I am considering purchasing a outdoor woodburner/boiler does anybody have any experience with this type of unit? I have a 100 year old home and even though I have been doing a lot of worjk to try and seal it up the truth is it will never be cheap to heat. I currently have a boiler so adding this one makes sense and I have a cheap source of wood so I thought it would be a good idea but now as I research them they all say diffrent things about what is best, burn times, etc any ideas?
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my cousin in michigan had a wood stove in the house... replaced it with an outside wood boiler after they had a house fire...
here's the shed it lives in
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he stokes once a day
Edited 9/25/2005 9:41 pm ET by MikeSmith
How old are you? How old is your wife?
We heated 5300 sq ft for 30 years with free wood, when DW hit 58, was told in no uncertain terms she did not feel like doing the wood thing every day anymore!!
Now we heat with HP, only 1 fire every week or so not for 'old times' sake, or when it drops below 25 (almost never).
I am only 34 so I feel I could use this system for many years but i am concerned about the right system to buy, they all say they are the best and that thier way is better. Do you think I need a burner lined with fire brick? Does it need to be stainless or will regular steel work fine? How far is far enough away from a two story wood house? Is there anything you would do diffrent if you could? Even though they claim you do not need to split the wood should it be done anyways?
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1.Do you think I need a burner lined with fire brick?
r YES, anything else is short term
2.Does it need to be stainless or will regular steel work fine?
r 'regular' steel is fine with firebrick liner, the stainless I discussed was for piping that is directly in the fire/flames/ashes - the ashes are high in OH- base chemicals (as opposed to acid) and will eat thru non-stainless in short order, esp if moisture present.
3.How far is far enough away from a two story wood house?
r Most codes are 30" from anything combustible. My wood heating system was inside the house, actuall looks like a fireplace - will attach some pix. (note in pix only pipes that contact ashes are stainless)
4. Is there anything you would do diffrent if you could?
r Marry a younger woman <G> Not really. Technically, would have installed an outside door right next to the hearth, not 10 feet away.
5. Even though they claim you do not need to split the wood should it be done anyways?
r Splitting to me has 2 main purposes -a. it lets the wood dry within 1 season, and b. it makes the pieces managable, esp for 5'2" wife. A neighbor heats his shop with logs that he loads in with his Kabota tractor's fork lift attachment, but most have been dryiing for 4-5 years under cover. A lot of the wood here (WA state) can be big stuff, the kids an I used to put a single 18 inch dia by 4 ft long log in the FP on Christmas and cut one for the next year at the same time - took all 3 of us to handle that dry log.
re: the Yukon web site on "Oil or gas burner starts the wood burning " - that would scare me to heck!! for a big fire.
Attachments: RH pix exterior of indoor FP setup for whole house heating, LH pix is interior water walls which circulate water to heat exchangers in basement ducting. I have a paper copy of a 1970's DOE proposal that describe the system better, e-mail me, I can scan and send back.
Do a search on outdoor burners on this site, a way back, Gunner (I think) posted a pix of a VW van converted to a wood furnance with big ducts running to the house - good for a laugh if you can find it.
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Edited 9/28/2005 11:29 am ET by junkhound
Edited 9/28/2005 11:32 am ET by junkhound
Thanks for the photos but I am actully looking at a pre-made system that sits in the yard and you plumb it into your existing system so the entire burn box is surronded by a water jacket. The company that makes them has a 25 year warranty but of course these are only good if the company stays around long enough to back them up. The entire thing makes sense to me but I was just checking to see if anybody has had and experence with one. I will probably pull the trigger this weekend so I can get it and have it installed before we reaklly start to get the cold weather. Last year I had bills of over three hundred a month and I kept it cold just ask my wife, and now they say ng will go up 50 to 70 % I have to somthing. I have put new windows in and insulated the best I can but the house is old and too big but its what I bought so now I have to make it work
What type of insulation do you have in there?
r u a feckless dastard?
Nathan,I'm also looking at wood boilers, and have narrowed it down to Central Boiler model. I have 2 friends who both have Taylor units and have used them for a few years now and like them, But I think the Central unit is made with a little more steel and insulation in it. Also a better warranty, and there is a dealer close by who has done a lot of installation work in my area. I know someone who put one one in 2 years ago and he loves his. Of course there is a commitment to providing and loading wood, but for me that's not that big of an issue. I have a woodlot, plus my buisness generates a lot of wood scrap. I will be heating my house and a 2400 sq ft. shop, both well insulated, and with radiant heat. House heats now with a propane boiler which will stay as backup system.
http://www.yukon-eagle.com/
We were the winners, cause we didnt know we could fail....
Waylon...
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