Wood boilers?

[bowtechmadman]

Ihave the woodmaster 5500 and have been happy with it. Dealer support for install and miantenance, parts, warranty should be considered. Dealer was the difference for me going with woodmaster over central biler.

 

[Clarkbug]

Thanks Clarkbug that is exactly what i am after just getting names of different boilers so that i can narrow it down to a few to fit my needs. The closed look seems like a better solution as i thought they were all closed systems. I am going to install geo-thermal possibly for in-floor and plenum heat in the house just incase i get an injury to my back, but i am undecided. Is there any way that you can hook the in-floor up to operate off both the boiler and geo? I would like to know because i want to know which one would be best to hook up to the infloor heat and which to put in the plenum. :msp_confused:

Outdoor boilers are often connected to the house with a heat exchanger to separate the open and closed loops, so that is what you would want to do here it sounds like.

For geothermal, Im certainly no expert, but the temps it puts out tend to be quite low (relative to a boiler) so you could use it for radiant without too much of an issue. Not sure about how it would work in the plenum, since those tend to want higher water temps. I know they make geo to air, but Im not sure how easy it is to feed those from multiple sources.

So I would think you can feed the plenum and the floor with the outdoor boiler easy enough, and the floor with the geo, but Im just honestly not sure about the plenum. A pro designer/installer might be able to steer you on the right path.

 

[YotulFrank]

Moving my heating uniit.

Hi,

I considering moving my oil furnace, getting a new one actually. I'm planning on putting it in another location in my house. I plan on putting a wood boiler in also. Can I use a factory built flue, venting both the oil and wood out this same flue? I will vent the oil above the wood. I haven't picked out the oil or wood devices, but would like the best bang for my buck. Recommendations would be welcome. Additionally, does anyone have an opinion on the
CC500 Combination Oil/Wood Hot Water Boiler made by benjamin?
Benjamin Heating :: CC500 Combination Oil/Wood Hot Water Boiler

If anyone know of better combo unit made, please supply the manufacture name. Also, I'm not interested in the gasification units. They don't fit my budget, and need electricity to operate. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks
PEI Canada

 

[Clarkbug]

Hi,

I considering moving my oil furnace, getting a new one actually. I'm planning on putting it in another location in my house. I plan on putting a wood boiler in also. Can I use a factory built flue, venting both the oil and wood out this same flue? I will vent the oil above the wood. I haven't picked out the oil or wood devices, but would like the best bang for my buck. Recommendations would be welcome. Additionally, does anyone have an opinion on the
CC500 Combination Oil/Wood Hot Water Boiler made by benjamin?
Benjamin Heating :: CC500 Combination Oil/Wood Hot Water Boiler

If anyone know of better combo unit made, please supply the manufacture name. Also, I'm not interested in the gasification units. They don't fit my budget, and need electricity to operate. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks
PEI Canada

You need to check with your local building official on that one... Some places used to let you share a flue, but I know that for most of the areas around here thats not allowed anymore. I would say you probably cant, but I honestly dont know.

The company that I got my boiler from is Varmebaronen, and they make a natural draft gasification boiler. Its not a combo unit, but if you have the chimney for it, no electricity needed that Im aware of.

However, if you are putting any sort of wood/oil boiler in, you are going to need power anyway, right?

 

[owbguy]

I'm in my 9th season with a Central Boiler 6048. I had to replace the water pump at the end of last winter. Other than that, nothing has gone wrong. I love it. Very simple and bullet proof system. I endorse it unconditionally. It will burn anything that fits through the door.

The gassification units look very good. The only issues I see are the need to burn smaller logs and the need for seasoned wood. Other than that, they are pretty sweet. The P&M 250 is slick.

 

[YotulFrank]

You need to check with your local building official on that one... Some places used to let you share a flue, but I know that for most of the areas around here thats not allowed anymore. I would say you probably cant, but I honestly dont know.

The company that I got my boiler from is Varmebaronen, and they make a natural draft gasification boiler. Its not a combo unit, but if you have the chimney for it, no electricity needed that Im aware of.

However, if you are putting any sort of wood/oil boiler in, you are going to need power anyway, right?

Yeah power is needed, but in the even that the power goes out, the traditional boiler will circulate if the zones are open. What model did you get, what was the cost and how big a space do you heat?

Thanks

 

[Clarkbug]

Yeah power is needed, but in the even that the power goes out, the traditional boiler will circulate if the zones are open. What model did you get, what was the cost and how big a space do you heat?

Thanks

I suppose thats true if you dont have a gravity check in your system, or if you go open them manually. A gasifier will also thermosyphon that way with no power, but they tend to work better when connected to storage, and so the plumbing might be tricky to work out.

I have a Vedolux 37, and we are heating about 2700 SF with it. Its the forced draft model, since its a short chimney. The caveat there is that its an OLD house with no insulation and drafty windows, and its only at 60 right now (didnt have much time to get ahead on the wood supply, trying to make sure it lasts the year). As far as cost, I honestly cant tell you what its up to at this point, since I paid to get it piped in, bought some pumps and controllers, had to go get a storage tank, etc. I would say that all told I probably have 10k or so into my system, with all of those items and the install.

