Converting to wood heat....getting cold feet..

slowzuki · Aug 31, 2004

If you do build talk to some outdoor boiler owners first. Not all installations are a sucess. Not all boilers are well designed.

I won't clutter this thread with them though.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( If I was building a new house or putting in a boiler I would definitely get the stand alone systems for outside. It's a little more to get it going but you can load those things up for a couple days. You don't have to worry about the chance of fire and you can burn any type of wood you want wet or dry. )</font>

_RaT_ · Aug 31, 2004

As an education for myself, I am not familiar at all with what you guys are talking about. A wood burning boiler. This I assume heats water which is pumped through the house into radiators? If it is hot enough in the house, how do you turn the fire off and no longer heat the water. Out here in California about the only knowledge I have are but a couple of natural gas fired boilers that heat a radiant floor system. Other then that, today we pretty much are required to put in enviromental type fireplaces/stoves if they burn wood. Masonary fireplaces need to be air tight. I find this thread interesting.

Egon · Aug 31, 2004

Intake air is damped off reducing the rate of burn.

Egon

thcri · Aug 31, 2004

Look into the outdoor wood burning boilers. This way you can keep you mess outside and you don't have to haul the wood in. You are more flexible with the types of wood you can put into them also. Also make sure you have a dump coil for excess heat in the spring and fall. You oil burner should never have to run except when you are away as you can put larger logs in the outdoor units.

My my opinion, may not be the right thing for you but check into them.

murph

sassafraspete · Aug 31, 2004

I built my house 20 yrs ago, and in the spirit of being independent....I put in a combination wood/ oil furnace in my basement. I also have a small woodstove on my 1st floor. I did all my masonry work, so went overboard on trying to make a safe chimney. One eye opener was some pictures a guy showed me of some retro-fitted stove installations that were accidents waiting to happen. After 20 yrs, my wife would shoot me if I tried to get rid of the wood heat....it just feels warmer. Of course with wood, you carry the mess into your house, along with any bugs that may have made it their home. I do the serious heating with the wood/ oil furnace and supplement with the wood stove, also the stove provides some enjoyment of sitting around it and enjoying the flame over a cup of coffee. One thing I did invest in early on was a really good log splitter....and haven't regretted it. I can saw wood all day, but when it comes to splitting by hand....I ain't the man I used to be.

Would I do it again? Absolutely. I remember the day the furnace was delivered.... It was very heavy. The guy delivering it said that's how you tell a good stove/furnace....go for weight. I have a walkout basement so we manhanded the furnace over concrete using pipes to roll it into place. If I have to be gone and can't load up the fire box, the oil just kicks on. Yes maybe it is dirty, eg messing with the wood...however I just like it. Maybe it is just being idealistic....until the wood has to be split again!

Oh, my wood furnace is a Yukon..... I think the company now is called Yukon-Eagle.

sassafraspete

_RaT_ · Aug 31, 2004

Do you damp off the air manually or is it done via a thermostat connected to a motor to open or close the air intake? Are you heating water that is pumped to a radiator or over coils that have air blown over them? Who makes these outside boilers?

Varmintmist · Aug 31, 2004

I third or fouth the out door wood burner. Mainly because I heat with one.

I went with the duel fuel option. I can set it to wood only, wood over oil (if the temp drops, the oil kicks in ie go away for the weekend), a clean start option (oil runs till the wood takes over) or oil only (why??)

It runs radiant heat in the basement and garage, and a heat exchanger heats the top floor with forced hot air. It also heats my 80 gal hot water tank.

I have a Central Boiler www.centralboiler.com actually its a hydrofire, by Central boiler http://www.hydrofire.com/products.html#HFSS36 The draft is temp controlled by a thermometer in the tank connected to a selonoid that opens the draft on demand. The temp is controlled by 3 thermostats in the house. 1 for the basement, 1 for the garage, and one for the upstairs. The basement and garage thermostats control valves to let heat into the radient pipeing, the upstairs controls the blower.

I went with forced air upstairs simply that if I decide to put in AC, the ducting is there already. Plus, I like some air movement in the winter. Not that I dont get it with the kids running in and out /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

There is NO open flame in my house, the insurance guys like that.

You can burn anything in them, pine, oak, sassafrass, it doesnt care. If you have a chimney fire, you just look out the window and then finish your coffee.

When it is REAL cold. < 0 F, I have to fill it twice a day. When I leave for work, and before I go to bed. If its extremely bitter, the wife will toss a few in at lunchtime. The model I have is about the smallest Hydofire they make. I could have gotten a bit larger, probably should have, just to extend the burn time a little, but its fine. I heat around 3500 + sq feet, and the basement isnt finished so my burn time will go up once I get the walls up and retain more heat. OS walls are 6 in insulated, basement is precast concrete with 1 in foam board (R5)and 6 in R19 + the R of the concrete.

edit:
A outdoor woodburner can be tied to your existing heat system. I would not go with one unless you have access to wood, doesnt have to be good wood, but you need wood.

Cost total, Ummmmmmmmm, I think the unit was right around 6Kish. You can get cheaper makes. I looked, and I wouldnt. You can get cheaper units from Central Boiler, If it was a backup, yes I would have skipped the stainless steel firebox.

Cliff_Johns · Aug 31, 2004

So would one of these outdoor burners be appropriate for a small (300sqft) workshop? I'd like to crank up a fire to heat by when I will be spending the day in the workshop, but I'd rather have the fire outside and the heat inside if that's actually an option. Would be very neat.

Cliff

Varmintmist · Aug 31, 2004

You could plumb the heat to the shop and the house. The link to hydrofire I added has the one I have, the smallest, and it is adequate for my house. The central boiler site has a sq ft to boiler size chart in it I think. Go wit radiant heat or a industrial style air exchanger and you could just control it with a thermostat.

As for just heating a shop?? Not for the money up front. wouldnt be practical.