Yes,
Hearth dot com hates us and they let us know it. It's funny, just this morning when I was coming in to work there were several homes with smoke coming out of their "chimney's" from indoor wood stoves, but earlier when I went out to my boiler it was up to temp, damper open, with no visible smoke..........OK it was time for a fill cause it was running on red hot coals but we won't tell them that
Point is, all wood burning appliances smoke at one time or another during a burn cycle.
Anyway....
I switched from a Gasser (Wood Doctor HE5000) to a Non-Gasser (Central Boiler 6048). First off, the wood doctor performed really well for it's designed purpose BUT was too small for my application. This was a combination of what I was told would work for me AND me not insisting on a larger unit. Now I can only speak about MY gasser and non gasser, other units may be different.
BTW, I only operated the Wood Doctor for 2 winters but it worked flawlessly and other than not being large enough, I was very happy with my investment.
SMOKE:
Yes, overall the gasser smoked less but still after fresh fills, it was not "smokeless" The trick to the non-gasser is learning how much wood to put in it to get you to the next fill. I find that if I plan on a morning fill and an early evening fill, it uses less wood and smokes less. And by "fill" I do not mean "full". If you choose to top off the non-gasser and not come back in 24 hours or so, you can do it but the results will be much more smoke and more wood usage. The thing about the non-gasser is, if you put the wood in it, it "will" burn it. Learning to put in "what you need" is the trick.
WOOD PREP:
By FAR my wood prep time and energy has dropped using the non-gasser. The splits that I put in my CB would have had to have been split at least in half again or maybe even 3 times to burn correctly in "my" gasser. In reality, I only split the wood now so I my wife and I can pick it up. If I can get the piece of wood through the door on the CB it will burn it. There is no "stacking" the wood properly in the boiler so it doesn't bridge. Also, the gasser worked MUCH better with logs or splits that were the length of the firebox. Shorts always gave me a problem. If I was home all day, then I could burn them because I could keep and eye on it. The CB could care less the size, length, roundness, or how it's thrown in.
CLEANING:
In the gasser, EVERYTIME I put a load in it, I "had" to straighten out the coals and make sure the holes in the bottom firebrick were open or it would not operate correctly. I do rake the CB when I load it but do not "have" to if I don't want. I could easily throw wood in it and walk away. On the gasser, it burned "down" and out the back and the flue stair stepped up the back. I had to clean the ashes at least once or twice a week to keep it running correctly. Cleaning the rear flue portion was "annoying" The CB I clean monthly during the winter and less during the summer. This takes just shoveling out some of the ashes and putting in a metal trash can.
WATER CAPACITY:
My gasser was 145 gallons my CB is just shy of 400 gallons. I feel this is a tremendous advantage having more water. Unless I'm heating the pool, my CB has never had an issue staying up to temp.....ever.
WOOD USAGE:
I would say that I used less wood with the gasser but no where near as much as folks on Hearth say you will. I used about 8+ cord my first winter (did not burn during summer). The second winter was about the same. I have had my CB burning since last Feb (all summer for DHW and hot tub and in ground pool for 1 month) and so far I have burned about 12 cord. NOW, we have had a very mild winter, but I fill with the same wheel barrow so I can compare pretty good. If I had to guess, I would say 25% less wood. And trust me, an in ground pool can use some wood!
All in all, I was happy with the gasser and I love my non-gasser. I do not have any "whiney" neighbors nor do I live in a neighborhood. We all burn wood and/or coal so smoke is of no concern at all. I can see where if I lived in a more sensative area, I would have probably gone a different route. When I decided I had to replace my too small of boiler, I "boiled" it down to a Portage and Main gasser or the CB6048. For me and my application, the non-gasser was a perfect fit for me.
Heating:
2000 sqft rancher on craw space and 1000 sqft attached in-law suite with 2 seperate hot air heating systems (average temp 76) , all DHW (2 showers, 2 dishwashers, 2 clothes washers) 500 gallon hot tub, 24' X 32' "lightly" insulated pole barn garage with in floor radiant heat, in ground 40k gallon pool.
Before the wood boiler I had used 1k a MONTH for propane during Dec, Jan, Feb, for the house and $200 a month to keep the pole barn above freezing only. Average yearly propane cost.........6k