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

RSKY · Sep 1, 2004

Before you do anything else check with your insurance company. Some in my area have spent quite a bit to install wood furnaces and then had a huge increase in rates. When they tried to find other insurance nobody would talk to them.

beenthere · Sep 1, 2004

I have heated with a wood boiler in combination with a separate oil (now gas) boiler for over 25 years, and use the existing pumps to circulate the water around the house (3 zones, 3 pumps). I have found it to be convenient, clean, handy, etc. and wouldn't hesitate to do it the same way again.

Only problem, I don't think one can get the same kind of wood boiler (boiler is a misnomer, as non of them 'boil' the water which would make steam). Nowadays, the outside 'boiler's' are the only game in town, becuase inside ones are required to be certified as a 'boiler' and built to withstand steam pressures. Too expensive, so no one makes them, I have been told.

I have posted pics and here is a thread where they are discussed. wood boiler

Slamfire · Sep 1, 2004

My Dad had an indoor wood boiler until he couldn't process the wood, now a niece is using it. They work fine, indoors or out is a choice you make mainly because of the insurance companies requirements. Me I prefer an old fashioned parlor stove. Ain't no heat as good for arthritic joints, and the insurance company can kiss my ... /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

dmp437 · Sep 2, 2004

As far as the house insurance issue goes, I'm with Farm Bureau and they have a $50 rider on the main policy for wood heat. They require that the chimney be cleaned once a year and that one of their agents inspect the installation and take pictures.
My setup is a oil fired burner with an add-on wood furnace in the basement and we're very happy with it. The house feels much warmer when heating with wood. When the oil furnace needs replacement in a few years we'll be installing a Yukon Eagle dual fuel furnace.

Varmintmist · Sep 2, 2004

Just a couple more thoughts on why I think the outdoor wood burners are a better idea.

Wood roaches, ants, spiders, dust, dirt, smoke.......

Not saying that I dont like a regular woodstove/firelace insert and someday might add one for the direct wonderful heat they throw, I dont like the clean up. I can get 3 carryalls full of wood right next to my ODWB and not carry it more than 6 feet, loading and unloading.

Just another thing to think about.

rswyan · Sep 2, 2004

One of the problems with many of the wood boilers out there are that, by design, they are not terribly efficient and can give off lots of smoke when they fire up as the induced draft fan kicks in to stoke the fire, which if you have a limited wood supply or neighbors close by can be a problem (there are many, many threads out there on the internet about this)

High combustion effciency requires a hot fire which burns almost everything, letting very little unburned gases go up the chimmney. To do this the fire has to burn hot and continous (no damping it down). There is only one unit on the market that I know that does this. It is called a Tarm and they are made in the Netherlands and very popular in Europe. They are imported into this country by a single distributor in New England. They call the process "wood-gasification" and burn at 80% to 85% efficiency - the particulate output at the flue (per hour I believe) is something like less than what is contained in a cigarette - (almost) complete combustion.

Tarm USA website

Burning hot and continously then creates the problem of how to regulate temperature. The answer is to use water for heat storage which is an option Tarm offers (or you could probably roll your own) The units are not cheap but are comparable to other outside wood boilers (A Tarm could be put outside or inside)

I don't own one (yet - but it's on the list) but have read quite a number of threads on 'net by people who do (some have had them for 20 or 30 years) - and I haven't read any where people were unhappy with the units - quite the reverse. Check them out.

Varmintmist · Sep 2, 2004

That is ONE of the reasons I went with the one I did, no fan. A fan uses more wood, and when they break are $$$ to replace. The one I have uses a simple selonoid to open the draft.

I burnt 1/2 cured wood last year so I did get a lot of smoke. This year, everything I have is seasoned.

Even with seasoned wood there is smoke all of the time and more when the damper kicks. The wood in the firebox is in a constant state of smoldering. When the damper kicks, you get some serious smoke, when the damper is closed, you just get a little. The only time it seems bad is when the air pressure is down, the smoke hangs low.

SPIKER · Sep 2, 2004

when efficency goes up the exhaust temp goes DOWN, as you are extracting MORE heat out of the burning fuel (regardless of the type of fuel) lower temp means more polution as in smoke soot and build up. there is no way around that. even with perfice ration of air to fuel there will be XX btus per lb of fuel used. there is always XX amount of contamination/per lb of fuel how fast it is realsed will determin how bad it looks /smells. faster it is released the more heat is generated in a shorter time and as temp goes beyond 1400 deg F then ALL the contamination is burnt away... yes you're WOOD stove will not reach that temp, and if it does then I think YOU will have a serious problem! lol. even stainless steel will not hold up under that temp with out having an insulation batting of kaowool/kilite or fire brick... (ya I build industrial ovens 60% of my fab experiance for last 10+ yrs...) even built an after cooler for an oven which burns off submarine electric motors which can have radioactive stuff / contamination on it! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif had to wear "doseimiters" once again, when I got out of military I didn't want to wear them any longer dang it anyhow it's no wonder I don't need night lights, I seem to GLOW IN THE DARK /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

anyhow I did see one of the units that "recirculate the smoke" to re-burn some of the soot out of it... seems like a viable concept in my minds eye, but actually removing more soot? hard to say, increasing the efficiency probvably so as the smoke is blown back into the stove fanning the flames a bit but also extracting MORE of the heat fomr the smoke/exhaust in the process.

Mark M /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

rswyan · Sep 3, 2004

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( faster it is released the more heat is generated in a shorter time and as temp goes beyond 1400 deg F then ALL the contamination is burnt away... yes you're WOOD stove will not reach that temp, and if it does then I think YOU will have a serious problem! lol. )</font>

Yup - that's exactly what Tarm stoves do - using their wood-gasification process they use injection into a secondary ceramic chamber outside the firebox (actually below it) for a secondary burn at 1800 - 2000 degrees. High efficiency, low pollution. And they carry a 20 year warranty.