Wood AND Oil Boilers for Heating Home

MarkNH · #1 08/31/05, 12:48 PM

Hi all,
Given the unpredictable pricing of oil this year and maybe for many years to come, has anyone on this group used a furnace which burns both oil and/or wood.

I searched on google but had no luck finding a boiler( we have baseboards) but did find one hot air furnance.
www.yukon-eagle.com/

thanks,
Mark

rambler · #2 08/31/05, 07:19 PM

There is at least one oil/ wood boiler in the USA. Can't think of the name of it right now, but they are on the web.

--->Paul

Jan Sears · #3 08/31/05, 07:49 PM

We have used a wood/oil combination furnace for the last 12 years. We are very satisfied with it. We heat primarily with wood. We only use the oil part if we are going to be away for a few days. It is not a base board type. We have duct work & registers in the floors (forced air). Mind you if the hydro goes off it isn't much good, so we have a back up air tight wood stove on the main floor of our bunglow. Sorry that I can't supply you with a name of a company. Good luck with your search.

Mutti · #4 08/31/05, 07:51 PM

Central Boiler is a outdoor boiler--we have clean hot water baseboard heat with thermostats in each room and the capability to heat our domestic water,too . For our two story farm house we use approx. 4 cord wood a winter--approx. $200 here in wood rich so. MO. We had a similar system in our MI home and used about 6 full cords a year but it was a newer home with excellent insulation. This was really the only way to heat this 120 year old home with a furnace. Not a cheap system but reliable and you can hook up multiple bldgs to it. Trying to figure out a way to use solar to run the circulating pump..then it would be perfect! DEE

MarkNH · #5 09/01/05, 07:23 AM

I finally found a link to a site in the US, In NH up the road of all places. Not sure why google didn't find them but oh well.

http://www.woodboilers.com/wood-gasification.asp

The Add on boilers start @ $5500. Not sure how much it would cost to have them installed but if oil is $3 a gallon, it would likely pay for itself in 2 to 3 seasons if your wood is free like ours is. If you have to pay for wood, then it's not likely worth it.

Ken Scharabok · #6 09/01/05, 07:50 AM

These are commonly called dual fuel furnaces. Do a google search on those words.

You might check to see whether it might not be better to replace an existing furnace with a new unit rather than trying to supplement it.