Indoor boiler, which one?

[JT371]

I have heated with wood my whole life, have had just a basic wood stove to a OWB. I bought a house and got married a couple of years ago. We have heated with oil and a electric space heater. The house has a oil fire boiler with hot water baseboard. With it costing about $3,000 to heat the house and 30x60 shop, I would like to get a iwb since there is already water lines running to the shop and extra heat off stove would help heat the shop(previous owner had a waste oil boiler heating both house and shop). I have been looking at owb and iwb since we got married. My wife put the axe to that when she seen the 10k price tag. But now with a couple of winters in she has given me the ok to seriously look into a other option. I have know there is to many stove options. I have recently seen the royal crown stoves with stainless steel lining and simple controls. I don't really want a stove with a computer on it. I like to keep things simple. Does anyone have any thoughts or personal experience with these or others I should look into?

The house is about 1,800 sq/ft, as well as the shop is 1,800 sq/ft.


Thanks in advanced

 

[Mike from Maine]

I have a biomass boiler from new horizons. It's a gassification boiler that DOES have a digital control. But it's simple and could be bypassed with a couple wire nuts in five minutes if necessary.

Been very happy overall, I burn pine pretty much exclusively. 1 cord offsets about 125 gallons of oil.

 

[JT371]

Is there any benefit to getting gasification. I was told that the iwb don't need to be gasification. I also don't want the style that needs a extra water storage tank.

 

[ric5141]

I've been look at thermo control sounds to be about what your refering to

Thermo-Control.com

 

[woodfarmer]

i have the empyre elite, put it in the shop. it does not give off heat itself as its insulated so you will need a heat exchnger with a blower.

 

[Mike Van]

Is there any benefit to getting gasification. I was told that the iwb don't need to be gasification. I also don't want the style that needs a extra water storage tank.

JT - For 15+ years, I've had a Harmon SF260 wood boiler, plumbed into our oil boiler. We used 9 full cords last winter, good dry wood, not some poplar or such. I'm going to a gasser unit this year, with all the storage it needs to work right. The Harman has none, it works 'on demand' When the water temp drops, the draft door opens. Smoke billows out of the chimney until the fire catches. When the water got up to 170f, the damper closes. Temp drops, same cycle. I had two chimney fires last winter, average is only one. The creosote this unit makes is beyond belief, and it's the hard glassy type you can't get out. The gassers or batch burners as they're called, you fire once, a little smoke starting, then fire so hot theres nothing left to stick in the pipe. Pretty sure Garn is going to be my choice, rugged, simple, I don't need a computer control to burn wood. By all estimates, 4 to 5 cord instead or 9.

 

[harrybeaver]

Is there any benefit to getting gasification. I was told that the iwb don't need to be gasification. I also don't want the style that needs a extra water storage tank.

You do want gasification and water storage, you just don't know it yet. Gasification means about 20-30 % less wood burn and less smoke to annoy your neighbors. Water storage allows more flexibility in use and also increases efficiency. I have an EKO 40 which I bought new and 1000 gallons of water storage which still need to be installed. I cannot wait to get the heat storage tanks in they will make life much better.

 

[Mike Van]

The owb you looked at with the 10 thou. price tag would be the low end of a gassification system. There is no cheap way out, once you go past a stove or fireplace. The Harmon I paid 2500 for 15+ years ago is still sold, I think it's 4500 now. Like anything, the least expensive isn't always the best -

 

[harrybeaver]

The owb you looked at with the 10 thou. price tag would be the low end of a gassification system. There is no cheap way out, once you go past a stove or fireplace. The Harmon I paid 2500 for 15+ years ago is still sold, I think it's 4500 now. Like anything, the least expensive isn't always the best -

The pricing is ridiculously high in the states. I paid $3300 for my EKO 40 buying it through Kotly.com in Poland had it shipped to a friend in Germany and then through some other connections sent to me here in Connecticut, total shipping cost was $0. I have unique connections in the shipping industry that allowed this, my point being it doesn't cost anything near what they sell for here in the states. You could fill a container and bring it across the pond for about $3000. You would think people would pick this up and run with it but of the few I have seen that tried they all got out of the business.

 

[Mike from Maine]

JT - Pretty sure Garn is going to be my choice, rugged, simple, I don't need a computer control to burn wood. By all estimates, 4 to 5 cord instead or 9.

Even the garn comes with digital controls now.