outdoor wood burner / boiler

[kmatthews]

This gas heat ain't cutting it. Anyone know where a guy could get some info about outdoor wood furnaces or wood boilers. I am located about an hour and a half south of Indiannapolis. If you have one, I am curious to hear how you like it, or dislike it. I would like to know as much as I could before I buy one. Also I am curious where some retailers are. Thanks

[mrcaptainbob]

Wood burner.....

I have the Central Boiler SCL 6048 model. Here's their site:

http://www.centralboiler.com/home.html

I shut off the pro-pain supply to the house furnace early October of 2004. We've been running that stove every day since then, including summer since we also have the hot water heater warmed by it as well. Our house is a 140 year old, drafty, 3600 sq. ft., two story brick. The bills at that time were running us about $400/month in the heating season. It takes about 4 hours of wood cuttin'/splittin' to get about two weeks worth of heat. We now have a toasty warm place that's a comfort to be in. Socks and t-shirt rather than sweats and sweaters. IF you can get wood, it's the way to go. At low temps of 10/20 degree days we go through a block of wood 3'/3'/2' and we refill once a day. The hot water heater used to use electricity, but is now on the path of that hot water heat. In the summer, I fill it about every 4 or 5 days. The only time we go through it a bit more is on an extremely windy day. Hope this helps.

[pathfinderfour]

This gas heat ain't cutting it. Anyone know where a guy could get some info about outdoor wood furnaces or wood boilers. I am located about an hour and a half south of Indiannapolis. If you have one, I am curious to hear how you like it, or dislike it. I would like to know as much as I could before I buy one. Also I am curious where some retailers are. Thanks

To find what you want to know ... just google "outdoor woodburner". You will discover a wealth of information.

[HayZee518]

check with your town's building department. a lot of towns are now banning the use of outdoor boilers because of the environmental issues. I live in upstate ny near the canadian border where, wood and wood boilers were very popular, but because of emissions a few towns are banning the sale or use thereof. if your boiler is of the hydrionic heat type, you need electricity for the recirculation pump. if your area is prone to frequent power outages I'd look towards a dc operated pump then you could use solar to charge batteries - to operate your pump.

[LazyPup]

In Ohio those external boilers are very popular for new construction in the Amish Communities. So much so in fact that the Amish have two factories producing them that I am aware of.

Understanding that the Amish do not have electricity in their homes, it then stands to reason that they are making external boilers for hydronic heat that use gravity flow for circulation.