Heating Budget

[3930dave]

I saw a pretty slick P&M boiler that burned green chips, the stuff the loggers make for biomass or pulp. It had a storage bin and auger (think grain bin) that fed the boiler. It's not as "domesticated" as 50# bags of pellets and it would seem to require a loader and a chip storage shed, but possibly only a weekly filling of the bin .
Maybe they have it figured out, but I'm pretty certain that a bunch of heat energy is lost pushing the water out of the green chips before it burns.
P&M has been at it a while and it looks like good stuff.

The trick is the moisture, but they are one of the companies I wouldn't be surprised if they pull that off.

That scale is what I was referring to as older "slick Euro" ones.... on any modern commercial farm, that's a relatively minor equipment expenditure, so will well suit some operations....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Since dead people started to vote, the price of cold went down. Also you can burn all those extra mail-in votes if you need heat. Mail carrier brought us over 20 apiece last year. Called "Sample Ballots", they all apparently worked just fine.

LOL..... remember the log-rollers ?

One of the older energy crises, there was a guy who went out of his way to get on ALL the junk-mail lists he could discover. Said "Not only is this stuff free, but they deliver too !".

Rgds, D.

 

[Jstpssng]

I saw a pretty slick P&M boiler that burned green chips, the stuff the loggers make for biomass or pulp. It had a storage bin and auger (think grain bin) that fed the boiler. It's not as "domesticated" as 50# bags of pellets and it would seem to require a loader and a chip storage shed, but possibly only a weekly filling of the bin .
Maybe they have it figured out, but I'm pretty certain that a bunch of heat energy is lost pushing the water out of the green chips before it burns.
P&M has been at it a while and it looks like good stuff.

I saw one at a trade show a few years ago but it was geared more toward commercial applications. It's pretty simple to dry your wood before chipping it, just pile it down and let it set for a year. I always thought it would be a good way to get rid of the tops and smaller wood that I make when doing some thinning, as well as the softwood tops which we can't sell for pulp anymore.

 

[JasperFrank]

Since seeing one in the midwest many years ago, I've always been fascinated by corn feed pellet stoves. If wood stoves are banned, this seems to be the way to go, depending on the area you live. Corn is a grass. And as such is also a bio-fuel. Yet, it is no longer a "wood stove."

 

[LouNY]

Many of the indoor corn stoves would "leak" a bit of flue gas out of the combustion chamber,
they were popular around here for a few years. Seems like everyone that had one has pulled them
out by now and they all complained that some of the house walls got a greasy film on them.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Estimates for coming increases, USA. Regions will vary, but as this is a global situation, I'm planning for a more expensive Winter....

US heating bills set to surge as energy costs jump

Rgds, D.

In 1990 propane or electric was our only option when we took out the flue. We went all electric but then propane was cheaper.

10 years ago the church moved to propane and built a high ceiling 40x60 foot activity center. Things were tight pre Covid-19. Propane cost may turn out the lights. The community died hard but people keep driving back due to family members but now they have pasted.

Time changes all things.

 

[PILOON]

Living in Quebec electric heating is the way to go.
However, couple years ago they installed 'smart meters' (and had special fee to do that) claiming it would save a lot by eliminating meter readers.
Recently they signed a major deal to sell power to Maine and or Vermont.
Problem with that is there are clauses to cover minimum mega watts delivered so as a result we will be regulated as to how much and when we can consume locally.
What folks did not understand is with 'smart meters' they can modify the fees upwards during peak hours much like commercial demand meters.
AS a result local users will have to sacrifice so that our hydro can deliver what they contracted to do.
Result is that we'll pay more during peak usage hours or learn to cook, do laundry etc during off peak hours.

 

[Rustyiron]

That's interesting, part of the sales "pitch" here in Maine is that it is not exactly excess electricity that the New England grid will get but it's water that flows over the hydro dams without going through the turbines. So effectively excess.
This "citizen referendum" process here (to approve the construction of the line through ME to MA) is and has been corrupted for years by outside money and lying commercials. The majority of the line is along an existing power line "corridor" and a short 50 some miles is new. ALL of it is existing commercial Woodlands that has been harvested for years.
It's ironic that the idiot's in charge here are and have been taking out many of the smaller hydro dams that have existed for decades in a back door attempt to bolster the highly subsidized (like 15x the amount of oil) wind and solar.
Just yesterday I saw what had to be 100ac if the sun is out solar "farm" under construction, that the last time I drove by, it was heavily wooded with beautiful oaks! Makes perfect sense right?
I'm all for this hydro power from Canada, the way "there" closing nukes and coal/ nat gas plants and at the same time pushing this electric car BS, our grid needs a reliable additional electricity. Your silly virtue signaling plug in car may be fine..... in suburbia, but there's very little of that here in Maine.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I saw a pretty slick P&M boiler that burned green chips, the stuff the loggers make for biomass or pulp. It had a storage bin and auger (think grain bin) that fed the boiler. It's not as "domesticated" as 50# bags of pellets and it would seem to require a loader and a chip storage shed, but possibly only a weekly filling of the bin .
Maybe they have it figured out, but I'm pretty certain that a bunch of heat energy is lost pushing the water out of the green chips before it burns.
P&M has been at it a while and it looks like good stuff.

The local mill uses waste heat from the steam turbines to dry the chips. Waste heat also runs the chipboard press, the resin still, the lumber kilns, and the pellet presses. The only waste from the mill is bark dust and ash.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Many of the indoor corn stoves would "leak" a bit of flue gas out of the combustion chamber,
they were popular around here for a few years. Seems like everyone that had one has pulled them
out by now and they all complained that some of the house walls got a greasy film on them.

Corn stoves were popular back when low quality corn was 25 cents a bushel. Now that a 50 lb. sack of corn will cost you $12 ($480/ton), pellets are cheaper.