Oil Burner.....

[vikingHB]

Found a good deal on an oil burning evaporator. Wondering what changes are required to retrofit this unit so I can burn wood.
I know I would need a new firing door, but what else?
No interest in going to oil, because I have lots of wood.

[CharlieVT]

I converted an oil fired Grimm 4x10 from oil to wood last year. I read everything on this site I could find. I also went to the Leader open house to see how the Inferno and Vortex were constructed.

I did not change the configuration of my firebox. The back of mine is ramped up, new ones I looked at had the back of the firebox squared off.
Depending on how much bricking there is in your oil fired rig, you may need to brick the firebox to protect insullation from the firewood.

Grates: you'll need a support for grates. This could be bricked up, but I fabricated a platform using angle steel to support grates. I was told to place the grates about 9 inches back from the door, meaning there is a flat area between the door and where the grates begin. My grate support is just made out of heavy steel angle stock welded; not sure how long that will last but it held up well this season. It is below the fire so it doesn't get the maximum heat and the blower is cooling it. Because I didn't change the configuration of the fire box and my grate supports are removable, I can convert back to oil by removing the grates and supports.

I bought the same grates that are used in the Leader Vortex. Kind of 'spensive compared to sourcing some old used grates but they seem to work well.

I fabricated an air tight door and converted the oil burner to a blower so I had a forced draft. I moved the blower from the front of the arch to under the flue pan area so it blows into the space under the grates the same way most forced draft blowers are located.

I was very pleased with the result. I was firing every 7-10 minutes depending depending on what wood I was feeding it. It was easy to keep the stack temperature in the range of 800-1000 degrees F.

This summer I am adding air over fire.

It isn't that hard to do the conversion from oil to wood, but you'll need time and materials. Basic welding skills for fabrication of air tight door and grate supports if you go that route.

You could go with conventional doors with an arch front from another wood fired evaporator, but air tight is such an improvement it is worth doing.

HTH