TARM DEALERS ONTARIO, WETT guys

[Patti]

Hi, Can anyone tell me if there are any Tarm Dealers in Ontario, or even someone that services Tarms?
If so, I’d appreciate any contact information you might have.

If there’s nothing in Ontario, what about the rest of the country?

If I come up empty on that, where could I find them in the U.S?

Also, does anyone know of any WETT certified installers in the Midwestern Ontario area? (Grey County)
Are they able to do technical tests that indicate if it’s operating properly?
A friend who has his HVAC installed it, but I’d like someone who is familiar with gasifiers to give it a thorough check to ensure it is running at maximum efficiency.
Thanks for any information you can offer!
Patti

 

[peakbagger]

US Rep and original US importer https://woodboilers.com/. Tarms have not been imported to the US for several years, even the last Tarm's were made by another firm.with a Tarm logo added. I have one of the Solo 40s which was the last series of US Tarm labeled boilers. The US folks have a great rep for supporting older Tarms.

BTW is if does not have a hot water storage tank with it, its going to be beat up, the gasifiers really need storage to work right and Tarm would not warranty them without storage. The older Tarms were not gasifiers so they could tolerate running without storage (but ran much more efficiency if they did have storage).

 

[maple1]

You will be lucky to find someone in general, no matter the brand.

 

[Patti]

US Rep and original US importer https://woodboilers.com/. Tarms have not been imported to the US for several years, even the last Tarm's were made by another firm.with a Tarm logo added. I have one of the Solo 40s which was the last series of US Tarm labeled boilers. The US folks have a great rep for supporting older Tarms.

BTW is if does not have a hot water storage tank with it, its going to be beat up, the gasifiers really need storage to work right and Tarm would not warranty them without storage. The older Tarms were not gasifiers so they could tolerate running without storage (but ran much more efficiency if they did have storage).

My boiler is older as well. It is (I think!😁) a Solo 40 plus MKII.
Have 600 gallons of storage, but the tank is faulty so I’m replacing it with 1000 gal. Right now it is -25C- that’s -13F, and the boiler is burning through a full load of hardwood about every 5 hours🤦‍♀️
(The buffer tank is disconnected so water is going straight to my house.
The storage tank was only hooked up for a few weeks, but it sure was nice when it was working! Thanks for the link. I’ll check it out! Patti

 

[peakbagger]

Well unless Tarm kept importing to Canada, you have the last Tarm sold in the US. Definitely up the storage volume. The 40 is about 140,000 btus an hour and 600 gallons is really not big enough to take advantage of the boiler unless you have low temperature radiators or radiant and even then go with 1000 gallons.

The one I bought used was installed with zero storage but was heating a converted summer cottage in the White Mtns of NH that was not designed to be heated so my guess is it was incredibly high heating load.

 

[Patti]

👍I have 1000 gallon tank that will be going in this summer.
But something’s not right. After the boiler has been going for some time and while it’s in full burn mode, (NOT idling) there is tons of smoke coming out of the chimney. Shouldn’t the secondary burn chamber being looking after all this? thanks’ Patti

 

[peakbagger]

Since I have never had a gasifier to run, I will leave details to those who live with them. You may want to start a separate post for Tarm gasifier help, there are several active members on Hearth that own them. Could it be that what you are seeing is actually water vapor?. Even well seasoned wood is 15% moisture content. That 15% gets converted to water vapor which does not burn. It goes up the stack as heated vapor which takes up lot of space and takes some of the heat of the wood with it (about 1000 btus per pound of water). When it hits cool air, it condenses into fine water droplets. There is a sight window on the bottom of the solo and I believe the intent of it is to see if the secondary combustion is occurring when the bypass is closed. If there is secondary combustion occurring, then its highly likely that it is mostly water vapor coming out the stack. Water vapor is generally bright white on a sunny day. If there is not secondary combustion occurring, its likely your wood supply is not properly seasoned, in that case the boiler is running too "cold" to burn off 100% of the volatiles in the exhaust. The vapor coming out the stack will be straw or dark colored.

