I would very much like some advice from you all on a new wood boiler. I currently live in a 130 year old 2000sqft farm house with subpar windows and mediocre insulation. I am located in northern NY. My heating season is usually late October to late April. I have used a Thermo-control wood boiler which is built in NY. It is a unique boiler in the fact that it is a pressurized vessel (closed system) and it draws a draft through the door via a motorized damper. There is no fan for draft. It requires fairly dry wood to operate properly. It does struggle during cold spells where the temp drops below 10 degrees for days. I am using a separate zone to a boiler mate for domestic hot water. I have been operating this system for 12 years. In the past couple years i added a second aquastat to control a draft fan that i installed in the stack. This has helped me more efficiently burn the coal pile down before reloading. I have many complaints with this boiler but as i have realized now it is just the way it is designed and i would not go this route again. I was young and moving into my first home at the time and it was affordable and manufacturer was less than an hour from my home and had been in business since the early 70s.
I am looking for some recommendations both traditional and gasification style for the new 2400sq ft home I am building. I am able to purchase either type as we have an ag exemption. I would like to continue doing all of my heat as well as my DHW with the unit. I have plenty of wood and even sell some stove wood. I have been leaning towards a gasser as I don’t mind putting up nice dry wood. It is what im used to after all. Is a separate heat storage recommended? I am trying to learn more about the general maintenance that goes with a gasser as the unit i used now really requires none. The biggest problem with the unit I have now is no ash collection and every so often i have to push everything hot to the back and shovel what i can into a steel garbage can. This is not the end of the world except during long cold snaps where letting the boiler burn down that far makes it very hard to recover. However, if I don’t do it the ash will pile up since without a good fan for draft it doesn’t always burn the wood to a fine ash.
Lastly I want something with ease of use. I don’t mind having to do weekly maintenance but my job has me gone for 24 and 48 hours at a time leaving my wife in charge.
Sorry for the long winded post. I appreciate you all.
I am looking for some recommendations both traditional and gasification style for the new 2400sq ft home I am building. I am able to purchase either type as we have an ag exemption. I would like to continue doing all of my heat as well as my DHW with the unit. I have plenty of wood and even sell some stove wood. I have been leaning towards a gasser as I don’t mind putting up nice dry wood. It is what im used to after all. Is a separate heat storage recommended? I am trying to learn more about the general maintenance that goes with a gasser as the unit i used now really requires none. The biggest problem with the unit I have now is no ash collection and every so often i have to push everything hot to the back and shovel what i can into a steel garbage can. This is not the end of the world except during long cold snaps where letting the boiler burn down that far makes it very hard to recover. However, if I don’t do it the ash will pile up since without a good fan for draft it doesn’t always burn the wood to a fine ash.
Lastly I want something with ease of use. I don’t mind having to do weekly maintenance but my job has me gone for 24 and 48 hours at a time leaving my wife in charge.
Sorry for the long winded post. I appreciate you all.
