Looking for advice on new OWB in NY

[SSweet9c1]

OK I posted over the summer about two different possible used OWB's and the general consensus was NOT to do either..
SO I am looking for advice on what brand/size and type of OWB.. Also dealer recommendations would be great..

I'm located in the finger lakes region of NY (upstate)
3200+ sf greek revival with new windows and decent insulation.
22X24' wood shed, 80' or so from house.
large basement 7' ceilings, with 108K BTU buderus fuel oil boiler (primary heat)

Neighbors aren't too far away. But I'd like to do something along the lines of gassifier in the wood shed, with storage tanks in basement of house. I'd like to get it going like mad at night, clean hot burn, then heat the house for the rest of the day off of stored heat...

What do I need to accomplish this? Best/most reliable brand? What sort of budget am I looking at?

Also I found a place in PA that sells refurbished propane tanks to use as hot water storage.. Is this the best way to go?
Thanks
Jonathan

Here's the thread from last summer:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/greenwood-100-vs-empyre-200.155412/

 

[maple1]

Yes to the propane tanks.

You could maybe check out Econoburn. That one comes to mind first mainly because I think they are made in NY so maybe close? (But also think they are very well made from what I read - but maybe with some design aspects that might make them a bit harder to clean). Think they advertise on here, and would likely be able to point you to a dealer. Think they make outdoor & indoor versions. There are others some might add to the list. But also if the shed is fairly tight & insulated you could maybe also consider an indoor unit.

 

[ALL4GLH]

I have a woodgun e140 that I keep in my 24x40 wood shed. It's in an 8x12 insulated room with thermopex run to the house that is 100' away. So, it's technically an indoor boiler that is in a detached building. Been working great for 3 years. Boiler room never goes below 60* even when -30*.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[velvetfoot]

How about AHONA-they're in the Fingerlakes. Make an appt. and talk with the owner for a while.

 

[Fred61]

I had a Wood Gun 140 and I suggest you take a look at the Econoburn and definitely go have a talk with Mark at AHONA. He's right there in Burlington Flats and is a goldmine of information.

 

[airlina]

Jonathan, I am in WNY and have been running an Econoburn 100 for 6 years now (IF you search the forums for econoburn 100 you will find some phptos of my setup nad history with the econoburn boiler.) I can't speak highly enough about the econoburn and co. support. They are located in Brockton,NY and I would recommend a trip to the factory if you get serious about an Econoburn. That is what i did and their location (about an hour from me) was instrumental in my purchase. I did my own install and as a rookie I needed lots of advice and tech support , which Econoburn provided. Worth a trip , and if you want to see my setup, i'd be happy to give you a nickel tour. Good luck with your search , gotta go load the boiler , Bruce

 

[DBoon]

NYSERDA was offering a $4k incentive last I knew for installing a qualified wood gasification boiler. You had to have a certain amount of storage to get the incentive, and it had to be installed by someone certified by their program. I recall that Frohling and Econoburn were qualified boilers - worth checking into more.

 

[SSweet9c1]

AWESOME info!
I'm about halfway between AHONA and the econoburn factory on Keuka Lake... lol
I will definitely look into the NYSERDA stuff, my parent's have worked with them before on a massive geothermal project at their farm...
Any guesses as to how many BTU's I will be looking for? Our FOB is 108K, but I know OWB's measure them differently....
Thanks!
Jonathan

 

[leon]

I would honestly suggest and ask you to call Gary Switzer in Dundee before you blow any money as he has been building
high efficiency hybrid wood burners since 1982 that will fit in your wood shed and there will be no working outside
at 3 in the morning putting wood in the boiler.
His boilers have water storage surrounding the firebox and the smoke tubes just like a steam locomotive and you will not
need separate water storage in the basement.
Gary and his son in law build their boilers in thier shop in Dundee and they stay until they are sure the boiler is working
right after they install it.

I had one of his hand feed wood and coal boilers for 33 years before I switched to coal burning with a coal stoker boiler.

Garys not that far from you and he returns phone calls.

(broken link removed)

 

[gfirkus]

I would honestly suggest and ask you to call Gary Switzer in Dundee before you blow any money as he has been building
high efficiency hybrid wood burners since 1982 that will fit in your wood shed and there will be no working outside
at 3 in the morning putting wood in the boiler.
His boilers have water storage surrounding the firebox and the smoke tubes just like a steam locomotive and you will not
need separate water storage in the basement.
Gary and his son in law build their boilers in thier shop in Dundee and they stay until they are sure the boiler is working
right after they install it.

