Which Wood Boiler Is Right For You? Traditional Or Gasification?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 มิ.ย. 2024
- Chapters (I respect your time)
00:00 Opening
00:25 Introduction - Gasification vs. Traditional
01:30 Wood Boiler Differences
05:00 My Experience With Both Types
06:58 Updraft Boiler Explained
07:18 Downdraft Boiler Explained
11:11 More Maintenance w/Gasification Boiler
13:18 Final Remarks on Both Types
If you are new to wood boilers and looking for some advice on which type of furnace is better, check out this video. I have owned both types, 6 winters with a traditional wood boiler and 1 winter with our new Central Boiler Classic Edge HDX 760 gasification boiler. I hope you find this useful as you decide which type of wood boiler or furnace is best for you. Thanks for watching!
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#woodheat #upnorthwiththenybergs #cetralboiler
Great information as I make decisions for an upgrade. Oddly enough I ended up with the same sickness as yourself in the same time frame and have been put back 3 weeks with my fuel prep. I have an older Central Boiler that has brought me to considering an upgrade in the near future although after 20+ years the unit is operating flawlessly. My question to you is about your research prior to the purchase of the HDX which has been my choice until I learnt about the upkeep. Did you consider the Garn Boiler? If so could you share any info on it that you may have come across? TY
Thanks for the question...I did quite a bit of research on the HDX and other similar boilers. Obviously, I landed with the HDX. The best advice I could give is to join the "Wood Boiler" group on FB. There you will find good discussions on all the major wood boilers, both traditional and gassers. Use the search bar in the group to go back and see the topics you are interested in. This was a huge research source for me...you can "linger" in the group for a year or two and get many user experiences. Good luck!!
@UpNorthNybergs We don't do Facebook but thank you for the reply. I did find a video today on the HDX 760 maintenance in the first year of operation.
@@grahamditchfield4318 I understand completely, I only use FB for the groups.
Love my old centrail boiler
I agree…loving mine too!!
I have a 20 yearold CB. No complaints. Live in NE Ohio. If I had to purchase another it would be what I have now.
I’ve been running a central boiler HDX760 for a year and half here in Alaska. My first year was met with a steep learning curve. I didn’t clean out the reaction chamber and in turn it did not burn the flue gasses properly and sooted up my heat exchanger. I almost ruined the baffles trying to get them out to clean the heat exchanger. The other thing I just recently figured out is the importance of stirring the coal bed daily and letting the powdery ashes fall through bottom of the fire box. This keeps the ash level low and only hot burning coals in the firebox, which makes for a fire that gets to 100 percent combustion quickly. You are spot on also with only feeding it split dry wood. I’ve tried feeding poor quality wood and noticed a huge difference in consumption. The biggest benefit to smaller wood is that the fire will collapse on itself and keep burning as opposed to bridging and thus extinguishing itself. All in all a wood boiler is a massive amount of work but there is no way I’m paying $4.00+ a gallon for diesel. At least that’s how I’ve convinced myself that burning 18 cords of spruce per year is worth the work. Great video. It was good to hear I’m not the only who has learned gasification the hard way!
Great comment about your experience and perspective! I 100% agree with everything you mentioned. FYI - I was born in AK, at Elmendorf AFB a few years ago ;-) I visit quite often, in fact, I have a trip planned again this summer. I have a couple of questions for you - what area of AK and do have any issue getting dry, hardwood?
@@UpNorthNybergs The only hardwood we have up here that is widely available is birch. I try to get as much as I can but it’s just not as abundant. I live on the Kenai peninsula just south of the Kasilof river. The last couple of years the spruce bark beetles have been killing a lot of trees so there is all kinds of dead spruce available. Thats cool you still come to Alaska. It’s a beautiful place to live and raise kids.
@@augustlindow1162 thanks for comment, I am so looking forward to June when we get up there again. I agree, great area to raise kids! Enjoy!!
Congrats on hitting 1000 !
Thanks Andy, even a boring person like me can get to 1000 😆. I am thankful for each and every subscriber because it makes it so much fun!!
Great video! Been researching this topic far and wide. I rock a classic cl 6048 on my channel. Im not sold on the new units for many reasons
Hey Jay, glad you liked it…I’ll check out your channel. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the info, I have no opinion on them, we dont have a wood boiler. Your shop is looking good. Thanks for the vid and your time.
Thanks Jules! We really like them, especially if propane goes much above $3 a gallon, which I predict happening next winter ;-)
Thanks for watching as always!! Best, Ed
Yes thanks, the shop is coming along nicely! I still have so many “wants”… 😉
Yes this would be good to know before you invest in one and then the boiler guy in your area once you have it in says it might not be the best for you. We have a new central boiler but was told that because we live in a damp area and our wood might not be in the "dry" range that just an older model boiler would be better because you can burn damp wood more efficiently than the newer models. Of course "Central Boiler" videos do not address this issue; or any trouble shooting on their videos; just how great their boilers are and how one should buy one. Wish I had come across this video before I purchased! Thank you for this video Mr. Nyberg!
