Going to buy a OWB, EPA or no?

[midwest_170]

I had decided on a earth wood mountain man 500 and plan to install it this summer but the thread below got me to thinking that if the EPA stoves are so much more efficient are they worth the extra money? It's basically another 3K to get the new style stove. It would need to save me at least 1 cord per year over the 25 life span of the stove. So is there another EPA style burner I should be looking at? It absolutely would need to have an ash grate.

 

[stevetheboatguy]

Just going out on a limb here, but I think all you can buy currently are the newer epa stuff.
Not 100% sure. I'm sure someone will set the facts straight about that.

Steven

 

[midwest_170]

Just going out on a limb here, but I think all you can buy currently are the newer epa stuff.
Not 100% sure. I'm sure someone will set the facts straight about that.

Steven

If it's for commercial use you can still buy them. I farm and will be using it to heat my shop.

 

[NSMaple1]

I would go gasifier, even if it does cost more.

Do you know what your heat load will be? Even if you do use a gasifier, you can still have some smoke & creosote issues if its not matched to the heat load reasonably well & spends a lot of time idling, and/or if the wood isn't dry enough.

Why is an ash grate an essential? A gasifier doesn't really need one, usually.

 

[StihlKicking]

The EPA OWB will definitely save you one cord of wood a year. That being said I personally like the non gasser boilers. They are not as finicky and don't really have a learning curve, also they don't require as much maintenance. I have a hardy h2 I bought in 2015. At the time I bought it I had the option of buying the gasser model but chose the non gasser.

Everyone's situation is different so you will have to decide what's best for you. I live on a large farm and all my wood is free, mostly dead loss. I like the convince of being able to put anything that will fit through the door of my heater in it at anytime and being able to heat my home . I understand that if wood isn't below 25%mc that a portion of the heat is used to dry the wood and lost out the chimney ect. However I don't have to worry about splitting it down to a small size and getting 2 years ahead, checking it with a moisture meter ect.

If I had to buy wood I would definitely look a lot closer into a gasifier. As it stands I would rather burn a couple extra cords of free wood a year than worry with the extra processing, storage times of a gasser. I probably burn less than one percent of the dead loss on our property a year anyways.

It is also worth considering that I don't have any neighbors. So no one gets hacked of at me when I pitch a green stump in to my heater and it starts smoking like a mad man!

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

I've delivered wood to boiler users and they sure seem to burn through wood. One customer has a house about the same size as mine and goes through 10 cords a winter. To compare, I heat my place on about 3.

 

[midwest_170]

I would go gasifier, even if it does cost more.

Do you know what your heat load will be? Even if you do use a gasifier, you can still have some smoke & creosote issues if its not matched to the heat load reasonably well & spends a lot of time idling, and/or if the wood isn't dry enough.

Why is an ash grate an essential? A gasifier doesn't really need one, usually.

I'll be heating a 3400 sqft modern home and a 4000 sqft shop. 3k is not exactly pocket change and smoke and creosote are not issues because my nearest neighbor is 1 mile away. I'm about 4 years ahead on my wood so dry wood isn't a problem.

I don't like stirring coals and having them mix with ash then smoother out. I don't want to have to let the fire burn down to clean the firebox out.

 

[midwest_170]

The EPA OWB will definitely save you one cord of wood a year. That being said I personally like the non gasser boilers. They are not as finicky and don't really have a learning curve, also they don't require as much maintenance. I have a hardy h2 I bought in 2015. At the time I bought it I had the option of buying the gasser model but chose the non gasser.

Everyone's situation is different so you will have to decide what's best for you. I live on a large farm and all my wood is free, mostly dead loss. I like the convince of being able to put anything that will fit through the door of my heater in it at anytime and being able to heat my home . I understand that if wood isn't below 25%mc that a portion of the heat is used to dry the wood and lost out the chimney ect. However I don't have to worry about splitting it down to a small size and getting 2 years ahead, checking it with a moisture meter ect.

If I had to buy wood I would definitely look a lot closer into a gasifier. As it stands I would rather burn a couple extra cords of free wood a year than worry with the extra processing, storage times of a gasser. I probably burn less than one percent of the dead loss on our property a year anyways.

It is also worth considering that I don't have any neighbors. So no one gets hacked of at me when I pitch a green stump in to my heater and it starts smoking like a mad man!

I have unlimited access to wood, a skid steer and dump trailer so getting wood isn't a problem but finding the time well that can be a problem.

