Wood Boilers

[Steamer]

Just a reflection on wood boilers. I was real close to buying an inside boiler last year but after reading all the problems with them posted here I am glad I never invested in one. I can not believe all the issues and failures I have read about such as leaking, cracking,creosote build up, insulation problems, venting problems, storage expense, companies not honoring guarantee, companies going belly up. I have a Nashua wood stove circa 1985 that admittedly needs to be upgraded but in the 24 years it has helped to keep my house warm I have replaced the stove pipe to the chimney and the insulation rope around the door. I think I will stick to a new wood stove and really continue to save money. Burning about 500 gallons of oil a year to heat my house and make all domestic hot water and about 2 1/2 cords of wood. With a new wood stove I could probably save even more on oil. Thanks

 

[Duetech]

Your welcome steamer. Thank you for your candid appraisal. You've had a good run with your wood stove. Much better than I had with mine (2). It was a big step but I went with a boiler to conserve on wood to heat my home and heat domestic hot water when I had to replace the stove. I don't have storage yet but I have used my boiler (EKO40) for 3 heating seasons and into my third summer for domestic hot water (shor daily fires) so I have had a fire going almost every day for three years. The cost for oil would have been about 7.5k on a conservative estimate and I have saved another 3k for propane to heat my dhw in those three years (most of the propane I used was for hot water). My boiler cost me 6.5k with all the extras I had to have to make it work and though it has been a learning curve it has been a positive experience and that includes replacing the door seal for the fourth time (I did that annually with the wood stoves and now I think I have found how to do that even less with my boiler). I have about 3.5 cords of wood on the ground right now and two more should get me through to about April or May of 2010. My wood stoves worked but could not meet the demand for even heat and would have to be supplemented by the oil furnace so I wasn't really free of oil heat even though I was burning three to four cords a year. My last wood stove is still functional but warped and served me 15 years. The boiler is supposed to be warranted for 20 years but if it only lasts 15 years I would feel justified in buying another one, provided the cost was reasonable, but I'm hoping my boiler will last more than it's warranted for.

 

[jebatty]

Just a reflection on wood boilers. I was real close to buying an inside boiler last year but after reading all the problems with them posted here I am glad I never invested in one.

We must be reading different posts, as I find the problems to be of minor significance. My Tarm is installed inside my wood-working shop, and if I ever built a new shop or new home, I would install a gasification boiler inside again. Problems (occasional slight smoke from the firebox when refueling too soon) are no less than the woodstove we've used to heat our house the last 19 years.

 

[SolarAndWood]

I share your reflection steamer but have come to a different conclusion. We just finished our fourth season with the stove in the middle of the house approach. It has worked well for us as it sits in a room that is 50x22 that we spend most of our time in. When it is cold, we supplement with electric in the extremities of the house which is largely a rambling l-shaped ranch with a walkout under the main 50x22 room. The selling points of the boiler are even heat, dhw and to remove the combustion from the main living space. I absolutely agree with you that it is a lot of investment and added complexity to achieve these goals. I have had plenty of time to ponder this as what we have works quite well and am very tempted to buy some more time and take advantage of the tax incentive on a new stove. The VC stoves dont stand up to our (ab)use and are warped by the end of the first 7 month season of 24/7 burning. A bigger lower maintenance stove would probably work better for us. We have a good site for solar dhw that could probably be done for the same price as the boiler with storage.

In the long run, however, I think a boiler would serve this demand in stride and achieve our other goals. By the time we add a commercial solar dhw system, we are at the same money as boiler with storage.

 

[Chris Hoskin]

SolarAndWood, I would also add that the $20k you spend on a large(ish) solar thermal system will meet your domestic hot water needs and some small part of your space heating needs in Central New York. That same $20k put into a wood boiler with storage would do 100% of your domestic hot water AND space heating. A much better return on your investment if you ask me. The big difference, of course, is that the solar just sits there and does it's thing and the wood boiler requires a significant investment of time and effort on the owners' part.

Chris

 

[SolarAndWood]

That is exactly how I ended up at boiler with storage. I have 1000 sq ft of solar south roof. That would not even put a dent in my space heating and barely meets the dhw in the winter. While wood may be more work than the sun, I also like the idea that I can take from the woodbank anytime I need btus. That 1000 sq ft of roof was allocated to PV.

Steamer's argument that a woodstove is much simpler and a fraction of the cost still holds even if you buy energy to heat your water.

 

[Chris Hoskin]

I totally agree that: "Steamer’s argument that a woodstove is much simpler and a fraction of the cost still holds even if you buy energy to heat your water." Also, once you are talking about a house that only burns 500 gallons of oil or propane a year the economics (payback) of a wood boiler system get pretty hard to justify. Often too, a house burning that little fuel is small enough and/or energy efficient enough that a woodstove can do a pretty good job on the comfort and heat distribution issue too. We will often recommend that someone in this situation should consider a woodstove - too bad we don't sell them!

Chris

 

[SolarAndWood]

Also, once you are talking about a house that only burns 500 gallons of oil or propane a year the economics (payback) of a wood boiler system get pretty hard to justify.
Chris

I replaced 4500 gallons/yr of propane with the stove...while there must be a better stove for our application out there, they certainly don't owe us anything. Until I replaced the windows, we were going through a lot of wood. The other advantage of the boiler is locating it a few feet from the door to the woodshed will save a lot of material handling.

 

[Steamer]

Just to clarify my house is just under 2000 square feet and 1000 square foot basement that we use all year long.I built with 2 x 6's for walls so I was able to have 6 " of insulation in the walls and 12" in the attic with a southern exposure and large windows facing south and a minimum of windows on the North side. I am thinking of new siding and if I do I will invest in foam wrap adding more insulation. I guess my point is I would rather spend on added energy efficiency than finding a way to create more wood fired BTU's even though I have over 100 acres with about 70 acres being hardwood. Just my opinion. Thanks

 

[gorsuchmill]

Obviously, Steamer, one size doesn't fit all with boilers, or anything else for that matter. I live in an old, 4,000 sf house near Baltimore which, given its configuration, doesn't lend itself to heating with a woodstove. I'd love to reduce the number of rooms I heat, but simply cannot given the house's layout and my family's needs. So, the indoor boiler makes great sense for me given the central heating aspect of it and higher operating efficiency. A year ago I was spending nearly $900/month heating with oil and this year, with wood, I spent very little on oil and kept the house at a warmer temp. Certainly, the indoor boilers are more technical than woodstoves, but not overwhelmingly so. However, what you gain from the added technical "hassle" is a more even heating output (i.e. consistent within rooms as opposed to very warm near the stove and cool farther away) and greater burning efficiency. As for the maintenance aspects, the boiler and flue need to be addressed like any wood burning appliance.

 

[chuck172]

I always burned a wood stove. My knees are shot and I got sick and tired of humping firewood up 12 stairs.
I just load the tarm at ground level in the basement, even heat, plenty of hot water, no mess upstairs.