owb

[dutch]

im a new member to your site, been reading your post for bout 6 months, i am in the market for a boiler, looking hard at wood doctor , dont see much talk about these boilers, they use 1/4 " boiler plate & forced draft , round fire box . any thoughts.

 

[MS-310]

Price on these units are pretty high. I have seen only one of them down here in MI. The dealer is a main inssue on all OWB, make sure you can reach them on weekends and nights.....trust me I dont mind getting an call at 8:00 pm on sunday to change an pump, the people like the service.

Jack

And welcome to AS, I would now run before you buy anymore chainsaws

 

[dutch]

price runs about 6995.00 dealer stays on top of customers, only inquired once , he keeps tabs on my desion

 

[MS-310]

Hay do what you want to do but 7000 for an OWB is kinda high. How big is it???? How many BTU's.

I have an 7000 sqft unit for sale at $5390, its huge and comes with one pump. Timberwolf makes an very well stove and the price is sweet.

Jack

 

[dutch]

broucher says heats 8000 sq ft , 2100 lbs , takes 4 ft log , bout 150 gal.

 

[windthrown]

Chainsaw disease...

And welcome to AS, I would now run before you buy anymore chainsaws

Too late! He has already been infected with early onset of the evil chainsaw disease. Anyone caught buying an OWB will be a 'slave to the cause' of cutting firewood for life. Once you realize you are spending a lot of time cutting firewood and using chainsaws, you will want bigger, lighter, more reliable and powerful buzz saws. Then you will read the chainsaw AS posts and get dragged under the pool of bar oil by all the talk of chains, variable makes and models and muffler mods... and then you will be dreaming of hotsaw modifications and salivating over chainsaw purchases.

Chainsaws are cheap compared to OWBs. Though a good OWB in a hard winter area like NovaScotia will pay for itself in less than 3 years. Out here in mild winter Oregon the OWB we have will pay for itself in a little less than 5 years (plus sweat to cut wood). It cost us $6,000 two years ago plus $1,000 in PEX and HX and plumbing. Central Boiler smaller unit; 250k BTU rating. Great boiler. Love it. Works great. Saves us $250 a month average from October through April. Keeps the house at a constant 70 degrees F and the hot water at 140 degrees F. Little smoke, and burns about 5 cords a year. Takes big logs too, I do not have a splitter and I cut wood 24-36 in long. Right now we are burning 20 in rounds of grand fir that are 2 ft long.

Wood Doctor has been around for a while now I guess? I did not look that closely at them. They seem to have a low stack (don't like that) and I prefer convection draft to a forced air fan. Round vs squre burn chamber is pretty meaningless. For this kind of price (CDN?) I would look at Central Boiler, Taylor and WoodMaster. Maybe also look at Tarm, and Greenwood. Gassifier boilers tend to be in-house units though.

 

[zsteinmetz]

Ya I just bought one too. Haven't got it installed yet but guy right up the road has had his in all winter. Doesn't smoke hardly at all and he says their very efficient. Cant wait to get mine in.

 

[hockeypuck]

Wood Master VS Wood doctor

I went with the Woodmaster because its door is larger, much larger than the Wood Doctor. Should have seen the but size I rolled into it today. The blower makes sure that the wood will burn. My dealer is also very professional as opposed to my local WD dealer who is a mom and pop dealer (did not say they were bad just small).

Puck

 

[HUSKYMAN]

Dutch 8000 sq ft is a very large unit, unless you are heating a huge house, big barn, a garage and a hot tub I don't see why you would need that big of a unit.

Smaller units are more efficient also. Be sure to size the unit to your needs, not what the dealer has extra inventory of so he can clear space in his yard.

 

[bassman]

efficient and OWB in the same sentence........
look into tarm and garn as they are on the track.
but then you may live in an area where it dosent get all that cold and these boilers are ok when it is not minus 35c

 

[hockeypuck]

:deadhorse: I believe he said "more efficient" . Everyone here knows we are not getting the efficiencies of an airtight Jotul. I will trade some efficiency for longer burn times and having the ability to burn any type of wood in any condition. Plus there is not chance my house will burn down, or my kids get burnt, suffer allergies,ect. The long hot showers are great too. OWB's are great for cleaning up the forest floor on your property, especially in late fall and sping. Temperature around here routinely gets to -15 at night.

Puck

 

[Fish4Brains]

:deadhorse: I believe he said "more efficient" . Everyone here knows we are not getting the efficiencies of an airtight Jotul. I will trade some efficiency for longer burn times and having the ability to burn any type of wood in any condition. Plus there is not chance my house will burn down, or my kids get burnt, suffer allergies,ect. The long hot showers are great too. OWB's are great for cleaning up the forest floor on your property, especially in late fall and sping. Temperature around here routinely gets to -15 at night.

Puck

Yea that

 

[bassman]

I used to love my boiler for cleaning junk brush and trees and making heat its just that i am almost out of wood and all my free and cheap wood is under at least 2 feet of snow.
the guys that sell wood here sell it to woodstove guys at 150 a cord and its all short 16inch pieces .
all i say to anyone wanting a boiler is make dam sure you know what you are getting into.