Trying to decide on a wood boiler.

I have 2 x 330gal LP tanks stacked horizontally. They don't take up all that much space relatively speaking - the overall footprint is something like 4'x10', including insulation. I would not put them in the ground - although some may have done it. There will be a little heat loss no matter how well insulated, good to have that in the envelope - plus future servicing could be pretty hard to do.

I can let my storage go down to 130-140 before the house starts to lose temp - having lots of baseboard helps there. I could go less if I had some cast iron rads or radiant floor but I just have ordinary Slant Fin baseboard. I usually don't burn for more than 6 hours a day through the winter. The most would be 9 or so, that is on the very coldest of days. So far this year it's been more like 4. That makes for big flexibility & choice on when to burn, you can adapt to your schedule pretty good. You can also use your house for storage, sort of, if you set back your thermostats a bit say overnight or when parts of the house aren't being used during the day then recover to normal temps or maybe a bit more when you are burning (extra baseboard helps there too) - gasifiers really pump out the heat when they are lit up. I never have a fire going now when we are sleeping - it's on it's last legs when we go lights out. And rarely when not home. Yes you have to make a new fire everyday - that would likely be the biggest adjustment. Or maybe every other day in spring & fall. But I have been the old way before, keeping a fire going all winter long - 17 years before making the change. I do not want to go back to being the slave I was to our old one, no way no how. That might be more due to the particular inefficient boiler we had before - but with that thing I was up past my bedtime to stuff it full that one last load, then out of bed before I wanted to be in the morning to get it stoked up again, repeat a couple or three more times through the day, (and still having the oil burner cut in once in a while), and fighting big coal buildup in between loadings and creosote in the chimney 3-4 times a winter. I haven't cleaned my chimney now in 5+ years, don't plan to ever again. And burn (and process) maybe 1/3 or so less wood, while having a warmer house. I like it.

 

Basic install of Woodmaster 4400 here. It's a greedy hungry beast and enthusiasm for making far'wood is mandatory.
It's bullet proof construction and simplicity of design works for me.
I know a guy with a Hardy,,it works well most of the time and the guy with a Central Boiler is stihl making heat.

 

We were at 5° last night, had a nice bed of coals in my Heatmaster SS and one lone split of wood resting against the side of the firebox. I put about a dozen splits (most 4" dia or smaller) in the firebox and it will still be there when I get home from work. I was going through twice as much wood, if not more, with my old Central Boiler classic, and that was before it started leaking.

For anyone considering an outdoor unit, I would highly recommend mine, but also take a close look at Polar and Portage & Main.

 

Which Series/size boiler do you have from them? I love the look of the Heatmaster boilers and thought when the time comes to replace my current Woodmaster I'd strongly consider going with a Heatmaster, probably a G-series G200. They look like solid boilers.

If you dont mind me asking too, what did you pay for the boiler?

EDIT: As soon as I clicked post on this I saw your signature says G200!

Also, how much wood per season do you burn now versus your old CB? I use 8-9 cord a season currently for a 2400 sq ft house/garage as well as DHW...in NH so similar climate as you in VT.

 

Have you looked at aquatherm? They make a real nice quality gasification boiler.

 

Absolutely true. You want a pressurized system. Open systems are highly inefficient.

My dad was a "boiler guy" he installed and inspected residential, and commercial high and low pressure, as well as water and steam systems pretty much his entire adult life. I worked for him for a few years, installing residential units for his shop. I know a bit, but nothing compared to what my dad forgot about boiler systems.

 

I think it was $10k for the G200 but I’d have to look it up. I forgot.

I was using 10-11 cords a year in the old CB and that number was actually creeping up on me because of the leaks in the boiler. I really don’t have a good feel yet for how much I’m going to use this heating season, since I burn for both heat and domestic hot water so it’s been running since January 4 continuously. Based on what I have in my woodshed, I have burned about a cord and a half, maybe 1-3/4, since 1 October. At that rate, it looks like I’ll be emptying my woodshed of six cords of wood right around Memorial Day. Perfect timing to put my back up system online (electric heat pump water heater) and shut the system down for the summer. I probably won’t burn until late May unless the weather is unusually cold.


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But how many OWBs are pressurized?