Looking into a wood boiler instead of stand alone wood stove.

[NE Wood stove]

Just moved in my house 3 years ago. I bought a wood stove and placed it in the basement thinking that it would heat the house (1250 sq ft). All it does is heat the two rooms above it and half of the basement. Now, I have a little one on the way, so i need a better way to heat the house. A wood boiler is probably the best way with out paying for oil. I have questions about the process, so far. If some could help that would be great.

1) If the power goes out don't I need some kind of safety feature?
2) I have found some used ones that have been cleaned up and pressure tested to 50 psi but not sure if a good buy, is there an age limit on them?
3) I have read a lot of the posts and a lot of them talk about a storage tank, do I need one?


Thanks for any help.
Josh

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

Just moved in my house 3 years ago. I bought a wood stove and placed it in the basement thinking that it would heat the house (1250 sq ft). All it does is heat the two rooms above it and half of the basement. Now, I have a little one on the way, so i need a better way to heat the house. A wood boiler is probably the best way with out paying for oil. I have questions about the process, so far. If some could help that would be great.

Welcome aboard Josh! Congrats on the new one too!

That being said, saftey and air quality should be a serious concern for you. My opinion, keep the fire/smoke/mess/insects outside. the house sounds small enough that if you did have storage, the standby losses from storage would probably help to keep the basement warm. Just my $0.02, if the new one won't be here till spring, hold off on the heating system changes till this coming summer when you won't be in a rush to make a decision.

1) If the power goes out don't I need some kind of safety feature?
Yes.
2) I have found some used ones that have been cleaned up and pressure tested to 50 psi but not sure if a good buy, is there an age limit on them?
If you're a welder and a plumber and mechanically inclined, a used boiler may get you in the game. But you'll still end up buying a new one at some point I'd guess.

3) I have read a lot of the posts and a lot of them talk about a storage tank, do I need one.
No, but running with storage has advantages, I hear.

Jimbo

 

[Gooserider]

Just moved in my house 3 years ago. I bought a wood stove and placed it in the basement thinking that it would heat the house (1250 sq ft). All it does is heat the two rooms above it and half of the basement. Now, I have a little one on the way, so i need a better way to heat the house. A wood boiler is probably the best way with out paying for oil. I have questions about the process, so far. If some could help that would be great.

What is your current heating system? Hydronic (hot water) or Forced air? If hydronic, what kind of emitters? Baseboards, flat panels, infloor radiant? How old is the house, how well insulated is it? Do you have a heat loss calculation on it? (If not you'll need to do one...)

1) If the power goes out don't I need some kind of safety feature?

Yes - the idea is that if the power goes out with a fire going full blast, even though most boilers shut down, you still need to get rid of the heat put out by the fire as it dies down. There are a number of strategies to do this, the simplest is a "dump zone" or loop of fintube around the ceiling that can get rid of about 10% of the boiler output, controlled by a normally open valve that is closed when you have power, and opens to allow gravity flow when the power goes out...

2) I have found some used ones that have been cleaned up and pressure tested to 50 psi but not sure if a good buy, is there an age limit on them?

Depends on price and condition, boiler type, etc... Older non-gasification type boilers will also burn more wood and make more pollution... They don't have age limits as such, but boilers DO rust out over time, especially if not properly installed or maintained... Give us more details and we might be able to give a better idea than that...

3) I have read a lot of the posts and a lot of them talk about a storage tank, do I need one?

You can live without it, but we advise anyone installing without doing storage to plan for it, and include appropriate tie-in points in their plumbing, as it makes adding storage later easier. Storage WILL make life easier as it allows you more options for scheduling your burns, and it will greatly improve your system efficiency and wood consumption, especially in the "shoulder seasons" - we highly recommend it...

Thanks for any help.
Josh

You are welcome, and welcome to the Forums...

Gooserider

 

[NE Wood stove]

My current system is hydronic with baseboard emitters runs by an oil boiler. I've never had a heat loss calculation done on the house. The house isn't very old but the walls could use better insulation, the past year I did blown-in insulation in the attic. Which has helped but on days where the temp. doesn't go over 25-30, my oil boiler runs all the time.

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

. . . on days where the temp. doesn't go over 25-30, my oil boiler runs all the time.

You must be young, wealthy, or both!! I could not have sex while listening to my oil burner run >:-(

If you're not going to do storage you want to slightly undersize your wood-fired unit. With storage, some oversizing should probably be ok. Comparing to your existing oil unit may give you some idea how big of a wood unit you need. But seriously, if your oil unit can't keep up at 25 degrees, what are you going to do when it gets cold?!?? :wow:

 

[Birdman]

I had a Lopi Endeavor woodstove in my house. I switched to a Tarm 40 Solo wood boiler in my basement. I burn 5 cord. I heat the whole house to 70 ( even in 0 degree weather )AND heat all the hot water for our family ( wife and 3 athletic teens ). Oh.. and it is sooooo much easier to control the heat with a thermostat instead of the woodstove. I was a newbie looking at OWB and stumbled upon this site. Gasification is the only way to go. I thank the stars I did not go with an OWB and instead... kept reading and asking questions on this site. I have a drafty log cabin that we built. 2000 sq ft. The Tarm heats it with no problem. I am thinking of getting better insulation in ceiling and maybe doing some sort of insulation and siding on the outside.. .( too much air infiltration ). If I do this.. i think I can get the wood consumption down to 4 cords.