Really....how effective are gasifiers without storage? Am I crazy....

[hottubbrad]

Can I really heat my 1600 square footprint home (x 2 stories)= 3200 sq ft. with a gasifier WITH NO STORAGE (for now).
Or do I need to sleep beside the boiler to continuously be loading it.......

(Radiant floor in lower level. Air exchanger for upstairs. DHW heating off boiler as well. New construction. R20 walls R60 ceiling.)

Thanks

 

[EricV]

I have a Tarm 40 and I installed it in January 2007 with no storage until the following fall. So I had run it for about 4 months of the end of the heating season with no storage and had no problem at all. I would load it when I got home from work (4pm), went to bed (9 pm) and when I got up (5 am).

The only down side is it will idle more than if you had storage so it will be slightly less efficient but a far cry from buying oil for sure.

I also got all my DHW from it during that time.

I think you'll find lots of boilers out there without storage.

So, if you sized the boiler right you won't need to sleep next to it.

 

[markpee]

I lit mine up Sunday night for the first time ever. So far I get 7-9 hours out of a burn. I've had my doubts, but so far my house has never been warmer (in fact I'm sweating - maybe I need to turn it down (whole house is at 70 degrees)), my water has never been hotter, and I dont get a sharp pain in my gut whenever the oil burner kicks on (which since Sunday is never!) My house is 2300 square feet - and no problem. In fact, I could probably heat more with no problem.

 

[Duetech]

Hi hottubbrad,
I heat my 1700 sq ft home, 70-72*f, with with an EKO 40 via an air/water heat exchanger. My dhw is also heated by my boiler via a sidearm heater. My home is old and drafty. My boiler was purchased with two primary concepts in mind. One: size and ability to heat my home most economically with possible expansion and, two: loading chamber capacity for length of burn because of no storage. In the worst of winter I have to load once every 8 hours and for the general part of winter 10-12 hours. With fuel oil, 68-70*f, we use 200-240 gallons a month in the worst of winter or $500+ compared to the efficiency of the gasifier which is about one full chord+ of wood per month. With storage that would be less. The price for the wood also encompasses what I would normally be spending for propane for dhw so the savings is even better when that is figured in. Dhw with my old water heater is about $83 per month avg ($1000 per yr). The over all view is approx. $600 mo. fossil fuels or $110-240 for wood. Those comparisons with the length of burn lets me rest real easy at night and my bed is in the house while the boiler is in the garage.
With your current scenario being better than mine, as per newness of home etc, my location and length of burn would probably stay closer to a 10 hour burn time in the hardest of winter. But we seldom see -20*f with the 40 mph winds we saw last year. Your location puts you closer to my "hardest of winter" scenario for your regular winter. My boiler has approximately 6.5 cubic feet of wood loading area (49 U.S. gal @ 231 cu in. gal) and I would not suggest a boiler with less capacity than that without storage. The draw back attached to the length of burn is boiler idle time and learning to deal with the creosote (not all that difficult but harder on your boiler). With the creosote being more prevalent than with systems with storage chimney clean-out is more frequent for safety and necessity so construct your chimney with that in mind you'll be thankful for built in ease of access for years to come...Stay warm...Cave2k

 

[Nofossil]

It partly depends on how quickly your house cools to an unacceptable temperature once the fire goes out. I used my gasifier for a whole season without storage. I'd build a fire each day after work - 4:00 or 5:00. I'd keep it going and load it up at 10:00. It would then burn until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning, and the house would be fine in the morning. By afternoon the house would be starting to get cool, especially on a cold / windy / cloudy day. I heated from Mid-November to mid-March - 3500 square foot house, hot tub, and DHW for just over 3 cords of wood.

We had to be careful about hot water use, because the hot water heater only holds enough for a couple of showers once the boiler has gone out.

The house temperature varied a bit more than ideal, but not intolerably.

Bottom line: Storage is not necessary. It can reduce your workload and increase your comfort and convenience, though.

 

[88rxn/a]

reading stories like this makes all the "help adjusting", flap sticking, ETC..... little problems people have in the learning process go away....
i wish i had the cash NOW to get my boiler

 

[markpee]

reading stories like this makes all the "help adjusting", flap sticking, ETC..... little problems people have in the learning process go away....
i wish i had the cash NOW to get my boiler

Try to do what I did - sell stuff you don't use on ebay - big stuff if you have it. Pretty soon you'll have enough cash to buy it, you'll see.

 

[jklingel]

I've talked w/ 3 guys up here who do not have storage, and they are doing fine. One boiler is an Econoburn (if I recall) and it has about 80 gallons on board, so that helps. All three machines have been operating for a year or two, and one guy's house is 3500 sqr ft. If/when I get my place built, I'll postpone the storage for a while... unless I get that sub. j

 

[in hot water]

It all has to do with how closely the load matches the boiler output. As we know the heat load of a building is ever changing. If the boiler is sized close to the design load and has the ability to modulate, as yours does, it becomes more of an operator issue. Building the fire to the size of the load. Unless you are home all day it is hard to keep the burn in the ideal spot.

Burning hot, long fires is the most efficient way to run a gasification boiler. Over sizing tends to lead to in-efficient operation or the need for buffer capacity.

hr