Requesting Input on Gasification Vs. OWB Systems.

[AdamHunter]

I have spent the past week perusing this forum at great extent in my spare time associating myself with the many terms, nuances, benefits and drawbacks of the many systems used by the individuals that post/provide information on this site. That being said I would like to provide the following information for the benefit of those who may respond to this post;

Our family resides in Southern Ontario, we live in a 2000 sq. ft farmhouse that has average insulation, 26 new replacement windows, 4 new entry doors. In addition to which we would like to heat a 20 X 30 Workshop and household domestic water.
We currently use a FA Oil furnace supplemented with a Pacific Energy wood stove. We have an abundant woodlot here on our farm.
In addition to operating the farm full time, I work full-time away from the farm and my wife operates a home business.

I will carefully put the following question to this thread: Why would I want to complicate my life with a gasification boiler- somewhat complicated installation, operational teething problems, burn times, thermal spike issues, storage tanks, perfect wood etc, etc, etc.
I have multiple friends close-by that use Central Boilers and Heat More units with great success and niehbour friendly practices. =Dry wood, Little smoke, lots of heat.
Our fuel oil prices have increased dramatically as it has everywhere......My diesel tractors, chainsaws, log splitter and my labor all cost money. My wife and I are not retired. We are raising a family and VERY busy. So I am not completely convinced that the extra time that we would have to dedicate to perfect wood and babysitting a boiler is a good investment, all for the sake of the best efficiency.

We have not ruled out anything at this point. Cost of installation is not a factor. We have looked at the following systems:
Econoburn 150
Greenwood 100
Central Boiler - EPA Certified
Trane: Air to Air Heat Pump
Complete Geothermal Installation

If someone from the gasification world would like to constructively answer this post it would be greatly appreciated, as well any OWB users that first considered a Gasification unit.

Thank you in advance.

 

[MrEd]

For me it came down to wood consumption, and all that goes along with it. I am in my mid 40's, in decent health, and cut, split stack all my own wood for free off my on land. I 'guesstimated' that an OWB would take at least 2X the amount of wood, maybe more, than a highly efficient gasifier. In my 40's that extra wood handling maybe not such a big deal, but 20-25 years from now, I believe I will be very thankful that I do not have to process so much more wood.

Initial cost didn't seem like a big deal for me. Worst case I am looking at 2-3 year payback even for my expensive setup.

 

[webbie]

All systems will work worse with poor wood, and you will lose a lot of efficiency.

As far as OWB vs. Indoor - the choices are getting wider, because as you mention the EPA Central OWB is one of a new breed of more efficient outdoor units. So you might be able to have your cake and eat it too.

As to the Geothermal, that is something which should be compared as to price. If you are very busy, it may be that wood burning ends up costing you more than savings...or providing a very low payback to your hourly work. It might be that the Geothermal and the PE stove taken together end up being a perfect system.

 

[Nofossil]

I wanted an indoor system - I don't want to go out into a howling blizzard to feed the fire. For me, that rules out all OWBs, clean or not. I love the clean burning and the low wood consumption of my gasifier, and I don't find that it need unreasonable tending.

My personal experience with OWBs has been extremely negative, but perhaps I've never visited anyone who know how to operate them cleanly. As long as you're not doing unreasonable things to your neighbors, anything is fair game. I think it's fair to say that an OWB will burn a lot more wood, and can go longer between feedings.