Garn Boilers

[samtmc]

What is everyone opinion of these boilers?
GARN® WHS Products - GARN Wood Heating Systems

Everything I read is very positive but very expensive. The rep said they will last 30 plus years (with proper care) and they are willing to help you test the water for free for the first five years.
they claim to be very Efficient. My father has a class a boilers license and said it looks to be legit! they are very expensive 15k to 20k depending on install. I currently have fuel oil with inside wood burning add-a-furnace that I burnt about 11 cord last year and I still managed to use 300 gallons of fuel oil. on top of that we had a chimney fire and now the ins is paying for a new one, we may take the money and put in a garn.
Anybody have opinions or thoughts?

 

[dave1949]

Here is a link to an article which discusses an unusual use of a Garn Boiler. It's near the end of the article so scroll down. Those folks seem to like their Garn boiler.

Clearing the Air: Outdoor Wood Boilers Face Regulation | Northern Woodlands Magazine


11 cords of wood plus oil - what are you heating if I may ask?
Dave.

 

[maine mark]

go to Hearth.com when you get there go to the boiler room.Lots of good info.there on garn and other boilers good stuff,some will need tractors so go forth an save them and thier backs.good luck, you are on the right track.Mark T

 

[WayneB]

samtmc: Just curious as to where you are located? 11 cords is a fair amount of wood! I am assuming you mean full cords? Here in New Hampshire we go through around 7 cord a year and wood is our primary heat source.

Temperatures here will dip below zero several days a year and some years will get as low as 25 degrees F below zero.

 

[Zick]

Garns are top of the line, I almost bought one for our new house but didn't have a decent free source of firewood available which kind of defeated the purpose and extended the payback period alot.
I researched them for about 6 months and could not find anything negative about them except for the price tag. Was quoted $14K just for the boiler itself. Shipping & installation extra.
Garns website has a new forum and the Hearth & Boiler room are also good sources.

I assume your add-on wood burner is not a very efficient unit for burning 11 cords unless you have a huge house. If you get a Garn or any other gasifier you'll probably burn quite a bit less due to their higher efficiency.

Oh and just make sure you have the room for one of these beasts, they are HUGE!

 

[xrjohndeere]

I did alot of research and If I had the extra cash I would have one. Depending on where you are at and your home construction, etc. have you looked at standing column well ground source heat pump? This would supply your water and heating and cooling needs if they are allowed in you area. I have an outdoor heatmor wood furnace. It heats well but smokes alot. I have to shower everytime I load it. I smell like a piece of creasote. But I can not complain about the price. I only have $1600 in the whole setup.

 

[SpringHollow]

We spent 5 years researching what wood boiler to sell. Garn was on the short list. Seems like they know what they are doing and are made well. You do need thermal storage (cost and space), they are expensive, have to be installed inside a building and you have to start a fire each time. We ended up picking Wood Doctor and have been glad we did.

Ken

 

[samtmc]

Sorry all for taking so long to get back to you. I live in MN on about three acres of heavaly wooded land and i have a vintage "monarch add-a furnace" we would only get about 4 hrs of burn time out of it,(all oak and elm dried for about 1 year) our home is about 2700 SQ Feet plus garage (another 500 or so Sq feet) so it was working pretty hard to keep it all heated. It seems everybody is very high on the garns, I have also reserched "central boilers" but I was able to find quite a few negative reviews. Plus I live in a pretty deep valley and do not want to "smoke out" my neighbors. I am in the process of calling my township to see if they will even alow a garn.

 

[POC]

Wondering what/if you have done anymore with this? I'm looking into the Garn myself. I'm using purely electric baseboards right now...killing me on the bill!

 

[Dogballs]

Garn, Eko, and Tarm are all good boilers. They are way more efficient than the outdoor wood boilers, meaning they burn cleaner and use lot's less wood.

They all work better with a water storage tank, most people use 500-1000 gallons depending on heat load. The Garn has integral storage so no additional tank is needed.

Hearth.com - Information on Gas Fireplaces, Wood Stoves, Gas Logs, Pellet Stoves, Fireplaces, Chimneys and Hearth Products has lots of good info.

 

[samtmc]

I ended up not going with the Garn. I would have loved it and I found nothing but good reviews. The company seams like a class act. I however could not afford the price tag, all said and done with me digging the trench and doing a far amount of work myself it was about 20,000.00
For me the payback was not quite there (or the money)
I ended up going with the "fire chief" and just replace my old woodburner. It has been running for about 6 weeks now and after the intital learning curve I am now gettting about 10-13 Hrs of usefull burn time. (alot longer for embers to restart the fire with) it worked very well with the -18 degree temps we went thru a couple of weeks ago.
If you can afford the Garn i would go for it.
BTW the is a forum on there website that has alot of info on it.

 

[benp]

What is everyone opinion of these boilers?
GARNｮ WHS Products - GARN Wood Heating Systems

Everything I read is very positive but very expensive. The rep said they will last 30 plus years (with proper care) and they are willing to help you test the water for free for the first five years.
they claim to be very Efficient. My father has a class a boilers license and said it looks to be legit! they are very expensive 15k to 20k depending on install. I currently have fuel oil with inside wood burning add-a-furnace that I burnt about 11 cord last year and I still managed to use 300 gallons of fuel oil. on top of that we had a chimney fire and now the ins is paying for a new one, we may take the money and put in a garn.
Anybody have opinions or thoughts?

I'm a little late on a reply but just found this website, I have a little info on Garn. I installed my 1500 gallon garn in October, 1988, and have no regret at all . At that time the garn sold for $6000 while most other wood boilers sold from $2000 to $3ooo. I chose the garn because I didn't want a 24 hour fire boiler and have to smell the smoke all day, have asthma, I load it up in the evening and 3 to 4 hours it shuts off and have heat from 1 to 4 days. I have a 3572 sq, ft house heat the slab in the lower level and forced air with a water coil in the furnace plenum for the upper level. I have no idea how much it would cost to heat this house on LP, just never used it and only use the blower. I average about 6 cords a year, it also heats the domestic water. Yes you do have to start the fire every time it gets used but with that induction fan it doesn't take a lot of paper to get it going, and it burns vary hot so you don't see or smell the smoke. I drain out the water and clean the inside every 3 years and refill it with soft water and use a 5 micron filter, use 2 gallons of Freemount closed loop chemicals, this will raise your ph a little which Freemount wants and check the tds an ph every year. Garn does have a high price tag but they have always been ahead of their time in efficiency and pollution and I'm sure the new once are a lot better then mine. Good Luck
Ben

 

[SpringHollow]

Hi Ben,

Thanks for the post. Roughly where are you located? In North Dakota, your experience with the Garn would be quite impressive; in Southern California, not so much.

I am glad you had such a positive experience. I seriously considered one but the added cost of constructing an outside building for it definitely made it not an option at the time.

Ken

 

[pete785]

I am in final design stages of building my house. I like the idea of a garn boiler with infloor heat. Can I put the garn in my garage? How much space would it take up, I have a 3rd stall dedicated for wood and furnace. Would it be ok to have it sit out in open inside of garage or would I need to build a room around it? I am new to this forum so thanks for responses.

 

[JohnLeigha]

Hello Benp, we live in MN also. we are looking at a property in Linwood mn. not far from you and we are very curious about electricity bills with the Garn?? They have a garn in the pole shed that heats the house and we asked for their electric and gas bills on the 2,600sqft house and they seem really high.....curious your thoughts. could you email me please if you are able to answer some questions? thank you Leighay@yahoo.com

 

[Redneck in training]

you need to send a personal message to him. This thread is 3 years old.