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Outdoor Wood Furnace owners

27K views 228 replies 39 participants last post by  Christmas Cookie 
#1 ·
I'm looking into purchasing an OWF. I'm done using the indoor woodstove after a couple chimney fires, plugged chimneys filling my house with smoke, going up on the roof at 3am in a snow storm to unplug it, the mess, the bugs, and the dented knotty pine boards in the hallway when the girlfriend brings wood in to fill it.

The Central Boiler Classic 5036 is top of my list currently. There is a dealer 3 miles from work, so it's convenient. I'll be heating a 1200 sq. ft house, DHW, and a 1200 sq ft garage on weekends.

What are your opinions on this brand?
What brand would you recommend?
How much wood are you using a season?
How often do you have to fill it?

I've been using wood heat for 25 yrs. now and figure I saved enough money to purchase one. Looking at about $10,000 installing it myself.

Thanks
 
#50 ·
I had to buy my propane tank because I don't burn enough for the company to give me one. With that being said I burn 4x the propane in the summer than I do in the winter. The only thing I have on propane is the stove and hot water heater. So cost wise its cheaper and easier to burn propane in the summer than wood. I have 330gal tank that I fill about every two to three years.
 
#55 · (Edited)
I have 2000 sqft. of house to heat. I installed a small englander Woodstove and about 25' of the Menards Stainless wood stove pipe. I burn dead seasoned wood such as elm, ash, cherry, and a little Osage orange. I keep a stove top thermometer and burn at 500-700 deg. far. I do not have a probe in the flue so I cannot tell you what that temp would be. At the end of the season I clean the chimney and generally I do not get more than few cups of ash and creosote out of the chimney. It's always fairly clean.

If your having chimney fires your not doing it right. Check out Hearth.com and do some reading. My heating bills during the winter would get as high as $300.00 in the coldest months. Burning wood, my gas bill is around $30.00 per month. This is mainly the water heater and occasional furnace if I don't keep the wood stove going at night. I also enjoy cutting firewood and look forward to it. I have to say I have the best chainsaw in the world and I will gladly put it head to head with anything comparable. Dolmar 7900 is a very nice piece of equipment!!

This being said, I'm looking at fabricating a GARN style boiler to heat my home and future barn. My brother has built several boiler units, simple, around 240 gallons, water jacketed door, and he burns whatever he wants and achieves burn times of 24 hours plus. I think he has around $2400.00 total into his personal boiler and its been running for the last 3 years with no issue.
 
#56 ·
I can get 24 hour burn times too...except you burn a shit ton more wood that way, the more you load the less wood you use. A boiler unlike a BBQ likes fire not coals...you over load that stove and you end up with a massive pile of coals, which will not keep up with demand as well as fire
 
#57 ·
If you really want to save $ by heating your house with wood, check out rocket mass home built style stoves. I will do one some day. Up to 10 times more efficient than these archaic monsters you guys are using.
 
#59 ·
My uncial has a wood master, not sure in size but its bigger than mine. He had a 3200 sq ft house he was heating. He moved to a 1400 sq ft house that is heavily insulated. He told me that 28hrs is the shortest burn he has had all winter so far. That's awesome!
 
#60 ·
I am running the 5036. Installed it in 2006. I did most of the installation myself. I went with baseboard radiators instead of tying into my propane furnace. I love the baseboard heat as it keeps a more even heat in the house, not the ups and downs of the central system, no blower motor sound to put up with in the manufactured home.

I am out in the open so when it down below 0 Deg.'s and the wind is blowing hard some times the baseboard system can't keep up and my propane heat kicks on. This only happens maybe once or twice a year. I might not have put in enough radiators also, so that could be a cause of it not keeping up. Also with all the pex tubing and 1 6 foot radiator in the crawl space it stays really warm down there.

I buy my wood by the truck load, 20 full cord of all Oak for $1900. Lasts me about 2 years burning all year, just to heat my hot water in the summer. I have found that cutting the wood to about 18 inches and just loading the front half of the fire box is more efficient. I can load it at about 5 PM and only have to put a couple of logs on it in the morning about 10 AM to get through the day, then repeat.

Best investment I ever made. I was spending about $2400-$3000 a year on propane when it was $1.40 a gallon.

The only thing I can say about Central Boiler is that they are very picky about the 25 Year warranty. I have heard of them denying claims for burning wet wood and trash in the boiler.
 
#61 ·
I had a few warranty issued myself with mine. When I was sold the burner the owner of the company hand delivered it on a Sunday. I paid cash. He told me 30 year warranty on everything. I called a year later because my pump kept kicking on and off. They said the warranty was on everything but electronics. So last spring I called again. I had a latch that holds my ash pan break. And then they told me the 30 year warranty was only on the fire box.. Kinda crappy.
 
#68 ·
Does any one have a good link on how to wire the second thermostat. I have a two stage furnace if that matters.


I thought i would be sneaky and run it for the first time today by just turning the heat down and setting the fan to run all the time. I just came home to a 87 degree home.
 
#69 ·
its very easy KC... on the t-stat you are using for the boiler, run the wires for heat to the AC side of the t-stat for the house(the AC side must have the wires runing to the furnace and those have to be in place). I assume you still have the AC wires runing to your furnace. The only thing the AC side does is turn on/off the fan and that is what you are looking for. Have both t-stats set for heat. The house set on 60* hold and whatever temp you want on the burner. If this still doesn't make since, come over later and I'll show you how.
 
#83 ·
Is it brand new?

They coated mine in oil for storage before sale. It took a week or two to burn it all off,
Dry wood will help.
They all smoke. I don't think temp really changes anything with smoke. Your fire will always burn at the same temp
 
#86 ·
Mine smokes like a 17 year old driving a cummins with stacked stacks and tow mirrors out!
But I burn wet wood. Most of it cut in oct and a lot is pine.
When I burn dry seasons wood it does not smoke as much.
 
#88 ·
There are now instances where some townships and residential zones are banning outdoor wood boilers due to excessive smoke and poor air quality. Seasoned wood produces more btu's than green wood anyways, so burning clean benefits you, and gives the neighbors less to complain about.
 
#92 ·
I did a quick 3d design concept of the woodshed I want to build. It will be 8 x 12 inside storage. You can build a portable shed, without a permit, if its 100 sq.ft or under. I think it will hold about 8 cord combined with the lean-to.

Need input from the experts.



 
#95 ·
Looks good. I definitely like the no permit part. I would make the door swing out to maximize your space.

I am planning on a 12' lean to down the entire length of my 40' barn. Should give me lots of wood storage space. I'm probably going to have to get a permit due to nosey neighbors though.
 
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