Talk me out of buying an Outdoor Wood Burner!

[laynes69]

We had the same woodfurnace you have now. Usually in the mornings we would wake to a cold furnace, or just a few coals. We would stuff the thing to make sure it would make it through the night.

We bought our new woodfurnace last year. No more worries of a chimney fire due to the clean burn of the unit. We get more btus from each load of wood because the smoke is burned. A full load for us now is half the load of the old furnace, and we get more heat over a longer period of time. No more huge temperature swings, we have a view of the fire and we get radiant heat also having the unit indoors. We dropped 2 cords in the first year of use, and we used less propane because the burns are longer. Even with the damper fully open for a couple of hours or more we still have a good coal bed in the morning. Also species isn't that important now and we don't need rounds to carry through the night.

Last night we loaded at 10:00pm and this morning I reloaded at 7:30am. Even after this amount of time, the blower was still kicking heat from the woodfurnace. Like I say it was a night and day difference between the old and the new. You might want to look into airsealing and insulation if the home needs it. It will improve your comfort as well as hold heat longer in the home.

Get a good efficient woodfurnace and you won't have the problems you have now. To do things right, you should get a heat loss on the home and even a blower door test to determine problem spots. That alone will save you tons no matter how you choose to heat. Then decide which way to go. I thought about a OWB, but Im glad I choose our indoor wood furnace. How big is your house, and hows it built? I forgot, with our new woodfurnace the first year it ran it paid for itself.

 

[johnnylabguy]

Good stuff here! Points out the Pros and cons well of IWB vs. OWB

I really like my indoor wood burner for the fact I can load it in my boxers and slippers at 1 am too, BUT I rather not have to load it at all at 1 am like an OWB! (In my IWB's defense I stocked my weeks load of wood wrong for this weather. Too much small stuff and splits and not enough rounds = short burn times!)

I also like my set-up with my lower level garage where I can just back a 4x6 trailer full of wood down in there once a week. Keeps the mess out of the upstairs, BUT it would be nice to keep it all outside in the first place!

I also had a close call growing up with a chimney fire at my parents house so that is always floating around in the back of my head.

I think the biggest CON against the OWB is the cost. I'm not sure I'm ready to plunk down that much money yet.

 

[beerman6]

I have $5000 into mine.

 

[hoogie]

I'm in my second seanson with an owb. and love it woods outside, the unit is only 15ft from my garage on a cement slab and the wood pile is only 30ft from the unit...The only thing i'd recomend is looking at a gasser which mine is. no smoke dragon here and burn less wood. The only down side is i keep tellin myself i should of done it acouple of yrs sooner, but like everyone else I really didnt wanna come off my hard earned money to buy one. But the savings to date are making me smile now...

 

[hoogie]

sorry for double postin, but just thought about it my empyer pro200 gasser was like 2000 more then the regular non gasser but with my phase 2 cert. i easily qualified for my $3500 tax credit which in turn made the unit cheaper just had to sit and wait for the refund...Just a thought i'm not sure what tax credits are out there now since i already have mine but worth checkin out. if your locked into cb due to that guy at your church check out the eclassics.

 

[bluestem]

Wish they had the 3500 rebate back when I got mine. The gassers seem like the way to go for sure these days. It wasn't cost effective when we got ours. I will definitely look into them next time though.

 

[Windwalker7]

I'd like to comment


I heated for 3 years with an inside wood stove in the basement and am now on the third year with an OWB.

Things that I have noticed

The house is much warmer with OWB (the entire house)

The house is less dry than it was with the inside stove.

The mess is outside (bugs, bark, dirt)

I don't need to split as much.

No worry of chimney fire/housefire.

No carbon monoxide worries.

No lighting new fires or playing with draft/damper

Ability to heat DHW plus save on electric bill

Ability to heat an additional building.

Longer burn times less filling

No bringing wood into basement (I hated that part)

I will say this, you will definitely burn more would but I actually feel there is less work involved, overall, with an OWB.

The wife and kids like waking up to a warm house rather than a chilly one. They also like cranking up the thermostat. We usually have it about 73-74 but sometimes the daughter will have it close to 80 when she is here by herself.

 

[Biker Dude]

I'm no authority but I'll throw in my $.20 (inflation) and try to talk you out of it. I have never heated my house with an indoor stove but I did heat my garage for a couple of years until I got the pex laid in to heat it with the OWB. I work in my garage almost daily and it was such a pleasure to start a fire every morning and then stand there right next to the stove, shivering while it heated up. Now I walk into the shop and it's 50F and if I want it warmer I just turn up the thermostat. I also miss cleaning out the ashes every morning in the freezing cold before I could start a fire. I never did get to experience the joys of kindling because I would scoop out a bucket of coals from the OWB every morning and dump them in the stove and then throw wood on them. That reminds me of another of the joys of my indoor stove. It was natural draft, no blower fan like the OWB has so if the wood I was using had snow on it or the moisture content was a little high or the splits too big the fire would smolder for hours before throwing any significant heat. Usually by 3 to 4 PM the shop would be warm enough to work in without a coat but I always wore gloves because the tools would stick to your fingers like your tongue on a flagpole. Nowadays, everything in the shop is at 50F and coat and gloves while working are a thing of the past. I don't have a new, fancy system either. My Taylor T-450 is over 20 years old and it heats my ancient drafty farmhouse and my shop just fine. I don't have a fancy heat exchanger in the shop, just an old Dodge truck radiator with a box fan behind it.

