I just had my GARN Delivered!

[deerhntr]

Hello Forum,

This is my first post, although like most new folks, I have been lurking around for a couple of years since the Saudi Arabia tax has been forcing a rethink on my heating system. So I thought since today was a milestone in my project, I would make a post to introduce myself, and the project I am tackling.

After reading a great deal from this forum, researching web sites, and other background work, in March of this year I decided to make the leap and install a GARN to basically replace my current heating and DHW solution. My house is 80% radiant/20% baseboard heating approximately 3400sqft. I have a 3000 sqft outbuilding I also heat to around 45-50F. I have been sending the prince a check for roughly 2500 gallons of his refined crude to heat my place, and the past couple of years have really made me mad. So I finally decided to revisit a solution that worked great for me in the late Seventies when my Fisher Mama bear would keed me warm on those cold winter nights.

So....Today I took delivery on Her. My GARN 2000. Man is this one piece of good old American ingenuity. I was so excited to see Mark driving up my drive with the big old hunk of steel on the trailer, I just about couldn't contain myself. So now the real fun begins....The Install. I still have a couple of site issues for the "Garn Barn" to work out before I begin the install, but my plan is to have them worked through in the next couple of weeks. In fact I hope to bounce a few ideas off the forum, since I have seen so far that this place is a great wealth of experience and knowledge. Hopefully you folks won't mind a few dumb questions! ;-)

So anyway I have a couple of the unload pics I would like to share. I know the forum is slow right now, so maybe the pics will be enjoyable.

I plan to blog the install, so I will include the link at a latter date.

 

[deerhntr]

Just a couple more pics.

 

[stee6043]

AWESOME! Welcome to the site and congrats on the purchase. Looks like you're going to have a fun summer. Keep us in the loop. It's always fun to watch these projects progress....

 

[RowCropRenegade]

Congrats, Russ!

You are slightly ahead of me in the process. I laid out my plans on my garn barn this past weekend. Like you, I was fed up with the "saudi tax". Mine should be getting on the way here this week.

I'll follow your thread carefully. Hope to have my concrete slab poured by the end of the next week. I bought my garn from this warm house.

Good luck to you.

 

[NHFarmer]

Looks like a great project. Keep us posted, great pics.

 

[Floydian]

Nice shiny door! Pictures of a Garn always impress.
Good luck with your hydronic endeavor.
Noah

 

[timberr]

Thanks for the pictures, I have seen only one Garn and it was surrounded by building and insulation. Definetly not a boiler for the basement! Have fun instaling it, I enjoyed installing my Eko & storage. I stopped paying the Saudi Tax last year and still haven't stopped grinning!

 

[deerhntr]

I am currently reworking the site location for the "Garn Barn(GB)". My plan is to centrally locate the unit in my backyard between the house and the outbuilding(seen in the pic). The loop to the house will be roughly 100', and the run to the barn will be 150'. Of course my house will present the heaviest heat load, so the closer the better. The outbuilding will be heated to roughly 50F, just to take the edge off in my shop, and keep the dogs and tractors warm. I may shave 25' from the house loop by moving the GB closer to the house. I am going to basically follow the rough plan for the "garn barn" plan supplied in the manual, 20'x15' pad with 1/2 enclosed for the garn, and the other half open for wood storage. Nothing real fancy.

BTW, thanks all for the congrats. I can't wait to fire this puppy up!

 

[deerhntr]

Congrats, Russ!

You are slightly ahead of me in the process. I laid out my plans on my garn barn this past weekend. Like you, I was fed up with the "saudi tax". Mine should be getting on the way here this week.

I'll follow your thread carefully. Hope to have my concrete slab poured by the end of the next week. I bought my garn from this warm house.

Good luck to you.

I got mine from the great guys(Mark and Walt) at ThisWarmHouse. Mark is in the pic with the unit on his trailer before we lifted it off. Again great set of people to work with. Good Luck, and I will follow your progress also.

Russ

 

[mike1234]

Think that thing weighs just a little (without water no less)? Look at the front tractor tires when it picks it up. Just wondering how thick they tell you to pour the concrete floor under it, 6", maybe even 8"?

