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Post by Hank on Jun 27, 2016 15:52:51 GMT -5
I am getting estimates for an outdoor wood burning boiler. Who of you guys have one and what brand do you own? Can you tell me any pros and cons of owning one.
I currently burn 12 plus cords of wood a year and do all my heating with wood., Both the house and my gun shop. Total Sq. Ft. I heat is 8000 plus.
I can have a boiler system install that will heat both the house and the shop for around $11,000 to $13,000. I will burn a little less wood and not have to carry it in the house or shop. Simply load the boiler system every 12 hours and be done with it..
Can any of you guys tell me what your thoughts are on these boiler systems and if you own one, let me know how you like it..
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Post by rojo23 on Jun 27, 2016 16:24:09 GMT -5
My brother in law is a dairy farmer, and they have at least 7-8 between their family and their rental properties. they have 4 heat moors and the rest are taylors. The heat moors are much more efficient. I think they end up filling them in the morning and before bed. they have their plumbed into their central air system, basically a radiator that the hot water runs through. it also heats their hot water while they are using it. I think the air out of the vents is around 110-115 degrees. they only say good things about them. The clean out is easy, the ashes drop onto an auger and you manually turn it to empty out the ashes.
if I had a good reliable source for fire wood I would buy one.
a buddy of mine, his step dad sells and installs the heat moors. He has one as well, and love it.
if you have any questions let me know, and I will ask my brother in law
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Post by bestill458 on Jun 27, 2016 16:31:36 GMT -5
Little off topic but i bought a hitzler coal stocker and absolutely love it .
I heat 2000 sq ft last winter for $520 just a little over2 ton of rice coal.
I almost bought a outdoor wood burner but after weighing my time to cut , haul,stack wood and payback for initial expense the coal was a winner .
Just a option.
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Post by Hank on Jun 27, 2016 16:38:44 GMT -5
Little off topic but i bought a hitzler coal stocker and absolutely love it . I heat 2000 sq ft last winter for $520 just a little over2 ton of rice coal. I almost bought a outdoor wood burner but after weighing my time to cut , haul,stack wood and payback for initial expense the coal was a winner . Just a option. The burner I am looking at is capable of burning coal... but I do have an unlimited supply of wood so I will most likely burn that... The big advantage for me is not having to carry the wood in the house or shop.. Its a constant clean up, especially in the house. an I think you let as much cold air in the house while carrying in the wood and you are heating.,, then you have the ash clean up and dry air,,, and nose bleeds during the night.... The outdoor burner weather burning wood or coal sounds like a good investment..... I will continue to look at y options... My local dealers carry the Central boiler and the other dealer carries the Nature's Choice boilers.... |
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Post by itneverends22 on Jun 27, 2016 17:05:19 GMT -5
hank, when i was using wood heat, to stop the dry heat, and nose bleeds, I just filled half the kitchen sink with water during night and day..end of nose bleeds..
my neighbor up the street has the outdoor boiler, the heat moors, no issues that I know of.. he neats 2 story house, garage, and part of barn, i believe, don't know how much wood he uses..
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 27, 2016 18:18:01 GMT -5
Next door neighbor just asked me if I needed wood for burning, yes, yes I do!! How much?? 4500 cords, what??? Going sometime later this week see what he has but I am also hoping to get a spot to shoot!! Love burning wood and the exercise!! But I do like the idea of loading once a day!!!
Keep us filled in on what you do Hank!!
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Post by Richard on Jun 27, 2016 19:26:27 GMT -5
Been there and done that...............Not with a wood burning boiler but a Rite WAy wood/coal burning stove in my basement. This was an 80 foot brick ranch with a full basement in NJ. The stove had a sheet metal jacket suspended around it except for where the wood was loaded. This was then ducted into my hot air system. Would take 24" logs. Had a magnetic damper. It completely heated the house and basement all winter with zero gas burned. I put in a "trap" window to shoot the wood (later coal) in to the basement so no mess up stairs and no cold air being let in. But just remember this........................You are NOT always young and even young folk have orthopedic problems..........bad knees, hips backs etc. When that happens, it sort of puts a crimp on feeding these things...............just saying? When my back started bothering me and my wife was complaining about the coal dust (when I started burning coal) up stairs I said: Heck, all I need to do is take a few extra police security jobs to pay for the gas and screw the wood  Then think of all the time spend cutting, hauling and splitting this wood for the FREE heat? Not to mention the chain saws (yeah, I had three of em'), gas and oil, maintenance, gas or diesel for the truck or tractor and time spent? Heck you could build another rifle and easily pay for the fuel?  ? Just some things to "ponder!" |
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Post by Hank on Jun 27, 2016 19:51:26 GMT -5
Yes, Richard I agree with you on the work load it takes to get the wood, but I hope to have 15 more good years in me before I have to start burning propane again. Not to mention I have about five years of wood at the range alone, not to mention what is dead and dieing on the rest of the farm. I have a ton of dead ash trees standing and the cutting and getting part of the wood is not that bad for me right now. I look at the wood cutting as a necessary evil. I cut wood to clean up the farm and get the free heat from doing so... The worst part is bringing the wood in the house and shop.... With the outdoor burner I can pull the goose neck trailer up next to the wood burner and through it in... No mess in the house and a lot less work. The work to get the wood is not a problem as I have 247 acres of it. the chainsaw and some gas is a small price to pay considering the cost of propane... If I can get free heat, minus the wood cutting work, for 15 years that would be a savings of approx. $90,0000 over a 15 year period. I used to heat my house with propane and it would cost me $4,000.00 a year, and I was still cold, add another $2,000.00 for the shop and that is $6,000.00 a year. I will cut 12 cords of wood a year for as long as my back will hold up for 6,000.00......
