Anybody have an outdoor wood furnace?
woody1777
| Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on
What kind ? Why?
I am looking at either a Central Boiler or Heatsource1 for all my heating needs. Any thoughts, experience, or general B.S. is greatly appreciated.
Also, there seems to be a great deal of controversy surrounding the use of stainless in the fire box and water jacket. If ya’ll have any info on this vs. mild steel I would appreciate it.
Naive but refreshing !
Replies
I don't own one, but have friends who do.
They are not economical in the amount of wood required. Also causing quite a bit of controversy because of the pollution they cause in their neighborhoods. Chimneys tend to be low and the smoke hangs around locally. The State of Maine is looking at, and may have already established, regulations on their use.
They'll burn about anything. The ones I've seen take four foot logs, and are easy to feed.
Do some serious checking in your area before you purchase.
is coal available in your area? If so, I would look at a coal boiler over a wood fired.
Try your Q here. http://www.hearth.com in the boiler room.
Checkout wood gasification boilers, one is by Tarm, look really good
I called up the number for Garn wood gasification boilers last year and during the conversation asked why they don't use stainless. I was told their competitor who uses stainless had some issues and Garn, by using the proper chemicals in the boiler water found corrosion wasn't an issue.
Check out Garn.
karl
Will do. Thanks for the tip.Naive but refreshing !
A little experience here, my parents, brother, cousin, and uncle, each have a Hardy brand stove and all are happy with them. these are the stainless steel box type.
They are all rural with easy access to lots of wood and no concerns with neighbors complaints about smoke. Locust, elm, sumac, etc are the trees of choice. Green wood burns well and lasts longer. Be prepared to use a lot of wood. We usually spend alternate weekends cutting and splitting for the 2 stoves at the parents and brothers homes on the farm.
Free heat and hot water year round are the benefits if you don't consider labor or chainsaw and splitter costs. For us, we need to clear the ground anyway and its either in a stove or on a brushpile.
The stove is usually loaded once per day in winter and every 3-4 days for summer hot water use.
There have been a few dicussions over the years here, a search using outside wood burner or my name might give you some more info. Any questions, just ask. I'm here 7-4, 5 days a week.
Still lurking after all these years.
I can give you a lot of general BS.
I have a Central Boiler. I think it's model number is 5648? Anyway, it's the equivalent of the newer 6048. I have a dual-fuel model which contains a Wayne propane burner. I heat 4300 square feet of ICF/SIP home. Heat requirements, because the house is so tight, are pretty consistent. I can load the boiler once a day and get the full 24 hours without touching it, and after 4-5 days of 20-30 degree days I get a day off. There is enough of a bed of coals and wood remaining to hold temperature for 48 hours. During work days I feed the boiler in the early AM and check it at night, at dusk. I burn seasoned hardwoods, and have found that burning the same stuff that most people put in an indoor woodstove (small, split and well seasoned hardwoods) produced the best and most consistent burn times. On weekends, I'll load the firebox with "junk" - pine slabs, shop scraps, newspaper, boxboard, punky or partially rotten wood, etc. No garbage and NO green wood. Once in a while I'll even drag an old stump up to the boiler, chunk it up and toss it in. It will burn for days.
If the wood is good native hardwoods (I burn mostly cherry, maple and ash), there is minimal smoke on startup, and almost no smoke when a good full burn is going. The Central units can be fitted with a forced draft fan which really gets them burning hot and clean. The problems people experience with smoking out the neighbors is a result of burning green wood and junk in their boiler. The closer you can get to burning nothing but clean, dry split hardwoods, the better off you'll be. To me, it's worth the extra effort, because I'm saving $3000 a year in propane fuel costs. Three grand buys all kinds of fun toys, chainsaws, tractors, splitters, etc.
Since September 1st, I've burned just under five cords of wood. That's pretty consistently one cord a month, and that's heat AND hot water, 100%, for a family of seven.