Shaver OWF opinions and my upcomming install

Hi all, new to the forum.
I ordered my Shaver 290 a couple weeks ago and expect it anytime now. A fe reasons I went with the Shaver .380" firebox, simple effective design, 30+ years of experience, affordable, uses standard components (blower, aquastat, etc.) that can be purchase at most hardware stores. I talked with a CB dealer and a Heatmor dealer and liked both stoves, but the Shaver has the best set of options for me. I special ordered it with a larger door (gotta love factory direct and custom engineering).
I'm planning to heat my 2900ft house (includes finished basement) with radiant floor heat, 36x26 radiant heat garage (currently running off the house oil boiler), 800ft in-law apartment above the garage hot water baseboard (also run off the house boiler). Hot water in the house will automatically be covered via the nature of the existing system, and the shaver has a built in hot water coil I'm going to connect to the electric water heater in the garage/apartment. I'm also planning to possibly heat my outdoor 400 gal. hot tub and perhaps a future 30x20 barn. My current oil boiler is a buderous 100K BTU's and the OWF I ordered is rated at about 280K BTU's so even with the barn and hot tub I'll be more than covered. I know I'll get criticism for this, but I'm using a lower cost "Time Saver Pipe" (two 1.25" AquaPex wrapped in microfoil and covered with 4" corrugated pipe). I got the pipe for an excellent price (around $7/ft delivered). My plummer friend insisted I use 1.25" Wirsbo brand pex, and there's no talking him out of it. He is very insistent on following the flow recommendations of pex and apparently any run over 100ft (in one direction) is most efficient with 1.25" and a larger than Taco 007 pump. Sorry for the long winded-ness, if anyone has experience with the shaver brand OWF or comments on my install, post away.

I am only familiar with the Shaver from photos so I am of no help there but keep us informed on how it goes. I like reading about dfferent installs, wood usage etc. Pump peformance is both predictable and easy to calculate if you have the system perameters and pump cuve available. My sources tell me that the pumps recomended for most OWB installs are overkill but overkill hurts little beside a few extra bucks at purchase and a few pennies a month more electric to run them. An undersized pump means poor system delivery and many bucks spent twice to get the right pump. Easier to overkill it than to risk undersize. 1 1/4 pex will reduce the head on the pump and that is not bad but may not provide much benifit over 1". Depends on system flows and restrictions(head). My 4400WM is about 70' from the house and I have a 011 TACO and 1" line and have never lacked for heat being sent to the house, we havent seen a calcuable differance in our electric bill between off season and on.

Good luck with your Shaver, I bought the 165 and pleased with it so far. I used 1 each 1’’ supply/return for the heat exchanger and 3/4’’ for my hot water heater.

Both sets are insulated with Polyethylene Pipe Insulation inside 4’’ water tight corrugated pipe.

I replaced all galvanized and plastic fittings with brass and put ball valves everywhere.

My setup works very well and I haven’t noticed any heat loss, but I put my furnace 12’ from my house.

If you have any questions PM me your # and I tell you what I have learned.

I sell time saver pipe, its not that good, but it will save you 4 bucks a foot compared to a very well based pipe. Bigger the line the more heat you can move....taco 011 is a good pump dont ever buy any thing less then a taco 011, like a 007 there junk. Anyways good luck and ask away.....

I know the TSP isn't the best, but for 1.25" isulpex I was looking at $18/foot plus tax, and like I said befor with a 150ft run 1" isn't an option. I have very little ground water, so I plan to bury it 3-4ft deep. On a side note, I know a guy who paid for the 1" insulpex, buried it 18-24" and the snow melts off the trench. Although I know the r-value of the insulpex far exceeds the r-value of TSP, I get a water tight enclosure some insulation and the brand (wirsbo) and size (1.25") pipe I want. The wirsbo brand is important to me as I have about a mile of it in my house already and have experienced zero problems with the stretch ring connectors.

