Give me some input

[Aocspectrum7vlra]

Ok, for the past two or so years I have read this forum and tried to educate myself in other way on OWB. I can quite honestly say I am more confused now than ever.

Things that I know (or at least I think I know)…

1. I want to heat my three story, counting basement, five year old well insulated home. Currently it is zoned on each floor with a forced air system. I also want to heat my insulated two and half car garage, not hot just in the 50’s. I am building a 36x32 shop that I also want to be able to heat.

2. Gasification seems the way to go. I don’t have a large amount of free time, preparing 25 cords of wood is not realistic nor highly desirable to me, but I am aware it is going to create some degree of work to maintain.

3. I have source of wood from a tree trimming business, which means plenty of wood, both “junk” and hard wood delivered to my house.

4. With my current job feeding a stove more than three times a day is not possible.

5. My current heating cost is about $1400 a year for the house alone, but I keep the house cooler than I would like and I know I it’s not going to get any better.

6. I am not rich and an OWB has to have a reasonable return to justify the expense, time, and effort.


Things I would like to know.

1. With gasification can I burn seasoned “junk” wood? I understand I can’t burn green wood and “junk” doesn’t have the btu value of good wood, but is it a problem to burn “junk” wood?

2. How long do you have to react in a power failure situation and what if the most reasonable method to only avoiding damage to the system (compared to avoiding damage and continuing to heat)?

3. Will I be able to run one feed to the house to heat the home, have hot water, and warm the attached garage?

4. Does anyone have any knowledge about Sequoyah Outdoor Wood Furnaces made by Barrett Ent (http://www.woodgasificationfurnace.com/).


Any other thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Am I just crazy and should keep the system I have and add a propane heater to the garage and shop? I am starting construction on my shop next week and if I am going to make this move it is the ideal time to start preparing for it.

Thanks.

 

[Nofossil]

Things I would like to know.

1. With gasification can I burn seasoned “junk” wood? I understand I can’t burn green wood and “junk” doesn’t have the btu value of good wood, but is it a problem to burn “junk” wood?

2. How long do you have to react in a power failure situation and what if the most reasonable method to only avoiding damage to the system (compared to avoiding damage and continuing to heat)?

3. Will I be able to run one feed to the house to heat the home, have hot water, and warm the attached garage?

4. Does anyone have any knowledge about Sequoyah Outdoor Wood Furnaces made by Barrett Ent (http://www.woodgasificationfurnace.com/).

Any other thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Am I just crazy and should keep the system I have and add a propane heater to the garage and shop? I am starting construction on my shop next week and if I am going to make this move it is the ideal time to start preparing for it.

Thanks.

Welcome to the forum - another lurker steps out!

1) Gasifiers can burn almost anything as long as it's not too wet. In my experience once they're going, you can burn wood up to about 30% moisture with no problems.

2) For smaller boilers, the fire will die down pretty quickly once the fan stops. It wouldn't be unreasonable to have a battery backup to keep a zone open and run the circulator. A circ is usually less than 100 watts.

3) This isn't a gasifier question, really. A single run can carry enough heat, but you'll need some sort of valving / distribution system to put heat where you want it.

Gasifiers burn about half the wood of a conventional boiler, and the advantage over a conventional OWB is probably much greater. I heat 3500 square feet in Vermont plus hot water and a hot tub with just over 4 cords per year.

Three feedings per day might be a stretch unless you have some storage or are willing to let things get a bit cool. I ran without storage for a year. If I built a fire around 5:00 in the afternoon, I could feed it around 8:00 or so, then stuff it full at 10:00. The fire would go out at about 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning on a cold day. The house would be OK at breakfast time, but a bit cool when I got home from work.