I realize this isn't an apples to apples comparison but it's as close as I can get. You want to install a new, high tech system and I think you will like it if you don't mind doubling your wood consumption. You only have to clean it every couple of weeks to a month depending on your wood usage, you can haul the ash away in a wheelbarrow, no mess in the house, and all the other reasons everybody else mentioned. The only downfall is that you do have to load it during storms but I'll tell you this, after loading my OWB during very stormy conditions I always get that great "triumph of man over nature" feeling of accomplishment.

 

[johnnylabguy]

I have $5000 into mine.

That's reasonable! Is that for the install and pex too?

I've got a quote for a CL 5036 here and that's about what I'd pay just for the unit alone and thats cost for my buddy.

He came today and inspected my set-up. There's enough room under my A/C coil for the the OWB heat exchanger so it will work! I have a low ceiling in my basement which is another reason I want to get away from using my IWB. I'm not sure its up to code and it would be just my luck that if there was a fire insurance wouldn't cover it.

The problem is the price. My best install location is about 250 feet from the house. Wow that Thermopex is expensive! after they install my total would be around ten grand. 1500 less if I do it myself. I just can't shuck out that much coin right now. I'm tempted to just buy the unit and nickel and dime my way at the install to lessen the blow. That way I could still get the $700 rebate and the extra $600(aprox)discount from my buddy too. Do they offer these rebates very often?

Boy, I don't know what to do! Anyone want a buy a chainsaw?

 

[jbird77]

owb

I know u can get a Hardy wood furnace an h2 from $ 4750 to around $5500 just for the unit and there all stainless have a 20 or 25 year warranty . Thats with the heat exchanger iam pretty sure , and then the shark bite fitings and pex tubing . We did ours on our own. then u still can get your $1500 tax break for going green

 

[bayard]

wood oil boiler

some very good talk here.if you have way into the basement. then do the inside thing .if not then do the owb .i will burn 5 to 6 cords ,mid nov to end of march.no oil unless i forget to load it.the house is 1800sq. feet. this is also heating the domestic hot water.with the right kind of wood at 11to 11.30 the burn time is 7 to 8 hours.plus the heat from the boiler will warm up the basement to 70 to 75 deg. kenny

 

[scag52]

I am a dealer for Shaver. I've been selling this pex from Pinacle Supply with good results. You could always make your own like i did. I made up ove 500' of 4 line pex insulated and placed in 4' pvc 20' lenghts. I think it was around 5.00 per foot when i did mine. Its a lot of work . Check out Pinacle , Your looking at 1500 for their pipe.

http://www.pinnaclesupply.com/everflex_pipe.php

 

[avason]

OK, I'll talk you out of it.
But first... as a qualifier... I DON'T HAVE ONE.

1. I like the feel of wood heat in my home. An OWB doesn't provide that.
2. You have to go outside (where it's cold, windy, snowing) to get it going, check on it and load it (I check/load my stove in slippers and PJs). But, with that said, I wouldn't have a wood stove sitting in a living area of my home either. I live in a single story, 100-year-old farm house, the stove sits in an unfinished basement at the bottom of the steps next to the old coal storage room. I toss the wood down the old coal shoot and carry the ashes up the (non-carpeted) wooden steps and out the door... I.E., the mess is confined to a relatively small area of an unfinished basement. The stove heat is piped into the forced air duct-work of my LP furnace; I use the furnace blower to distribute it throughout the house. I have adjustable dampers installed in the duct-work so I can control the flow of heat to each room (no hot or cold rooms). Enough heat still radiates from the stove to keep the the floors of the house warm enough to go barefoot all winter, and I have a couple vents I can open in the basement if needed on those wicked cold days.
3. The air gets dry during winter; floors creak, wooden furniture gets loose, your nose drys out, it cause air to feel colder than it is, etc. I know a lot of people that run a humidifier during winter to help counteract the discomfort associated with winter dry air... I just set a large "hog pan" on top of the shroud of my wood stove that holds about 1.5 gallons of water, fill once a day (considerably more effective than a humidifier). Guests always comment on how warm and comfortable our house feels... You'll want a humidifier running in the home with a OWB.
4. Maintenance. I know there's some maintenance with any wood burner, but all I do is clean out the ashes and replace the flue pipe/damper every 2-3 years as needed. Creosote has never been a problem in the brick chimney that runs up through the center of the house (I could see the "color" of the brick inside the chimney when I replaced the flue pipe last month), and there's only 4-foot of flue pipe. Maybe it has something to do with the LP water heater and furnace (that rarely runs) keeping the chimney clean (gas fired appliances use a hooded exhaust so the draft is always strong inside the chimney).
5. Cost. An OWB and installation isn't cheap. My currant wood stove was given to me by a friend that upgraded, that was over 20-years ago, I installed it myself and the old one (also given to me) was moved into the non-attached garage (I use it rarely).
6. I hear that OWBs use a lot of wood... never owned one so I can't varify.
7. Electricity, OWBs need it. Draft motors, dampers, water pumps, etc. Even if the power goes out at my home I still have heat. Sure, the furnace blower won't be running but the heat "flow" from the stove sort'a reverses (due to convection) and begins coming out the cold air return vents in the floor. A few years ago we had an ice storm in February that took out our power for 6-days... I wasn't burning wood 24/7 at the time but we fired up the stove and stayed warm the whole time. And because we have an electric kitchen range and well pump the only way to heat food and melt snow/ice for flushing the toilet/washing up/etc. was with the wood stove, try that with an OWB in February! I used the small generator to run lights, fridge, televisions, coffee pot and other niceties... hardly even noticed the power was out.

