Indoor wood boilers and smoke

[muncybob]

For those of you that have purchased wood boilers in the past few years I am interested in hearing how you would rate the amount of smoke exiting the boiler upon loading of wood. I am referring to stock boilers with no modifications nor any type of smoke hoods/exhaust systems as I doubt I will be installing such. The boilers on my "short" list to purchase this year are: Econoburn, Wood Gun(wood and wood/oil), Tarm(again w/w-o), Atmos(w/w-o) and EKO. I like to convenience of having the boiler in my basement but the Mrs. is really concerned about the house smelling like smoke. It's to my understanding that a unit with negative draft will have the least amount of smoke escape?

 

[Hansson]

No smoke here.
Tarm innova pulls out the smoke in the hole over the fire.
(broken link removed to http://picasaweb.google.se/725hansson/Panrumsbilder#5020604823075505426)

I wold not buy a boiler that smokes. It'`s 2009 !

 

[muncybob]

[quote author="Hansson" date="1244134993"]No smoke here.
Tarm innova pulls out the smoke in the hole over the fire.

(broken link removed to http://picasaweb.google.se/725hansson/Panrumsbilder#5020604823075505426)

I wold not buy a boiler that smokes. It'`s 2009 ![/quote]

Agreed Thanx!!

 

[chuck172]

Big time smoke here. I was using the smoke bonnet and all was well. I was told not to use it as it would cause the door to corrode. I removed the flap and it really smokes no matter what I do

 

[stee6043]

If I load when my EKO wants to be loaded I get zero smoke. If I load half way through a burn I will get smoke. With my EKO in the basement even when I do get some smoke I rarely smell anything anywhere else in the house.

This is, of course, after I fixed the door seal on my EKO. But that's a seperate issue....

 

[taxidermist]

The biomax has a door switch that turns on a built in draft inducer when you open the door.

 

[flyingcow]

No smoke roll out. Will you get an smoky odor? maybe. but ever so slight. Mine is next door, not in the house. But open the door anytime, smoke stays inside the boiler.

 

[sweetheat]

After several smoke rollouts, I've been careful to load wood only when smoke is not being produced. Before the fire is lit or when it's down to hot coals. Opening the bypass damper seems to vent all smoke if I just have to look in. If you seal your smoke pipe with high temp caulk you can eliminate any smoke escaping at pipe joints. I have plenty of draft with 34 feet of chimney, others with less draft may need a draft inducer. sweetheat

 

[Rory]

It kind of breaks my heart that they came out with the Innova right after I bought my Solo 30, as smoke is a very big deal in my house. I'm going to try the exhaust inducer. It would be nice if BioHeat USA would offer me a cheap upgrade to the Innova.

 

[mtnmizer]

EBW150 Boiler-- Smokes heavily when opening the loading
door under certain conditions. No/little smoke when opening the
loading door under certain conditions. Good thing it's not in the living
room. Contemplating a draft inducer before the upcoming heating season.
The summer is going too fast.. MM

 

[MrEd]

I think the smoke coming out of any modern wood boiler is going to because of a poor draft situation rather than the boiler itself. I could leave my door open all day and never get even a puff of smoke out the door. I have a straight shot of SS chimney right of the back, and about 15ft total height, which is not particularly high, but house is on a hill with open fields around it. Same boiler with the same chimney in a different setup could give you a lot of trouble.

Don't underestimate the importance of proper chimney for your install - no matter which boiler you buy you will be disappointed if the chimney is less-than-perfect.

 

[Rory]

I have over 30 feet of masonry chimney which exits well above the peak of my house. I don't think the chimney is the culprit, I've had prior stoves on it that never smoked.

 

[WoodNotOil]

I have a solo 40 and I get smoke only if I interrupt a burn. If I open the door when it is idling or at the end of a burn, no smoke. A draft inducer would probably eliminate smoke when interrupting a burn.

 

[muncybob]

I'm assuming a draft inducer is activated by a switch when the door opens...or you manually activate it?

 

[WoodNotOil]

The biomax comes with a built in draft inducer that is door controlled. If you put your own in, you would have to manually turn it on or off or devise your own door switch. Negative draft boilers don't need draft inducers, you just leave the main fan on.

 

[Floydian]

The Biomass 60(formerly Biomax I believe) has two fans-one on front and one on the back. I wasn't aware the fan on back was controlled by the door. Interesting. The Biomass 40 is induced draft with one fan on back so I don't think its controlled by the door.

http://www.newhorizoncorp.com/index.php

On the home page it says "new models coming soon" for the Biomass.

Also New Horizon now has a draft inducer for EKO line boilers. Picture on home page.

Noah

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

The Wood Gun can also smoke even with a induced draft fan. This is only when loading wood. The E140 that I looked at was being fed green wood so maybe this was part of the problem. The WG has 2 sizes of optional smoke hoods & the owner wished he had gotten one. It appears he had a poor drafting chimney with his install. As Mr.Ed says a good chimney is not to be underestimated. I've had no problems so far with my previous stoves using a tall masonry/tile lined high draft chimney. Atmos requires a .1 draft & this is double what some stoves need, Randy