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Post by Richard on Jun 27, 2016 20:26:36 GMT -5
Hey, if you can do it? That is fine! Seems I did see you in a bit of back pain at the last challenge?? Just saying I know where your coming from, I did it also but as I got into my 50's, it was not what it was in my 40's. I loved the fact I did not have to depend on the gas company and I was "independent!" As things begin to deteriorate, your thought process will also. I used to think I wanted to retire to Jackson Hole Wyoming after seeing the area a few times. Then as I got older and more aches and pains and looking at those cold winters, NC seemed a whole lot better! |
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beans
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Post by beans on Jun 27, 2016 20:30:52 GMT -5
I know many people here in western NYS that have these. these also heat their water.
Downsides:
burn way more wood then a guy with a wood stove
Burn way more months in an attempt to keep water hot and house warm in the transition months
upsides:
If you have unlimited wood it is easy.
Thermostat controlled
It's a personal decision. Looks like it may be right for you
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 27, 2016 21:11:07 GMT -5
Wood burning is a hard job anyway you cut it. I only burn a couple cords a year and even at that it's hard work. But it's good exercise while you can still do it. Do it while ya can. That goes for everything.
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beans
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Post by beans on Jun 28, 2016 5:09:10 GMT -5
One other thing: With the outdoor burner you are at the mercy of a power supply. If you ever had an extended power outage you would get cold. Could always keep all the indoor stoves ready to go or get a nice hardwired Gererac generator that runs for weeks on a large propane tank.
Another positive on the outdoor burner is that all the fire and potential of some type of malfunction is away from your house. The chimneys are short and straight with basically no creasote build up.
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Post by dirtboy on Jun 28, 2016 9:28:10 GMT -5
if you think you want one then you will enjoy it. I have had a hardy H-4 heating a two story farm house built in the 1939 for 10 years now with 2 heating zones and it also heats the domestic water for the house. I just use my propane water heater as a holding tank now and I burn wood all year long. its hard for me to judge how much wood I use because it varys each year. my house is not well insulated but it stays warm. I would say I burn 3-4 dump truck loads of wood a year and that's half oak and the rest pine, maple, popular. I'm in excavation business so I just dump next to boiler and cut as I need it. we have a lot of hardy stoves and shavers around where I live also a few Taylors. if you can I would look at the Hardy's. they might not be as effeicent as others claim to be but after watching my friends wood stoves while they are on vacation the shavers and Taylors. I like they hardy better. I think you pay so much for these things that what ever you get you force yourself to say that what ever you get is the best
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Post by Hank on Jun 28, 2016 9:36:44 GMT -5
I have looked at the shavers on ebay. I like the way the ash clean out has it's own door to shovel out the ash. I will look into the Taylor and Hardy boilers also..
Thanks to everyone for their response....
A boiler system is in my future,, just need to decide on the one I want....
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Post by dirtboy on Jun 28, 2016 9:37:30 GMT -5
one more thing stick it as far from your house as you can mine is 200ft from the house and I love it that far away you don't have that mess near the house. I might lose some heat from the water going that far but it is worth it to me.
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Post by Hank on Jun 28, 2016 9:39:20 GMT -5
one more thing stick it as far from your house as you can mine is 200ft from the house and I love it that far away you don't have that mess near the house. I might lose some heat from the water going that far but it is worth it to me. From the research I have done so far,, you loose less than a degree per every 100 feet the water travels under ground. Providing you have the proper PEX pipe and insulation..... |
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Post by dirtboy on Jun 28, 2016 9:40:28 GMT -5
the best advice I could give you is go put wood in every model you can put your hands on.
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Post by oneshotike on Jun 28, 2016 9:49:17 GMT -5
My brother in law has central boiler. He heats 2700sgft. It takes him 23 truck loads of wood a year. Short bed chevy. He now turns on the propane for September, October cool nights. Starts up the boiler when he sees its going to stay cold. He only burns green wood in it. seasoned wood goes to quick and dosnt leave the hot coals like green wood. I will have to ask how this winter went for him and his load count.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 28, 2016 10:12:34 GMT -5
one more thing stick it as far from your house as you can mine is 200ft from the house and I love it that far away you don't have that mess near the house. I might lose some heat from the water going that far but it is worth it to me. From the research I have done so far,, you loose less than a degree per every 100 feet the water travels under ground. Providing you have the proper PEX pipe and insulation..... A little off topic, but do you like that pex piping? Never heard of it till i had an addition built on our house and the plumbers think it's the stuff?? |
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Post by Hank on Jun 28, 2016 10:23:14 GMT -5
I think pex pipe is a good choice.. It is somewhat flexible and come on a roll so you can make long runs with it an not have so many joints.
We just put in some new air lines at the Rail Road and we used a Pex type of pipe. It was black and 3 inch in diameter. 250 feet on a roll. It kinda looks like the old black plastic pipe but it has a different feel and is a little different in color. Also the wall thickness on this pipe was about 1/2. Should last hundreds of years, where the old steel pipe we had under ground would rust out at the joints..... After a constant repair on all these joint they finally budgeted for a new air system...... So the pex pipe was used..... so far so good...
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