wood boiler question

[dirtmover1250]

I have been wondering about this topic for a while. I know one thing is for sure, when I go to build my first house, I will minimize the use of natural gas. I cant stand a $230 a month gas bill for heat, i'd rather keep my money in my pocket.

Wood is rather abundant, especially in my city. You can get wood off the craigslist free section all day.

Im wondering about wood boilers. Particularly wood gasification boilers. So far my biggest question is how long will the fire last if left unattended? Say if i live alone and have to go work a 16 hour job, I dont want the fire to go out and the boiler to freeze up in the winter.


I know its quite costly but i'd rather spend the money up front and save in the long run.

[starmac]

I would not worry about 16 hours at all.
It would be easy to have some sort of gas backup and just set it to keep above freezing if you need to be gone for a few days.

[gspren]

  I notice you say "city", if you actually live in a city you need to find out if an OWB is legal and do you have room to store a large quantity of wood. The wood you get from craigslist will usually be green so you need to be able to store 2-3 years worth of wood.

[thecfarm]

I have no idea about 16 hours,but that does sound like a long burn time. Some wood you might get may not be the best due to it being rotted or a softwood or a type of wood that is know not to burn long.
This "free" wood might have to removed with no damage to the lawn too.  : And than it might be 3 feet across too. And than they might want all of the brush removed for the "free" wood too.

[dirtmover1250]

Thanks for the comments so far.

Typically the craigslist wood is all the large pieces left behind by a tree guy that dont fit in the chipper or he's the cheap guy going around cutting trees down and leaving the wood behind.

ill have to research it more but i dont think there are regulations in my area. mainly that is why i was considering a wood gasification boiler, where there is no smoke. then nobody can say anything.


somewhere i read that it would take less wood to just run an indoor stove in an airtight house then using an outdoor boiler? is that true? im weighing out my options here.

[thecfarm]

ill have to research it more but i dont think there are regulations in my area. mainly that is why i was considering a wood gasification boiler, where there is no smoke. then nobody can say anything.


somewhere i read that it would take less wood to just run an indoor stove in an airtight house then using an outdoor boiler? is that true? im weighing out my options here.

I would be checking for regulations before I would go any farther.  Some towns-cities don't want OWB no matter what. There was a member that got one and it was dropped off in his driveway and a neighbor said,We will complain. He hadn't even got it out of the crate and they was going to complain.  :

Second part about the indoor stove and a OWB. I feel the only way to know for sure is to be in a indoor wood stove for a season,than turn back time,so you will have the exact same temps and put in a OWB. I know,no help at all.  ;) BUT a OWB cost alot more than a airtight stove does. I spent a chunk of change on my OWB and I don't regret it one single day.

[woodmills1]

Even in New Hampshire the state regulates outdoor wood boilers.

[Gearbox]

Most OWB will burn more wood than indoor . If the snow melts on the roof of your OWB that is wasted heat that would stay in the house . In north MN a 1400 sq ft house with a indoor heat will burn 6 cord about . The problem with OWB is heating other buildings at the same time because we can . My 24 X 32 shop burns twice as much wood as my house . Put in a cold car and a cold bobcat the OWB works like heck to get the shop back up to temp .