Outdoor woodfired boilers?

[Highbeam]

They're banned in WA already. Cheapest solution will always be your woodstove so long as you are buying your wood at 280 freaking dollars per cord.

 

[Roger2561]

Roger, hopefully i won't get in trouble for this, but i'm going to refer you to a couple other forums that are greater sources of info on OWBs. If its a problem naming them, the mods can edit my post and i can PM you the info.

Do some reading on Hearth.com, and ArboristSite.com

Both have alot of info on the wood boilers. My personal advice is..... choose another option. Our state has passed regulations making it very difficult to install an OWB now. Set backs, stack heights, etc. I would consider installing an indoor wood boiler, either as an add on, or a multi-fuel unit. You will still be able to use your baseboard heat, and won't be subject to the foolish OWB regulations. I know people who burn well over ten cord of wood to feed their OWBs...... so if you don't have a large supply of free firewood, you are in trouble. I heat with a woodstove myself, and i can certainly understand why you'd desire the even heat of a central wood heating system.

Ducttape - Thanks for sites. When I get a few minutes I'll give them a look.

I think my cheapest but not the easiest solution is to buy the log length and then buck it up, split it myself. I'll leave the oil furnace in place in the event I am ever incapacitated and can not handle the wood.

I was unaware but not surprized that our fine state government has made it a bit more difficult to install one of the outside units.

I knew I could on the fine members of this site for information.

Thanks everyone

Roger

 

[Diamondpilot]

A few of my neighbors have them. They use tons of wood. For a 2500 SQ ft house my next door neighbor has used 25 rick already this winter. About a rick every 5 days this time of year. He will use 35-40 rick per year. He has had his for 6 years now.

When everyone was putting these things in around here I did more insulation and new windows. I heat with propane and use about 600 gallons a year for my 2500 SQ FT house. Prior to the windows and insulation I was using 1000 gallons.

My next system will be a high efficiency heat pump with propane backup. We loose our power too often for electric only many times for 3-8 days. Its happened 3 times in the 7 years I have been here of 7 days or more and about 5-6 3 day stints.

Chris

 

[newbury]

Look into some "gasification" units, such as here: Alternate Heating Systems - Wood Gasification
They are more expensive to start with but suck a lot more heat out of each cord of wood.

Unless you get the wood delivered, put in the furnace, and the ash removed for free -insulation and high efficiency gas heat or solar power can't be beat.

 

[SpringHollow]

These blanket bans (and statements for that matter) always drive me nuts. I have a very good conventional outside wood boiler. I did a lot of research before buying mine. My wood boiler smokes less than almost all of my neighbors' fireplaces and high efficiency wood stoves. I burn dead trees from the property as well as log loads of wood to heat my house, barn, and hot water. My brother saw how well mine worked and got one as well. Since then, two others have as well. A bad boiler or one used grossly wrong makes an unbelievable amount of smoke. I know where they all are on my drive to work.

I save $2500 - $3000/yr from using wood instead of propane. I was using a high efficiency propane boiler, then installed a outside wood boiler that worked very well, didn't smoke too bad, paid for itself in a couple of years. But i hated getting covered in black dust cleaning it. Then mine and a friend of mines both developed leaks at 4 years. I sold it back to the dealer and went back to propane. For 5 years as propane prices increased, i looked for a good boiler. Found one that works great and i only clean it at the end of the season to prep it for "storage" over the winter.

If you are buying seasoned split firewood, i think they seldom make sense. If cutting firewood does not bother you, then a boiler can be a good choice for log loads or your own wood. I also like that burning wood produced locally is carbon neutral, cuts back on our dependency on foreign energy, and cleans up my woods.

Ken

 

[Ridgewalker]

My rural living uncles and cousins all heat with Hardy outdoor wood furnaces.

Hardy Heaters Ohio (HardyOhio.com) Wood Burners, High Efficiency Homes

They located them about 25 yards from their houses and just pile wood up around the furnace using their FEL's. (pts. for tractor use!)

They will be cutting on my property which helps with the clean up from the May 8th storm that wiped out my trees. That gets them free wood and my place slowly harvested.

We have a 23 ton brave splitter, it's a splitting beast!

I don't see how they can outlaw wood heaters, many folks in rural areas would freeze to death if they couldn't burn wood.

PS> I will give free wood to anyone on this site who can cut and haul their own! All you have to do is come and get it. It's all White and Black oak and burns great!


This is not a joke!

 

[Suz]

Hi all, Looking for someone who uses one of those outside woodfired boilers to heat their house. I used to use fuel oil with baseboard heat, but the cost of oil is such that I had to fire up the old wood stove in the main living area. From I understand the woodfired boiler can coupled into the existing baseboard system to heat the house.

I've been heating my house with a wood fired boiler for 25 years and before that I heated my previous house with a wood fired forced air system. The last time I bought fuel oil it was 17 cents a gallon.
I have a Rightway wood fired hotwater boiler in my basement and the only difference between this and a oil stove is the fuel.
Some of the things you have to think about before putting in any kind of wood heater now is the local ordinances. Like in my town you have to have a 25' stack on your OWB and be 200' away from any neighbors.
Another thing you have to check is your insurance company. Many will not insure any wood fired stoves.
The next thing you have to check is if your chimney will support a wood stove, and you cannot run two stoves in the same flue.
Next you have to have the will and desire to cut, split, haul, stack enough wood to make it through the heating season. Plus you have to get well seasoned wood so it doesn't smoke and build creosote in your chimney.
After you have answered all these questions a wood fired boiler works great with hydronic heat systems. The only thing that is different is how you heat the water.

 

[Jeepnford]

I am currently building one from some plans off a website called DEB designs. I know a guy that built one already and it works really well. Another guy I know bought two different sized propane tanks from a scrap dealer(tank was evac'd and ends cut) and welded the small one in the big one and made his own. The newer gasification ones are claimed to be about 90% efficient and are EPA certified but are over 10 grand. That would buy a lot of propane. The older style can smolder a lot when the damper closes on high water temps. I'm no expert but it seems some of them use a big fire box with a small water jacket so it doesn't burn very hot hence the smoke. I also have a co-worker who says he got a good deal on used railroad ties and is going to burn them. I'd hate to live within 10 miles of that guy. Ridgewalker,if I owned a big enough truck I'd take you up on that.

 

[Taylortractornut]

We dont have the ame weather yall have other than this week, but a friend of mine an older fella bought one. I thin its a Taylor, It works really good and doesnt smoke alot. I like the way he heats his house and his hot water. He gets wood for free, and even burns wood chips from the power co. I heat with wood but the addition to the house my parents had add years ago is 2 feet down from the original house. All the heat stays in the upper part. We had a central unit but its so old that no one will repair it. Im looking into building one and plumbing into my central unit. I have another friend that had his cousin build one out of stainless and has a set of car heater cores in the old central unit duct work and uses their blower to run it. We have a propane hot water heater I hate paying for propane, i want to save it for a backup and use a boiler to heat both the house and water.

 

[gerard]

Have you considered a coal boiler? A lot more btu's per ton and longer burn times. All depends on your firewood supply. free vs buying. I have a 2800 sq foot house, 2x4 walls, not overly insulated. I keep it at 73F, use less than 3.5 - 4 ton anthracite per season for a heating cost of 850-1000 per season. I do use oil also a little in the beginning of the season and at the end, when the days hit 40deg the coal puts out too much heat so I try not to use it until temps are consistently cold. Do a search on NEPA crossroads, it's a coal burning site. Ton of info there and you can get boilers that tie right into your existing baseboard.