Outdoor Wood Furnace

[dtd24]

Gentlemen,
Looking at the idea of installing (using my tractor!!!) an outdoor wood furnace to my existing forced hot air system, as well as my existing electric water heater. I have a list of manufacturers, but thought I would get some input using all the experience here before calling. All advise would help, likes, dislikes, installation, usage, filling, efficency, etc.

My house is about 1800 sq ft. I have a 30x30 garage I could think about radiant floor heat, since the slab is shot and needs to be replaced. I also have a barn in the works that will be 26x60 after it is complete. I'm not sure I want to heat that, but I dunno.

Do they come in John Deere Green?

 

[pwl]

I have a Classic Boiler made by Central Boiler. I loooovvvveee it. No it doesn't smoke out my neighbors.

 

[arrow]

dtd24 you have one of my favorite tractors. There is one up here in Conn. that has 13000 hrs on it. It is used to cut acres of grass at a fair site.

There are some good outdoor stoves and some junky ones. The ones that are most efficient have plenty of firebrick and a more extensive exhaust path. The one that smoke do not get the burn hot enough to combust gases and these are usually the ones with the least amount of firebrick and burn path technology. A good one will use about a third again as much wood as an indoor stove and a bad one will use twice the amount of wood of a modern indoor stove. I use 4-5 cords during the winter with my indoor Quadrafire. A buddy of mine uses 6 -7 cords with his outdoor and another friend of mine who bought his outdoor 10 years ago uses 11 cords. They are great for heating multiple outdoor buildings.

 

[dtd24]

pwl,
Central was one that I looked at. Seems like it is well constructed. I just started looking. How about capacity? How big of a piece can you put in? How long does it really burn for, the web site has some crazy hours listed. You burn everything including pine?

arrow,
Thanks on the tractor comment. I like her too. I call her "The Big Green Sexy"!! Foster RI huh!! That fair wouldn't be the Woodstock fair would it? I spent some time in that area. I built a bunch a houses near by. I met my wife in Putnam, CT. I miss RI!!! Especially Westerly!!

 

[dtd24]

wow surprised not more input on this!!! Come on guys!!!

 

[Kernopelli]

wow surprised not more input on this!!!

I am too! Watching this closely because I am in the exact same place you are. I have also been considering building my own, but either way would like to make a decision by fall. I subscribe to Farm Show magazine (get a free copy here Agriculture equipment, farm magazines, farm equipment, farm inventions, farm machinery, agriculture machinery ) and there is always a lot of info on alternative energy and reading about it there initially excited me and since doing more and more research I'm very motivated to find all I can to tell the energy suppliers to kiss it.

Come on guys, lets hear about it.

 

[atgreene]

My father, brother and two close friends have Classics. Several other friends have other varieties.

My father had the 36" Classic for two years, and found he was burning 2x the wood than he did with an indoor Kerr furnace. He had gone to the ODWB due to the fact his chimney was bad and figured it was a better match. In using a heat exchanger on the plenum of the Kerr and a couple radiators he still couldn't heat properly and ended up using 12+ cord of wood per winter for 2 years. That and he had a firebox leak this spring. Welder friend welded it and Classic warrantied it and paid for the welding and chemicals to refill it.

He has sold the boiler and we will be building a new chimney so he can go back to an indoor furnace.

FWIW, he hasn't burned oil since 1979, I grew up with all our heat, cooking and hot water coming from a Queen Atlantic and a wood furnace. So we know a little about wood and wood heat.

My brother burns alot of wood heating his house with his 48" Classic. He likes the boiler, but does say it uses a lot more wood than it should.

ODWB have their place, but if your buying wood do yourself a favor and look seriously at a high efficiency indoor woodboiler like a Tarm. Gasification is the way to go, and until ODWB have a gasification system they will have very low efficiency.

I have studied different boilers and Tarm seems to have the best system IMHO. They advocate the storage tanks to store heat, and having run a Jensen indoor boiler for 5 years now, I can see that they are right. My Jensen is ok, but way too small and cannot recoup if several zones kick on. With a large storage tank you can overcome the sudden drop in boiler temp when several zones call for heat.

Good luck, when I change mine over to whatever I buy I will be sure to post pics and a full report on how things go.

 

[Deerlope]

Tarm is the way to go. I have had a classic for the last 6 years and it does use a fair amount of wood. With a Classic you will get no help from the company if you have problems and most of their dealers are not very knowledgeable. So if you have theirs and do know the answers you are up the creek.

 

[dtd24]

The classic is made by Central boiler right?

The TARM looks like a hearty machine, but I think I am still looking towards outdoor!
1) I am looking more to chop down some pine trees the summer and burn them this winter. I think this is OK for the outdoor units right?

2) My basement is very cramped and getting wood into would kill me.

3) I have a forced air system, not hot water.

 

[atgreene]

The classic is made by Central boiler right?

The TARM looks like a hearty machine, but I think I am still looking towards outdoor!
1) I am looking more to chop down some pine trees the summer and burn them this winter. I think this is OK for the outdoor units right?

2) My basement is very cramped and getting wood into would kill me.

3) I have a forced air system, not hot water.

As long as you realize that the btu's from burning pine is minimal at best for heat, and will smoke more than hardwood. Also, because of the lack of BTU's, you will need a lot more wood than you would with hardwood. If the wood is free and you have the time, go for it.

My father's system was hot air. The efficiency of converting from water to air is not great, so buy a decent heat exchanger set-up, you will regret it if you try to undersize or cut corners.

One thing I am considering is setting up a Tarm in an outbuilding that would hold my wood, a furnace and possibly have a solar set-up on the roof later. We'll see how the $$$ issues work out.

Good luck!