Read this before you buy a wood boiler in Wisconsin
The Econoburn is available with the H stamp, or ASME certification.
Just got this in from our Econoburn rep:
“I just got off the phone with Rick Merkle, Boiler Chief for the State of Wisconsin. He did verify that any pressurized boiler, regardless of installation location (indoor or outdoor), needs to have the {H}-Stamp and a National Board number.”
In case you’re not familiar with it, the H stamp he’s referring to is the mark indicating ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) certification. ASME certification is the gold standard for safety in pressurized boilers.
Econoburn is one of only two (as far as we know) gasification boilers available that are ASME certified. If you are currently running one that’s not, be warned: boilers not bearing the H stamp (presently including all foreign-built wood gasification boilers) can and will be shut down by the State of Wisconsin.
If you’d like to see an Econoburn boiler in person, please call us at 715-218-1373 and we’ll be happy to set up a viewing.
Tags: ASME, Econoburn, H stamp, Wisconsin, wood boiler, wood gasification, Wood heat
Home Performance Consultant Discusses Gas Range Safety
Did you know that code allows gas ranges to vent right into your kitchen and emit more parts per million of carbon monoxide than a water heater which vents into your chimney?
Just because it’s legal doesn’t make it safe. Here, Dan tells you what happens when you cook with a gas oven or cook top and how to do it safely.
Tags: carbon monoxide, CO, cooking with gas, energy audit, gas appliance safety, gas oven, gas range, Home performance, home rater, kitchen safety, Wausau
Solar Roofing or Traditional Solar Panels – Which Should You Choose?
Snow can present a major problem for owners of solar roofs in northern climates.
Don’t get me wrong. We’re not anti-PV. Quite the contrary. We install PV as well as solar thermal systems. On a personal note, we lived completely off-grid and used two small PV systems to supply electricity for our home and an outbuilding for three years before moving to the Wausau area. It was a wonderful experience in many ways and we plan to install PV in some capacity on our new home once we’ve gotten that far in the renovation process.
Visit Performance Energy, Inc.
Tags: installing solar, photovoltaics, PV, solar, solar installation, solar panels, solar roof, solar roofing, Wisconsin
EconoBurn Boiler on display in Wausau
Our first EconoBurn wood boiler unit is now on display at 1699 Schofield Ave. Suite 304 in Schofield, Wisconsin. It is solid. I just learned today that it is the only pressurized wood boiler to meet code requirements. All the outdoor wood boilers are open vessel, which means they rust out fast. A pressure vessel has no air and always the same water so there is no internal rust.
To view the boiler, please call me at 715-218-8654 for available times.
Dan Michelsen
Tags: outdoor wood boiler, outdoor wood boilers, Renewable Wood, Wausau, wood boiler, wood gasification, Wood heat
Installing solar thermal panels for space heating
Yesterday was a busy Sunday. We were supposed to install thermal panels for a solar space heating job last Friday, but pouring rain and a very steep metal roof don’t equate to a safety green light. Since the roofing crew was willing to come in on Sunday, we decided to postpone.
The weather Sunday was a mixed blessing. We did experience intermittent light rain, but on the bright side – it wasn’t bright! Solar hot water installers pray for overcast conditions on installation days. Otherwise the thermal panels heat up in the sun too much and you have to find some way to cover them.
This particular system is going onto a new home being built in rural Marathon. The home is designed for extreme thermal efficiency. We’ll tell you more about it in future posts.
Yesterday we were able to get two of the four panels up on the roof before the rain cut loose again and brought work to a standstill. You can see more photos of the solar panel installation on our Facebook page. Also, stay tuned – videos ahead!
Visit our website for more information on solar hot water.
Tags: Marathon, solar collector, solar contractor, solar hot water, solar installation, solar installer, solar panels, solar space heating, solar thermal
Thanks to Wausau Daily Herald for Publishing our Solar Water Heating Article
A big, belated Thank You to the Wausau Daily Herald for inviting us to submit an article as part of their series on energy efficiency this month. Our article on Solar Water Heating appeared in the Wausau paper last Friday, Sept. 18. It contains a short history of solar hot water, a brief explanation of how a solar thermal system works, and an explanation that solar water heating is the most efficient form of solar energy.
Econoburn: A clean-burning alternative to outdoor wood boilers
The Econoburn wood boiler boasts an impressive 87% total thermal efficiency.
When you live in Wisconsin, one of the most abundant sources of renewable energy around is wood! Trees are everywhere. Even if you don’t have a wood lot of your own, you can most likely beg, borrow or buy inexpensive wood fuel from a friend or neighbor.
