Calling all Pellet boiler owners, how’s it going?

[Tennman]

Well hey Velvet! How ya doin? Windhager still good?

 

[velvetfoot]

Well hey Velvet! How ya doin? Windhager still good?

Well hey yourself. Haven't run the Windhager in a couple years because of what I thought oil prices were, but they're going up. It's ready to go, though. The six tons of pellets in the basement still seem good-it's a dry basement. That reminds me: I have to clean and service the oil boiler and clean out the wood insert's flue.

I just got a standby generator. I don't think the pellet boiler would have that much residual heat in an outage, like a wood boiler, but I'll be ready for it, regardless, lol.

Looking at those guys move the 1000 gal propane tank to the back yard reminded me of my original plan of a wood gasifier, and getting a tank that size through the walkout basement door!

 

[Tennman]

I don't know what I'd do without running the Windhager. House is so much warmer vs running propane or heat pump. Love our boiler. I haven't been following here for year... but you now have 10,000 POSTS! geez! What's the word on Windhager. People here still like them? Marc Caluwe is I guess still the U.S. rep. I can't tell how many units Windhager is selling. I'm helping a friend research pellet boilers to heat his old house. Surprised you're not running the pellet to save expenses.

cheers

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Pellets are definitely cheaper than fuel out here in the Great Lakes, but you have to shop around. I just loaded up for $210/ton. The regular season price is $235, but some big-box stores want $250 for pretty mediocre stock. I'll roast 6 tons this season in my Harman.

 

[Tennman]

Just checked. $200/ton here from the pellet factory in TN. I'll burn a little more than you Mr GB...... in southern TN..... I guarantee my 170 YO house is vastly less efficient than yours in Wisconsin. If my old place was up in your woods, I'd be burning 12 tons and be thankful to be burning pellets! Cheers

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Just checked. $200/ton here from the pellet factory in TN. I'll burn a little more than you Mr GB...... in southern TN..... I guarantee my 170 YO house is vastly less efficient than yours in Wisconsin. If my old place was up in your woods, I'd be burning 12 tons and be thankful to be burning pellets! Cheers

My farmhouse is only 130 years old, but it's a yellow brick that's common in these parts. Maybe that holds in the heat. My friend likes to say that heating these old farmsteads is like heating a corn crib.

 

[velvetfoot]

Marc is still in the game! I texted him about parts and he replied very quickly!

 

[Tennman]

Velvet, If ok with you if my friend Matt connects with you to ask about residential sized Windhagers. Matt started a newbie thread here. I think he's now down to between the Froling vs Windhager.

Matt, meet Velvet. I'm gonna guess you will have similarly sized boilers. Cheers

 

[velvetfoot]

Sure, but like I said, I haven't used it in a few years, and I haven't really put that many hours on it. If he's near me he can come over and check out my fabulous install. Of course, that would probably mean I'll have to start it up, lol. Hope it won't be too creaky.

 

[Pellet Boiler]

Hi all, first post. I just bought a house with a MESYS/okofen autopellet something or other pellet boiler with a 4 ton hopper.

It’s the main source of heat without any oil or propane backup.

Not sure what I don’t know yet and I’m sure I’ll have a few questions regarding cleaning and keeping it running. I had a indoor gasser with 1000 Gallons of storage that heated my last house trouble free for 11 or 12 years. So this pellet thing seems easy in comparison!

 

[creztor]

Hello all!

Apologies for not updating you all sooner. I am hoping to take some photos for everyone but we had the MeSys boiler installed back in mid-January.

Would love to see some pics when possible.

 

[faultymechanics]

Sorry this took so long. Let me know if you want any specific photos.

 

[Letsburnwoodnotoil]

You’re definitely not wrong there. The contender from MEsys hits 77% and the Windhagen is even a bit lower than that at around 65% (not looking at exact numbers). Pretty wild that some are 50% and that’s considered efficient at all....


I'll add it's worth noting all these efficiencies were done without thermal storage. I've read positives and negatives on the topic but what's interesting is MEsys is the only company who really doesn't suggest thermal storage. The companies that do suggest thermal storage seem to be the ones with lower efficiency ratings which makes me wonder how all of that comes into play.

The reason the 20Kw Mesys boiler is rated at 77% efficiency is the way the EPA forces the rating to be at low fire, (mostly). The efficiency at nominal output is actually 80.4%. This is lab confirmed, NOT manufacturer. Their larger units are higher also. 83.7%for the 32Kw unit and 86+% for the 56Kw model.

