Central Boiler E-Classic 2300

[ralph worley]

hello tony g

i read you bought a Central Boiler E-Classic 2300. how do you like it and how does it work? how much does it smoke?

thank you
ralph

 

[Muskytooth]

Hello,

I just got my e-classic 2300 installed this last monday. I have never had an outdoor stove before so I am completely green on this. But we have fired it up and after a few burns and some coals getting buit up we have very little smoke. In fact.....yesterday I was really surprised at how little smoke we had so I went down and opened the bypass door and the smoke started pooring out of the stack.... I closed the bypass door and within 10 to 15 seconds the smoke was almost down to nothing again.

I hope to share my feelings on this stove as we get more experiance with it this winter.

Steve
Amery WI

 

[Muskytooth]

Pictures of the E-Classic 2300

Ok, I have linked to a few pictures of my e-classic 2300. In all photos the stove is running....burning. A few of the pictures show the stove running with the bypass door open and the rest have it closed. Can you tell which is which?

It should be a good indication of just how much smoke you will get with this stove. In fact.....in these photos I am burning some punky wood just to get it gone. I would imagine with all dry stuff....any smoke you may see in these photos would probably be even less.

I have been trying to get a picture of the stove running but have been having a hard time catching it at the right moment. I actually had to stare at the stove from my house for a few seconds before I could tell it was burning.

Steve (Muskytooth)

 

[jmcguiretree]

Just got my e-classic last week, can't wait to hook it up. Any clue on how much wood you will need?I have been told I will only need 10 face cord +/-
for a 1600 sq ft house.

 

[jd6030]

I got one to can't wait for to fire it but needs to get colder before getting going. Is anyone using the dual fuel on the stove yet?

 

[Muskytooth]

Just got my e-classic last week, can't wait to hook it up. Any clue on how much wood you will need?I have been told I will only need 10 face cord +/-
for a 1600 sq ft house.

I have 1776 on a single level.....with the basement we are double that (of course). I have in floor water heat in the basement..... I personally have no clue how much wood we will use. I have talked to a lot of people about that issue and they are all guessing that I should be somewhere between 5-7 cords. They all said have 8 for sure. I personally am planning for 10 just to be sure.

My understanding is that this stove takes about 30 to 40% less wood than others. I guess we will see.

 

[Muskytooth]

I got one to can't wait for to fire it but needs to get colder before getting going. Is anyone using the dual fuel on the stove yet?

Yes we have been using the dual fuel option. Again I have no prior experiance any OWB.....but the duel fuel is awesome so far.

If the fire goes out and the stove temp drops 20 degrees the propane kicks on and either starts it burning again or at a minimum....it keeps it from freezing. I thought this would be good for when my wife and I are on vacation. If the neighbor were to forget to load the stove I have no worries about it freezing on me. The other thing that is cool is to load the wood and hit the start button.....you never had to hang around to make sure the stove is lit. (I figured my wife would like that option in the cold Wisconsin winters.)

The duel fuel will be good for summer use as well. Because the stove would only be used to heat the water in the house......there could be a long time between burn cycles. With the duel fuel you can set the stove to kick on at a certain schedule or fire up to get the wood burning. I have not messed with all of that yet but I only see it as being a plus.

 

[jmcguiretree]

Is that 10 cords or 10 face cord?

 

[HUSKYMAN]

Muskytooth it looks like your lines to the house are only a foot below the ground in the picture. Thats pretty shallow and your lines would freeze quickly (I know you have dual fuel, but propane aint cheap) without heat.

Looks like you had to dig it out by hand, but I would prefer to have my lines another foot lower

 

[Slick]

Doesn't that depend what they are insulated with? Central's thermopex for example is spec'd to be able to run across the ground for a mid winter install...and I've heard people around here say the snow doesn't melt of it laying on the ground...so why bother going deep with it?

 

[projectsho89]

Doesn't that depend what they are insulated with? Central's thermopex for example is spec'd to be able to run across the ground for a mid winter install...and I've heard people around here say the snow doesn't melt of it laying on the ground...so why bother going deep with it?

It will stay thawed only as long as there is heat available to keep it above freezing. If tall sources of heat goes away, a shallow-buried thermopex line will freeze just like the ground around it.....

Steve

 

[Muskytooth]

I don't know if it is regular cords or face cords that people have been telling me. I have been planning for regular cords so I may be overstocked for winter.

As far as the lines....they are all 18' down or more. That was what I was told was to do. Up closer to the house it is probably 3 feet deep. We ran Insulseal pipes. http://www.insulseal.com/woodfurnaces.html
The pipe I have is the 3 inch stuff. Freezing in 121 hours with no additional heat. That stat is based on the water temp at 75 degrees and the ambient temp at -13. The OWB water is obviously warmer than that. Both water lines run up that pipe and though they touch I don't see any drop in heat from the outside boiler to the temp showing on my inside boiler. Insulseal site says that you could expect a 3 degree drop for every 100' and I'm just over 100'. The shallowest part of the trench is down at the stove but that area is going to be built up the next spring summer with additional dirt...but even now it is 18".