 

[Jkebxjunke]

I am going to plug my wooddoctor 8000 its a standard boiler... plus I dont have real close neighbors. well one that I do have burns his trash and what ever he can find... I swear he burnt something nasty last fall like to make ya sick... got him back... when the wind was blowing back toward him.. I tossed in a small tire... hehehe....
have had no complaints with my boiler

 

[rancher2]

I have a Garn 2000 that is in its fourth heating season. I heat a old three story farm house with it that we insulated good and put new windows in it. I also heat a 30 by 60 feet shop with floor heat with it also. In a normal cold winter I burn about 15 cords of wood. I will more than likely burn only ten cords this year. When I say cords of wood I am talking hedge which gives off a lot more heat than ash or elm that would problem double my use if I was burning them. Usually their are enough colds in the bottom to get it started again. I am getting ready to add another 2000 gallon storage tank to mind to get me more time between burns. If I were doing the project over again I would not buy a garn I would build a boiler and put at least 4000 gallon of water storage on it. My garn was about $15,000 and I spend about another $15,000 on all the parts to install the complete system. I did all the install work my self execpt foaming the lines I buryed to the house. Thats a lot of money but I have lots of hedge that needs cut and I don't have a propane well on my farm. My wife sure is a lot happier with the house a 76 degrees instead of 66 degrees when we burned propane. Good luck with the boiler hunt.

 

[YotulFrank]

oil boiler

Hi,

I have an NTI oil boiler, I just cleaned the fire tubes and removed the burner. I used my shop vac and cleaned out the ash. While I was doing this, I noticed that the fire chamber has some sticky rusty colored paste. Is this something to worry about. Can anyone recommend a good site to read about oil boilers.

 

[jlromine76]

Owb

Been running a Shaver 250 series for two years now and love it. Dont get me wrong it is a lot of work cutting, splitting, stacking and feeding that beast but the fact that I spent $90.00 this year to heat the house kept me going. We have an old farm house built in 1890 so it isnt the most efficient although there have been some upgrades throughout the years. Since we live out of the city limits in Hamilton county with no access to natural gas we were stuck with a $3000.00 propane bill the first year we lived in the house so I had to figure out another plan. I started looking around for some reason I kept coming back to the Shaver for some reason. I think a lot of it was the simplicity of the system and the fact that there is some serious metal in that thing. I opted to upgrade to the 1/2" thick firebox and honestly this thing is just massive and solid. The first year was a learning experience for me since I didnt know much about water temps, chimney heights, etc... I first fired it up in January two years ago and pretty much bought wood and scavenged for the next 4 months or so to keep it going. I burned a lot of wood but it was fun to not see the propane needle moving on my tank. During the summer of 2011 I installed a Ranco digital thermostat to get an exact temp on my water since the original Shaver thermostat was a poor design and often caused the water to boil. This year I can maintain the temp and can adjust easily depending on weather. During the fall and spring I run the temp lower to save wood then in the dead of winter I crank it up to the 170 or 180 mark. I do burn a lot of wood and here in Indiana when it is 15 degrees outside dont let anyone tell you that you will only load it once a day because I have never seen that happen with furnaces I have seen. Now this time of year if i was burning nice dry oak I could priobably do that but now I have switched to some very dry left over wood that I dont need to extract much heat from.

I spent just a tad under $6000.00 for the unit and i even drove to Arkansas to pick it up myself and I am glad I did. I got to see the facility and talk to the guys who built it. They were a bunch of good ol' boys who I would buy another one from if I ever need one. I did most of the install by myself with the help of a plumber friend and a neighbod to do the heat exchanger install for me. I did work with what I had around the house and installed it on a pad that was existing but one day hope to move it inside a pole barn a little further from the house but for now it is working just fine. The biggest thing I have learned is about the quality of chimney. I ran the first year with the basic black stove pipe and when it clogged up just replaced it but this year I upgraded to a stainless steal lined chimney on 3' sections. Now I just take it down run the sweep through it and put it back up. Takes me about 30-45 minutes now to do it and I havent had any blockage issues.

If you want to chat more just let me know or if you want to see it in action feel free to hit me up.

 

[THE PLUMMER]

There are so many companies out there making them now a days its hard to keep track of all the new guys coming out. With the 50 or so companies that exist there are only about 6 OWB and 10 indoor brands that are any good. Without starting a brand war, lets stick with what we know has been proven to work , and in some cases well past their warranty claims with minimal repair if any.
1. a company that has been doing it for a long time, as some of these new companies are just ones that went bankrupt and opened up under a new name. For some reason everyone seems to think they can build one, thus soo many new versions claiming to be the latest and greatest and they have less than 5 years on the market to prove this
2. A company that also recommends all top notch equipment, they seem to go hand in hand. For example, the top wood boiler companies also recommend proven equipment like high quality pumps, safety components and underground supply pex. An example to stay away from would be a pump sizing chart that reads small, medium, and large and thats it.
3. just because is claims all over it has EPA ratings doesn't mean anything unless you actually understand the rating and how the test was done. As I don't think any of you feed the boiler with 0% moisture, zero bark, cut into 4x4's, cross stacked, and all the exact same high btu output specie of wood, like some tests have been done.
4. gasification doesn't always mean better, as some units that have been running 20+ years have been doing very well, in capable hands of an experienced user. Each person has a unit that fits them best. Garn or Tarm 2 versions of 2 very good proven units, priced like it too.
Don't always settle for a brand just because its close and easily available, How many dealers have you seen stay in business for more than 5-10 years We don't have a single one in our area. If you buy a good unit parts and support will always be there.