I also forgot to mention I'm actually running two set's (possibly a third in the future if my barn gets built) of TSP. The first goes to my house (150ft) and includes two 1.25" pex, the second goes to my garage (less than 50ft) and includes two 1/2" pex (for electric water heater) and one 1" pex for fill and eventual water line to barn. I'm going to feed the electricity from the garage as it's a closer run.

I have a 150' run of TSP and a 35' run to my barn and it has worked very well. Only a few degrees of heat loss to the house, and no problems with snow melting over my pipe. My pipe is 2' down also.

My guy told me the TSP I bought was rated at R-11, but it has worked well. I am glad I did not buy the $12 a foot stuff. I paid $7 a foot as well.

HUSKYMAN said:

I have a 150' run of TSP and a 35' run to my barn and it has worked very well. Only a few degrees of heat loss to the house, and no problems with snow melting over my pipe. My pipe is 2' down also.

My guy told me the TSP I bought was rated at R-11, but it has worked well. I am glad I did not buy the $12 a foot stuff. I paid $7 a foot as well.

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I actually got the 1.25 for $5.35/ foot because I bought 492ft of it, but the shipping added another couple hundred dollars.

Did you get 1" or 1.25"?

MS-310 said:

...taco 011 is a good pump dont ever buy any thing less then a taco 011, like a 007 there junk. Anyways good luck and ask away.....

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I have had the same Taco 007 for the past 6 years. No issues at all. The reason being is that my pump runs 24/7 not cycled on and off every time the house calls for heat. I work in a powerhouse and I asked the taco rep about this. He said if it cycles on and off it won't last more than a few years...

fletcher0780 said:

I actually got the 1.25 for $5.35/ foot because I bought 492ft of it, but the shipping added another couple hundred dollars.

Did you get 1" or 1.25"?

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I used 1", which is what most of us on here use. Also I run my pumps all the time also, cycling them on and off just causes more headaches

Hi, I'm also new to the forum
I have a shaver 165, been up and running for a month now, I have 2 runs of 1" ins. pex inside of corrugated pipe 150' from the house,(1244 sq. ft up plus full finished basement) one of the runs goes to furnace (gas forced air) then to garage (80,000 btu water to air hanging unit) other run goes to hot water heater (007 taco pump) this pump runs off thermostat on heater, the pump on the owb runs 24/7 and is upgraded to the armstrong 50. At first I was having alot of trouble keeping the fire going hot enough to heat the house and garage, and also would run out of hot water, (sometimes had to keep ash pan door open to keep the fire going hot) (alot of wasted wood) I don't know if anyone else has had this problem but I had installed a 5' section of double wall pipe with vent cap, the cap must have resticted the draft, the cap is gone now and fire is good and hot, load once a day and never run out of heat or hot water. I installed myself which saved alot of money.

P.S being new to OWB's I like this forum to get ideas and to see what others are doing. Thanks, trshmn

I have a friend who is looking at the shaver. How much does it smoke when compared to other OWB's? Myself, I am getting a gasifier ~ but my friend is pretty much decided on a Shaver.

Chris

My Shaver can smoke like a freight train, I like it a lot but it does smoke, especially after you load the fire box and then need to open the door again. But I have been known to burn green wood once in a while also.

The best thing you can do is burn dry/seasoned wood, you get more heat per pound plus less loading.

It took me a while to figure out the quirks of the furnace, but it’s been pretty good after the learning curve.

As far as a gassifier versus a Shaver, no contest the gassifire wins hands down on efficiency, but the Shaver wins at the best buy in price. The Shaver is a very well built stove. (Heavy!!)

When I sell my place I will build a gassifier because I believe they will pay back the extra cost fairly quick.

It’s hard to beat a Shaver when it comes to build quality per dollar, especially when you’re tight on money in the first place.

We ought to make a thread called tips for the Shaver OWB. My first tip would be to top off the water every time you fill the firebox.

