Newbie again - Overall impressions and a new one -Sequoyah

[headrc]

Hello to all the fine knowledgeable people on this forum.

Here is another newbie for you who is very interested in the wood boiler gasification concept. I have 2150 sq ft. that I am interested in heating between two buildings - the primary house (old renovated farm house 1500 sq. ft) and a soon to be newly constructed outbuilding (well insulated 650 sq. ft.). I have been studying this forum for the last several days and have talked to and looked at most of the frequently discussed units from Tarm, Eko and Alternative. I have also found another one that seems to be interesting ...the Seqoyah 3300. It can be looked at at http://www.wdheat.com/Gasification E3300.htm.

I am located in Tennessee.

I am interested in putting in radiant heat in the slab of the new outbuilding and at the very least a water to heat exchanger in the current conventional system in the main house. I may also put in some under floor radiant heat in the main house to take care of about 500 sq ft. of it. I can get to the crawl space for this, but then the rest of the first floor is not accessible for a radiant floor heat install without major tearout and the upstairs would require major modifications to install radiant in floor in it as well. My thinking is to relocate the thermostat for the forced air system upstairs and if the heat rising from the downstairs does not take care of its heating needs then the forced air would kick in and take care of that.

After looking at all the commentary on this forum ....I am starting to shy away from the wood boiler idea totally. This is primarily because I get the impression that these systems are finicky and maintenance intensive. I want to state that I have no problem with doing the work of aquiring and drying firewood. My plan was to cut and stack it in the spring and early summer.

My concern is:
1. Judging by the various discussions of managing a fire in these things, they are finicky and require a decent amount of attention.
2. It seems that these systems require fairly consistent/cumbersome cleanout.
3. That because my demands on the system are nowhere near what they would be for a large structure located in a colder climate, I should be putting in a storage tank with it. This of course increases cost and is more to deal with etc.
4. During the cold months a user is tied to a boiler and cannot leave for a couple of days without either draining the system, putting anitfreeze in or having someone else tend to keeping a fire in the boiler.

I am very interested in the idea of a wood gasification unit but not if it increases my "headaches" in life. A headache to me is not necessarily getting the fuel for it but all the other maintenance issues that seem to be prevelant with this technology. While I do not like buying propane and supporting this type of energy fuel, I also am hesitant in increasing my maintenance responsibilities.

This all brings me to the Sequoyah gasification unit I highlighted above. This unit has a much bigger firebox and more firebrick in it. As a result the manufacturer claims a storage tank is not needed and it needs to be tended to less than others. Additionally the maintenance of it seems to be less as a result.

So as happens a lot on this forum, I ask that all of the knowledgeable minds here examine my concerns and advise as best you can.

I really appreciate any input and thank everyone who contributes here.

RH

 

[Eric Johnson]

Welcome to the Boiler Room, RH.

One thing you'll find on this board is that there are different gasifier designs, and they have different characteristics and requirements. I can only speak about the EKO, which is what I have.

Other than cleaning the ashes out of the cleanout about once a week (2-minute job), there's no cleaning involved with my boiler, other than moving the heat exchanger cleaner lever back and forth when you load the wood.

For me, it's basically just a load-and-leave arrangement. With adequate storage, especially in a milder climate like Tennessee, you could get away with loading your boiler once a day--once every other day in milder winter weather. I spend a bit more time playing around with mine, in part because I don't have my storage hooked up, and in part because I enjoy playing with it. I'm talking about the boiler, here, you understand. A lot of what you read here is written by people who like to tinker and take things like efficiency to ridiculous extremes.

No smoke other than startup and a bit when it idles, which it won't do with storage.

As to what to do when you're out of town, my strategy is to run my gas boiler and circulate enough water from the gas system through the wood gasifier to keep it from freezing. You just keep the pump on continuously and crack the valve enough to allow circulation. There are plenty of variations on that theme that you can use. You should have a fossil fuel backup with any wood-fired boiler.

A tank is an added expense and complicates the setup somewhat, but once you have a tank that works, it actually makes things a lot easier, mainly because it allows you to fire the boiler at your convenience, and less frequently.

I went with the EKO because it seemed to be an established brand with some market presence. So was Tarm, but it wouldn't take the size wood that I have (24-26"). Personally, I wouldn't risk my meager resources on basically untested technology. It doesn't always work out the way the sales people promise. JMO. I'm just a consumer with no stake in what anybody buys.

 

[headrc]

Thanks for the response. What kind of wood are you putting in the Eko and how are you processing/drying it. In talking to the distribuotr and a dealer for the unit they both suggested the Eko 40 for my needs. As I understand it I can only put wood that is 7" in diameter in that unit. This probably dictates a significant amount of splitting for me. Of course this will make a better firewood, but italso increase my workload. Thx again, RH

 

[Eric Johnson]

I don't know where that 7" number came from, but it's wrong. I burn a wide mixture of wood sizes in my 60--from small limb pieces to big chunks measuring 10 or 12" on a side. You can burn pretty much anything that will fit through the front door, and that's some big wood. Where wood size comes into play is when you're deciding what kind of fire you want to build--i.e., a bunch of small pieces for a quick, hot fire, or big chunks to get you through a cold night. No different than a wood stove or conventional boiler in that respect.

I burn pretty much all beech with a little hard maple and yellow birch thrown into the mix. My wood is split and stacked for at least two years. In the spring I put about 10 cords in the barn for the coming heating season so that it can get really dry over the summer. That's how important dry wood is.

 

[headrc]

Hello again Eric ....It is interesting that you specify drying the wood for two years. Both the distributor and the dealer indicated that if I assembled my next winter's wood in the spring and have it properly split and stacked that I should be OK with moisture content by that next winter. Even now ...if I start getting wood freshly cut wood it sounds like it will not be ready for next winter. I really feel your take on it is correct .....however I do not have my wood fuel already because we have not been burning wood previously. The way they burn green wood around here I will bet that I also will have trouble finding good dried wood for next winter even if I pay for it (which of course gets rid of the no fuel costs idea ...at least in the first year). Your thoughts again?

RH

 

[Eric Johnson]

Well, you burn what you've got. I guess what I meant to say was that your goal should be to eventually have enough wood in advance so that it's around two years old. One year is borderline, though that's in Central NYS. Presumably in TN you have a longer warm season and if the drought continues, I'm guessing that wood cut in the spring should be OK by fall. Maybe not perfect, but good enough to get you through the winter.

 

[headrc]

Another question please ....I could not find installation clearances for the Eko. What is your installtion like? How much space should I allow for it and possibly (gulp) a storage tank?