 

[mohick]

MY views mirror Sthilkicking to the letter! Get one with grate by all means, simply take out a shovel full or two every couple days from underneath no disruption of fire-heat at all . wouldn't have anything but the simplist easiest non computer junk you can find. Still can be bought if they quit completly will simply build my own SCREW EPA

 

[jrider]

I have only owned a gasification unit and can say with mine, there is very little maintenance. I have spent about 30 minutes twice so far this season cleaning it out. I can throw any size pieces in it and it burns them all just fine. I only burn the junk/uglies that comes from selling 130ish cords a year.

 

[StihlKicking]

I have unlimited access to wood, a skid steer and dump trailer so getting wood isn't a problem but finding the time well that can be a problem.

You will spend more time processing wood down to where a EPA heater will actually burn it than you will cutting a couple extra cords throughout the year to burn in a non EPA unit. One thing I never have to think about is "will this wood burn in my heater". For example, I cut a elm tree for my dad on Tuesday, today it is 22 degrees outside and 76 degrees in my house. With nothing in my heater except a load of that elm that I put in about 7:30 last night. About to go top it off now with more elm.

 

[StihlKicking]

Here is what was left in my heater after burning for 13 hours, temperature in the twenties with a load of wet elm.

Here's a couple of pics after reloading with more wet elm.

 

[lindnova]

I like the thought of less smoke and have plenty of dry wood, but also like that I can put any junk wood in and it will heat my house. As the epa burners have been out for a while and bugs are worked out I might go the epa route on a proven unit to use less wood, but 3k is a lot of $$. A little more splitting vs. cutting an extra cord is ok with me as I have time in the winter for that.

I don't know much about the Earth Mountain. My old Heatmor is great, but not sure on the epa Heatmor yet. Heard good things about the epa Heatmaster and Portage and Main.

 

[mohick]

Stihl kickin!! I burned a hardy like yours for 10 years, was a great boiler, didn't like the taco pumps and other small problems the reason I switched was that the stainless got brittle and kept cracking and I didn't have the equipment to weld it so I switched to a steel boiler 3 years ago because if it cracks i can weld it! Do love the fact they will eat anything you put in them. Wouldn't heat with anything else. Wife loves it b/c all mess outside!!

 

[panolo]

I have a CB edge 550. It is my first boiler and it is the gasification model. I am nothing but pleased with the way it performs. I have set my thermostat at 72 and not adjusted it whether it is -10 or 30. It took a little bit to learn but nothing that was earth shattering. My house is a little over 5000 square feet but I have the vents shut off in about half of it. I'm heating through my forced air furnace plenum.

I fill it every 12-14 hours. Open the door and run the rod through the coals and keep the air exchanger pass way open. Fill it and walk away. My maintenance is about 10 minutes once a week clearing the ash. I've been burning for just about two months and I am up to about 2 cord of wood. Most of my wood is not primo. I have been burning a mixed batch of elm, ash, box elder, and a little pine, oak, and maple. Some is a little wet and I can tell as my temps are not as high.

I looked at other brands and decided to go with the CB because of price and the dealer is 20 minutes from house. I couldn't be happier so far.

Should have added that the boiler is a super simple design. Nothing earth shattering.

 

[mohick]

That is another + just set thermostat and never look back. I too run through furnace plenum for fan. I fill more often mostly because I am retired and home all the time and burn a lot of blocks from sawmill nearby hot and cheap, but it will go 14-16 hours with real firewood!!

 

[NSMaple1]

Not sure it will matter in your decision one way or the other, but I also wouldn't count on the boiler you're looking at lasting for 25 years, or that the warranty will be any good if you end up wanting to use it - if those are big factors in the deciding.

 

[StihlKicking]

A lot of factors will determine how long your boiler will last. The company I deal with is very honest and good about honoring their products warranty, this also varies among companies.

 

[midwest_170]

Not sure it will matter in your decision one way or the other, but I also wouldn't count on the boiler you're looking at lasting for 25 years, or that the warranty will be any good if you end up wanting to use it - if those are big factors in the deciding.

One of the reasons I chose them was because of the firebox design and it being 1/2" thick. I'm not sure if they will be around for 25 years but if they are I'm not sure why they wouldn't honor it.

 

[NSMaple1]

I have not heard many reports of an OWB company coming good on a warranty when it springs a leak - at best, it has been get a local guy to weld it & we'll pay the welding bill.

I have heard lots of horror stories of then not doing anything at all - or, asking for the boiler to be shipped to them before they decide whether do to anything or not. Which isn't exactly an easy thing to do.

Just going by what I've heard....