Outdoor wood boilers

[jwjacob]

Wanted to know if anybody on here has one? Are you happy with it, what brand, how much wood do you burn? I plan buying one so i'm curious what people think about them. Thanks

[Pyrex]

If you are in town make sure you abide by the local variences, we had an issue in Fairfax about the neighbors complaining about smoldering smoke. because they burn at a lower temp they smoke alot. I'm on the council and the rest voted to have the residence put a longer pipe on the unit, also to only allow it to be used from oct to april. just be sure to check your laws. and if there isn't any, get it in writing that you can have one. It was a bad issue here for a while.

[kentuck_ike]

I have a Heatmor outdoor boiler. We use it to heat the house & our hot water. We really like it. We save between $200 & $300 a month through the winter(depending on the weather). If you have to buy your wood it isn't very cost effective. I heat a large house and we do use a lot of wood. I would recommend investing in a real good chain saw. I have a small & large Stihl saw and love them both, the are expensive but I know they were worth it the 1st day I used them.

Ike

[Steve Foss]

I think as the cost of propane, natural gas and especially fuel oil keep rising, even buying wood will make a wood furnace a more affordable option.

There are quite a few folks up here who buy logger's cords and use the boilers, and they save money. I know a couple folks who pay even less for wood by cutting and burning green aspen in their boilers, which they say burns evenly and nice when it's green. And of course aspen is cheap in country where it grows like weeds. One fella in particular is living in a house about my size but much newer, with lots of insulation and excellent windows and doors, and all he needs to heat his home for a whole season is four or five cords of green aspen.

Along with my three-year-old high efficiency propane furnace, I have a wood furnace attached to my basement duct work, and the 10 cords it takes me to get through the heating season is about $1,000. They are loggers cords of hardwoods such as birch and maple, occasionally oak, which are 8-foot lengths I cut and split myself. We do also make sure we buy a tank or half a tank of propane in fall so we don't have to worry about feeding the wood furnace at night.

We waited too long to stock up on wood this fall, opting instead to just buy propane. We've spent more than $2,300 on propane for a comparison. Stupid mistake.

House is 1,500 square feet, BTW.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

$2,300 for propane!? That is downright fraud.

I'm in a 3,000 sq. ft house and spent about $800 this heating season for natural gas...and I thought I had it bad.

My condolences.

[Steve Foss]

Well insulated house but old leaky windows and doors (which we're replacing a couple at a time.)

[WaveWacker]

Myself, my father and a family friend all put them in at the same time and are just getting through our 2nd season with them and all of us absolutely love them. There was a lot of research done prior to buying them and one manufacturer stood out above any others and that was the Central Boiler "Classic" wood stoves. I couldn't say off hand how much wood we go through since both dad and I are pulling off of different piles as the season goes on (usually burn some softer Basswood early and late in the season and switch over to the harder Green Ash and oak in the heart of the winter).

I have mine plumbed from the stove into the hot water heater then to the heat exchanger in the furnace then return line out to my hanging stove in the garage and then back out to the stove.

Hope this helps

[EMJB]

Thor Manufacturing he builds & sells them! They are a nice unit I have a friend with one and he loves it! My house is for sale so I will not be putting one in now but this summer we plan to have a place in the country and this will be out first purchasce for the new house!