The number one problem new wood burners especially those with modern stove and gasifiers type boilers is poorly seasoned wood. If you buy wood, unless the wood comes right out of firewood kiln (very rare), its 95% certain that the wood is not dry enough. It is just not economical for a wood seller to properly store and dry wood long enough to dry properly. It typically takes two years of proper storage, up off the ground with a top cover in a sunny area for wood to dry. Buy a moisture meter, freshly split a couple of logs then bring them indoors to warm up to room temp and take readings at the center of the fresh cut face and then average the readings. Some folks buy packaged kiln dried campfire wood at a store and run it through the boiler to see how it runs with truly dry wood.

 

[Bad LP]

If you are seeing smoke and it’s not water vapor you got some serious issues.

This single digit and below had mine working overtime inhaling wood.

 

[stoveliker]

Buy a moisture meter, freshly split a couple of logs then bring them indoors to warm up to room temp and take readings at the center of the fresh cut face and then average the readings.

I beg to differ. First let the wood warm up and then split and measure; otherwise the warm-up (12-24 hrs in an 50 pct humidity 70 F atmosphere) dries out the surface you'll be measuring.

 

[peakbagger]

Okay, sorry for the misdirection

 

[stoveliker]

No apologies needed. (I surely make more mistake than you.)

 

[Patti]

Since I have never had a gasifier to run, I will leave details to those who live with them. You may want to start a separate post for Tarm gasifier help, there are several active members on Hearth that own them. Could it be that what you are seeing is actually water vapor?. Even well seasoned wood is 15% moisture content. That 15% gets converted to water vapor which does not burn. It goes up the stack as heated vapor which takes up lot of space and takes some of the heat of the wood with it (about 1000 btus per pound of water). When it hits cool air, it condenses into fine water droplets. There is a sight window on the bottom of the solo and I believe the intent of it is to see if the secondary combustion is occurring when the bypass is closed. If there is secondary combustion occurring, then its highly likely that it is mostly water vapor coming out the stack. Water vapor is generally bright white on a sunny day. If there is not secondary combustion occurring, its likely your wood supply is not properly seasoned, in that case the boiler is running too "cold" to burn off 100% of the volatiles in the exhaust. The vapor coming out the stack will be straw or dark colored.

The number one problem new wood burners especially those with modern stove and gasifiers type boilers is poorly seasoned wood. If you buy wood, unless the wood comes right out of firewood kiln (very rare), its 95% certain that the wood is not dry enough. It is just not economical for a wood seller to properly store and dry wood long enough to dry properly. It typically takes two years of proper storage, up off the ground with a top cover in a sunny area for wood to dry. Buy a moisture meter, freshly split a couple of logs then bring them indoors to warm up to room temp and take readings at the center of the fresh cut face and then average the readings. Some folks buy packaged kiln dried campfire wood at a store and run it through the boiler to see how it runs with truly dry wood.

Oh yeah…I’ve got well-seasoned hardwood. Up off the ground, dried for two years, and then stacked inside my shop with an industrial ceiling fan going 24/7. Usually my moisture meter registers between 5 to 12 (depending on the species).
I didn’t know about water vapour though. That is something I’ll have to look into. I’ll take a look at the stack today! Thanks for that info.
🙂patti

 

[Patti]

If you are seeing smoke and it’s not water vapor you got some serious issues.

This single digit and below had mine working overtime inhaling wood.

Going to determine today if it’s smoke or water vapour. The secondary chamber is burning good and hot. My wood is very dry hardwood, so hopefully it IS water vapour!!

 

[Patti]

I beg to differ. First let the wood warm up and then split and measure; otherwise the warm-up (12-24 hrs in an 50 pct humidity 70 F atmosphere) dries out the surface you'll be measuring.

See above! My wood is very dry! Thanks for the info though. ☺️

 

[peakbagger]

With that moisture content, and secondary flame its going to be water vapor unless you are getting rid of old motor oil by soaking the wood