A few weeks back I joined Jim
Vancura of Ore-Cal RC&D, Etna High School (EHS) Principal Jim Isbell and Dennis Honea,
EHS Chief of Maintenance, for a whirlwind road trip to Montana. Two days were spent tag
team driving to and from and one day was spent looking at wood chip burning central
heating units operating in two schools. EHS has an ancient boiler heating system that
dates back to the 1950s. It is time to replace the system. With the current cost of fuel,
the use of wood chips could be a cost saving energy choice. Although there is a steep
initial investment, expenses are recovered through energy cost savings within several
years.
I was most impressed with the unit in Darby, Montana. Wood chips are
dumped in a storage well via a walking floor van. (Supply enough for several days to cover
a long weekend.) An auger moves chips to a conveyor belt where they are lifted to the
boiler area. The chips are measured and delivered into a wood burning furnace by a
hydraulic ram. The unit heats water for steam, which is then delivered to the various
classrooms via a pipe system. Computers take readings of the process. The school
maintenance engineer can even turn up the system on a Sunday evening from a laptop at his
home so it is nice and warm in classrooms on Monday morning.
The Darby schools experimented with various types of wood fuel.
Needles and bark have a higher mineral content and leave clinkers of residue. Dirty chips
and rocks do not burn well. Combustion is best when the moisture content of the chip is
30% or less. “Wood flour” is explosive, but sawdust is ok. The best size for a
chip in 2-3.5 inches in depth – sort of match-book size, but some pencil sized sticks
are ok. Fir is better than pine for wood.
Darby currently pays $9 a ton for delivery of tops from thinnings.
These are hauled to a city lot for $10 a ton and dried. They are then chipped for $20 a
ton. Thinning tops can be also be donated through the local RCD and deducted on the donor’s
taxes.
It used to cost Darby $50,000 to heat 89,000 sq. ft. with #2 diesel.
This year, it cost only $1,500 – if I recall correctly.
The Thompson Falls unit was the more modern gassifier chip burning
technology, although it has the same basic requirements of chip supply, storage and
operations. This unit used a small bulldozer type affair to scoop up chips from storage
and dump them in an overhead bin. This unit seemed to require more labor and the system
seemed to have more bugs to work out.
Several states participate in the “Fuels for Schools”
program, but it has not yet reached the west coast states. If Etna installed a unit, it
could be the first in California and perhaps the entire coast. The EHS school board will
be reviewing the possibility in the next several weeks.
In my trip, I was quite impressed with the town of Darby. A dozen, or
so, small log home “manufacturing” businesses lined the main road. Each had two
or more log homes being assembled and numbered on a lot to be shipped to the buyer. Many
of the commercial buildings in Darby have pole structure fronts or are made from logs. It
sure gives the town a frontier flavor. I would just love to see this type of business
spring up along the Klamath River. http://users.sisqtel.net/armstrng/Darby.htm
Talking about round wood structures, the Happy Camp Community
Collaboration group is doing the footwork for a community building that could house the Happy Camp Family Resource Center, Klamath Knot Arts Council,
Happy Camp Library, Happy Camp Volunteer Fire Department, and Happy Camp Volunteer
Ambulance Service. Plans are to construct the building with round wood and other
innovative forest materials. I am really, really excited about this project and will keep
you informed as to their progress. |
