Outdoor Wood Boiler Lifespan

[Rustyiron]

Have you ever seen the "indoor" type that Dave 1949 mentioned? I second his thoughts. As you prolly guess, I do have one. One big advantage is the amazing amount of heat that is wasted from an OWB. Now not wasted because it's a OWB, but because it's a OWB. What I mean is no matter how much insulation a OWB has, it's leaking (radiating) heat to the outdoors. My indoor boiler is well insulated, I'd assume as well as a OWB, and boy does that thing throw some heat. But it's in the house! Loading in your under pants is a big bonus and my wife fully participates in feeding it (because it's inside). I believe that all the new OWB's have to be or are "gassification" types, but not positive on that and I'v read of many happy Central boiler owners. May I suggest you visit The Boiler Room - Wood Boilers and Furnaces | Hearth.com Forums Home and read up there. They tend to be snobbish for the indoor "gassers", but lots of OWB guys there too, they just keep quiet. As for dry wood, any and all wood burning appliance will greatly increase their efficiencies burning dry wood. The TON of so of water that is in each cord of green wood, is going to need to come out reguardless wether your boiler will burn it or not. Water does not burn & it takes heat to evaporate it. (btu's that should go for to your heat rather than drying green wood) Keep up with your reading so that you end up a fully satisfied, wave at the propane truck as it goes by, happy wood burner. (like me) Good luck.

 

[Rustyiron]

Oh, for the 5 year life, that might be a rare horror story, but proper use and care does goes a long way.
Any "pressurised" boiler will have a longer service life than an unpressurised one. Is the CB a press.unit?

 

[wsp617]

At this point I'm not overly concerned about getting sued by my neighbors. The model I'm looking at is one of the new high efficiency models (gasification furnace) that smokes very little. I want one because they're supposed to burn less wood.

Here's what the company (Central Boiler) has on it's website regarding the E-Classic models:

"As the leader in the industry, Central Boiler has developed the E-Classic 3200, E-Classic 2400, E-Classic 1450 and E-Classic 1400, the outdoor wood gasification furnaces that shatter virtually every preconceived notion about emissions and efficiencies of wood heating. The E-Classic uses a three-stage combustion process with temperatures exceeding 2000°F to burn wood so completely that combustion efficiencies approach 100%. With the patent-pending, self-cleaning heat exchanger, the E-Classic produces extremely low emissions per Btu of heat delivered and is one of the cleanest ways to heat with wood. It can heat multiple buildings, domestic water, shops and more, and can replace multiple indoor wood stoves. Burning wood (a totally renewable resource) results in no net increase in carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas emission.

VT, ME, NH, MD, MA, PA, IN, RI and NY regulate outdoor hydronic heaters and the E-Classic 3200, E-Classic 2400, E-Classic 2300, E-Classic 1450 and E-Classic 1400 meet the regulations in these states".

 

[northwind318]

Good Choice ,I have one and its doing over 4500 sq ft .I heat my neighbors Garage as a added bonus to him . Great Investment, you won,t regret it.its over 10 yrs old and still going strong

 

[ENG18LT]

Have you ever seen the "indoor" type that Dave 1949 mentioned? I second his thoughts. As you prolly guess, I do have one. One big advantage is the amazing amount of heat that is wasted from an OWB. Now not wasted because it's a OWB, but because it's a OWB. What I mean is no matter how much insulation a OWB has, it's leaking (radiating) heat to the outdoors. My indoor boiler is well insulated, I'd assume as well as a OWB, and boy does that thing throw some heat. But it's in the house! Loading in your under pants is a big bonus and my wife fully participates in feeding it (because it's inside). I believe that all the new OWB's have to be or are "gassification" types, but not positive on that and I'v read of many happy Central boiler owners. May I suggest you visit The Boiler Room - Wood Boilers and Furnaces | Hearth.com Forums Home and read up there. They tend to be snobbish for the indoor "gassers", but lots of OWB guys there too, they just keep quiet. As for dry wood, any and all wood burning appliance will greatly increase their efficiencies burning dry wood. The TON of so of water that is in each cord of green wood, is going to need to come out reguardless wether your boiler will burn it or not. Water does not burn & it takes heat to evaporate it. (btu's that should go for to your heat rather than drying green wood) Keep up with your reading so that you end up a fully satisfied, wave at the propane truck as it goes by, happy wood burner. (like me) Good luck.

Just wondering if your boiler is a Garn? I have been researching these and think they are the way to go.

 

[Rustyiron]

Just wondering if your boiler is a Garn? I have been researching these and think they are the way to go.

I have a "AHS WoodGun" made in PA. The Garn seems to be highly thought of, at least on that link I provided. They are expensive, huge and are an "open" system. I'm not sure, but I think it's the built in (water) storage that is their apeal.

 

[Skybox]

As I stated this is happening everywhere. This just came out 2 ours ago. More and more people and now states are going after OWB owners.

State files lawsuit against Fairbanks wood boiler owners

 

[jefwyn]

As I stated this is happening everywhere. This just came out 2 ours ago. More and more people and now states are going after OWB owners.

State files lawsuit against Fairbanks wood boiler owners

You have five post on TBN, all of them on this thread. I'm sensing an agenda.

 

[Skybox]

Please, if you chose ignore my posts and purchase an OWB. Everyone here is an adult and can decide for themselves how they want to heat their homes. I am just presenting my point of view based on facts. Feel free to counter my arguments with facts. I am not anti wood burning but I am dead against a device that emits significant amounts of smoke and pollution. In my opinion, installing an OWB in proximity of another family is one of the cruelest acts that one can inflict on another.

I will say though if you a dead set on purchasing an OWB, Garn is the best alternative. Simply put it burns at a constant high temp eliminating the opening and closing of a damper. The so called gasifiers have the potential to burn cleaner, but only if dry wood is used and sized properly. That being said, more times than not people buy oversized OWBs which causes the device to spend more time in idle mode reducing the "gasifier" effect or burn wet wood also keeping the device from gasifying. It's too bad that dealers are not responsible and size a home to the device before allowing a purchase to be made.

Honestly, how many people currently using an OWB sized it so it would burn in a constant mode reducing damper closed mode? How many people purchased an oversized OWB so they could stuff more wood in it so it would burn all night or oversized it with the expectation of heating another building sometime in the future. How many people are able to keep up with the wood demand of an early model OWB - meaning having 40 full cords of wood drying while having another 15 - 20 dry for the current season. The next time you drive down the street and you see a home with an OWB look for the wood pile. I think you'll find in most cases, not all, that there is not enough wood drying for the next two seasons or it is not split and covered.

Until these issues are addressed OWBs will continue to be controversial and law suits will continue to be filed. Again the cat is out of the bag and you're going to see more and more court actions concerning these devices. I have no agenda just a strong opinion - take it or leave it.

jefwyn, ironically it was NY that did one of the first full-scale reports on OWBs. I'm sure you read it, right?

 

[moeh1]

My neighbor has one, it's his second, the first only lasted 6 or 7 years despite being an expensive well thought of unit, but he seems happy with the new one. It makes alot of heat but uses alot of wood. I saw gasification units in Europe over 10 years ago, you could hold your hand over the exhaust, basically like a pellet stove. I was very impressed with those units, but we had nothing like that in the US back then. I think the progress on outdoor burners is a good thing.