Out door wood stoves

[mommagoose_99]

Nine years ago we bought a Taylor wood stove to heat our 13 room house and all our hot water. It was the best investment we ever made. The house , heavely insulated, stays around 70 degrees all winter and we rarely ever run out of hot water. The problem with the hot water is usually in the summer because we for get to build a weekly fire to heat the water.
The price of a tractor trailer of logs went up $50 but that is nothing compaired to the cost of fuel oil or propane or electric. In upstate NY a load of logs costs $275-325, there are about 10 face cords in a load. You need to be able to cut and split the logs. Our stove takes a 42 inch log. We fill the stove 2 times a day in the winter.
If anyone is thinking of alternative heating sources, I suggest you investigate these outdoor wood burners. In our present invironment these seem like a good investment and they work!

[Ramblin Wreck]

My brother and I saw one in use in New Brunswick, and they heated a restaurant and several cabins with it. In their instatllation, they heated water which fed baseboard units. Each cabin could control the amount of hot water received for heating by using a thermostat that controlled a pump. Any idea what these units furnaces/stoves cost today? Thanks for the post.

[Mutti]

We put in a Central Wood Boiler about 8 years ago that heats our old farmhouse and has capacity to heat the garage and greenhouse,too...future projects! Also heats our domestic hot water. We have baseboard hotwater heat that is clean. No other way we could have installed central heat in a 120 year old house. Thermostats in each room to regulate temp. Think we had abouyt $3000 into system back then but surely has paid for itself by now. We buy a truck load of hollow logs for $200 that lasts us a year. If we go away the fire holds about 48 hours as we can put as big a chunk of wood in there as we can lift! Notice that our electric bills goes up about 30 bucks a month if we turn on the water heater in the summer...so the hot water savings alone covers our wood costs. Not that we don't have 80 acres of woods if we are ambitious!! DEE

[Swampthing]

Are these things electricity dependant?

How does the heat circulate?

[Mutti]

Central boiler had a circulating pump so it does use electricity...we have a generator for extended periods of electrical outage but the house will stay warm for 24 hrs. or so anyhow. Wish we could figure out a way to use solar to run this pump. We have a woodstove in our kitchen that we occasionally use for zero temps..not too common in so. Mo. but has happened. DEE

[antiquestuff]

Originally Posted by Swampthing

Are these things electricity dependant?

How does the heat circulate?

Most are. But, you may be able to find an old wood or coal burning boiler that uses no electricity, but then it's indoors in the basement...and those antique furnaces are not terribly efficient.

[moonwolf]

I agree, mommagoose. I've also had an outdoor wood furnace for about 9 years. It is a Classic model with 400 gallon water jacket boiler. It transfers water from 150 ft. away to the house via a small circulating pump. You can't beat the amount of heat it delivers on the coldest days of winter. Nothing compares for cost savings, safety, and reliability. The intial cost to install a new unit with digging the water lines is worth it over the long haul. It transfers heat inside the oil backup furnace via an efficient heat exchanger and a separate thermostat. If I wanted the oil funace to come on, it would automatically do so by setting the temp if the wood got cooled. Hot water is limitless when burning wood on a continual basis. The backup for that is electric when the wood furnace isn't operating in summer for about 3 months.
I heated with mosly oil one winter and it costs at least twice as much to heat. Also, the water lines are connected to radiant heat underneath one part of the basement floor. That alone heats the entire dwelling unless it's about 10 below or colder in winter.

My neighbor got lucky and found a used outdoor furnace for $500 as opposed to a new one costing over $3000. He put it in his garage and double to keep warm there from just the chimney heat and water lines to heat his house. He's amazed at the heat output. I am too. Best wood here is a mix of green poplar with dry ash. That burns ideally for hot coals and total burn to ashes that easily clean out about once a week or less, depending on how cold. Also, you can put in 4 ft. lengths of logs without any splitting. No creosote worries, and you can engage another line to a greenhouse like I did, and to the barn if you wanted extra. You just burn a little more wood heating there if you can afford the fixtures and heat exchangers to do those doulbe or triple duty heating tasks.

