Central Boiler Dual Fuel

[marhar]

Does anyone have any experience with a central boiler duel fuel?

I am thinking about getting one. If I do I am thinking about placing it in a non-climate controlled brick garage that sits away from the home. I want to be able to stay dry while filling the stove. I also want to run the exhaust up a chimney.

I want to be able to use the gas to start the fire and I also know that as I get older wood may be harder to cut wood and I may not have a season's worth of wood cut.

The home is two story with a basement. I want to heat the home and the water. Any advice and experience is appreciated.

 

[ponytug]

My only two cents is think about the prevailing winds for smoke, and think about a boiler with forced air designed in (tends to have more complete combustion, i.e. less smoke).

All the best,

Peter

 

[civilian]

Not sure on the newer style stoves per EPA rquirements. But my CB #5036 smokes out the door every time you open it. Even if I crack it for a few minutes. I had it in a single car sized garage (no car in it), and everything had a smoke oder on/in it. When we moved from that place, I took the stove with me. I did not want to be resposible for a new user. Items in the open attic space were covered with smoke dust/soot. New house has it outside away from the house. Wood is under shed roof. Much better system, wood dry, smoke outside. Jon

 

[Have tractor did travel]

I think the fire box will be large in relation to the job of heating water in the summer. Consider a on-demand water heater for use during months you are not using the boiler. You can divert water to and from the 'on demand', doing so seasonally.
There are all kinds of spec's on elevation of a chimney in relation to roofs nearby. It's not just extend beyond the garage roof.
Be sure to use a double, or even triple wall stove pipe, with a clean-out port at the bottom.
Consider a fan assist for the smoke in the chimney. Help to get it up and out, without backing up into the garage. Once the fire is going, and smoke rising on it's own after it's heated the chimney, you can turn off the fan.

 

[5030]

Considering where NG and propane is going, might not be a bad idea.

 

[Doofy]

Considering where NG and propane is going, might not be a bad idea.

Propane up to $4.10 per gallon yesterday. Glad we only cook, heat water and dry clothes with it.

 

[5030]

Not that high here but we heat with biomass anyway.

 

[dougtrr2]

I have had two dual fuel boilers, Tarm and Woodgun. On those two boilers the gas and wood are separate and you could not use the natural gas to start the wood. The Tarm boiler would automatically switch over to gas, the Woodgun does not.

I had the water heater loop in the Tarm but it was not that effective. On that furnace the loop was in the water in the boiler. The boiler water was maintained at about 140. The first bit of water would be 140, but then it dropped down to around room temperature. My water was very cold, so there was some benefit but I don't think you could depend on it for a hot shower.

Doug in SW IA

 

[ernemats]

Does anyone have any experience with a central boiler duel fuel?

I am thinking about getting one. If I do I am thinking about placing it in a non-climate controlled brick garage that sits away from the home. I want to be able to stay dry while filling the stove. I also want to run the exhaust up a chimney.

I want to be able to use the gas to start the fire and I also know that as I get older wood may be harder to cut wood and I may not have a season's worth of wood cut.

The home is two story with a basement. I want to heat the home and the water. Any advice and experience is appreciated.

I have a Central Boiler duel fuel outside wood burner which I have had for 15 + years. I would not recommend putting it in an enclosed area like a garage. I have mine under a roof where I keep it and the firewood. It does let out smoke when you open the door to fill it, not all the time but quite often. If you are planning on using an existing chimney it probably will not work that well as the chimney needs to be a certain size to work well. I don't believe you can buy the duel fuel new anymore at least here in Pa. I use the natural gas to start the wood sometimes and use the gas to heat if the wood supply gets low, both heat the house well. We have radiant floor hear and cast iron hot water baseboard in the house, very nice even heat.

 

[5030]

I have a Central Boiler duel fuel outside wood burner which I have had for 15 + years. I would not recommend putting it in an enclosed area like a garage. I have mine under a roof where I keep it and the firewood. It does let out smoke when you open the door to fill it, not all the time but quite often. If you are planning on using an existing chimney it probably will not work that well as the chimney needs to be a certain size to work well. I don't believe you can buy the duel fuel new anymore at least here in Pa. I use the natural gas to start the wood sometimes and use the gas to heat if the wood supply gets low, both heat the house well. We have radiant floor hear and cast iron hot water baseboard in the house, very nice even heat.

