How large of wood will a Wood Gun take? (if a Wood Gun would take wood?)

[emesine]

What size chunck can a wood gun take? I am thinking an E200. I know the length of the firebox, that isn't the issue.

What width of firewood will this unit burn easily? Can I split my wood into largish 6-10" chunks of wood, or do I need to split it down to smaller sizes?

Thanks!

 

[tbsdolmar]

I think the standard size door is 14x14" but you can get a 16x16" as an option.

 

[emesine]

Sure.... but will a downdraft gassifier burn big wood? If I dump 12 X 12 chunks of wood in it, will it burn well?

 

[PJF1313]

What size chunck can a wood gun take? I am thinking an E200. I know the length of the firebox, that isn't the issue.

What width of firewood will this unit burn easily? Can I split my wood into largish 6-10" chunks of wood, or do I need to split it down to smaller sizes?

Thanks!

t


.... A wood gun could gun all the wood if a wood gun could gun wood...

 

[chiefburritt]

Yes........ How big of a piece can you lift? I often throw in some fairly large pieces mixed with smaller ones and they burn just fine.. gassify and all. Don't start your systems with just big pieces but once you have cycled through one call for heat add what you want according to the anticipated load.

 

[feelingasi]

if you put too big of pieces in you run the risk of bridging. i've found that with my 180 likes a mix of large and small pieces (diameter). try to envision the way your wood will fall toward the center refractory bricks.load your boiler accordingly. there is nothing worse than loading your boiler and waking up to a cold house and a bitchy wife. bridging sucks. split your wood a little smaller, or at least have a few "skinny" ones to mix in. in addition to preventing bridging, i believe the added combustable surface area increases the length of time your boiler can stay in "OFF" cycle and restart successfully. the boiler isn't too awful finecy you just need to learn what it likes. hope this helps.

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

You can also get an 18 X 18 door. WG wouldn't offer these optional doors if there was a problem with larger chunks of wood, they are there for that purpose. You still need to be somewhat carefull of bridging though as mentioned. Large chunks sure need to be dry, Randy

 

[emesine]

Thanks, that helps a lot. I have ordered an E200. I'm splitting wood now and wanted to make sure I am doing things right. I like the big chunks myself, but my son (3 years old) does better with the smaller stuff!

Andrew

 

[muncybob]

We have the E 100...might have gone with the 200 but it would not fit into our basement entry. Carl at AHS said the 100 will handle our needs though..we'll soon see!

I split our cherry fairly small a few months ago hoping it will dry to burn late this season. The wood for next year is much larger. As a friend said recently we have some overnighters in there!

I hope you post your experiences and pics with the Wood Gun.

 

[stee6043]

In my experience there should really be no correlation between indoor boiler door sizes and their ability to burn "big wood". Ability to throw the kitchen sink in your boiler seems to be more of an OWB claim to fame and have little to do with indoor units. For best performance, in my humble opinion, you're going to want to feed your wood gun with splits in the 4-8" range 90% of the time. Maybe 10% of the time you want to go for the longer burn with bigger splits. I think most gasser users would consider an 8" round a "bigger split"???? Something 18" is just massive....

 

[chiefburritt]

I think the 18" door is doable based upon everyone's own specific needs! Remember the wood won't be 18 inches as your hands still need to grip the wood as you place it in. If your throwing it in or chucking it in bricks will undoubtedly fail. Not to mention hot steel can be damaged with a good toss of heavy material. Smaller splits with several larger ones work quite well for me and my own situation.

 

[muncybob]

In my experience there should really be no correlation between indoor boiler door sizes and their ability to burn "big wood". Ability to throw the kitchen sink in your boiler seems to be more of an OWB claim to fame and have little to do with indoor units. For best performance, in my humble opinion, you're going to want to feed your wood gun with splits in the 4-8" range 90% of the time. Maybe 10% of the time you want to go for the longer burn with bigger splits. I think most gasser users would consider an 8" round a "bigger split"???? Something 18" is just massive....

People are not actually tossing in wood that is 18" in diameter...are they?? Even for OWB that does seem pretty large to me although I have no experience with an OWB nor do I know anybody that has one.

When the size of a split is mentioned just what is being measured here? If the split is somewhat triangular is it the the apprx. distance from the "point" to the bark side of the wood or is this the length of the bark side circumference of the split? I'm guessing the latter?

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

Hi Muncybob; My friend bought a fancy WG with oil tube,timer,18 X 18 door & domestic loop. He got the bigger door because he gets free gnarly chunks, stumps of wood etc delivered to him. The standard 14 X 14 door would have limited him. The WG is supposed to burn these, he will find out soon, Randy