should I buy a gasifyer

[mark123]

I am considering a gasifier but would like to know if it will help me at all.
I have a new 1900 sf home+garage and basement =4000sf. I currently have a Benjamin CC500 wood/oil combination boiler

http://www.benjaminheating.com/cc500_series.htm

which puts out 90000btu/hour with wood and ~11000 btu with oil. We never use the oil in winter. The heating system consists of in concrete radiant floor in the garage and basement and the other zones are in floor joist cavity radiant with R-12 fiberglass under the tubing, 5 zones and the boiler can barely keep up to heating one of them, which are 2 bedrooms totalling 500 sf. We never turn on the other zones because the boiler will not keep up. The rest of the house is heated with a pacific energy wood stove and sunlight through the large windows facing SW. The house is an A frame with wings to either side and open loft above all open concept except the 2 bedrooms in one wing. We burn about 9 cord of wood to heat the domestic water and the bedrooms and the wood stove burns about 2 for the rest of the house (1400sf). Doesn't this seem wierd. I have the water at full temp. going through the in floor (170-180) any less and there is not enough heat transfer. I would like to heat everything with the boiler eventually but hate the though of dishing out $10000.00 and be no further ahead. I was thinking of a gasifyer in the 200000 btu range.

 

[Eric Johnson]

You'll be way ahead with a boiler like the EKO 60, which puts out 205K btu. I had a conventional 150K btu conventional wood-fired boiler (a Royall 6150) and it couldn't keep up with my heat load on cold days. the EKO keeps our big, old house toasty warm under the coldest conditions. And this winter has been pretty cold.

The thing about a gasifier vs. a conventional wood-fired boiler or OWB is that they are much more efficient and produce little or no smoke. So you burn less wood, get more heat, and don't stink up the neighborhood.

 

[WoodNotOil]

Yes it would help a lot. It sounds like your conventional WB is undersized for the application to start with. You will need to consider what to have as backup heat and what to do about storage. There are lots of options from units with built in storage, commercial storage packages, used propane tanks, and of course DIY storage you can build. Lots of info on all those options here if you do a search.

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

If you have a 110kBtu oil unit that will not heat 4k [] you may want to address where the heat is being lost. After you fix that situation, then decide on the best wood-fired hydronic you can afford.

 

[flyingcow]

Mark123,
I live just about 40 miles south of the border crossing in Houlton Maine. I have a 2 story 1800 sq/ft house plus basement. I don't get the cold from the ocean like you do, but I'm on a hill with a good view and wind from Mt Katahdin. I heated my house with a weil mclain 85,000btu oil boiler. Just put in a tarm solo Innova 30 with storage. Spent a lot of time figuring out what I wanted to do. I kept coming back to some sort of gassifier w/storage. Damn expensive at first, but it'll pay for itself.
Who designed your system? Yourself or a heating contractor? Not a plumber, but someone with design experience?If it wasn't you, get him back there and help you figure his screw up.If they can't figure the problem out....?
Does your slab radiant flr have foam board under it before the concrete was pored?
If its an open ceiling, do you have ceiling fans and are they big enough?
Have you tried to run just the oil side and see if that will produce enough heat to run all the zones? At least for a day or two. If it does work, and it may run a lot trying to keep up, than your delivery to each zone should be all right. If it doesn't work than you may have other problems. I did not due a heat loss study, but you should definately do one. I wish I had.

You are in about the same climate as me, but have a different house construction.

But that's my thoughts(and I'm only a truck driver), seems the oil ought to be able to keep up easily(if it was designed right), except for this cold snap. I've had some damn cold winters here and my 85,000 btu oil kept up, it worked its butt off, but it kept up. A room might have been a "little" colder than I would have liked it, but it was ok.

Do a lot more homework than I did, it helps.

 

[flyingcow]

If you have a 110kBtu oil unit that will not heat 4k [] you may want to address where the heat is being lost. After you fix that situation, then decide on the best wood-fired hydronic you can afford.

much simpler reply

 

[Eric Johnson]

All good replies and good advice, as usual.

 

[mark123]

As I said in my post I do not turn on the oil in the winter time, if I do it will heat everything fine but I do not want to pay for the oil. In the summer we use the oil to heat domestic water. We just turn it on 5-10 minutes before we need it and then turn it off again. The boiler would probably do better if I went down to add wood every hour or 2 but I don't, I usually go down every 3-4 hours and by then there is just a small fire.

 

[flyingcow]

You're right, it does seem weird. Seems if you run the oil and it heats the floor well, why the wood doesn't. So you've tried to run the oil full tilt, this time of year, for a couple of days? Not trying to p!ss you off, but ...... it doesn't add up.

 

[wantstoburnwood]

Hi Mark where ya from on the island. I installed a gassifier this year and am very happy with it. It's an Econoburn ebw 150. My house is sheltered by woods west , north and south. I heat approx. 2700 sq ft including my 2 stories plus basement + 24x28 garage. I agree with alot of the above posts as to where your heat is going? I have burn't so far this year 3.5 cords of maple since Oct 17th with only running my oil boiler for 4 days when I was away. Infloor heat in the garage and basement and radiation in the rest of the house. I fill her up at 10 pm and at 6 am the house only drops from 21 to 19. And yes I think a gassifier is a good purchase. Have you done any research on them? Does anyone in the area carry them?

 

[mark123]

I live in Grand Tracadie, how about you? I am looking at the Econoburn, actually I e-mailed Hank to see if anyone in the maritimes had one and he didn't reply me. Also I looked at a few other websites such as greenwood, EKO, Biasi...Why did you go with the econoburn, did you buy directly from the manufacturer? Did you install yourself or do you know of any knowledgeable plumbing/heating techs. I haven't found any any good at wood boiler heating. My original installer actually told me to cut vent holes in the floor so the warm air in the joist cavity could come into the room, not to mention all the fiberglass fibers from the insulation would likely come in as well. Do you know of others on the island with gasifyers?

 

[wantstoburnwood]

I live in Grand Tracadie, how about you? I am looking at the Econoburn, actually I e-mailed Hank to see if anyone in the maritimes had one and he didn't reply me. Also I looked at a few other websites such as greenwood, EKO, Biasi...Why did you go with the econoburn, did you buy directly from the manufacturer? Did you install yourself or do you know of any knowledgeable plumbing/heating techs. I haven't found any any good at wood boiler heating. My original installer actually told me to cut vent holes in the floor so the warm air in the joist cavity could come into the room, not to mention all the fiberglass fibers from the insulation would likely come in as well. Do you know of others on the island with gasifyers?

Pownal . Hank called me on Tuesday to see how things are going so he must be going to contact you. I went with the econoburn because of the great manufacturing history they have. The unit best fit my space as well. I don't know anyone on the island who has a gassifier but a dealer in NB told me he had give someone my name because he was having burn time issues. I think he has a Greenwood . Also there is a greenwood on greenfire in the Souris area. I bought directly from the manufacturer , directly from Hank. Give me a call anytime at 628-9568 (during the day is the best time to get me).