It's dual duel not duel. Duel is 2 people harming each other over some imagined issue.....lol

Reminds me of the often ill used word 'defence', it's 'defense' not defence according to Webster's unabridged dictionary

 

[marhar]

It's dual duel not duel. Duel is 2 people harming each other over some imagined issue.....lol

Reminds me of the often ill used word 'defence', it's 'defense' not defence according to Webster's unabridged dictionary

The proper use:

Defence around the pasture is barbed wire. Most folks around here call it bob Wire. 1/2 my life I thought it was bob not barbed wire.

 

[dmccarty]

Regarding out door burners, one really, really, really wants one that does not smoke that much. There is one area near us where there are several outdoor wood burners, and if the weather is just right, the smoke in that area is like thick fog. No way is that healthy for the dozens of homes being smoked out by a couple of the burners. A few miles away is another out door burner that is sorta young compared to the ones previously mentioned. The new stove is about 15 years old at this point and does not smoke much at all. The guy built a small structure a short distance from the house which has the outdoor burner. He can load and take the ashes out of the stove while under the roof and store some wood. Seems like a good design.

 

[4570Man]

Regarding out door burners, one really, really, really wants one that does not smoke that much. There is one area near us where there are several outdoor wood burners, and if the weather is just right, the smoke in that area is like thick fog. No way is that healthy for the dozens of homes being smoked out by a couple of the burners. A few miles away is another out door burner that is sorta young compared to the ones previously mentioned. The new stove is about 15 years old at this point and does not smoke much at all. The guy built a small structure a short distance from the house which has the outdoor burner. He can load and take the ashes out of the stove while under the roof and store some wood. Seems like a good design.

A guy beside a construction site I’m working on has one of those. I heat with a high efficiency wood stove so I’m not anti wood but all I think when I see that old smoldering smoke trap boiler is the epa did right by phasing those out.

 

[stumblinhorse]

Regarding out door burners, one really, really, really wants one that does not smoke that much. There is one area near us where there are several outdoor wood burners, and if the weather is just right, the smoke in that area is like thick fog. No way is that healthy for the dozens of homes being smoked out by a couple of the burners. A few miles away is another out door burner that is sorta young compared to the ones previously mentioned. The new stove is about 15 years old at this point and does not smoke much at all. The guy built a small structure a short distance from the house which has the outdoor burner. He can load and take the ashes out of the stove while under the roof and store some wood. Seems like a good design.

Depends on what design they are. Mine is a gassification design and I kill myself every off season cleaning it. It doesn’t hardly smoke at all. My closet neighbor has a regular firebox design, it smokes considerably more and can cause the fog you mention. Newer designs are so much easier to clean and burn very efficiently. Very expensive tho.

 

[dmccarty]

Depends on what design they are. Mine is a gassification design and I kill myself every off season cleaning it. It doesn’t hardly smoke at all. My closet neighbor has a regular firebox design, it smokes considerably more and can cause the fog you mention. Newer designs are so much easier to clean and burn very efficiently. Very expensive tho.

Yep, it depends on the design and the OP needs to understand the differences in burners that might be out there. I would be kinda surprised if the EPA allows these old burners that smoke so bad. Flip side, I would guess some of the smoking was from how the burner was being operated. Our wood stove only smokes when starting up from a cold state. Once warmed up it does not smoke at all and our stove is 15+ years old at this point.

 

[fruitcakesa]

I also have a Tarm wood/oil boiler hooked up to a 650 gallon water storage system.
You can set it to automatically switch to oil when needed or do it manually.
It will occasionally smoke when loading wood but I have an extractor fan built into my basement door to remove the smoke quickly.
With the water storage system during shoulder seasons it will continue to heat my home for 3-4 days after the fire goes out and during the cold winter months it will go 18-24 hrs after fire out.
I originally also used it to heat my domestic H2O but after we hooked our home into a net metered solar farm I bought an electric heat pump water heater which is very efficient and scavenges the warm air from the basement to help heat the water and i don't need to build any fires during the 4 months of warm weather we get here.

 

[wawajake]

My daughter has had a dual ( propane and wood ) exterior boiler burner for 10 yrs now .....I agree with everything Ernematts stated in his post. I would add that if you get cold weather and want to be confident water lines don't freeze from boiler to house , you need to upgrade to a antifreeze formula and its expensive, so my son in law and daughter did not get yet, and so frett on weekends they are away and hope propane kicks on automatically . They get their household hot water in winter from boiler loop into their otherwise electric hot water heater ( used in summer)