OWF wood furnace standard

Ericjeeper

I built my boiler,using an old retired forced air indoor wood burning firebox. My dad heated his house with the furnace for 20 years.He removed it and stored it in the barn. I looked at it for a couple of years. All this time trying to figure out how to make a nice efficient wood boiler.I located a 30 inch diameter section of boiler tank 36 inches long. (freebie.
I cut away all of the air parts of the furnace leaving only the firebox.Located the six inch well pipe flu horizontally out of the top and rear.Cut a 6.5 inch hole out the top rear of the 30 inch tank slid it, in welded the rear hole water tight.Then patched the front up and made all welds water tight.(Trust me old boiler tank 3/8 wall and a bit of surface rust is tough to get a clean weld) I have a six inch fernco coupling on the top with a 4 inch pvc plug.To act as a safety vent. It is an open system Plumbed from my 600 gallon buried storage tank.I wrapped the tank all but the front with R30 fiberglass insulation and then built a surround with barn metal.Snow will stay on the top til the sun melts it off.
My biggest complaint is, I have to get up at 3 am to feed it when it is really cold.But when the temps are just in the high 20s at night it will keep going from 11pm. til 6 am.
Dad always had to feed it every four hours.So basically I am heating 3200 sq feet with less wood than my dad used to heat 1800sq feet. It only smokes when you add new wood.
I am going to build one over the summer with a larger firebox.Hopefully I can get an all night burn. I do not mind putting `15 pieces of wood in all at once as compared to putting seven pieces in twice a night. I try to maintain a 120 degree storage tank temp. The water in the boiler is much hotter as I am basically pumping from the tank slowly through the boiler.
Sure I would like a Wood Gasification unit.But at 6k+ I can not justify the cost.My firewood is free and a bottomless supply.All I have to do is cut it.Which I sure can use the excercise anyhow.

hr

EPA's new program

http://www.epa.gov/woodheaters/

I'll be interested in seeing the changes the manufacture will make. Any ideas?

hot rod

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Eric Johnson

gasification

I think they're going to have to move towards gasification and all that implies. Black Bear Boilers appears to be leading the way:

http://www.blackbearboilers.com

No more green wood; no more garbage.

Gene_3

my neighbors have one

It's not a good one, it sucks up wood and now they cutting down trees and burning god knows what.

They get it so gooped up with cresosote that last spring it took off and the fire dept was looking for a fire 2 miles away.

They traced it back to them and gave them some advice and warnings and their smoking has improved.

It seems to me that people do not know what they are geting into when they purchase these.

you need to have at least 10-12 cords of dried hard wood on hand.

The ones I have seen all have an open top vent to relieve expansion of the water, which will also keep the water fully oxygenated, this I believe will make these tanks rot right out in a few years.

J B

You Pro's are going to want to know how to integrate OWB's

OWB's are definitly on the increase here in NY. And there has been a lot of progress IMHO when you think about the old 'barrel stoves' and other first generation outdoor furnaces. I think the latest boilers make sense for people that have distant neighbors, a supply of wood that makes their operation cost-effective and are capable of the time and work these boilers require.

I did a lot of research - most marketing info from the companies is BS - by talking to people that are actually using the boilers. I think of the handful of good ones out there, they each have pros and cons to their design. The Greenwood I bought has a thick refractory firebox instead of steal, but the firebox has cracked significatly since then (they sent me patch material, but I don't anticipate shutting down the boiler for a week any time soon).

NY had published a report on OWB's that made me rethink about the Central Boiler, because it has a water jacket that contains nearly 500 gals. The report said this constantly cooled combustion chamber could lead to inefficient burn. Since then I have made it a point to observe OWB's in action (not just mine, which I get to 'observe' hands on like every 3 hours) and my observation is that EVERY boiler smokes when you add new wood. But the 'good' ones (I would put my Greenwood and the Central both in that category) do not smoke appreciably once up and running. Unfortunatly, they all seem to be way optimistic on the size of home they will heat, which means I have to fill my boiler too often, which makes me an SOB from getting up every single night a minimum of twice. I have also found that a 20plate HX will NOT transfer heat quick enough if 4 out of 6 zones come on, which is another reason I am thinking about going to a thermal storage tank. Interestingly, TARM integrates a tank into their design, but I balked because the tank costs more than the boiler!!
I have also found that some people burn things other than wood, and that will definitly smoke. My boiler will burn wetter wood as long as the heat demand is moderate (outdoor temp 20F or above) and the wood is placed on top of other wood, not directly on the coals. This practice does not seem to appreciably increase the smoke output.

I can make my Greenwood not smoke to the eye by letting it consume hot coals, but this generally results in 160 F water, which will cause the Viessmann to fire.

I guess all I can say is, if work in a rural setting, I think any pro should be ready to edjucate his or her clients on these OWB's and know how to integrate them into existing heat systems.

Jim B

Glen

Very popular here in the rockies -

and range from store bought to those that "a welding buddy" zapped together & which all too often are cobbled together with parts and pieces from HD. But they all smoke, consume too much wood for the heat involved (IMO) & are horribly oversized. A neighbour in the next quarter section is too close. I would much rather see a pellet fueled appliance that takes advantage of the waste in our forests and from the process of harvesting/extracting timber.