Curious if anyone uses an outdoor gasifier with storage. I know you would have to worry about the boiler freezing between batch burns, and controls might be tricky. But I like several things about the idea. Mess and fire danger being two big ones! There’s more options right now on the epa list for outdoor units, too.
OWB with storage
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I use an extra 330 gallons, not really worth it in the dead of winter. Spring and fall is ok, but there is always the delta t going back to the boiler.
I have an outdoor Econoburn 200,which is almost identical to the indoor model.
I have it inside a boiler building with 1000 gal storage.
Works pretty damn good,i would do the complete build again if i had too.
I still have fine tuning to do,that will get me better burns(hopefully),and i still have to insulate all my piping inside my boiler building,when the outside temp drops below -20C working late in the boiler building starts getting warm.
I have it inside a boiler building with 1000 gal storage.
Works pretty damn good,i would do the complete build again if i had too.
I still have fine tuning to do,that will get me better burns(hopefully),and i still have to insulate all my piping inside my boiler building,when the outside temp drops below -20C working late in the boiler building starts getting warm.
I was surprised to find in a partly insulated 12x24 boiler shed, with frost heave such that the door doesn't close, the waste heat off the boiler and insulated tank keeps it well above freezing even at -25 C outside. At -5 C its above 20 C in the shed during firing cycles.
I have wondered if your kind of setup would work better. My tank is in my basement with a heat exchanger between OWB and tank
I use a HX between the boiler,tanks and the rest of the system that has glycol in it.
My main reason for the build the way i did it was my wife and daughter had azshma
secondary was the freedom from having flame sources in the living area,therefore removing any chance of carbon monoxide poisoning.
And finally is the mess,no dust ,ash,bugs,smoke,ect from handling wood or burning it inside my home.
Bonus is i have a heated workshop 24/7 for small projects,i do most of my chainsaw repair/rescue in there.
My main reason for the build the way i did it was my wife and daughter had azshma
secondary was the freedom from having flame sources in the living area,therefore removing any chance of carbon monoxide poisoning.
And finally is the mess,no dust ,ash,bugs,smoke,ect from handling wood or burning it inside my home.
Bonus is i have a heated workshop 24/7 for small projects,i do most of my chainsaw repair/rescue in there.
So you do batch burns with this setup? Just use glycol in the boiler so it deosn't freeze when its not burning? Would think you'd maybe have to worry about condensation with the boiler cooling off between batch burns.
I put mine in a building that houses my system,including my backup oil boiler.
My typical batch burn starts at 6 PM and ends at 11PM i have water in my boiler and storage.
The boiler doesn't cool much between burns and i have no condensation issues.
My main reason for having it contained in a separate building is i don't have fire insurance.Having all flame sources outside my house is my insurance.
My typical batch burn starts at 6 PM and ends at 11PM i have water in my boiler and storage.
The boiler doesn't cool much between burns and i have no condensation issues.
My main reason for having it contained in a separate building is i don't have fire insurance.Having all flame sources outside my house is my insurance.
Years ago I worked on one with 5000 gallons of storage. It was one of the UMaine boilers and was used to heat a greenhouse. It burned 40 pounds of wood every 20 minutes when charging up. It was in a barn. Nevertheless the big trade off is the boiler and the tank is not in a building so all the heat coming off the boiler and storage is lost. This system had a backup boiler so no glycol.
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