Hello from MO USA

[greenenergyexperimenter]

Hi everyone, my name is Geo, thanks for all the information shared here on this site. I tinkered in small solar power, mostly with small homemade panels, marine batteries, and used uninterruptible power supplies. I also play around with wood stoves.

I look forward to making some new friends and learning new things here!

[Bruce S]

Welcome !!
Where in MO ?

[greenenergyexperimenter]

Thanks! I live and work in the Rolla area, kinda stuck in the middle of St. Louis and Springfield.

[Bruce S]

That can be a good thing!!
Rolla has some very good schools and professors.
I'm up in Stl myself

[gww]

you are about 40 miles away from me, I am in rosebud mo.  Look in  the stickies above at what oz did with homemade panels.  I made a bunch and must say that at current panel prices you can't build cheeper then you can buy.  Have you ever thought about wood gassification?  I am kind of interested in that.
Welcome to the forum.
gww

Ps the sticky mentioned above is under solar heading in this forum.

[greenenergyexperimenter]

You aren't kidding about the current price of panels - it is a bargain compared to soldering all those cells together! I'll check out that sticky you mentioned.

I am very interested in wood gasification. We live in a prime location to use wood for at least some of our heat and power.  Since I just completed my outdoor wood boiler, I'm hoping to start devoting my spare time to gasification.

[gww]

I have mixed feelings on the outside boiler.  My pop has used one for twenty years.  They are cleaner and safer.  They do use much more wood then any kind of wood stove that is actually in the structure being heated.  Maby up to 4 times the amount of wood.  You also have no choice but to keep them going during cold weather.  Sort of like a pet , you need a babysitter if you are not there to fire it yourself. 
Keep us posted of your doings.
cheers
gww

[Frank S]

I was thinking that possibly a rocket stove style  vertical combustion chamber with a vertical afterburner to heat the boiler.
 since the combustion chamber would be down draft  if pelleted wood chips were used an automatic feed system could be set up
 This type of system may only be mildly more efficient but it could be semi automatic.
 As others have said an outside boiler setup is fuel thirsty no matter what fuel is used for a heat source.   

[greenenergyexperimenter]

That was actually how I built my last outdoor wood furnace, minus the wood chips. I used regular firewood as the fuel. The feed tube was made from 8" black stove pipe. To prevent the wood from jamming, I would bundle firewood together with baling twine to fit neatly inside the tube. The tube is then loaded with these bundles to provide up to 8 hours of trouble free burning. It simply gravity fed itself.

The problem was bundling the wood and dropping it down a 7 foot tall fuel magazine.  Just too much hassle.

Here's a thread I started on my new boiler system: http://www.fieldlines.com/index.php/topic,148422.0.html

[Mary B]

Pellet burner and hopper assembly http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E683SPQ/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=171KL8PRC9BXI&coliid=I1Q2PNPV4XBQYK