Real wood boiler beginner...

[Rearscreen]

Hello, I have been in the woodstove forum for a while as an owner of a Progress Hybrid, but recently I need to make a decision about a wood boiler. Oil, Gas, and the most recently suggestion...wood. So, I am not asking for an opinion of a good wood boiler, it's just that I don't even know where to begin to look. The house is in Vermont. Any opinions or information would be helpful. 3 types of heat in my house: 2,500 sf. Progress Hybrid (new install this year) Radiant Onyx in 2/3 of the first floor (new this year) and baseboard which was existing. Only 1/3 of the house will use the existing baseboard as the radiant will be taking over the other 2/3rds.
Any beginning advice will help me. Thanks in advance.

 

[PassionForFire&Water]

You can find a list of cord wood boilers and pellet boilers that are EPA qualified in this link:
(broken link removed to http://www.epa.gov/burnwise/owhhlist.html)
And in this link:
http://www.nyserda.ny.gov/All-Programs/Programs/Renewable-Heat-NY

If you install after Dec 31-2015 legally you will need to stick with a unit that is on one of these lists.

As you can see, there is much more choice for pellet boilers then there is for cord wood boilers.

For cord wood : Garn, Fröling, Econoburn, Drummer, and of course all the outdoor wood boiler crap qualified under EPA
For pellet boilers: Pellergy, Fröling, Windhager, Evoworld, Oköfen, Kedel, to name a few.
You can find tons of information here in the boiler room on these brands

With your radiant floor heating I recommend you incorporate some sort of thermal storage.
For a wood boiler: minimum 500 to 1000 gallons
For pellet boilers: 80 to 120 gallons

In VT you have a really nice rebate for pellet boilers; in total $4,500
$2,500 from SSREIP Modern Wood Pellet Heating (Renewable Energy Resource Center)
$2,000 from Efficiency Vermont Rebate