 

[Luvmesomesamples]

Hey all. Looks like with home heating oil prices skyrocketing I will finally start to get some roi on my pellet boiler investment I made in 2014. My pellergy PB1525 has worked flawless the past 8 seasons. (8k hours and 8500 starts). I’m still on my original igniter!

 

[PassionForFire&Water]

Would love to see some pics when possible.

Below some pictures of a Windhager BioWIN152 wood pellet boiler
with 119 Gal Thermal Storage Tank
and 3.5 bulk pellet bin with 3-probe change over unit

 

[mainahTJ]

Hi All, I'm new to this forum and Hearth. I wanted to reach out and get some opinions from ya'll. I had a Kedel boiler installed in 2016. I knew there was going to be a learning curve with it but thought it would settle in and eventually pay for itself. I've had all kinds of issues with it over the years. My local guys who installed and service the boiler have been out here a zillion times this winter. They are just as frustrated with these units as I am. The biggest issue I've had over the years is the ignitors failing. There have been other issues as well. I'm exhausted with not having heat in the dead of winter (Christmas morning, 3 degrees out, no heat). I have zero interest in going back to oil heat or some other fossil fuel. What kind of boiler do you have, and what has your experience been like? I'd really appreciate some honest appraisals. I may just end up replacing this unit.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

We're wrapping up our 10th season with our Harman PB105 boiler, burning 6 to 8 tons of mostly cheap hardwood pellets every year. We had some teething problems at first, most notably burnpot warping that Harman addressed twice under warranty. I've replaced an auger motor that probably should have been covered under warranty as well.

The best part of this boiler, one of the later models, is the pressure igniter. It pumps superheated air to a pinpoint area at the base of the burnpot. I'm not exaggerating when I say it lights the pellets within about a minute after the auger finishes priming the burnpot with pellets. Without it I'd hesitate using it as a primary heat source, or I'd have to install some kind of blend valve to keep the boiler temp above 140 degrees.

Of course, Harman stopped making central heating units like the PB105 and PF100 several years ago. Parts support still seems strong, though. They pop up on Craigslist every once in a while.

 

[velvetfoot]

I never understood why they ripped out perfectly good heating systems to put in a pellet boiler.

 

[PassionForFire&Water]

Hi All, I'm new to this forum and Hearth. I wanted to reach out and get some opinions from ya'll. I had a Kedel boiler installed in 2016. I knew there was going to be a learning curve with it but thought it would settle in and eventually pay for itself. I've had all kinds of issues with it over the years. My local guys who installed and service the boiler have been out here a zillion times this winter. They are just as frustrated with these units as I am. The biggest issue I've had over the years is the ignitors failing. There have been other issues as well. I'm exhausted with not having heat in the dead of winter (Christmas morning, 3 degrees out, no heat). I have zero interest in going back to oil heat or some other fossil fuel. What kind of boiler do you have, and what has your experience been like? I'd really appreciate some honest appraisals. I may just end up replacing this unit.

Post a picture of your igniter.
I may be able to guide you where to buy

It's quite simple. There are only 3 brands available in the US
Windhager, Froling and Okofen - IN THAT ORDER 😊
All Austrian brands.
Steer clear of anything else you come across

 

[Waterboy]

Looking for information on central boiler maxim 225 pellet boiler in looking to buy one to replace my central boiler 6048 wood boiler

 

[BansheeTwin350]

Looking for information on central boiler maxim 225 pellet boiler in looking to buy one to replace my central boiler 6048 wood boiler

I purchased a Maxim in January. This was my first OWB. I've been very happy with it. It's ability to go idle and restart itself has worked very well. Mine heats a 7000sqft house and I've never had it set to run over 65% of it's max capacity. I would say it holds 1.5-2 tons worth of pellet ash. So doesn't need emptied very often. Keep in mind the mindset of the 6048 and Maxim are different. 6048 you want hot burns. The maxim you want it running in medium (40-50%) as it's the most efficient. Two things I would recommend.

One, be most efficient with everything. Use the best insulated lines, insulate your lines inside where you would normally not insulate them. You really want to be able to extend your idle times out as much as possible for the shoulder season. Also you will notice any wasted heat, compared to your 6048, as you are putting in bags instead of just cutting and throwing more wood in.

