My Portage & Main Optimizer 250 Install (w/Pics)

Greetings folks,

Being my first post here on the A/S, I'll dispense with the introductions and get to the good stuff:

We moved in to an 1880's farm house last February and basically froze our buns off inside at a balmy 62* all winter...And spent a cool 5 grand on oil and gas from Feb-Aprilish. We have approximately 2200 square feet to heat and have the option of re-hooking-up some radiant heat in a shop that the previous owner disconnected due to the cost of heating it with oil.

We did a ton of research and decided to go with the Portage & Main Optimizer 250. Yes, it was considerably more money than some of the other models - but in Maine, the traditional OWB isn't an option anymore. If my information is correct, the importation and sale of them became illegal sometime in 2007 or 2008. So, a gasification model was our only choice.

Here it is arriving at my house:



And we ended up using 110' of this stuff:



Buried at approximately 3':




Here it is in it's final resting place:




With the hole filled back in:

And a gratuitous shot of our wood pile an holz hausen!

Nice Work Brother!

Looks great, and i'm sure it will seve you well. Nice little firewood stash ya got going too...




Plus ya got a GSD...that's Rep worthy alone!:msp_thumbup:

Welcome to the AS by the way...there's lots of good people, nut-jobs, freaks, and good-natured wood cutters on here...we all fit in somewhere...

Porus house

Hopefully you spent some $$$ on making that old home a little more insulated. Sounds like alot of wood will be needed even if the unit is a gaser.

Brian

J1m said:

Greetings folks,



We moved in to an 1880's farm house last February and basically froze our buns off inside at a balmy 62* all winter...

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Thats about all our woodstove keeps our old house at during the day. On a weekend we can get it up over 70 if burning hot. One of these days I'll have time to do some insulating.

Good luck with it! Got any wood cut yet? LOL!

Blazin said:

Good luck with it! Got any wood cut yet? LOL!

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Yep - there's some wood right there in the last photo.

And I've tried like hell to post additional photos but when I do I get a semi-error message saying that my post will be added to the thread once a moderator approves it. How long does that last?

Blazin said:

Good luck with it! Got any wood cut yet? LOL!

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Yep - there's some wood right there in the last picture.

What gives with this forum? I've tried to post additional pictures 3-4 times and I get an error message saying that my post won't show up until it's approved by a moderator?? How long does that last?

J1m said:

Yep - there's some wood right there in the last picture.

What gives with this forum? I've tried to post additional pictures 3-4 times and I get an error message saying that my post won't show up until it's approved by a moderator?? How long does that last?

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I did see the wood there, your gonna need more though Not sure, but you need to have a certain number of posts to add pics I believe.

welcome to AS by the way!

J1m said:

Yep - there's some wood right there in the last picture.

What gives with this forum? I've tried to post additional pictures 3-4 times and I get an error message saying that my post won't show up until it's approved by a moderator?? How long does that last?

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You are new and are posting pics with a name of a stove in it,the auto checker is going to not allow you to post until it is checked. I spend a couple of hours here a day,but no mod is
just waiting here 24/7 to approve posts. When I log in I usually check them first thing,but sometimes a mod might not log in for several hours.Thanks Dave

wampum said:

You are new and are posting pics with a name of a stove in it,the auto checker is going to not allow you to post until it is checked. I spend a couple of hours here a day,but no mod is
just waiting here 24/7 to approve posts. When I log in I usually check them first thing,but sometimes a mod might not log in for several hours.Thanks Dave

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OK - I think I half understand. I get that I am new and unproven and that there are no 24/7 site babysitters...

However, I'm a member of about a dozen other internet forums and I have never heard of a picture being flagged for moderation simply because of the title of the photo. Is this some type of ultra sensitive anti-advertising policy or something? I named my pictures in Photobucket P&M - because I knew that would be in the title of my thread over here. Strange.

Good luck with the P&M , Im going on the second year with mine and love it !

Looks nice----is the unit alone over $10K? How about some photos of the firebox etc. Can you burn wood in a gasifier that's stored outside.

I've poured a bit of concrete in my life and that slab looks like the rear corner will be in danger of breaking off.

atlarge54 said:

Looks nice----is the unit alone over $10K? How about some photos of the firebox etc. Can you burn wood in a gasifier that's stored outside.

I've poured a bit of concrete in my life and that slab looks like the rear corner will be in danger of breaking off.

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I only quoted you, at atlarge54 - but let me try and address everyone's comments/questions and get this thing back on track!