Insulseal was probably 4 to 5 dollars less per foot than the Thermopex and the installation guys say they use that more than the thermopex. I bought from Central Boilers #1 sales distributor in the country. They are about an hour from my place, across the river into MN, and these installers install about a stove a day for them. If they say it works.....then that's good enough for me. I will tell you that they have a very good rep so I can only assume......they know what they are doing.

Steve (Muskytooth)

 

[HUSKYMAN]

18 inches is probably fine. Another reason to bury around two feet is so heavy equipment does not damage the pipe when driven over it. I have a backhoe and with a load in the bucket the front tires put down a lot of psi.

Be sure to let us know what your usage is in the winter when temps get down there.

What is the MSRP on the 2300 and how many square feet is it rated for?

 

[Muskytooth]

Central boiler says that the E-classic 2300 is good for about the same amount of Sq Ft as the Classic 6048. If I do my math right that means it is good for just over 4k to just over 10.5K sq ft.

Price: I saw some post from back in Feb 08 saying that people bought theres for 8-9K. I know a guy who bought his a few months before mine and he was told he snuck in just before a price increase. He paid over 1,000 less than I did. I paid around 12K with tax and the duel fuel option. I would have to look up the exact amount. I called a few dealers to get pricing and they were all the same.

I ordered mine back in middle of August and got it on the slab on mid sept. It was hooked up 10-6. I was told if anyone ordered it now they wouldn't get it until spring. I guess the factory is behind on these because they are selling so well. I'm glad I bought when I did....

 

[HUSKYMAN]

Central boiler says that the E-classic 2300 is good for about the same amount of Sq Ft as the Classic 6048. If I do my math right that means it is good for just over 4k to just over 10.5K sq ft.

Price: I saw some post from back in Feb 08 saying that people bought theres for 8-9K. I know a guy who bought his a few months before mine and he was told he snuck in just before a price increase. He paid over 1,000 less than I did. I paid around 12K with tax and the duel fuel option. I would have to look up the exact amount. I called a few dealers to get pricing and they were all the same.

I ordered mine back in middle of August and got it on the slab on mid sept. It was hooked up 10-6. I was told if anyone ordered it now they wouldn't get it until spring. I guess the factory is behind on these because they are selling so well. I'm glad I bought when I did....

I think the dual fuel option is a pretty significant upgrade, like a couple grand, right? Not trying to be nosy, just trying to see if the increased efficiency is worth the cost. If you have the dual fuel option, there is no need for a backup furnace, correct? That could save $$$ on new construction.

 

[Muskytooth]

The duel fuel option is something like 1200 to 1400 more. I decided that that money spread over the warranty of the unit plus the fact that it is another anti-freeze messure were worth it. My wife said she would help load it too so if I could do anything to make it easier on her.......that is only good for me! I realize she probably won't need to do the autolight feature during the cold of the winter when the stove is running all the time.....but I still thought I would make the leap.

I see it being used more in the summer months when the stove doesn't fire as often. If we are only heating the domestic hot water with it then the fire has a greater chance of going out because there is a longer time between burn cycles. There are setting you can play with to have the blower kick on and keep the coals hot but should something happen the propane will kick on and relight the wood.

You each have to make the right decision for your situation.

Does anyone have this stove in the Non-duel fuel option? If so what are your experiances?

 

[Muskytooth]

I think the dual fuel option is a pretty significant upgrade, like a couple grand, right? Not trying to be nosy, just trying to see if the increased efficiency is worth the cost. If you have the dual fuel option, there is no need for a backup furnace, correct? That could save $$$ on new construction.

I don't think I would skip the regular furnace. Function wise....I guess the duel fuel option would do the trick and you could use it in place of an indoor system. I am not qualified to make that decision for anyone other than me........and even then I would have to ask a lot questions. What does code say? What does the insurance company say? (fear of frozen pipes and such?) Maybe there are no issues but I don't know at this time.

What if your new stove sprung a leak and you had to wait for a warranty replacement.....how do you keep your home from freezing?

If I had to guess....I would guess that the outdoor stove, by nature, is a backup system to your main. It is just installed in such a way as to act like the main while in use. Does that make sense?

The other thing you have to keep in mind is that you will be burning wood all year without an indoor system. For some that is perfectly ok.....I personally am on the edge. My guess will be we will use our NTI Trinity boiler in the summer....or at least for part of the summer.

Do yourself a favor though and ask a lot of questions of qualified people. My father-in-law is a building inspector and he tells me stories all the time about people making decisions on there own and then he has to enforce what the code is. Even once he made a guy tear his entire house down because it was built so far off from code. (The guy thought he knew more about code than he actually did.) Lucky for him he was only through the framing side of the new build.

Boy I'm feeling long winded today!