Any Gasification log boilers owners/users out there?

[r896neo]

Just agreed on a new house and it has a recent (2/3 year old by the look of it gas burner and boiler) open vented system.

We will be doing some switching around of layout and re-wiring and re-plumbing and i am planning a new heating system.

Its a 60's bungalow all suspended floors so will be sticking with radiators.

I am a landscape gardener so have good access to lots of wood therefore have been considering a log burning boiler. I'd appreciate any first hand experience of these in use and the associated costs.

It's just me and the wife and were pretty low energy users so the other option would be to keep the gas and supplement it with a wood burning stove with back boiler. When used in conjunction with a thermal store can these realistically contribute to central heating? Or are you simply storing lots of medium warmth water which is not hot enough for radiators anyway.

All advice or ideas welcome.

 

[Dan Robinson]

A Czech company called Atmos do them I think.

 

[Onetap]

When used in conjunction with a thermal store can these realistically contribute to central heating? Or are you simply storing lots of medium warmth water which is not hot enough for radiators anyway.

You must be joking. They burn logs in a roaring furnace and should be capable of running a domestic central heating system on their own. The 'medium warmth', low grade heat comes from some heat pump systems.

They consume an astonishing volume of wood and the wood must be seasoned, so you need a very large wood store to feed one. I'd sugest you try to visit a supplier or manufacturer where you can see one in use.

 

[r896neo]

No its the storage i mean, i realize a log burner or gasification boiler bangs out very high temps but running the stove anytime i want heat from radiators is impractical so would be combining with a thermal store but wondered if these would store heat suitable for central heating circuit rather than just warm water the day after you had the burner going.

I'm well aware of the logs quality and volume and also the various options of products its more to hear from anyone with a real system up and running, what layout and ancillaries they have and what they think of it.

Any specifics from real world users would be great.

 

[SpecialK]

Try the navitron forums?

http://www.navitron.org.uk/forum/

 

[Onetap]

No its the storage i mean, i realize a log burner or gasification boiler bangs out very high temps but running the stove anytime i want heat from radiators is impractical so would be combining with a thermal store but wondered if these would store heat suitable for central heating circuit rather than just warm water the day after you had the burner going.

It stores heat, it gets colder as you use the heat, so it's entirely dependent on the volume of your store and the amount of heat you use. But it is advisable for a solid fuel boiler. The required store capacity is another thing that surprises people when you work out the numbers.

 

[Norcon]

This is a fan assisted coal boiler but it burns wood and just about anything you throw at it.
If it was fitted to a train it could probably generate enough steam to haul 50 ton. LOL
This one is fuelled with wood mostly and a weekly dump of household waste gets incinerated in the combustion chamber also.
Been running nearly two years now.

Its twinned with an oil boiler but the oil boiler is never used now.
This is fired up every day even in summer when it heats up a 210/L cylinder of water. Very easy to ignite and response is only marginally behind the oil boiler.
No thermal store here. Direct to the heating system with hot water priority.

 

[r896neo]

cool thanks norcon and others for the replies.

How do you find it working out finacially?

 

[Norcon]

It doesn't concern me financially in the slightest. I don't own it, I just fitted it.
But the oil consumption was amounting to about £1500 per year.
Fuel for the above is free or there abouts. So its easy to do the sums.
Kotly list that boiler for £850 on their website. A few hundred quid will ship it over to the UK.
It weighs 330 kilos so its no lightweight. You'll need a forklift at your end to hoik it off the lorry.

I could give you the uk agent but his prices are sky high in comparison to kotly. Typical uk profiteering.
All you need is a good cowboy installer to bypass the rhi government nonsense and you could have it installed cheaply enough.

 

[DeltaT2]

It doesn't concern me financially in the slightest. I don't own it, I just fitted it.
But the oil consumption was amounting to about £1500 per year.
Fuel for the above is free or there abouts. So its easy to do the sums.
Kotly list that boiler for £850 on their website. A few hundred quid will ship it over to the UK.
It weighs 330 kilos so its no lightweight. You'll need a forklift at your end to hoik it off the lorry.

I could give you the uk agent but his prices are sky high in comparison to kotly. Typical uk profiteering.
All you need is a good cowboy installer to bypass the rhi government nonsense and you could have it installed cheaply enough.

Are you burning seasoned wood in that appliance Norcon or just any old sh.t??

 

[Norcon]

Its burning ash at the moment which was felled from a building site a few months ago. Its a very dry timber.
It also gets softwood waste off cuts from the sites. Also gets a few wet thorn bushes from the farm fired into it. A mixture of stuff really and then the household waste.

Thats the beauty of this boiler. Its like an incinerator. Every home should have one. lol.
A more complex gasifier wouldn't be so forgiving with that kind of fuel feed.