No - I could not get the unit at under $10k. It's a long story, but I was quoted $10,500 by my dealer but when all was said and done with the exchange rates, exchange fees, etc. we're in the thing for $11,500 without thermopex, electrical wire, conduit, digging, concrete pads, etc. All that was extra.

Firebox, secondary burn chamber:



I had the same feeling as you regarding the concrete, so I added some more blue stone in the back. I also wanted to make myself a little perch for the back of the stove for when it's time to clean it. It'll make life much nicer when you're level with the boiler, I would guess.



Regarding wood stored outside? I don't think that's the problem as much as getting the moisture to around 20%.

@karlk: Can you comment a little more about your experiences with this thing? You say we'll love it, but what kind of burn times did you get, how much wood did you go through in what size house, how often did you have to clean it, were there any problems you didn't expect, etc??

@Blazin: You're right - the picture I provided didn't have a good angle of how much wood we have - but our stock pile is up to about 17-18 cord right now.





@kyle1: Nope - we didn't spend very much buttoning up the house to be honest. The previous owners had new windows installed and we just had our exterior doors re-hung and that's about it. During the research process we decided that this is one step in a multi-step process to improving our winter comfort. Budget and time dictated only doing one step this summer/fall.

@Bountyhunter: Our GSD is our kid! She's the best! She does a reasonable job of helping with the wood, too! Dragging it right out of my pile on to the lawn! At least she gets it a little closer to the stove!

The weather is getting colder here at night, so it won't be long before we get this thing fired up for the first time - probably within the next 2-3 weeks. We have high hopes!

(Sorry about the 2 sideways photos - I edited them in Photobucket to turn them but they still appeared wrong)

portage and main installation

I am glad you are going to be able to
reduce your heating bill and keep your
home warmer as well.

I have one question though,
The roof line that is adjacent to the
water stove is a concern only because
a snow slide off the roof -if it happens
will make a beeline for the stack on the boiler.

Will you be adding more pipe-I hope?


Can we see more pictures of the furry guard dog if possible? hint, hint

I clean my P&M every 2 weeks. also I load it 2 times a day winter or summer ,I could load one time but its just habit to load twice. I heat 3400sqft in Pa. last year I used 9 cord and the house was at 75degrees.

Ok....you got enough wood now! Nice stacks, way more patience than me! LOL!

Is that just standard 3408 HDPE on the pipe reel, or is it something special I cant see?

Whats in the house to exchange to heat? I've thought about an OWB, but live in a early 1900s house thats low to the ground, and dont have much room for the big exchangers Ive seen.....unless Im confused with something else.

leon said:

I have one question though,
The roof line that is adjacent to the
water stove is a concern only because
a snow slide off the roof -if it happens
will make a beeline for the stack on the boiler.

Will you be adding more pipe-I hope?


Can we see more pictures of the furry guard dog if possible? hint, hint

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Most of those pictures are from the day the stove was delivered - or a day or two later. Once everything is hooked up and running, I'll have a 4' stack on the stove. And the snow on that side of the house isn't much of a worry anyway - at least it wasn't last year. It did seem to accumulate but only up by the siding of the barn. That part of the house has asphalt roofing too which doesn't shed snow until spring...in the form of lots and lots of water!

Yes, I'd love to share more photos of our GSD Molly but it seems until I get my post count up, posting pictures for me is a royal PITA. When I submitted the last post with pics it took about a day and a half to get "approved". And previous to that, I responded with just text to some of the questions and THEN my pics got approved and it made this whole thread confusing...And it kind of makes things look out of sequence and a bit repetitive.

komatsuvarna said:

Is that just standard 3408 HDPE on the pipe reel, or is it something special I cant see?

Whats in the house to exchange to heat? I've thought about an OWB, but live in a early 1900s house thats low to the ground, and dont have much room for the big exchangers Ive seen.....unless Im confused with something else.

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No, it's not just 3408 - it's some $14.00-a-foot-insulated-with-pure-******-gold-thermopex-stuff from Sweden or some other exotic locale. And I needed 110'. Cha-ching!

Seriously though, it's just two 1" pex pipes inside some insulated 4" black plastic pipe. It's not very complicated stuff, but it IS still $14.00 a foot. :msp_confused:

There's a heat exchanger in the basement that's plumbed in with my existing furnace. Once I get my post count up and don't have to have pictures moderated anymore, I'll post a boatload more photos of the inside installation.