Heatmaster g or gs100 or 200

[Rugar]

Had an EKO 25 and handled my load however with 7-12 he burn times, no storage. 7.5-8 he was common. So that would sound like the heatmaster g or gs 100 would be the choice. I may at some point include a detached two car garage not currently insulated. I believe the g 100 would be capable or should I up size one to be sure. Or would I be loosing efficiency being oversized.
Thanks

 

[hondaracer2oo4]

What size firebox does the Eko have compared to the 100? I would never want anything less than 12 hour burn times so I would say you were undersized with a 8 hour average burn time. When did you load this thing? I would lean towards stepping up to the 200 so you can have 12 hour burns and heat your garage.

 

[Rugar]

The EKO fire box was small. Around 4.1 cubic ft. The g100 is around 6.57 cubic ft and the g200 is somewhere around 17 cubic ft

 

[hondaracer2oo4]

I have a 220 year old house. I have air sealed and insulated the house about as best as it will get. It is 2800 sqft and I am in New Hampshire. I went from burning 12-13 cords per year to 6 3/4 cords last year just by switching to a gasser. Now I think I could definitely get away with the g100 90-95% of the time. I use less wood per 12 hours than the size of the g100 firebox but there are those days where I don't get home for 18 hours and just add more wood to get to the 18 hour loading point. I only once filled the g200 firebox full and that was on a day when the high was 10 and windy. At the end of 12 hours it was still 3/4 full so I left it without adding any wood and after a night of -20 and windy it still had 1/4 firebox of wood left after 24 hours. I know that you could squeeze more effiecincy out of the unit if it is constantly firing which reduces standby losses but how much less wood than 6 3/4 cords per year in a 2800 sqft 220 year old house in New England am I really going to burn??? 1 cord less?? I will be adding my new 1200 sqft garage next year to the heating load so for me I will probably need a bigger firebox than the g100 has so I will need that extra capacity of the g200. I have tried burning some mid 30s m/c wood in it last year with no issues at all. No bridging and no creosote issues at all. It wasn't as efficient as my <25% wood but it didn't even blink an eye at it.

 

[Rugar]

Thanks hondaracer, that is info I'm looking for. Heatmaster shows the g200 having slightly higher efficiency by the numbers but I was always worried about a way oversized firebox. Sounds like it isn't much of an issue other than cost of boiler difference. Now I need to figure out if the g series premium options like draft inducer exct are worth $1500 over gs version.

 

[hondaracer2oo4]

With already running a gasser before you are already way ahead of others going from a conventional to a gasser since you understand how it works and that you need to split the pieces and they need to be reasonably sized splits and you need to maintain a coal bed etc etc. I think the size of the firebox is a good compromise between to small for 12 hour burns vs to big. The smoke bypass is awesome since you get zero smoke out of the door but if you have never had it then you don't miss it. The window is nice for seeing how well the boiler is gassing and helping you learn best split sizes etc for best gassing. The shaker handle on the outside vs inside is no big deal to me.

 

[Karl_northwind]

The reduced smoke at loading is the major bonus with the G Vs the GS. you'll be happy with either version. the big bonus is that you can install the G inside if local codes allow it.

 

[Rugar]

I originally thought the difference between g and gs relating to smoke was just an exaust fan while opening door. Once I found out the bypass also wasn't in a gs my decision was made. The G is a must. I've closed the dampener on my eko25 before with loading door open and it's a lot of smoke. It's also nice to use when starting fires. Now I need to see if I can adjust the high temp up. I liked 190-195 on my eko25. Allowed me to get 72 in the house on the really nasty days. My base boards aren't anything great.

 

[hondaracer2oo4]

If I remember right 185 is the highest you can go because they use a 195 degree snap disc as a safety. If the boiler bumps that safety te snap disc won't open back up until 145.