wood boiler choice?

[Yorkie]

I thought this would be as good place as any to post

 

I am looking to heat my newbuild farmhouse on wood, using a wood gasification boiler because I'm in south Yorkshire so s smoke free zone

 

I have found the following three and wondering if any of you had experience or knew of anything else?

 

probably looking at 20-30 kw with buffer tank

 

1) HDG - built in Bavaria like a tank! strong and solid

2) Solafocus - Austrian and technically advanced, good or a bad thing? it will even automatically light if required

3) eco Angus- from Poland, looks a basic beast what could be called blacksmith built, basic and cheap

 

have I missed any? any info good or bad

[rovers90]

I deliver 50cm long logs to a customer who has just installed an ETA log boiler through a company I have connections with. He did look at cheaper alternatives but in the end went for the ETA and to say he is over the moon with it would be an understatement. Worth having a look at them.

[woody paul]

Stovac built in Britain.

[difflock]

From someone who installed a Solarbayer/Vigas via an "approved" installer via an NI grant scheme a wheen o year ago.

C/W 2200l buffer tank etc. etc etc (and a way too short flue etc etc)

It is (i) a bit tedious to tend the bugger each day (in the depths of winter)

(ii) Be sure that you have a good, reliable supply of firewood available.

My firewood is "free" as all I have to do is cut it at the back of the house.

It still gets to be a grind.

And as I say to any that will listen "heating oil is cheap", assuming one can and has insulated in so far as practical.

Now in comparison, the big wood burning stove in the front room is a pure pleasure to tend and sit in the glow of.

I reckon iffen I sold the wood I used to heat the house, I could buy oil and still heat the house to the same degree and be "quids in" forby:confused1:

[Yorkie]

thought forum users would ha

ve a bit more to comment on wood boilers, must be stoves that are using all the firewood produced.

[difflock]

Yorky,

try the green building forum, you may get more info/feedback.

I suspect you are correct in postulating that most british firewood is burned in stoves rather than gasifying central heating boilers.

In this country not many have the necessary combination of the necc space for the installation combined with the ready supply of cheap/free firewood.

Ideally one needs the boiler in a basement.

Easier to tip firewood down in and no heat is wasted, as it will rise through the rest of the dwelling.

cheers

marcus

ps

Essentially the problem is that to run a wood burning gasifying boiler efficiently one requires to store the heat in a buffer or accumulator tank.

I have finally got into a routine of lighting the boiler when I get home from work, and bringng the buffer tank back up to 80 plus.

Then in the morning skelping hot water for the bedroom and bathroom radiators, plus to heat the 210 litre domestic hot water cyl.

then at lunchtime the somewhat cooler water is dumped into the underfloor to have the house toasty warm for us at 17.00.

Plus I light the stove.

However if I miss even one day of lighting the boiler it takes a couple of days to claw back.

So one needs to be prepared tp stick with it.

Edited December 7, 2012 by difflock

[BARNSLEY BOB]

bosky.

[markieg31]

the vigas is a simple machine with only a couple of moving parts, all easy to fix.

i think the important thing is not to get a boiler that is not to small. otherwise you will be filling it up consatntly. opposed to the larger one being able to cope with it easier.

 

the guys at eco angus are nice enough.

akvaterm tanks are mental good 1 degree loss over 24 hours... amazing

[difflock]

Erm!

Actually I would respectfully suggest a correctly sized boiler or indeed perhaps a fractionally undersized one ( but only if in conjuncton with another heat source........... like a wood burning stove) as one requires to keep the boiler running "flat out" if possible, and yes I appreciate they will all modulate to some degree but it is less than ideal.

So a gasifer to provide the "base load" topped up with a stove to meet fluctating demand.

During our exceptionally cold winter of 2010 it was no hardship to keep the boiler running most of the day/night, rather than simply firing once per 24 hours.

PS

I was able to size ours fairly exactly as had a winters worth of recorded oil boiler daily run time stats to go on.

Plus I had installed underfloor heating with a deliberatly overthick slab to act as a giant storage heater. Which fortunately works as I had intended.

Cheers

Marcus

[renewablejohn]

Why on earth are you looking for such a big boiler. If your a new build your heating requirement if insulated correctly would be a maximum 15kw for which size I would install a Dunsley Yorkshire. Personally I would go for the Lohberger pellet range cooker which also does all your boiler and central heating requirements with the cheap option of using standard logs as well as the automatic features of a pellet stove.