Outdoor Wood Burners
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hydro2
Gold Member
I have one and heat two homes. Have had it about 10 years. They do like their wood. That's for sure
clemsonfor
Super Member
They use a ton of wood to keep going. Afriends neighbor has one and when they leave he will fill it for them. He said it will litteraly take a wheel barrow load of wood to fill it up. And you have to fill it every day when cold or everyother on cold days i think. If your house is 1900 feet, which isnt that small, i would get a wood stove or put an insert into your home. Even if your house is not to open (mines not) you can circulate the air with fans into the warm room. I have the big high valley catalyst stove and it can burn as an insert, like i have it, or as a free standing unit. I burn about a cord maybe less on cold days. The catalyst or EPA non catalyst stove use 30% less wood than the old stoves. I get plenty of heat from it and only load it every 8-12 hours. Once engaged it will put almost no visible smoke out of the chimney.
If you need to buy wood ($150-200 cord in my area) you will not come out cheaper, unless you buy it by the 7 cord 10 wheel log truck load and buck it and slit it yourself. There are plenty ways to get free wood, but it requires work. I cut on public land but live close to lots of public land. A fire wood permit is $10 to cut dead trees which there are plenty of! If you live in a subdivision with covenants forget about it! It will be messy and you will have sheds/and or piles and work areas with piles of wood in various stages the sizes or cars. You can get tree services to "drop" off wood for free at your house after removals. But you may end up with some 3ft in diameter, you need to have the stuff or muscle to deal with it! You can haul pallets from businesses and cut them up and burn them, it takes hundreds of pallets for a winter i would think as it will burn fast in such small pices. You can burn construction debris like untreated dimentional wood etc.
Tell us more about you and your area? Do you live in the country like me with just no land (my farm is 3 hours from my permanant residence) or do you live in a city? Do you own a chainsaw, have you ever spit wood, are you willing to buy a hydro splitter?
If you need to buy wood ($150-200 cord in my area) you will not come out cheaper, unless you buy it by the 7 cord 10 wheel log truck load and buck it and slit it yourself. There are plenty ways to get free wood, but it requires work. I cut on public land but live close to lots of public land. A fire wood permit is $10 to cut dead trees which there are plenty of! If you live in a subdivision with covenants forget about it! It will be messy and you will have sheds/and or piles and work areas with piles of wood in various stages the sizes or cars. You can get tree services to "drop" off wood for free at your house after removals. But you may end up with some 3ft in diameter, you need to have the stuff or muscle to deal with it! You can haul pallets from businesses and cut them up and burn them, it takes hundreds of pallets for a winter i would think as it will burn fast in such small pices. You can burn construction debris like untreated dimentional wood etc.
Tell us more about you and your area? Do you live in the country like me with just no land (my farm is 3 hours from my permanant residence) or do you live in a city? Do you own a chainsaw, have you ever spit wood, are you willing to buy a hydro splitter?
bearhawk
Platinum Member
I would take a look at the pellet stoves.
scesnick
Veteran Member
pellets are $5.00 a bag in my area !
Pete Judd
Veteran Member
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- The Thin Gravy Ranch in The wet PNW
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- Yanmar 186d, JD 314
We have a pellet stove in the living room, and go through about 2.5 bags a week to heat 1900 sq ft, in the worst part of the winter and found that if I turn on the fan in the master bathroom, witch is in the far end of the house, the heat will move through the house, but we are well insulated, 2x6 walls and R 38 plus in the overhead. Double pane windows. That said, during power outages, can run it with a cord and a cheap inverter off a car battery for a long time.
SpringHollow
Elite Member
You did something wrong in sizing your unit or picking the brand that you did or ? I heat my house, shop and hot water and can easily get a 24 hour burn if I so desire. Before I added the shop, it used about 15 - 20% more wood than an inside wood stove but my house was warmer and it provided the hot water as well. I also liked that there was no mess in the house and I did not have to pay for a new chimney nor worry about a fire in the house.
There is a huge variation in the quality and efficiencies of wood boilers. Family and friends liked mine so much that they asked that I become a dealer so they could get them as well. They have all been extremely happy with their wood boilers. Like any wood burning heating system, if you do not enjoy cutting your own firewood, they make less sense.
Ken
scesnick
Veteran Member
My unit was sized for 6,000 sq, ft and my house is 3,500 sq ft. Mine was a wood only unit. I live on top of an extremely windy and cold mountian.
There is no indoor mess with my new multi fuel boiler. It is inside my detached garage. It cost about one third as much as an outdoor unit and is way more efficient. I have seen many indoor coal boilers that are 50-60 yrs old and still going strong.
Not many outdoor furnaces around over 20 yrs old that haven't been welded and patched up at some point. Atleast that I have seen. Non pressurized will not last near as long as pressurized. Oxygen= corrosion.
I have yet to find an outdoor unit that is ASME stamped and the muti fuel indoor boiler is not in danger of being banned in my area.
Outdoor furnaces ( which are actually boilers since they are heating water) have been replaced by more efficient and longer lasting gasification and multi fuel pressurized units. They were nice in their time, but their time has passed.
SpringHollow
Elite Member
Mine has a 30 year warranty. I also use 3rd party anti-corrosion chemicals in addition to the anode. I know it sounds counter intuitive, but a small amount of oxygen entering an oxygen depleted sealed system is extremely corrosive so I would still protect your system. There are very good gasification outdoor wood boilers. Being inside or outside does not change the technology.
BTW, you definitely do not want to size your boiler based on stated square footage. 1000 sq ft in Texas needs a lot less heat than 1000 sq ft in Alaska. Where I live in NY, an "8000 sq ft" model is what we use on a 2400 sq ft house if we want 18 - 24 hour burn capabilities when necessary. I do not even know how one would compare sq ft ratings between companies. The knowledge of your dealer is very important when picking a boiler.
I am sorry your system did not work out for you but I am glad you now have something you are happy with.
Ken
BTW, you definitely do not want to size your boiler based on stated square footage. 1000 sq ft in Texas needs a lot less heat than 1000 sq ft in Alaska. Where I live in NY, an "8000 sq ft" model is what we use on a 2400 sq ft house if we want 18 - 24 hour burn capabilities when necessary. I do not even know how one would compare sq ft ratings between companies. The knowledge of your dealer is very important when picking a boiler.
I am sorry your system did not work out for you but I am glad you now have something you are happy with.
Ken