wood chip boiler?

[dman_110]

Hello all, new to the forum, first time post. just curious if anyone has seen or made a woodchip burning boiler? I know theres a company called messersmith who makes a industrial boiler but im looking for something a little smaller. wood is getting more and more expensive, and harder to come by(not to mention my back). especially with fuel prices constantly going up. any info would be great.
thank you, Dan.

 

[emesine]

I did a lot of research on wood chip boilers before making my current installation (which I like quite a lot, BTW). Bottom line, burning wood chips is one heck of a lot harder than you might think. You're looking at $20,000 for a minimal system. Also, there are very real issues of fire in your wood chip bin (many units have a water spray to keep the chips wet), and the startup procedures are complicated. Woodgun does make a wood chip system. I looked at another one from a polish company that looked pretty good as well. Can't remember off the top of my head who it was.

You also have to consider storage of woodchips (they rot). Also an auger to get the chips into your burner, etc.

Andrew

 

[dman_110]

good points, i didnt realize the up front cost though. i curently run a central, but im in the process of collecting parts and pieces to build a waist veggy oil boiler which ill tie in to my cuurent system. im gonna put it in my garage to keep the mess outside. i figure ill run that till like december january and run wood through the colder months than back over to veg oil.

 

[flyingcow]

One of my trucking jobs is hauling wood chips. They will freeze solid in winter and you can't effectively dry them so they'll burn good. You need a lot of mass to burn whole tree chips, etc. I looked at it also(briefly), as a residential set up in the deep cold areas.

 

[Wallyworld]

Their was a Professor at UMaine who spent a lot of time on a Wood Chip Boiler for home market. He had issues getting dry chips. He tried all kinds of ways to dry them. He also had issues with an auger to feed them, different sizes of chips screwed that up and couldn't get consistent sizes. He also had issues with the fire going up or down? the auger setting storage on fire. Dick Hill talks about the trials and tribulations of this guys research occasionally on the radio, quite an interesting topic if you ask me.

 

[tom in maine]

That guy was Prof. Norm Smith.
He developed the unit to a point that was pre-commercial. The downfall, like you said was getting dry chips.

I called him way back in the '70's about getting plans to build one (this was before I knew Dick Hill) and he told me
"You can't do that, you'll burn your house down." Of course, I then had to build one. Filled the basement several times with green paper grade chips.
They would get moldy before I could use them all. That was real nice!

It worked fair, every so often waking me at three in the morning, when the auger would fetch up.
Converted it to wood burning, until oil got too cheap and went back to oil again.

Now, in my slightly older age, it is a matter of principal and wood will be it!