Outdoor wood boilers?

[DRH1175]

With the cold season soon in our future I have been thinking about ways to save on the future heating bills. I currently have a NG forced air system. Will be hooking up another in my second garage. Was wondering what others think about them. I would like to hook up both the house and the garage. I looked at the Central Boilers online. Is there something else recomended and what our your thoughts on them?

[Ryan_V]

I'm on propane out here. I have more firewood than I know what to do with...........I priced out some outdoor wood burners for the house and garage, and just to get it purchased and ready to use with running the lines, etc was about $10,000. I can buy alot of LP for that. Sure it would pay for itself in the long run, but I can't afford that up front cost........

[WaveWacker]

Last year was my first year with my Central Boiler stove and I absolutely love it. I have a furnace hooked up on the return line that heats my garage. The supply line also is plumbed into my hot water heater to heat that as well. The system may not be for everyone but works for me as I have a supply of wood and enjoy doing the work.

I wouldn't look at any other stove brand. Myself, my father and a friend of the family all put them in at the same time. There was extensive research done and they just seemed to be the best to us and are certainly living up to that expectation so far.

[KatoMike]

I am on propane as well. I heat all winter with wood using an indoor wood-burning furnace that feeds into the duct work. Works great and is much, much cheaper and less complicated than the outside burner, but it is a lot of work (I spend at least an hour a night maintaining the fire plus getting up during the night to add wood...)

[WaveWacker]

You'll want to make sure and check with your insurance company if burning wood inside. Some (if they actually look to see if you have one) will charge higher rates if you burn wood inside.

As far as cheaper and less complicated with an indoor to outdoor...I guess I'm not all too familiar with an indoor wood burner that feeds into your ductwork but possibly they may be cheaper for the initial equipment otherwise I imagine that you are still running a pump to circulate water and the fan to blow the air (same as outdoor).

Initially the diagrams in books may seem like a little much but once you get into things, it is very, very simple. I probably spend 5 minutes a day with large pieces of wood and 10 minutes (fill twice) with smaller pieces. A couple of hours every other weekend to clean out some ashes and load up a couple of buckets of wood and dump by the stove and that's it.

[Roofer]

I was going to buy a house with an indoor wood fire place. My ins. company said it would have to be inspected first, but it was only $35 a year more.

Outdoor wood burners are great....if you have the wood. If you figure in your time cutting wood and money invested it would take a lifetime to come out ahead. A better solution IMO is to get propane. I get by for under $1000 a year in my rambler. My buddy has NG in a similar house and he had months of over $300.

If you really want to spend the money and get something good, the new thing is geothermal heat. Way better and way less expensive after the fact.

[KatoMike]

Indoor wood burning furnaces do increase your insurance, but not by a lot. The furnace is essentially a firebox inside of a larger box. The heat from the firebox warms the air inbetween the firebox and the outer box and a fan blows the hot air out through the duct work. No water involved; very simple design.