 

[Jim K in PA]

Welcome to the Boiler Room Russ! Congratulations, and welcome to the "GARN Club".

Mark is a straight shooter. Glad you had a good experience with TWH.

I love the new Cad plated door and cleanout covers. Fancy!

Keep us posted on the progress. My blog is linked in my sig below, if you want to see some install pics.

 

[deerhntr]

Think that thing weighs just a little (without water no less)? Look at the front tractor tires when it picks it up. Just wondering how thick they tell you to pour the concrete floor under it, 6", maybe even 8"?

Mike,
Yes is does weigh a fair amount dry, spec is 3900 pounds. My tires need a little air also. Spec weight with H2O is 20,600 pounds. The manual specs for average soil a 4" reinforced pad at 3000psi is sufficient.

Russ

 

[deerhntr]

Welcome to the Boiler Room Russ! Congratulations, and welcome to the "GARN Club".

Mark is a straight shooter. Glad you had a good experience with TWH.

I love the new Cad plated door and cleanout covers. Fancy!

Keep us posted on the progress. My blog is linked in my sig below, if you want to see some install pics.

Hi Jim,
Not sure if you recall, but I emailed you back in the winter after I came across your install blog. Your documentation with your garn sealed the deal for me in my decision process. I was originally thinking about a greenwood, and man I am glad I didn't take that fork in the road.

But, anyway, I made the GARN leap, and now the real work begins!

Russ

 

[Jim K in PA]

Hi Jim,
Not sure if you recall, but I emailed you back in the winter after I came across your install blog. Your documentation with your garn sealed the deal for me in my decision process. I was originally thinking about a greenwood, and man I am glad I didn't take that fork in the road.

But, anyway, I made the GARN leap, and now the real work begins!

Russ

Yes, I do remember now Russ. Sorry. I have been contacted by so many people over the last 6 months, I am losing track!

I agree that your decision to NOT go with the GW was a fortuitous one, regardless of what else you might have wound up with! The GARN will be an excellent solution. I look forward to reading your blog.

 

[pybyr]

Congratulations, Russ- nice photos-- I've never seen such a good view of the innards of a Garn; I've seen diagrams, but never the vivid illustration that comes from a photo such as you took.

Good luck with the install, and you should have a superb set-up when you're done.

 

[deerhntr]

Congratulations, Russ- nice photos-- I've never seen such a good view of the innards of a Garn; I've seen diagrams, but never the vivid illustration that comes from a photo such as you took.

Good luck with the install, and you should have a superb set-up when you're done.

Thanks Trevor,

The the guts are a thing of beauty! I have never seen it before I bought it, so that is why I included that pic. I understand they are very "close to the vest' with the details of their design, and maybe that is why they have never used a photo like that in their marketing. But, they are covered by more than one patent, and of course a patent is public record also, so why not market with a pic of the guts. Who knows.. The simplicity of the design is what stood out for me.

Russ

 

[Sting]

I am currently reworking the site location for the "Garn Barn(GB)". My plan is to centrally locate the unit in my backyard between the house and the outbuilding(seen in the pic). The loop to the house will be roughly 100', and the run to the barn will be 150'. Of course my house will present the heaviest heat load, so the closer the better. The outbuilding will be heated to roughly 50F, just to take the edge off in my shop, and keep the dogs and tractors warm. I may shave 25' from the house loop by moving the GB closer to the house. I am going to basically follow the rough plan for the "garn barn" plan supplied in the manual, 20'x15' pad with 1/2 enclosed for the garn, and the other half open for wood storage. Nothing real fancy.

BTW, thanks all for the congrats. I can't wait to fire this puppy up!

Don't be too concerned with location in relation to pumping -- unless the loop to the larger load requires a significantly more expensive larger distribution system -- locate for your ongoing convenience. Remember your going to have to walk out there - quite often at first - and stoke that big engine.

I put on my bunny slippers and walk down stairs to my boiler room. :>)

Kind Regards
Sting

 

[brad068]

I agree deerhtr.

The design is simple and it works so well.