[stanb999]

I don't disagree that these type of units can heat a house or out buildings; but any wood burning appliance that can be loaded with a fork truck just uses too much wood. If someone had 100's of acres of timber and wanted to keep it properly thined than these would be great.

The "water jacket" units are not making an effient fire due to the low burn temps. So wood is wasted.

The units are controlled by a thermostat....That means the wood fire must flame up for a short time and then it's snuffed out again just as it gets going good. This creates a lot of smoke and the smoke is unburned fuel.

Their are however wood furnaces that come from I think switzerland that burn clean. The cost of these units is quite high tho.

Most people would be better of investing in a small wood stove for their heat supplement. The new ones burn hotter and cleaner than the old ones ever did. This inturn reduces the required chimney cleaning and more importantly reduces the amount of wood that must be hauled, split, stacked, loaded into the stove, and removed in ash.

I've heated my house for 3 years with wood. The stove and chimney was from Lowes. The total equipment cost was less than 1500.00. All items were UL Listed. I installed it myself, So their was some savings. With this stove I'd burn <5 cord per year and the old furnace is shut off........Now for 2 Years. The last oil I bought it was 99 cents.

Tell me how much wood you use.

[moonwolf]

Originally Posted by stanb999

I don't disagree that these type of units can heat a house or out buildings; but any wood burning appliance that can be loaded with a fork truck just uses too much wood. If someone had 100's of acres of timber and wanted to keep it properly thined than these would be great.

I have about a 50 acre woodlot with mixed young to mid growth mostly poplar and balsam poplar (bam) hardwood. It doesn't even look touched from cutting for the firewood.
For a 2300 sq. ft. 2 story house, hot water, 10 x 12 greenhouse (from March to May only), the very coldest winter so far in 94 it got to near 60 below burned about 15 cords. An average winter use from October to May usage to heat uses about 12 cords. On my property that isn't even an acre's worth of wood harvest. To buy wood delivered here last time cost $65/cord in 12 cord loads of 8' lengths. It's still cheaper than any other fuel available in my immediate area. Oil tank 200 gallons cost over $500 to fill last time and barely would get through the month of January, so between October to May with oil heating costs well over $2500. Wood cost is less than $1000. With own tractor, chain saw, woodlot, and the time to do it might cost about $150 worth of gas and oil, including the tractor.

In town I had an indoor wood furnace and it used less wood, but was a creosote/fire hazard in the house and always stunk, not to say the mess all over the floor inside. All of that is outside with a wood boiler furnace.
Remember also the water jacket is surrounded by insulation. When it snows on the furnace roof, it don't melt. So there is little heat loss irradiating from the furnace outside. The damper is automatic and shuts down burning once the temp is set about 170 F.

[Ramblin Wreck]

A couple of other points on the outside furnaces and stoves (from my one and only week long experience in Canada where I saw it operate): They seem very clean and heat evenly. I love my in door wood stove and wouldn't ever want to get rid of it, but it does create some mess in the house and, while I can circulate the air with celing fans, they do tend to be warmer close to the source and colder the farther away you get. Wish I had both the indoor and outdoor versions.

[stanb999]

Originally Posted by moonwolf

I have about a 50 acre woodlot with mixed young to mid growth mostly poplar and balsam poplar (bam) hardwood. It doesn't even look touched from cutting for the firewood.

For a 2300 sq. ft. 2 story house, hot water, 10 x 12 greenhouse (from March to May only), the very coldest winter so far in 94 it got to near 60 below burned about 15 cords. An average winter use from October to May usage to heat uses about 12 cords. On my property that isn't even an acre's worth of wood harvest. To buy wood delivered here last time cost $65/cord in 12 cord loads of 8' lengths. It's still cheaper than any other fuel available in my immediate area. Oil tank 200 gallons cost over $500 to fill last time and barely would get through the month of January, so between October to May with oil heating costs well over $2500. Wood cost is less than $1000. With own tractor, chain saw, woodlot, and the time to do it might cost about $150 worth of gas and oil, including the tractor.

With this I could not disagree except maybe you would be hard pressed to spend $150.00 on fuel.




