wood consumption - Classic vs. Eclassic

[leeallen5]

For those of you that have owned a Classic and are now using an Eclassic 2300, do you find you use less wood with the Eclassic, or is that an exaggerated claim by CB?

[Bart May]

No responses. That doesn’t encourage me to trade in my 6048 for a eclassic.

[ronwood]

Bart,

I have the 5648. Thought about trading out but I have a ample supply of wood and slabs. If I was buying the wood I would go with the eclassic. I am sure it is more efficient. How much I can't say.

Ron

[renegadecj]

Didn't see your post!

I think my E-classic burns about 10% less wood, but my favorite feature is the almost smokeless nature of the unit.  Now that I finally have the kinks worked out, I quite enjoy having the 2300.  The old one used to fill up our valley with smoke on a windless day, and now, sometimes I have to actually walk out to the unit to make sure it is running!

We burn pine, so I have no idea what this would be like with hardwoods.

[cb6048]

Me and my neighbor were neck and neck last year but I had more sqft. I have the 6048 and no trouble

[Bart May]

This efficiency of downdraft gasification is a very interesting topic I would like to expand on.
I may step on some toes but that is not my intention.

3 years ago I bought a Central Boiler 6048.
I cut my own wood and, and in 22 months it paid for itself.
You have to admit that’s a pretty impressive return on investment number if You ask me.
When I bough it the 2300 was brand spankin new, and I panicked thinking I bought the wrong stove.
On average I burn 13 cords per year in my 6048.
Central Boiler and their 6048 is both top notch, I have no complaints.

I would like to use less wood but it’s difficult to find hard numbers to the true efficient of outdoor wood boilers vs. downdraft gasification.
From what I have read on this site people who have owned a both a 6048 and an E-classic 2300 say anywhere from 10-25% less wood with the 2300.
From what I can tell I believe the true efficiency of out door wood boiler is about 25%.
Take a minute and read these very down to earth articles from Bob in PA.
http://www.woodheat.org/technology/outbobpen2.htm
http://www.woodheat.org/technology/outbobpen.htm

I was looking at the Econoburn. It claims an 87% efficiency.
If that is true my wood consumption would go from 13 cords to less than half.
But I have my doubts about any of these claims that are not back up with hard facts and numbers.
I may just line my 6048 with fire brick like Bob and be farther ahead.

All comments and Suggestions Welcome.=)

Bart May/Shenandoah Valley Virginia

[Gary_C]

I think Bob's numbers are whacky. I have a 6048 that I just installed and things don't match up. For one thing I believe the 6048 holds about 400 gallons, not 150 like he says. And I have very little to no blue smoke and some white smoke when the damper is open. In fact at first my wife kept telling me it was not working cause nothing was coming out the stack.

And I have a not large house that has reasonably good windows and I am heating hot water also, and the wood use is not at all excessive. Course my wood is very well seasoned although I have been getting rid of an old basswood tree that fell down last summer and that wood is wet and very soft. The rest of my wood supply is very dry red oak. Regardless I only fill once per day and do not fill full. I have yet to even get low and on warmer days I cut back to about half full. 

I wonder if Bob is using well seasoned wood. That alone can make a huge difference in efficiency.

Edit: Bob did not say what size of stove he has so I would assume he has a 5036 instead of a 6048. But what I see in the specs, even that model has 196 gallons of water, not 150 as he used in his calculations. And he used 8 lbs per gallon of water and at 180 degrees F it should weight at least 8.1 lbs per gallon.

He should have measured the actual moisture content of his "well seasoned" wood as moisture content is one of the largest variables.

[MNBobcat]

I have the 6048 and I can burn wet or green wood if I had too.  The e-classic requires very dry, seasoned, wood.  So while you may use less wood, its a lot more work preparing the wood to be burned.  I also read post after post from people with the e-classic citing all kinds of problems they're having  (plugging up, holes in firebox where brick was removed, etc)

I don't think the e-classic has been perfected yet.  Its a great idea but in practice seems to have issues from what people are saying.

[Bart May]

I feel sure Central Boiler will correct the Eclassic mechanical issues. If the Eclassic and the 6048 are burning  comparable amounts of wood, This leads me to conclude that Central Boiler doesn’t have the gasification process perfected. I’d like to trade up to a Eclassic. I fascinated by the gasification process. But if I’m still cutting my 13 cords per year, it’s against my better judgment to make a move from a 6048 to a Eclassic. The Garn is a interesting Design. Burn once a day and heat 1825 gallons of water, then let the fire go out for the rest of the day. Bart/ Virginia

[stumper]

Everybody that burns wood is actually burning wood gas.  Solid wood does not burn, heat converts it to a gas and the gas burns.  The "gassification" is just a term they are using when to mean they are in some way burning more energy from the smoke.  The eclassic does this with the fusion chamber.  This is just a secondary burn chamber.  It add additional oxygen to get a more complete burn of the wood gas (smoke).  There is no question in my mind that more energy is released from the wood when the eclassic is workin correctly.  It is not clear that the furnace extracts that energy and adds it to the water heating my house, but I hope it does.  The secondary burn should also reduce polution and be better for the environment and the neighborhood.

Your car has a similar secondary burn to reduce polution.  That is what the air pump is for.

[tonto]

I have a 5036 running for about a year and 2 months now. I have only burned about 7 cords of real dry hardwood, and that's burning all year. House is about 1100 sq ft with decent insulation. I am very happy with this unit, glad I didn't go with eClassic. It smokes a little when the damper is open and just a wisp of smoke when it's idle. Tonto.

[sprintfan11]

I have a 5036 running for about a year and 2 months now. I have only burned about 7 cords of real dry hardwood, and that's burning all year. House is about 1100 sq ft with decent insulation. I am very happy with this unit, glad I didn't go with eClassic. It smokes a little when the damper is open and just a wisp of smoke when it's idle. Tonto.

Same set up and usage as you tonto, very, very happy I chose the Classic vs. the e-Classic.