Gasification Boilers - advice??!

patrickowens1

Hi all,

Looking for a bit of advice - We're looking at installing a gasification boiler at home and and to be honest, there's a baffling array of suppliers and info available. Looking for any recommendations! It's very hard to get impartial advice, since every installer seems to be affiliated with a particular supplier etc.

Here are some details - the house is an old listed farmhouse, with all the poor insulation and crap heat retention properties that go with it.... Approx 500 meters squared with high ceilings, so we need a fairly substantial boiler, although we hardly ever heat all of the house at once. Our heating bill at the moment is fairly sore, using an aga oil fired cooker for hot water and oil central heating plus wood burning stoves in the living room. Anyway, we've no restriction on space for a new installation and plenty of room to let wood dry and no shortage of same.

I've been looking at an Atmos DC40 or DC50 with Laddomat 21 and a 2,500-3000 or 3000-4000 L accumulation tank respectively.

There are plenty of other suppliers, installers listed on the SEAI website (Here or here) and to be honest, i don't know how to differntiate between them, since I've never heard of half of them.

Any recommendations as to manufacturer, supplier, specification of what sized system we would need etc would be most appreciated! Or even contact details of someone impartial and in the know that might be helpful for us to call....


Thanks a lot,
Pat.

teepee

Hi ,
ETA gasification wood boilers seem to be the rolls royce of g boilers . cost ya dow .

btb

Have a Vigas 40Kw setup with 2000ltr buffer Termovar Load unit and 200ltr expansion, installed since 2008. No problems with it, very simple to operate.
When I purchased, was told that buffer of 50-55 ltr/kw was optimal. Purchased in Austria and a mate installed it for me (T'eed into existing oil heating system).
Had it installed for 50% of the cost of the same purchased here.

Brookie123

We are looking at installing one too but only heard about them a few weeks ago. Can someone give me some info on them? We have our own supply of wood so that wouldn't be a problem & I've heard they are cheaper to purchase in N.Ireland. Any ideas on cost?

For those using gasification boilers here. Are you using a seperate smaller tank inside the house for use with solar emersion etc ?

If not and you have every thing connect to the large heat store:
1) Does the solar heat not get diluted in such a large tank ?
2) Would it not be better to have the solar connected to a smaller tank ?
3) How is the stratification of the tank working out for you ?

Anna H

btb wrote: »

Have a Vigas 40Kw setup with 2000ltr buffer Termovar Load unit and 200ltr expansion, installed since 2008. No problems with it, very simple to operate.
When I purchased, was told that buffer of 50-55 ltr/kw was optimal. Purchased in Austria and a mate installed it for me (T'eed into existing oil heating system).
Had it installed for 50% of the cost of the same purchased here.

Hi,
Just wondering how your finding your log burner? Thinking of putting in an 60kw Angus Super log gasification boiler but is costly as also needs 3000ltr buffer tank but thinking of 2x1500ltr buffer tanks because of space. Have you any advice after installing your own or contacts or information on the system you are using?

btb

Hi Anna H

Have not had any problems with this setup, just routine cleaning and also replaced nozzle (wear part approx 50e) in base of boiler. Very simple to operate.
Well seasoned wood is a must.

A good plumber or pipe fitter should be able to install, not very complicated. Used gunbarrel piping instead of copper as there was a considerable price difference at the time (2008) dont know what the price comparison is like now. Also all the components are for metal piping so reduces the cost vs copper and getting adaptors to convert copper pipe to metal.

Have not looked up info on these in a while but if google holzvergasser (wood gas in german) should throw up suppliers. maybe use google.de and translate.
Biggest issue would be freight cost, I got it shipped on 2 pallets and paid for 2 pallets but was quoted by various other suppliers for 4 pallets (buffer tank didnt exactly fit on 1 pallet so some quoted 3 pallets for the space it took up).
Manufacturer (boiler) website is vimar.sk but no english language version. They are very helpful and will supply info in english if you ask.

Stainless insulated flue I purchased from germany 200mm x 9m cant remember the supplier atm but will pm you the details when I find them.
any other questions just ask and I'll try to help

TomOnBoard

I have an old Solid-Fuel / Oil combi boiler (125,000 BTUs) in a dedicated boiler house with a masonry chimney that was built with the house in 1981. I will have my own supply of dry wood in abt. a year's time. At the moment, I have some fresh Ash that I believe will burn well even if almost green.

We have burnt predominantly oil in the boiler over the years, except when it is really cold when we burn solid fuel (coal, anthracite, timber) 24/7. It all works
well.

The current setup is now over 30 years old, and as doors etc are becoming hard to close and I am sure the oil boiler part is grossly inefficient, I am considering replacing it. I am looking at putting in 2nd hand non-condensing oil boiler (can get for abt. €300), and a dedicated wood boiler. The wood boiler will become the predominant heat source in that scenario. I am not sure whether I will use a gasifying or a general purpose wood boiler. Clearly, a non- gasifying unit is a lot cheaper to buy etc.

I have reviewed a number of older threads regarding Gasifying Boilers and thanks to a number of contributors, there's a load of very useful info on there. A few questions arise:

a) Can I re-use the existing (9" flue-lined) chimney for a gasifier, or must I use a twin-wall stainless steel flue?

b) Are there any things that those of you who have installed gasifiers would do differently if you had a choice now?

c) What are your bolilers costing you in terms of maintenance?

d) Is dry hardwood reasonably available in the Midlands at a reasonable price?

Thanks in advance and sorry for the length of the post.

Tom