Trouble is, “renewable energy” doesn’t always mean “clean energy.” There’s been a big bruhaha in recent months about outdoor wood boilers. Seems that the neighbors of outdoor wood boiler owners don’t appreciate the fact that said owners are saving money. Rather, for some reason the neighbors are upset by the great clouds of noxious black smoke that regularly engulf their homes and yards whenever the aforementioned outdoor wood furnaces are fired up.
Imagine.
Seriously, I’m being a little snide here, but smoke from outdoor wood boilers really is a big problem in rural neighborhoods. According to the State of Washington Department of Ecology:
(T)ests done by the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM) found that the average fine particle emissions (a particularly harmful pollutant) from one OWB are equivalent to the emissions from 22 EPA certified wood stoves, 205 oil furnaces, or as many as 8,000 natural gas furnaces. One OWB can emit as much fine particle matter as four heavy duty diesel trucks on a grams per hour basis.
Yuck.
And think about it – if outdoor wood boilers burn that dirty, surely their owners must be spending twice the amount of time they really need splitting and shoveling wood.
A clean-burning wood boiler alternative
In the interests of upholding wood as a viable renewable energy source, we decided to look for a cleaner-burning alternative to outdoor wood boilers. And we found one we think is a real winner.
We’d like to introduce the Econoburn wood gasification boiler to Central and Northern Wisconsin. It’s got a lot of endearing features, which we’ll highlight in future posts. But for now I’ll start off by mentioning that Econoburn wood boilers get an amazing 87% total efficiency – approaching the efficiency of a natural gas boiler.
Now that’s making clean energy out of a renewable resource!
Visit our website to find out more.
Tags: Econoburn, heating with wood, high efficiency wood boiler, wood boiler, wood boilers, wood fired boiler, wood gasification, wood gasification boiler, wood gasification boilers, Wood heat
Better Buildings Better Business
Just got back from attending the Energy Center of Wisconsin’s Better Buildings Better Business Conference Wisconsin Dells.
Boy was that place buzzing with great ideas! Just a quick wander through the trade show area was enough to make your head spin – and the gears inside that head start spinning with possibilities. To list just a few resource-saving innovations:
* The Green Switch, a brand-new device that saves you having to individually unplug or turn off all your power strips, appliances and lights when not in use in your most power-hungry rooms
* Structural Insulated Panels – basically big styrofoam sheets sandwiched between pressboard, which eliminate the need for studs. They’re supposed to result in leak-free constuction and result in a 50% more efficient building. It’s available in 4 thicknesses with R values from R-18 to R-40.
* The Solatube, a high-tech skylight that effectively brings daylight into hard-to-reach places
* Rain catchment and greywater recycling systems; super-efficient windows; a souped-up Prius (a plug-in hybrid equipped with lithium-ion batteries such as you’ll find in the newest power tools; it’s a fleet car owned by WPPI Energy; financing options for homeowners considering energy-efficient upgrades (more on this in future posts); and a whole lot more.
By the way, the Kalahari resort, where the conference took place, is home to Wisconsin’s largest solar thermal installation. We figure this impressive project is saving the Kalahari about $15,000 per year in water heating expenses. (The picture above shows just a few of the 104 panels in the installation.)
Solar Thermal Tax Credit Caps
A couple of posts ago I wrote that the rebate caps on residential solar had been lifted starting in 2009. The information came from what is usually a reliable source, but as it was there was some confusion about the topic in the weeks following the passing of the renewable energy bill last fall.
Turns out the cap was lifted for PV, but not for solar thermal. Too bad – it reflects true ignorance of the real value of solar thermal.
Even so, solar water heating remains an economically attractive renewable energy source – even in Wisconsin.
See our website ( www.MarathonRenewableEnergy.com ) for more information on solar water heating in Wisconsin – or call us at 715-218-8654 and Dan will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the topic. (Be sure to set aside a chunk of time – he’s kind of like a walking encyclopedia.)
Solar Thermal Project Update: One Step at a Time
It’s not always easy being the first.
As the first solar thermal contractor in Marathon County, we’re paving the way in terms of letting suppliers know exactly what the industry needs in terms of parts and materials.
Although work on the Henricks project began a while ago, it’s taken until now for everything to finally get here and ready to go.
In the meantime, Dan’s been working outside in the chill Wisconsin winter, getting the panel mounts ready for installation. This particular project presents a unique challenge because of a combination of awning-mounted panels over vinyl siding and a less-than-flush exterior wall. The panels must be mounted securely enough to withstand windstorms, while the vinyl needs room to flex with outside temperature variations to avoid cracking.
Dan tells me the panel mounts are almost completed and the parts are lined up and ready to go.
They’re planning to hang the panels Saturday.
We’ll keep you posted!
Tags: Marathon County, solar contractor, solar hot water, solar installer, solar thermal, solar water heater, Wausau
