wood chip boiler?

[stihly dan]

I went to the fair this weekend, And got a tutelage of the portage & Maine wood chip boiler for the homeowner. I have to say, I was impressed. Takes any kind of wood chips, twigs and all. People could get some easy free heat. And it burns really clean, no smoke at the stack at all. Seems like a great idea, one that was needed. I can't help but think of the pellet stoves, was a great idea, fuel was cheap. Until they became popular and the demand went way up, then prices of pellets went up. That would be a large investment to have free wood chips start costing alot of money, and having to be stuck with what ever price they went up to. But it is nice that now there is something for the wasted chips to be used for. Can't have enough diversity on fuel sources.

 

[Mac88]

I went to the fair this weekend, And got a tutelage of the portage & Maine wood chip boiler for the homeowner. I have to say, I was impressed. Takes any kind of wood chips, twigs and all. People could get some easy free heat. And it burns really clean, no smoke at the stack at all. Seems like a great idea, one that was needed. I can't help but think of the pellet stoves, was a great idea, fuel was cheap. Until they became popular and the demand went way up, then prices of pellets went up. That would be a large investment to have free wood chips start costing alot of money, and having to be stuck with what ever price they went up to. But it is nice that now there is something for the wasted chips to be used for. Can't have enough diversity on fuel sources.

Sounds interesting, but I'm wondering about the availability of chips. If you had your own chipper, probably no problem. If you had to buy on the open market, how far would the average owner have to go to get the product, or have it shipped to them. Green or seasoned chips? Storage issues? Just curious as it's not something I'd given much thought to.

 

[stihly dan]

Me either. I know big orange and most tree people are always looking to dump chips. Commercial units only take tree based chips, no branches. There's definitely a market. But for how long?

 

[zogger]

Where do you get dry chips to burn? I've run and dumped tons with a big commercial chipper and at best the outside layer of your pile gets dry, but a couple inches in and there on it stays wet and starts to compost out. (let it sit a few years and you got some dang nice garden soil additive...)

I like the idea, but just not seeing any easy way to get dry chips..back to buying designer bags for folding money, just like pellets or like burning corn, etc.

 

[stihly dan]

I didn't think to ask that. Maybe you don't need dry chips. How do commercial units get there chips dry?

 

[Mac88]

Where do you get dry chips to burn? I've run and dumped tons with a big commercial chipper and at best the outside layer of your pile gets dry, but a couple inches in and there on it stays wet and starts to compost out. (let it sit a few years and you got some dang nice garden soil additive...)

I like the idea, but just not seeing any easy way to get dry chips..back to buying designer bags for folding money, just like pellets or like burning corn, etc.

That was my thought. Hard to find dry chip. I suppose someone could devise a large rotating composter type of rig out of perforated steel, and tumble dry the chip, but it would probably take a while. I don't know how those boilers are fed. Belt fed, blown in? I like the idea of using the tree waste, I just don't know how practical it would be.

 

[howellhandmade]

Sounds interesting, but I'm wondering about the availability of chips. If you had your own chipper, probably no problem. If you had to buy on the open market, how far would the average owner have to go to get the product, or have it shipped to them. Green or seasoned chips? Storage issues? Just curious as it's not something I'd given much thought to.

I'm with you, Mac, seems like the chips would have to be either burned green on the double or dried, or else they'd just turn to compost. Not sure how you'd get green chips to burn clean with no smoke. Suppose they'd use dried chips for the demonstration? Nahhhhh.

 

[howellhandmade]

I didn't think to ask that. Maybe you don't need dry chips. How do commercial units get there chips dry?

Big rotating heated steel drum. Saw it on one of those "how it's made" shows, lumber mill burning sawdust and ground-up scraps for power, but no personal experience.

 

[Mac88]

Big rotating heated steel drum. Saw it on one of those "how it's made" shows, lumber mill burning sawdust and ground-up scraps for power, but no personal experience.

It seems to me that it would take a healthy dose of "pre-heat" to get wet chips to ignite. After that I suppose they would burn on their own. I guess I'll have to read up on the unit Stihly mentioned, just to see how the burn cycle works.

 

[stihly dan]

I know commercial uses a belt conveyor system. This is piped from hopper to boiler, with elec motor. The system looks sweet. To many moving parts for me. I wish I asked about the chips. They must be green, or dry out fast before it gets to the burn spot. I just may have to go to there site and find out tomorrow.

 

[Mac88]

I know commercial uses a belt conveyor system. This is piped from hopper to boiler, with elec motor. The system looks sweet. To many moving parts for me. I wish I asked about the chips. They must be green, or dry out fast before it gets to the burn spot. I just may have to go to there site and find out tomorrow.

Cool. Let us know what you find out. I'm curious.

 

[Mac88]

I pulled up the flyer off their site. The chips they're showing don't look anything like what comes off a tow-behind chipper. You'll have to google the site. I don't know if they're a sponsor, but if not I'd probably get another "Rule Number One" infraction if I posted it. ;o)

 

[nylogger]

Years ago I saw a unit called a Messerschmidt Dragon, it was a gassiffication attachment for an existing wood burner. Worked extremely well. The owner had a Valby 3 point chipper and several vented box trucks for drying chips in. This set up would work good if you had access to your own wood to chip.

 

[Encore]

Last fall I ran into a generator that was fueled by wood chips as well.

Like others have said, it's a great idea but you have to process wood far more than you currently would for a stove or OWB

 

[Somesawguy]

Unless you have access to free chips, I think I'd stick with something you could feed regular wood.

Availability is always the issue with these types of setups.

 

[zogger]

I don't see any mention of wet or not on their site. They say you can run chips, twigs and even sawdust and shavings through it. So I guess you have to start with dry, then once running anything that gets augered in will burn.

Someone who is interested could just call them to clarify this. It *might* be a good option for someone who knows for a fact they could get a lot of chips easy/free (local tree service or whatever). I do know from running a big chipper, dang, you get a lot and it sure does shrink down branch piles fast. It doesn't take very long to get a dump truck load.

 

[ss~zoso~ss]

I just searched Youtube "wood chip boiler" and got a bunch of videos that look like they'd be helpful

 

[CTYank]

You might want to look into hogged-fuel burners. Generally coarser stuff than chips, intended to be used as fuel.

Haven't checked on prices lately, but a few years back, it was going for a few $/ton. Obviously, transportation and storage might be a problem for someone living in Manhattan. Could be a viable option for many, though.

 

[J1m]

I had a P&M rep at my house on Wednesday working on my Optimizer 250 and he couldn't say enough about this chip boiler. The one thing he stressed over and over is that the unit will burn chips right off the back of a semi. No drying or further processing necessary. So, if you could source free/cheap chips it might be a viable option.

The other thing that struck me though, is that the thing has such a high btu output, anything other than a commercial application might be WAY overkill.

Private message me if anyone wants the guy's cell phone number.

 

[stihly dan]

I called them today, same trhing green is fine, leaves twigs the whole 9. Basicly any thing chipped is ok. They run on temp so there is no such thing as to small a btu load. It's not for me but, I am sure many people could use this.