Does anyone have a gasification unit? Or more specifically the Portage and Main?
Yes - I have the P&M 250.
We started burning it in the 3rd week of September - and although there was a much steeper learning curve than we thought there would be, we couldn't be happier with it.
In terms of cleaning it out, I know P&M suggests every two weeks. And with the exception of one time I let it go for about three weeks, I've kept up with it pretty religiously. The amount of ash I get during clean outs is about one small galvanized pail full. Most of that ash is from the heat exchanger tubes that you have to brush out - but it's just fine black stuff which doesn't really amount to much.
I was cleaning the ash/coals out of the secondary burn chamber every few days, but then I realized that most of that was still active coals. Since I didn't want to lose the heat potential from unburnt wood - I've now decided to clean out the bottom only once every two weeks when I clean the rest of the unit.
As far as the rest of the feedback you've been getting - I can only attribute those thoughts/comments to the fact that gassification units are a lot different than conventional OWB's. This thought of getting 15 gallons of ash, scooping ash/coals out with a shovel, ash/flame coming out the stack just simply does not happen with the P&M.
Let me know if you have any more questions!