I let the water level get lower than the firebox a few times, and the water vapor soaked the insulation. :jawdrop:

When you hear the water boiling you forgot to top it off, or better yet do it every fill! I will add a automatic fill in the future.

J.Gordon,

What model Shaver do you have?
How much area are you heating?
Do you have plans for an auto fill?
Do you run the pump constantly or is it switched via thermostat?

Thanks!

fletcher0780 said:

J.Gordon,

What model Shaver do you have?
How much area are you heating?
Do you have plans for an auto fill?
Do you run the pump constantly or is it switched via thermostat?

Thanks!

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#1 I have a 165

#2 around 2500 sq’ with hot water, going to make an exchanger for the clothes dryer when time permits.

#3 no plans in writing just in my head, again time permitting.

#4 Tstat cycles my pumps for the hot water heater and OWB.

I have been in industrial maintenance for a long time, so about everything I have gets modified to fit my needs.

J.Gordon said:

#3 no plans in writing just in my head, again time permitting.

#4 Tstat cycles my pumps for the hot water heater and OWB.

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#3 if you come up with a design, I may be willing to purchase your plans

#4 you confirmed my plans for switching power to my pumps

Yes the shaver does smoke, but I am new to this and all of my wood is green and wet hardwood, next winter will have good supply of dry wood, don't know if it will help but will find out, as said earlier it smokes more after wood is loaded and then mine calms down and when up to temp does'nt hardly put out any smoke. need to learn how to load, I have all differant size wood and they kind of wedge instead of dropping down, would love to hear more on the subject to help me get started. Thanks, trshmn

fletcher0780 said:

#3 if you come up with a design, I may be willing to purchase your plans

#4 you confirmed my plans for switching power to my pumps

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The reason I regulate the pump for the hot water is safety, I set the stat at 125* so my young boy’s wont get burned by 180* water.

Also I don’t wont to have 180* water running through my coil in my central heat all the time when it’s not needed. I know the pumps are very cheap to run but over a period of a few years it adds up.


#3 when I do get the time to make an auto fill for the furnace, reliability and serviceability will be my top concern. It will probably be expensive but easy to repair.
I won’t charge for any ideas/plans that I come up with, but wouldn’t mind it if you have any ideas that could improve it let us know.

trshmn said:

Yes the shaver does smoke, but I am new to this and all of my wood is green and wet hardwood, next winter will have good supply of dry wood, don't know if it will help but will find out, as said earlier it smokes more after wood is loaded and then mine calms down and when up to temp does'nt hardly put out any smoke. need to learn how to load, I have all differant size wood and they kind of wedge instead of dropping down, would love to hear more on the subject to help me get started. Thanks, trshmn

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Same here on the green/wet wood, but I will have a lot of seasoned red oak from now on.
I have cut a lot of 36’’ wood but generally cut 24’’ to keep it uniform and the weight down for my wife when she loads the furnace. Also my splitter will only handle the 24’’ wood.

Hi, I also have a t-stat on hot water tank set at 125- 128, but on the OWB I have it set at 155, still have plenty of heat.
Lets keep it going, love to hear what every body else is doing
trshmn

shaver

I also have a shaver 165 I have had it since feb. 1" lines to house and garage and 3/4 to hotwater heater and owb is 55 ft from house very happy with the stove just took a little to get use to. I also had wet wood and I put 6 ft ext pipe on mine and it has build up in it ( pipe and stove) I think it from buring wet wood and drying with ash ?but I really do like the shaver owb Michael

mschoff said:

I also have a shaver 165 I have had it since feb. 1" lines to house and garage and 3/4 to hotwater heater and owb is 55 ft from house very happy with the stove just took a little to get use to. I also had wet wood and I put 6 ft ext pipe on mine and it has build up in it ( pipe and stove) I think it from buring wet wood and drying with ash ?but I really do like the shaver owb Michael

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Same here Michael: I also added about 6’ of 1/4‘’ heavy wall pipe to mine. I needed to get the smoke over the house not in. lol green wet wood will clog the flue up very fast.