# Burning wood chips, and OWB recommendations.



## Joesell (Jan 28, 2011)

Does anyone burn wood chips? Is there an OWB that would work better then the others for this? 

The reason I ask is, my brother has a tree service. I can get rounds from him, but he likes to shoot everything through the chipper, so the wood chips would be endless.

I'm getting an OWB soon. I think I've narrowed it down to the Central Boiler CL6048, and the Wood Master 5500. Everything I've read is very contradicting. CB says not to run a blower, WM says that blowers work better and on and on. The marketing nonsense is never ending.

I'm going to be building a new, 3500sqft home this spring with an exposed basement. I'm leaning toward under floor heat in the whole house including the basement, under the garage floor, domestic hot water, work shop(3000sqft), and possibly a hot tub some day.

One other thing. My brother is going to be building a house next door in a year or two. Would it be better to buy 1 really big OWB, and then have him tap into it when he builds, or have him get his own? He would be building around 3000sqft.

I've sifted through almost all the posts that had anything to do with my questions, but I'm still confused. Any help, or even a push in the right direction would be very helpful. 

Joe


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## John R (Jan 28, 2011)

It would be great if you two could share an OWB, but it sounds like you'll have to get a big one to do both houses.


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## John D (Jan 29, 2011)

If you and your brother are tight enough to split the gathering,cutting,stacking loading, and money involved it would be great for you to buy a 7260 and heat both homes...however I can also see it going bad....I know if it were me and my brother we couldnt do it...I like to have a good amount of wood ready,he likes to gather as he goes,and he runs out at times,this would drive me nuts....im just saying....BTW if it were my money,Id go with the CB 6048 over the WM 5500...


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## pook (Jan 29, 2011)

i burn sawdust in a Conifer111 burner. 2 cords sdust=1 cord hardwood for heat. storage is tricky cause it can freeze rock hard. better to burn wood be4 chipper IMO


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## MNGuns (Jan 29, 2011)

I am most cetrain that you will find the wood chips smoke alot and produce less heat than what you would get were you to burn seasoned rounds or splits.


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## 1grnlwn (Jan 29, 2011)

As far as sharing for two houses, I wouldn't do that. OWB are a lot of work and the weather isn't that nice. What if someone wants to sell house? Two wives mad (cold) at the same time! Probably looking at some pretty long water runs for one or both houses. ETC. As far as burning chips, a fan fired stove will see a lot of embers coming from stack. Unless the ground is covered with snow, this would concern me. I would expect that you would need to load the stove twice as many times and may have to make several stirring trips to get complete burn.


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## AIM (Jan 29, 2011)

The wood chip idea I doubt will work at all. They are just to wet to burn worth a damn. And how do you dry out a pile of chips without owning the equipment the pellet manufacturers own? 

As far as a OWB goes I can't tell you which one you should get but I'd DEFINITELY get one with a blower. I'll admit that I have no experience with the non blower units but I just can't see them working as good. Especially when you burn some stuff that isn't perfectly seasoned. (which you will) 

I think your gonna need a big unit yourself without sharing with your brother. 6500 sq. feet is a lot of space. Sharing an OWB might work in some instances but I know I couldn't do it. Sooner or later one of you is gonna start thinking that the other isn't doing as much, isn't loading when they are supposed to etc.
Why take a chance on fighting with your brother over burning wood?


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## motoman3b (Jan 29, 2011)

I've seen some wood chip boilers before they use a hopper and auger system like pellet stoves. Seems like they were made and used overseas. Seems like you could retrofit any OWB to one though I'd imagine you'd want a blower otherwise they'll probably just smolder. Wouldnt be a bad idea if you could rig up a hopper and auger system to feed the boiler build the hopper big enough to feed it for a couple days


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## showrguy (Jan 29, 2011)

i do burn chips in mine, only through the day though,, use pitch fork and don't load it heavy, i have forced draft under the grates.
it does smoke alot at times, i only call the tree guy down the road in the winter for them because alot of the sap is outa the wood as compared to summer time (so i beleive anyway)..
i don't have any neighbors close by either....
i would not want to share a unit with adjoining property owner no matter who they were for alot of varoius reasons, some of which have allready been mentioned..
i have all radiant in floor/concrete also.... spend the money and time up front to insulate properly..
there are things i wish i would have done differently !!!
p.m. if ya wanna talk


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## leon (Jan 29, 2011)

*wood chip burning*



Joesell said:


> Does anyone burn wood chips? Is there an OWB that would work better then the others for this?
> 
> The reason I ask is, my brother has a tree service. I can get rounds from him, but he likes to shoot everything through the chipper, so the wood chips would be endless.
> 
> ...


 

Here is a link for you Joel, you will no issues burning wood chips.

They have been burning wood chips in england for many years and the systems for home heating are well designed and have been in use for many years.

Euroheat Wood Burning Stoves, biomass Chip Pellet Boilers stores companion sets


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## leon (Jan 29, 2011)

*wood chps*



Joesell said:


> Does anyone burn wood chips? Is there an OWB that would work better then the others for this?
> 
> The reason I ask is, my brother has a tree service. I can get rounds from him, but he likes to shoot everything through the chipper, so the wood chips would be endless.
> 
> ...


 

IF you go to the home page you can see the picture they have of a unit for home use
an interior installation set up which is better anyway.

I cannot upload the picture for some reason.


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## leon (Jan 29, 2011)

*wood chiips*

View attachment 170149


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## barkeatr (Jan 30, 2011)

i have installed systems simliar to what the image sent in schools and commercial buildings.. i believe that is a pellet boiler and storage system. I dont think those sweepers shown will work for chips. 

there are other systems for chips. 

I have had a OWB for 5 years, im switching to a gassification OWB. I advise the first poster to look into gasification boilers unless he has already. Wood has to be dry for them but the wood consumption is 1/2 to 1/3 less. Just a thought.


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## motoman3b (Jan 30, 2011)

it almost looks like that euro unit has a built in pellet mill before the burner so I think its taking wood chips and making them into pellets then burning them.... could be wrong but it looks like thats the set up


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## leon (Jan 30, 2011)

*biomass burner*



motoman3b said:


> it almost looks like that euro unit has a built in pellet mill before the burner so I think its taking wood chips and making them into pellets then burning them.... could be wrong but it looks like thats the set up


 
No, no pellet mill just the required physical break betweenthe delvery auger and feeder auger for the boiler to prevent a stock pile fire from spontaneous combustion.

The dome over the center of the draw point prevents plugging and the inability to to draw from the bin.


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## porta mill (Jan 30, 2011)

I have an empire owb. when I it was doing small chipping jobs and I had to haul away the chips I would bring them homeand burned them . Burning the chips worked well in the spring summer and fall but not so great in the winter. I am heating two houses with my Owb. Mine is a ranch with full base ment around 2,500 sqr ft and my dads double wide trailer around 1,200 so heating two houses in doable. One thing do not be cheep with the underground insulated pipe .Good luck


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## Joesell (Jan 31, 2011)

Thanks for all the input guys. 

So far, it sounds like you can burn chips, just not very well. I might try it, I have enough laying around. 
It also sounds like sharing with my brother might turn into trouble. I really could see it happening the way some of you described.

I found a used Wood Master 5500 locally. They're asking $4000. It comes with a 8'-10' baseboard heater, a heat exchanger, and about 30' of chimney. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. I might just give it a go.

Joe


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