I had one of his hand feed wood and coal boilers for 33 years before I switched to coal burning with a coal stoker boiler.

Garys not that far from you and he returns phone calls.

(broken link removed)

I was thinking the same thing. He will build a boiler to fit in whatever space you have. I spent 2-3 years reading and researching different boilers and I did have my mind set on a ecoburn. Once I started looking into thermal storage the Switzer was actually better priced. Give Gary a call and I'm sure he'll invite you over to look at the one he uses in his shop. There's a lot to be said about seeing how something works before buying .

 

[SSweet9c1]

I know the Switzers, I didn't realize they made gassifiers? Would they qualify for the NYSERDA credits?
Thanks
Jonathan

 

[leon]

Garys boilers are of a three pass design surrounded by water so they
are just like the gassifiers and operate exactly like the garn units.

The more water you have the more heat you can store and faster it will
be able to reheat it as you have the thermal mass surrounding the firebox
and not in your basement.

An underfed coal stoker like the EFM DF520 or the
Axeman Anderson A130 or A260 or the the AHS 130 or AHS 260 will give
you steady heat all the time and plenty of hot water when burning pea coal to
the Keystoker flat grate stoker boilers have fewer mechanical parts and also
provide lots of hot water heat or domestic hot water.

Look at your situation 10-15-20 years down the road and ask do I really want to burn
wood when I am older? I switched after 33 years of dealing with a CWW100 and switched
to coal.

I will tell you from personal experience to stay away from Townley Coal and stoves in Geneva, NY
if you are intent on a gasser from his product lines- his sales manner needs a lot of work and
he knows nothing about coal boilers.

 

[SSweet9c1]

I have zero intention of burning coal.
When I am too old to burn wood I'll go geothermal... But by then we'll hopefully be retired and living in Ithaca... (Where my wife and I went to college and met)

I like cutting wood and have been doing it since I was a kid, My son (5) always wants to go with us when we cut, split, and stack. Though he usually only lasts about 45 mins before boredom strikes... It is like baling hay, and firefighting.. It keeps you young and able. My dad is 67 and still does all of the above too. I attribute it to an active farming lifestyle.
Thanks
Jonathan

 

[JP11]

I'm pretty sure Mark at AHONA has several boilers setup that you can see run. I spoke to him a couple years running at the Fryeburg Fair before I bought a system from him. A wealth of knowledge and a heck of a nice guy. I bought my Vigas 4 winters ago. I'm well into the black with it already.

JP

 

[DBoon]

Here is the link to the NYSERDA program. It has links to supported boilers
https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/All-Programs/Programs/Renewable-Heat-NY/Advanced-Cordwood-Boiler

 

[leon]

What you want to burn and do is of course up to you.
The high end closed cell logostor oxygen barrier pex is $15.00+ a foot.

In my case I have a dual fuel Keytoker KAA-4-1 and
I spend barely six dollars a day on heating my home in the worst weather and making
all my hot water with bagged Kimmels rice coal during the heating season.

As a certified well driller and pump installer: If you drill a grouted geothermal well the rule is 100 feet deep
for every ton of cooling and heating needs at $100.00 + a foot of drilling and 100,000 plus BTU per one
hundred fifty feet for heating and the Mitsubishi mini splits are more economical to run.

Open loop drilled geothermal systems cost a third of closed loop systems if you have a constant reliable source of
water for heating and cooling close by.

 

[SSweet9c1]

Yeah we are in year 4 of heating and cooling our farm buildings with geothermal., We have 4 buildings, (1 retail, 1 production and 2 warehouse) that use one well pad (8 wells 375' deep each) with one central manifold that sends methanol/water mix to 3 of the 4 buildings where the heatpumps are... I don't recall the brand but geostore rings a bell, though that may just be the storage tanks... There are 6 heat pumps total (2 of them run retail, 2 run production, and 2 run both warehouses)

I want to say there are 2X 4 ton pumps, 2X 5 ton and 2X 6 ton, but it has been a while since they were installed...

Last summer we put in 108KW of Photvoltaics on the roofs of 3 buildings to cover 70% of our electrical demands (wanted to go 100% but NYSEG has red tape for our type of meter, long story not related to OWB's)

So our farm has a really forward thinking progressive setup, the only problem is if the power goes out for a week in Feb we will have to scramble... lol

Anyway I love renewable firewood and the heat from it.. The problem is our house is not easily heatable with wood stoves hence the OWB...
Thanks