I've only come across a few, not that I've spent a bunch of time here. I'm starting my 7th season with a "Wood Gun" heating our small house, large shop & DHW. I've been wanting to add storage for several of the usual reasons, but there's always so many other things to do in the non heating times, and when it's cold………………. I'll go through about 7-8 cord a year on average. What's your set up?
I do, I do! Wood Gun S.S.E100! 400 gallons of storage Oh. Ya. It's in my signature. I believe this is my 6th season with it.
I'm on about the 7th season on my Atmos indoor gasser & its going well. I had nozzle wear & there aren't any in the US. I tried one part cement & it fell right off. I then went to Firebrick Engineers & got a 2 part kit for about $40.00. The first part is a phosforic acid paste that you put down in a thin coat. The top part you need to cut with a knife or meat cleaver & literally pound into place with a hammer etc. Problem solved, this stands up to the constant "washing" of the gasses over the nozzle edge. I burn about 3 to 4 cord a year.
I have an empyre elite 100 90% gaser (empyre is out of business now). 2011 model put in service 2014 so far no problems other than a blower. I know the key is seasoned wood and cleaning. I don't believe the 10 or 20 year warranty. I bought mine in a divorce sale half price. It's under sized so I use an empyre 250 ss 40 to 50% as my under 10° heat source and storage. I have some fancy piping and three honeywell 775s for control. I have the elite in my milk house where I can store almost 2 cords of ash to finish dry the seasoned wood in 85° temps. I have mixing valves for my house, workshop and return water to the elite. Then if both boilers fail I switch the call from my 3 way valve on my furnace to the furnace itself. I burn 6 to 10 cords per year. Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk
I've got a TARM SOLO PLUS 140k BTU with 800 gal storage. I burn 4-6 cords per year. Love the heat but hate the mess. I'd love to move to an outdoor unit. The firebox on the TARM is too small to put it outside. You've got to stoke it once per hour. I bought the house from the guy that installed the system. Not sure what the advantages are of indoor vice outdoor. Other than the obvious benefits of not having to haul all that wood, dirt, insects in the house. I hear guys with outdoor units who stoke the fire once a day. Any thoughts on pros and cons? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Welcome bassattacker Did the previous owner describe his operation technique? Your type of system is usually run full out until your 800 gal is up to temp. Then you have a X day's off while your heat is drawn from your storage. I think the Tarm's have a very good reputation and are certainly (from what I understand) are far superior to most owb's, technologically & efficiency wise. How many heating seasons have you been in this house? This type of system has a long learning curve for sure
Have been heating with gasification and storage since the early 80s and before that with the scary creosote creating wood boilers from that time period. Storage is really worth the effort. Our first boiler a non-gaser which also produced our DHW and burned 22 cords per year - "Ouch"! Our second boiler, also a non-gaser, burned 16 cords per year and when storage was added that dropped to 10 cords per year. When the smoke burning Jetstream was connected to that storage our consumption dropped to 4 cords per year. Storage also lets you choose when you would like to have a burn. Jetstreams - Out With The Old And In With The New.
This is my third year heating. The previous owner did give me about an hour tutorial. He also left me with a wood splitter. Nice guy. Ive burned a lot of poplar this season, but it's been warm this season. I've averaged 4-6 cords per year. I burn about 5 hours per day in the winter and the tank is a huge help. In 5 hours I can raise the tank temps from about 140 up to 180 if I burn seasoned oak. During a typical day I'll bleed off 40 degrees of heat in the tank to heat the house and our hot water with outside temps in the 20-30s. I like the efficiency but I dislike constantly feeding the fire and the mess. I'd like to have a boiler that is as efficient, but has a bigger fire box and is outside the house. The idea of keeping the bugs and dirt outside the house is appealing. I'm running it with a heat exchanger in the air handler but I'm considering radiant heat as my basement is unfinished and could easily support a radiant heat installation. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Don't get in here very often - might as well do a bump while I'm here. Varm UB40 with 660 gallons of storage in used LP tanks. Think it's the only natural draft one on the market. Into season 6 now with zero dollars spent on maintenance and very little time/effort. Upper refractories are cracked but have been for a couple few years now and haven't moved or displaced - I just keep a layer of ash on them. Couldn't be happier with it.
Season seven and the Wood Gun is heating away strong and steady. I have changed the ceramic “nozzle” out three times. I still have my Pacific Energy Super 27 sitting next to it for back up.
Attack DPX45 running 3 years now. 2600 sf house 1800 sf garage all on radiant and 40 gallon indirect water heater on 7-8 cord a year. So glad I did away with the outdoor boiler at 15+ cord a year. Definitely would like to add storage, just need to make the time to do it. Here's a picture when we just got started on it.
I have also set a chair right in front of mine in admiration, but mine isn't that pretty red Storage would be nice but I'd want to have it pressurized and any meaningful (500 gal +) storage takes up so much space (that I don't have).
The chair was more of a bench and a place to sit down and think about the next step and how to do it. Although it is still down there. I plan on pressurized storage and have the place to do it and everything is all stubbed in to pipe it but we are on the road from May to October with our daughter for softball, then there is 2 trips to Portland from Bangor each week for practice in the off season. She's a junior and hopefully next summer signs with a college, if so I can almost retire come next fall and accomplish something. I am in the process of changing jobs and taking 6 weeks off, hard to believe how much I've gotten done in the last month being home.
My situation is slab on grade house, no bsmt. I am thinking over how (& where) to build an underground vault big enough to hold 2 500 gal. propane tanks and the monster expansion tank it will take along with the required piping.
I get it. Grew up in a house with just a crawl space, no room to do anything. When I built this house full basement was a necessity, one little storage room and the rest is mostly empty but I have it. The underground storage is a neat idea but logistics could be a nightmare. Ohhh how I've put myself into those situations too many times.
I haven't experienced that as of yet. They say that the MC wants to be 12% or less in an ideal world but definitely under 20. They are really designed to burn wide open to get the most out of them. I put in 3/4 of a load at 8 last night and it was still going at 4 this afternoon but it was also high 40s all night and today. It's all seasoned 2 to 3 years.
I can get some “huffing and puffing” going on with wood that is too dry. I have my boiler’s air intake vented outside so it’s not much of a problem. The Wood Gun literature says wood between 20-30% M.C. is best. I am usually burning 17-24% .