Second, familiarize yourself with the back burn set up on the maxim. By back burn I'm talking about when the maxim goes idle, the string of pellets in the feed auger can smolder and burn back through the auger. CB has done a really good job at implementing protections for this. These protections weren't there in the early years of the maxim and people had fires in the hopper. I have had back burns happen, but the temperature switch a few inches into the auger has always triggered the first safety protocol which has always handled and recovered automatically. If I weren't watching closely or monitoring it with the wifi module, I wouldn't even know it happened. That's how well my Maxim has handled back burns. But there are things you can do to minimize them like turning on "clean out" mode for a few minutes each week. Also, the back burn safety protocols require electric to the unit to function. So just know if you lose power, you'll want to clean out the burn chamber so it doesn't smolder back into the auger.

Overall I've been very happy. Since you have a 6048, if you don't have the thermopex lines, get them replaced. I have the additional 48 bushel hopper which works flawlessly. Other then having to load more pellets into the hopper, I could get away with ignoring the Maxim for many weeks. But I don't as I enjoy the process.

 

[Waterboy]

I purchased a Maxim in January. This was my first OWB. I've been very happy with it. It's ability to go idle and restart itself has worked very well. Mine heats a 7000sqft house and I've never had it set to run over 65% of it's max capacity. I would say it holds 1.5-2 tons worth of pellet ash. So doesn't need emptied very often. Keep in mind the mindset of the 6048 and Maxim are different. 6048 you want hot burns. The maxim you want it running in medium (40-50%) as it's the most efficient. Two things I would recommend.

One, be most efficient with everything. Use the best insulated lines, insulate your lines inside where you would normally not insulate them. You really want to be able to extend your idle times out as much as possible for the shoulder season. Also you will notice any wasted heat, compared to your 6048, as you are putting in bags instead of just cutting and throwing more wood in.

Second, familiarize yourself with the back burn set up on the maxim. By back burn I'm talking about when the maxim goes idle, the string of pellets in the feed auger can smolder and burn back through the auger. CB has done a really good job at implementing protections for this. These protections weren't there in the early years of the maxim and people had fires in the hopper. I have had back burns happen, but the temperature switch a few inches into the auger has always triggered the first safety protocol which has always handled and recovered automatically. If I weren't watching closely or monitoring it with the wifi module, I wouldn't even know it happened. That's how well my Maxim has handled back burns. But there are things you can do to minimize them like turning on "clean out" mode for a few minutes each week. Also, the back burn safety protocols require electric to the unit to function. So just know if you lose power, you'll want to clean out the burn chamber so it doesn't smolder back into the auger.

Overall I've been very happy. Since you have a 6048, if you don't have the thermopex lines, get them replaced. I have the additional 48 bushel hopper which works flawlessly. Other then having to load more pellets into the hopper, I could get away with ignoring the Maxim for many weeks. But I don't as I enjoy the process.

Thanks how many tons of pellet s do you go through

 

[BansheeTwin350]

2 for January, 1.8 for February, and 0.9 for March. I had some areas (attic) that were not insulated and just recently got that fixed. So my usage should be lower next season.

 

[Waterboy]

2 for January, 1.8 for February, and 0.9 for March. I had some areas (attic) that were not insulated and just recently got that fixed. So my usage should be lower next season.

2 for January, 1.8 for February, and 0.9 for March. I had some areas (attic) that were not insulated and just recently got that fixed. So my usage should be lower next season.

im in northern Ontario and going through 60 stove cords of unseasoned wood , so I’m trying to figure out how much pellets I’m going to use and a pain in the butt I’m guessing it’s going to be 30 tons , if anyone has a clue and can help ou it would be great ive looked at the conversion tables an still can’t get it

 

[sloeffle]

im in northern Ontario and going through 60 stove cords of unseasoned wood , so I’m trying to figure out how much pellets I’m going to use and a pain in the butt I’m guessing it’s going to be 30 tons , if anyone has a clue and can help ou it would be great ive looked at the conversion tables an still can’t get it

At roughly $200US per ton and going up * 30 tons.

If it was me, I'd swap the 6048 out for a HM G7000, get ahead on your firewood so it can season, and do some insulation upgrades. You'll burn about half to 60% less wood with a gasifier and even less with insulation upgrades. IMHO - you'll be money ahead in the long run, as I'd expect the price of pellets to only continue to go up. Especially with the EU weaning itself off of Russian NG.