Log or Chip Boiler?

nuthin_special said:
When chips are piled in cones or steep windrows, decomposition will cause them to heat up and expel moisture. That must be done under a roof though so that rain doesn't get it. This is not ideal for chip drying but there is no choice with wood chipped green. Chips must be below 35% moisture to be stored in the winter. Wet chips will freeze together and not flow through a system.
Seasoning logs or sawmill slabs for a year or two is best best if they're chipped. Again chips must be stored inside. This is why chips won't work for small heat loads: the fuel handling and processing system is too expensive.
Additionally, hand fed chippers won't regulate chip size, you have to screen out the long pieces and twigs to avoid boiler auger jams.
There are other ways to burn wood but if you want to avoid smoke and pollution, care must be taken to plan for dry fuel and two stage combustion (the opposite of outdoor wood boilers).
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Thanks for the info, I was wondering if a hand fed chipper would suffice for chip size.
 
ghostice said:
Luke - know you're in the US and all, but maybe watch out in your local municipality regarding wood burning codes - in Canada here, this thing is floating around:
https://www.ccme.ca/files/Resources/air/wood_burning/pn_1479_wood_burning_code_eng.pdf
and already some cities and towns are on the bandwagon and are banning or talking about banning wood fireplaces, wood stoves, pellet stoves or even all wood fired heating (and some even gas fired units in the 2025 timeframe maybe - the Vancouver, B.C. loons for example).
Montreal and Vancouver in Canada have been the subject of news stories lately about their city councils with (my opinion for the climate we live in) their heads up their behinds. Eco-freako's are running amok these days. But you could at the least find yourself caught up in future no burn/fire ban days and such, so it might be worth investigating what you might be walking into in the future before you plunk down coin on equipment.
As a former industrial health guy, I laugh at some of the bold faced lying MD's I've seen in the recent news clips talking about rampant deaths caused by wood smoke/ particulates - at the same time public health types advise that it's OK to stay in doors and "shelter in place" in cases of H2S release in the oil field for example. For some good points of view on the utter blatant bastardization of science that's going on lately, pick up an e-copy of Hubris by Michael Hart (in iBooks). It's a joke, just make sure the joke's not on you . . . EPA is running amok down there too in my opinion (while they stay nice and warm in Scandinavian countries and laugh at the dumb a$$ North Americans). End rant . . .
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Haha I can appreciate the rant! I’ll take a look at the article. I hope that they don’t start pushing for banning wood burning here.
 
Luke Haas said:
Haha I can appreciate the rant! I’ll take a look at the article. I hope that they don’t start pushing for banning wood burning here.
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Several of the small towns have passed laws banning outdoor wood burners around me. The problem came from guys thinking because they had a outdoor they could put any green shit wood they wanted in them and ended up smoking out everyone down wind.
 
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Yes, lots of utility poles and half rotted railroad ties being burned around me too. I know one guy who buys military tires by the truck load and resells them. He takes the runflat inserts out and cuts them into pies and throws in the wood burner at night.
 
I've been burning for years with great results.. Where it really becomes an issue is when people burn garbage, plastic, rubber tires and such.. Burning wood is not exactly the easiest thing. It can get quite time consuming and may not be worth your time! First of all most of us run our own tree service's and need a way to get rid of the wood, so burning wood will help us get rid of the wood and at the same time it produces free heat. I actually don't split at all any more. I Load it as big as possible. And belive me its almost smoke free! This may be since its the largest central boiler so it gets a chance to really burn up and cleans up. Also iam heating a old home over 5000sq ft. So im heating consistently the heated floor, hot water tank, garage and furnace. Iam not concerned about efficiency since i have and abundant amount of wood. What iam concerned about is burning clean. So i only burn wood. Some of My neighbors dont even know im burning!20171031_162858_Film3.webp 20171031_163212_Film3.webp
 
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Do you happen to have a model number for that beast? That’s basically what I’ll be looking for when I get around to putting an addition on the house and building my shop.
 
