Replies

1. 
   Danusan11 | Sep 30, 2003 09:03pm | #1

   Don't really know much about your model, but I can say that I had the experience of seeing one in operation that was being used by a local builder to heat his shop and office,(radiant in floor).

   He basically burned all his dunnage and scrap off various jobs and had sufficient resource to keep his business in heat. This was material that would normally been put in dumpster and charged to dispose of. If you have to pay for wood to heat don't know if the trade off is worth it, but if the material is generated thru your business and your going to have to pay for disposal it starts to make sense.

   Recently did web search myself( outdoor wood furnace), as I plan on building new shop and addition in spring and I'am seriously considering this as a back-up source, and not as primary source of heating. The idea is appealing as all dust and fire is not contained inside. From research I found green and wet wood can be burned also. Had furnaces large enough to load pallets into if desired or applicable. Good luck with your search and please post back as I would be interested in the info that you find.

2. 
   rody | Sep 30, 2003 10:19pm | #2

   An uncle and a cousin both have them installed and a brother is installing one now. These models ( can't remember manuf. ) circulate water to coils in forced air duct and use forced air system of existing furnace to heat the house. The heated water also circulates through the hot water tank to supply hot water for the house. All are very happy with them. If fire wood supply is not a problem, no other heating is used. The backup gas furnace and gas water heater did not use any gas other than pilot light the past two years. The stove is loaded twice per day in the winter and for hot water in the summer, every 2-3 days is plenty. I'm not an expert but if little brother has his way, I'll learn the installation procedure by OJT. Any questions, I'll try to get answers for you.

   Lefty - Lurker without an attitude or a clue
3. 
   Jamie_Buxton | Sep 30, 2003 10:46pm | #3

   I've got a friend who lives down the road from somebody who's got one.   He complains that the thing makes horrible smoke.    He says these things are designed to need loading only once or twice a day.  They achieve that long burning period by restricting the air flow into the furnace.   The restricted air flow leads to incomplete combustion, which means lots of smoke.  He also says that the slow combustion has a reputation for depositing creosote in the chimney, which can lead to chimney fires.

1. 
   armin | Oct 04, 2003 10:26pm | #4

   Jamie,

   These units are pretty common around here, besides smoking up the whole outside of your house, windows, siding, soffits etc they burn twice the amount of wood due to line loss. My neighbor used to have a wood burner in his basement, used about 4 full cords of wood a season. Two years ago he installed an outdoor burner about 50 ft from his garage and burns over 7 cords per season. Many people I talked to are pretty disallusioned with the concept, it's a big investment with a lot of negatives. I think it would work OK if it was right next to a shop and you had lots of waste wood to burn.