The first stage of this project was started early in 2009 aimed at proving the heating for our cottage for the 2009/2010 winter. This first stage had its first tests in may 2009 and these testa were encouraging enough for the second stage to proceeed, the installation of the burner in its shed and a connection to the 5000 litres insulated storage tanks. Furher test were proposed at this stage before connecting the cottage which incolved a 15m underground pipe run, a tricky way into the house and a heat exchanger, all expensive stuff. I was very close to this test when I became seriously ill and the project stopped. The hope was that I would in time recover and be able to carry on but this is not to be.
The system described above is of course nothing special, one could go out and buy this but the boiler design was modified basically by increasing the combustion space above the wood and by the provision of a number of ports in this combustion space. The plan was that there would be three modes of operation, burning wood to heat water, making wood gas and the two together. The wood gas was to run a gas fires generator.
Any one interested