The key to burning clean is efficiency. By that I mean dry wood. Doesn't matter if its the older smoke dragon style or newer gasiffier units. Guy on you tube shows a gasiffier he built for burning tires. Haven't watched it in a while but, if you type in DIY wood boiler in the search it will lead you to it.
I'm not encouraging tire burning (I'd rather see them ground up and mixed with asphalt), but the gasiffier units are key. Guy opens door and throws in half a tire. Within a few seconds of closing the door the smoke stack clears back up and the only thing exiting is water vapor. Same holds true with burning wood. All the gases are burned in a secondary chamber before exiting the stack, leaving water vapor as the exhaust.
Problem is these style boilers are twice the purchase cost. Haven't bought a farmhouse with acreage yet but when I do, and build a large shop, this will be my avenue. Without the tires of course. It is a commitment to use one as stated earlier. But definitely worth it when heating large square footage.
Bonus ..... if your an excellent welder you can build your own. I will not let a governing body tell me not to heat with wood. Corporate America is extremely greedy. I'm sure I'll get some flak for this .....
 
96coal449 said:
....
Bonus ..... if your an excellent welder you can build your own. I will not let a governing body tell me not to heat with wood. Corporate America is extremely greedy. I'm sure I'll get some flak for this .....
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I have a friend who built a single chamber burner that has worked very well. He is working on Version 2.0...haven't heard how that is coming. he was very happy with the burner. His regret was that he didn't use insulted pipes running to his house.
 
There is another style boiler that only uses one burn chamber and gasiffies. It's typically called a Garn ....which is a brand name. They are even easier to build.
 
islandedge said:
I've been burning for years with great results.. Where it really becomes an issue is when people burn garbage, plastic, rubber tires and such.. Burning wood is not exactly the easiest thing. It can get quite time consuming and may not be worth your time! First of all most of us run our own tree service's and need a way to get rid of the wood, so burning wood will help us get rid of the wood and at the same time it produces free heat. I actually don't split at all any more. I Load it as big as possible. And belive me its almost smoke free! This may be since its the largest central boiler so it gets a chance to really burn up and cleans up. Also iam heating a old home over 5000sq ft. So im heating consistently the heated floor, hot water tank, garage and furnace. Iam not concerned about efficiency since i have and abundant amount of wood. What iam concerned about is burning clean. So i only burn wood. Some of My neighbors dont even know im burning!View attachment 48589 View attachment 48590
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That only loads on the side, it can’t be loaded from the top?
 
islandedge said:
I've been burning for years with great results.. Where it really becomes an issue is when people burn garbage, plastic, rubber tires and such.. Burning wood is not exactly the easiest thing. It can get quite time consuming and may not be worth your time! First of all most of us run our own tree service's and need a way to get rid of the wood, so burning wood will help us get rid of the wood and at the same time it produces free heat. I actually don't split at all any more. I Load it as big as possible. And belive me its almost smoke free! This may be since its the largest central boiler so it gets a chance to really burn up and cleans up. Also iam heating a old home over 5000sq ft. So im heating consistently the heated floor, hot water tank, garage and furnace. Iam not concerned about efficiency since i have and abundant amount of wood. What iam concerned about is burning clean. So i only burn wood. Some of My neighbors dont even know im burning!View attachment 48589 View attachment 48590
Click to expand...
So if you load it up like that how often do you have to load it?
 
It all depends on how warm you want it in the home. I'm set at 76* in the home, 45* float for the garage, my floors are always heated and i also heat my water heater as well. Once every 2-3 days when its average temps. But how its been the last couple weeks single and negative temps, once every 24hrs. But even then sometimes your just poking the coals/log into place and throwing a couple 12" thick by 5' long sticks on both side of the big but log and your good to go till the next day. So your not fully loading. Thats also a trick to not being a smoke dragon.. I try to add just the right amount for a days burn to keep it from exsesive idle time.with over 760 gallons of water at 190* even once the fire is gone it still has enough btu's in the water to produce heat for the day. If iam leaving on a little vacation you load it and pack it tight, turn the t-stat to 60 and I come home with coals still left 4 day's later
 
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