great job, but with the load you are describing, you will want a bigger boiler. I would love to see a 170kbtu to 200kbtu boiler with TWO of the 500 gallon LP tanks standing vertically out in the pole barn (assuming you have at least 10 ceiling height there). If you find that with the house, the garage, the pole barn and the greenhouse you will really need more than 200kbtu, then the pole barn would give you the possibility of putting in a big Garn. Garn, WoodGun and Tarm are the only brands I am aware of that have been selling in the US for decades. Obviously I am biased (!), but I agree with you that that longevity doesn't come by accident.

 

[flyingcow]

I agree with Chris, I would think you're looking at a big heat load.

FWIW, the solo Innova has performed very well in the last 6 winters. Simple, straight forward to operate. But I tend not to tinker with stuff once it's going good. I have to do a cleaning about every 2 weeks in the deep of winter.Takes about 20 minutes. Clean it maybe twice a summer when heating DHW.

Thats my experience with the boiler I have.

 

[Eastham Farms]

Eastham, have you considered putting the boiler and thermal storage system in the pole barn? If you were just heating the house, a 100,000 btu boiler with a 500 gallon propane tank for thermal storage would do a great job, but with the load you are describing, you will want a bigger boiler. I would love to see a 170kbtu to 200kbtu boiler with TWO of the 500 gallon LP tanks standing vertically out in the pole barn (assuming you have at least 10 ceiling height there). If you find that with the house, the garage, the pole barn and the greenhouse you will really need more than 200kbtu, then the pole barn would give you the possibility of putting in a big Garn. Garn, WoodGun and Tarm are the only brands I am aware of that have been selling in the US for decades. Obviously I am biased (!), but I agree with you that that longevity doesn't come by accident.

Chris: The pole barn is being used for a workshop and I can only afford the space for (1) 250 gallon tank. Same for the garage. I just cant afford to give up that much space. The greenhouse heating is on the very back burner and at least 5-7 years away so it is off the table for my BTU calculations. My current boiler runs kicks on about once ever 35-45 minutes at 120 degrees and is off at 160. Radient pex in floor set at 120 due to no floor insulation. will remedy that shortly and drop to around 100-110 after insulation to lower temp. I have about 75'underground run planned from the Outdoor wood boiler location to both the house storage tanks and pole shed. Garage is about 100' run from boiler location. Can't relocate any closer due to prevailing wind situation unless I build an outdoor building onto the side of the house next to chimney and run a double wall stack on the outside of the chimney about 28' tall. this would only help my piping run to the house but add 25' more onto the pipe run to the pole shed and garage.

BTW; Really appreciate all of the comments posted here. I have done hours of research but have nobody in my area that even uses wood gassification boilers to talk too. Everyone is still huffing and puffing their old OWB cause they are still making payments on them. Out of the 3 units I have seen, none have thermal storage outside of the tank on the actual boiler itself, none are pressurized and none are integrated into existing hydronic water systems.

 

[flyingcow]

Also, my boiler is in an separate building. I have underground insulated pex between house and garage. About 50ft.

BTW. You want some very good insulation in the underground. Which will be very expensive, but do it right.

 

[tuxedoblack11]

Love my portage and main opt 250, heats my 5000sqft easy. Was very hesitant at first too spending $10000 on this but I love it now. I fill the boiler once in the morning throw a few pieces in when I get off work(5pm) then refill full at 1030 before bed.

 

[Whitepine2]

http://outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com/forum/index.php Try this it has all boilers pro and con hope this helps. BTW I have a P&M 250 and love it going on 4 years now no storage colder it gets better in runs.

 

[JP11]

There are many 'right' answers with respect to the boiler choice.

There are also many WRONG ways to do the project. Configuration of storage, Piping size, Circulator size, wood moisture content are the source of the VAST majority of problems you see on this site. Very few complaints are from X boiler over Z.

If it's a gasser, and you got all the other stuff above right. You'll be happy. Buying the most expensive boiler made, and having it sized wrong, or screw up the list above, and you will be very unhappy, and broke.

Keep reading. Post your plans and ideas. Heed the advice, and avoid the mistakes others have made.

JP