Thanks Leo! I was hoping to give my perspective before anyone purchased a wood boiler that didn't meet their individual situation. It sounds like you are in the latter group, sorry about that. I hope you get some good use out of your boiler, please let me know if it is up and running. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you!! Best, Ed
@@UpNorthNybergs Yes Ed it is up and running and eating a TON of wood already. Still trying to figure it all out; they say it takes a good year to learn your wood boiler; testing the water and cleaning weekly etc....
I have a 2009 Johnson boiler I burn 12-14 cords per season through it. I want a 760 HDX bad but I got 2 quotes for $19,500 plus delivery and just cannot justify it right now. the Old Johnson burns a lot of wood but it would take me 10 years to realize that 19,500$ back on an HDX unit.
Yes, these gassers are getting crazy expensive, even with the tax rebate. I’m hoping they level off or go down in price the next few years. Sometimes the math doesn’t work out with these units… thanks for the comment!
We have no gasification units in our area. I have had a couple of traditional wood boilers, however. Interestingly enough, I noticed that even between manufacturers their efficiency differed.
I’ve heard the same thing Mark, not to mention that the traditional furnaces have improved mightily since my old wood doctor was made. It worked well though, but nothing like the newer traditional units. Be safe and thanks for watching!
I have a mescoli 'quick up ' gas. unit heating my pool and I just can't get it to gasify. The fan is running most all of the time and it will get up to 80/90c if I leave he door open a bit, but closing the door it just smokes and wont 'ignite'? so I use it with the door slightly ajar. Wood I use is a good three years old. I have tried adjusting all the settings to no avail. Only a couple of times have I heard it produce 'jet engine' sound for a few seconds, any thoughts, dont know what else I can do
Hello, sorry to hear about your issue.
Obviously, it is an air flow issue. The biggest problem areas with restrictive airflow with my unit is the air flow tubes getting clogged up or the actuator motors aren’t working properly to allow the air to flow freely. Those are the areas I would concentrate on. You may also want to join a FB Group that deals with your manufacturer, there is loads of info. I wish you luck!!
I would really like to see how the heat exchanger is cleaned
Thanks for the request…I see if I can put a video together.Thanks for watching!
I’ve burned wood most of my life. I’ve used traditional wood burning units and gasification units. In my experience if you don’t season your firewood you will run into a problem sooner or later no matter which unit you use. Green or wet wood burns poorly period! And it produces way more damaging creosote and tar build up which damages the fire box which decreases the life of the unit. If you fire with green or wet wood your furnace efficiency will be degraded because the furnace uses energy from the fire to dry the green or wet wood in the firebox out enough so it will burn.
I agree with this as well!
Absolutely. It's a double whammy for this unit.
For a conventional boiler you need to vaporize the water then it exists the boiler via the flue.
For a down draft gasification unit you have to first vaporize the moisture then get it out of the boiler. The water vapour leans out the gasses from the firebox into the secondary reducing or preventing the secondary burn process.
With my 750HD I target 12%, 16% measured in the center is my max. The dryer the wood, the cleaner it burns, the less work you need to do. I've ran some wet wood through in the first 3 weeks learning how to run it and a few experiments to test some theorys. From 16 to 20% the moisture starts to affect the ash bed and build up creosote. Above 20% average (between end and center of the wood) nothing good happens, then all of the "maintenance" needs to be done.
Traditional wood master 4400
That's a good one!!
I saw your mic on your coat but I have to say it's hard to hear you and yes I have my volume all the way up.
Thanks for the feedback…I have a new mic, hopefully that solves the audio issue. Sorry for that…
@@UpNorthNybergsit sounded good to me no audio issues from my side. Great video. Thanks for the information.
@@randallsorrells5056 thank you, much appreciated!!
Can you burn coal in a traditional or gasification?
Some people do... I don't
why do you guys in USA have boilers installed outdoors? It does not make any sense. It should be inside the house,in the basement.garage ,technical room etc. definitely not outside. Big energy losses. Wood gasification all the way of european manufacture.
Good question Mr. Turbo, I really don’t have an answer. We do have quite a few that do have them indoors, my neighbor’s boiler is in his basement. However, I think the vast majority of boilers are outside. I’m going to investigate this a bit more…thanks for the question. Cheers!!
@@UpNorthNybergs Here in Europe they're also coupled to a buffer (like a 3000L tank of water for instance). It's quite common to just make one fire every two days or even less, burning the wood as efficiently as possible, storing the heat in the buffer for use.
@@upnorthandpersonal thanks for the additional information…I’ll look into why we don’t have as many indoors.
Alot is probably fear of fire especially the older units.
Answer is easy. No wood mess in the house, no smoke in the house, no ash
in the house, easy access to get wood to the boiler, no need to have accumulator tanks, does not take up space in the house, no need to have an expensive unsightly chimney on your house, longer burn times and less need to split wood, continuous fire vs batch burns.
Yes it isn’t quite as efficient but you have to balance benefits. I have an eko 40, European style gasification boiler, and would rather have an outdoor unit simply because of the benefits I listed above.
With either boiler you have not got to depend on fossil fuel
You are correct Chris…it remains part of my plan ;-)