[/QUOTE] In town I had an indoor wood furnace and it used less wood, but was a creosote/fire hazard in the house and always stunk, not to say the mess all over the floor inside. All of that is outside with a wood boiler furnace.[/QUOTE]

This I also can't disagree with except the smell. With a new air tight stove and proper draft you get almost no smell.....It's to bad i kinda like it.




[/QUOTE]Remember also the water jacket is surrounded by insulation. When it snows on the furnace roof, it don't melt. So there is little heat loss irradiating from the furnace outside. The damper is automatic and shuts down burning once the temp is set about 170 F.[/QUOTE]

This is exactly what I ment. You have a wood fire at 170 F. That is much to cold to properly burn wood and the combustion gasses. The new burn technology in the wood stoves allow the fire box temp. to get to 1200-1500 degrees. At these temps no cresote is formed in the chimney due to the very clean burn. When my stove is burning you can't see any smoke at the chimney. It's like an oil unit in this regard.

Also I see you are in Canada. Here in the USA the EPA has mandated cleaner and more effient wood burning appliances. So in many areas of this country a cold burning/dirty furnace or stove would not be allowed. So much of this is mute.

Check out www.hearth.com for lots of info on this stuff. They have BTU calculators and such. I recommend a solid fuel appliance to everyone. Some people should use wood. Their are also many other things available coal, corn, pellets and others. The way fuel prices are accelerating........People won't have a choice.

[mommagoose_99]

I like having the outside wood burner because it reduces my allergies. When we had the inside wood stove I suffered terribly from the dust and oders. I have a lot less headaches and there is none of the dirt associated with burning wood in the house. Yes the pumps used to circulate the heated water take elctricity and so does the fan on the stove but the thousands of dollars saved in heating water and the house really make up for the small amout of electric used. We have lost power three times in the nine years we have used the stove. The house never went below freezing. I think its a good deal especially as the price of fuels keep increasing.

[Ken Scharabok]

With indoor wood burning keep in mind the fuel (firewood) must be brought into the house. My observation is now matter how cleanly done, there is always some small debris created, as well as bringing in the odd insects. For indoor stoves the firewood typically has to be in shorter lengths, such 16" - 18", vs 2-3' for outdoor units. Longer lengths mean less cutting. I have heated with neither, but have been in houses heated by both indoor and outdoor wood stoves. My observation is outdoor is the way to go.

I also suspect insurance companies would much prefer outdoor units.

[rambler]

Originally Posted by Ken Scharabok

With indoor wood burning keep in mind the fuel (firewood) must be brought into the house. My observation is now matter how cleanly done, there is always some small debris created, as well as bringing in the odd insects. For indoor stoves the firewood typically has to be in shorter lengths, such 16" - 18", vs 2-3' for outdoor units. Longer lengths mean less cutting. I have heated with neither, but have been in houses heated by both indoor and outdoor wood stoves. My observation is outdoor is the way to go.

I also suspect insurance companies would much prefer outdoor units.

You make some good points.

My house in Minnesota was built in 1926 with only a wood boiler furnace. In the '70s an oil burner unit was added to share heating duties.

Anyhow, with the wood room, with wood door, and a furnace room all in the basement, there isn't much issue with the dirt & so on. I can stack a bit over 1 month of wood in the wood room, nice & dry & convienient.

The indoor boiler allows one to use the furnace even without power to keep some heat in the house. As well there is no wasted heat - anything radiated from the furnace just goes into heating the house anyhow. Certainly at reduced output without electricity, but on a 4 day blizzard - which does happen every decade or so - this is inportant.

I find it easier to go to the basement to feed the furnace rather than dressing up & going outside, feeding an outdoor unit, dragging snow & wet boots & clothes back into the house....

The in-basement units are designed to better standards, including creating a higher combustion heat zone to prevent creosote - the outdoor units just have a real short stack & dump the particles into the air. In-basement are much more efficient - chech out Tarm, Harmon Stove Co., etc.

It was about 1/2 the cost to put an in-basement unit back into my house vs an outdoor unit.

So, for dwellings designed for it, an indoor boiler can offer a lot of advantages over an outdoor unit.

Not that either is bad. Just showing both sides of the coin.

--->Paul