<div dir="ltr">Alan<div><br><div>Heating with biomass in a PH is neither oxymoronic nor moronic. In central europe and especially Austria it is business as usual actually. In your southern (Mid Atlantic?) climate it is however more of a luxury than a necessity. In PH's in general fire on the floor of the cave is a luxury. In cold rural climates supplementing with biomass makes quite a bit of sense. I have designed a few boiler systems with radiant barriers that pipe into a DHW system and provide the bulk of the DHW in the winter. In Austria ( a heavily forested rural area, much like my home state of Maine except warmer) there are companies that supply product's especially designed for this. ( Austria also does not have the FIT's that Germany has for Solar) Windhager is one such company, and has been making Biomass boilers for 90 years.</div>
</div><div><br></div><div>It is not necessary in a PH to have some fancy Damper system. It is nice to keep the air out at the roof assembly, preferably above the thermal envelope, but it should not be a deal breaker. Yes, there is a thermal penalty in the form of a cold bridge but the penalty should not be enough to contraindicate certification; If the rest of the structure is thermal bridge free preferably with negative PSI values. If the foundation details are only mediocre , all bets are off. If your PSI install at the windows is poor .023 btu/hrft2F ish (default setting in version 6 and &7) than all bets are off as well. </div>
<div><br></div><div>Although I love the RAIS products (the rondo especially) they are expensive.</div><div>Morso makes some nice airtight units, I have used the squirrel in two PH's.</div><div>Regency makes some PH suitable units as well, There are many others, all with make up kits.</div>
<div><br></div><div>There is some Dogma about biomass in the US mostly perpetuated by Kat (with some good reason BTW) at the earlier stages of the training's going back to 2009. It does make the detailing more complicated and it is just plain easier to not have the chimney penetration. Also it is for the most part completely unnecessary and therefore more costly.To me a dual system with a hydronic connection makes more sense, but is also that much more costly.Even in a climate with 7400+ HHD I can get by with a small 1.5KW post heater in the supply air and a single ASHP. It's a no brainer.</div>
<div><br></div><div>cheers</div><div>c</div><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr"><font color="#ff6600"><i>Christian Corson </i></font><div><font color="#ff6600"><i>Technical Director<br>
EcoCor Design/Build</i></font><br><a href="http://ecocor.us" target="_blank"><font color="#3333ff">ecocor.us</font></a><br><a href="mailto:chris@ecocor.us" target="_blank"><font color="#3333ff">chris@ecocor.us</font></a><br>
<font color="#ff6600">207 930-5088 </font><br></div></div></div>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Oct 19, 2013 at 12:07 PM, Alan Abrams <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:alan@abramsdesignbuild.com" target="_blank">alan@abramsdesignbuild.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">we need an air-tight wood stove for a passive house project. from a PH perspective, "air-tight" and "wood fireplace" may be oxymoronic. one could even say, "moronic" but that is another issue.<br>
<br>nevertheless, the ideal unit would have a glass door, and a means of providing combustion air and a flue--which not only are "air-tight" but also allow air-tight damping close to the building envelope.<div>
<br>
</div><div>what would seem optimum to me for combustion air would be a port on the side of the firebox that could mate with a standard pipe fitting. to that, standard pipe could run laterally to a side wall, and could be controlled by a gate valve just inside the wall surface.<br>
<br>likewise, the flue damper would be located just under the roof deck, operated by a chain or cable.</div><div><br></div><div>this would preclude having to insulate long runs of flue and supply pipe.</div><div><br></div>
<div>Others have recommended products by Rais. One essential feature that Rais offers is very low heat output. The heat demand for this house will be miniscule.</div><div><br></div><div>What about domestic products? All suggestions are welcome.</div>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<div><br></div><div>AA<br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><font><font><span style="color:rgb(102,0,0)">Alan Abrams</span></font><b style="color:rgb(102,0,0)"><br></b><i><span style="color:rgb(102,102,102)">certified professional building designer, AIBD<br>
certified passive house consultant, PHIUS</span></i></font><div><i><span style="color:rgb(102,102,102)">certified passive house builder, PHIUS</span></i><font><span style="color:rgb(102,0,0)"><font color="#666666"><i><br>
</i></font></span><font><span style="color:rgb(102,0,0)">Abrams Design Build LLC</span></font><font size="4"><br style="color:rgb(102,0,0)"><font><i style="color:rgb(102,0,0)">sustainable design for <font>intentional</font> living</i></font></font></font><font style="color:rgb(102,102,102)" size="1"><font><br>
</font></font><font style="color:rgb(102,102,102)" size="1"><font>cell </font></font><font style="color:rgb(102,102,102)" size="1"><font><a href="tel:202-437-8583" value="+12024378583" target="_blank">202-437-8583</a></font></font><font style="color:rgb(102,102,102)" size="1"><font><br>
<a style="color:rgb(102,102,102)" href="mailto:alan@abramsdesignbuild.com" target="_blank">alan@abramsdesignbuild.com</a><br style="color:rgb(102,102,102)">
<a style="color:rgb(102,102,102)" href="http://www.abramsdesignbuild.com/" target="_blank">www.abramsdesignbuild.com</a></font></font><br></div>
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