Here we are, burning wood at utmost efficiency and the folks over at CB are still rubbin' to sticks together. I just posted over at the CB fusion chamber thread to.

 

[deerhntr]

I agree deerhtr.

The design is simple and it works so well.

Here we are, burning wood at utmost efficiency and the folks over at CB are still rubbin' to sticks together. I just posted over at the CB fusion chamber thread to.

And you have been able to "homebrew" one in your shop. Quite impressive.

As far as CB and the general OWB goes. The numbers just don't lie. Although the GARN, and the other 75%> efficiency boilers may cost a little more initially, they quickly over take the cheaper OWB on the fuel costs. But this is nothing that most gasification folks don't already know. The numbers for me dictated the need to find a more efficient fuel transfer device. Otherwise I would be cutting,splitting,and stacking 12 months a year. And finally, the icing on the cake is a very large BTU battery. That is what really makes the system work. Again just a very well thought out design and implementation.

 

[allan]

Congrats deerhtr, I homebrewed my Garn like boiler this winter. I have yet to fire it, so we will see how it works. I'm busy getting my firewood split for next winter and the follwing year. I'm trying to decide how to insulate the tank at the present. I would like to use spray foam, but it is expensive. My tank is 10.5 feet long by 7 ft diam and I would do everything except the loading end. My cost estimate for the spray foam was about $900.00 for 4-inches thick closed cell foam rated for 250 degrees.

 

[brad068]

Congrats deerhtr, I homebrewed my Garn like boiler this winter. I have yet to fire it, so we will see how it works. I'm busy getting my firewood split for next winter and the follwing year. I'm trying to decide how to insulate the tank at the present. I would like to use spray foam, but it is expensive. My tank is 10.5 feet long by 7 ft diam and I would do everything except the loading end. My cost estimate for the spray foam was about $900.00 for 4-inches thick closed cell foam rated for 250 degrees.

Hey EUP of MI, glad to hear you got yours together. (You know its comin'), Can we see some pics!.

 

[pybyr]

Congrats deerhtr, I homebrewed my Garn like boiler this winter. I have yet to fire it, so we will see how it works. I'm busy getting my firewood split for next winter and the follwing year. I'm trying to decide how to insulate the tank at the present. I would like to use spray foam, but it is expensive. My tank is 10.5 feet long by 7 ft diam and I would do everything except the loading end. My cost estimate for the spray foam was about $900.00 for 4-inches thick closed cell foam rated for 250 degrees.

I suggest you consider cellulose insulation - as long as you get it in with some good density, it insulates very well, but it's not too expensive, and it is made of recycled material. You can put it in yourself with a rented insulation blower. Use the Hearth.com "Advanced search" to search "cellulose" here in the boiler room for some past discussions of it. Plus, if you ever need to get back to your tank, it'll be a heck of a lot easier to excavate than foam.

 

[allan]

Hey EUP of MI, glad to hear you got yours together. (You know its comin'), Can we see some pics!.[/quote]

Garnification I tried to upload some pics but I was over the limit so they did not post. My computer software does not seem to be able to lower the file size. I will see if I can figure something out and post some pictures.

 

[mike1234]

Hey EUP of MI, glad to hear you got yours together. (You know its comin'), Can we see some pics!.

Garnification I tried to upload some pics but I was over the limit so they did not post. My computer software does not seem to be able to lower the file size. I will see if I can figure something out and post some pictures.[/quote]

Off topic, but on this subject, download picasa free from google, it has a web album feature that will allow you to upload and share any size picture. You then just put in the hyperlink to your pictures. I think flick does this too, and I am sure there are others, I just use picasa.

 

[heaterman]

Think that thing weighs just a little (without water no less)? Look at the front tractor tires when it picks it up. Just wondering how thick they tell you to pour the concrete floor under it, 6", maybe even 8"?

No need for heavy concrete. 4" is just fine. We set them on 2" of regular blue foamboard insulation to cancel heat loss from the bottom. It has 2 wide pads running the full length of the unit. When you figure it out, there is less weight per sq inch than you car has sitting on the tires.