Do you heat your whole house with your stove? Do you get Hot water from it? just asking. I don't know.

 

[avason]

Good stuff here! Points out the Pros and cons well of IWB vs. OWB

I really like my indoor wood burner for the fact I can load it in my boxers and slippers at 1 am too, BUT I rather not have to load it at all at 1 am like an OWB! (In my IWB's defense I stocked my weeks load of wood wrong for this weather. Too much small stuff and splits and not enough rounds = short burn times!)

I also like my set-up with my lower level garage where I can just back a 4x6 trailer full of wood down in there once a week. Keeps the mess out of the upstairs, BUT it would be nice to keep it all outside in the first place!

I also had a close call growing up with a chimney fire at my parents house so that is always floating around in the back of my head.

I think the biggest CON against the OWB is the cost. I'm not sure I'm ready to plunk down that much money yet.

Don't you guys who carry wood inside have issues with insects inside the house? I heard people who burn inside have issues with termites and ants. My father-inlaw said the only reason he had black ants is because he kept wood inside and next to his house. Is there a way to avoid this??

 

[avason]

I'm no authority but I'll throw in my $.20 (inflation) and try to talk you out of it. I have never heated my house with an indoor stove but I did heat my garage for a couple of years until I got the pex laid in to heat it with the OWB. I work in my garage almost daily and it was such a pleasure to start a fire every morning and then stand there right next to the stove, shivering while it heated up. Now I walk into the shop and it's 50F and if I want it warmer I just turn up the thermostat. I also miss cleaning out the ashes every morning in the freezing cold before I could start a fire. I never did get to experience the joys of kindling because I would scoop out a bucket of coals from the OWB every morning and dump them in the stove and then throw wood on them. That reminds me of another of the joys of my indoor stove. It was natural draft, no blower fan like the OWB has so if the wood I was using had snow on it or the moisture content was a little high or the splits too big the fire would smolder for hours before throwing any significant heat. Usually by 3 to 4 PM the shop would be warm enough to work in without a coat but I always wore gloves because the tools would stick to your fingers like your tongue on a flagpole. Nowadays, everything in the shop is at 50F and coat and gloves while working are a thing of the past. I don't have a new, fancy system either. My Taylor T-450 is over 20 years old and it heats my ancient drafty farmhouse and my shop just fine. I don't have a fancy heat exchanger in the shop, just an old Dodge truck radiator with a box fan behind it.

I realize this isn't an apples to apples comparison but it's as close as I can get. You want to install a new, high tech system and I think you will like it if you don't mind doubling your wood consumption. You only have to clean it every couple of weeks to a month depending on your wood usage, you can haul the ash away in a wheelbarrow, no mess in the house, and all the other reasons everybody else mentioned. The only downfall is that you do have to load it during storms but I'll tell you this, after loading my OWB during very stormy conditions I always get that great "triumph of man over nature" feeling of accomplishment.

You...my man..... are :censored:ing AWESOME!!....Rep coming your way!

 

[mschoff]

owb

I have a shaver 165 and I cant talk you out of it .I believe it is one of the best exercise machine for any age that loves the outdoors .I just wished I would have got 20 yrs ago.

 

[beerman6]

That's reasonable! Is that for the install and pex too?

I've got a quote for a CL 5036 here and that's about what I'd pay just for the unit alone and thats cost for my buddy.

He came today and inspected my set-up. There's enough room under my A/C coil for the the OWB heat exchanger so it will work! I have a low ceiling in my basement which is another reason I want to get away from using my IWB. I'm not sure its up to code and it would be just my luck that if there was a fire insurance wouldn't cover it.

The problem is the price. My best install location is about 250 feet from the house. Wow that Thermopex is expensive! after they install my total would be around ten grand. 1500 less if I do it myself. I just can't shuck out that much coin right now. I'm tempted to just buy the unit and nickel and dime my way at the install to lessen the blow. That way I could still get the $700 rebate and the extra $600(aprox)discount from my buddy too. Do they offer these rebates very often?

Boy, I don't know what to do! Anyone want a buy a chainsaw?

That was for all the pieces/parts I did the install.

I only have 30' of underground pipe.

I should add that the stuff I used underground is falling apart and I should have replaced it this summer,but I didnt .

so I tried to cheap out and it didnt work...if only I had known about AS before I bought.

 

[bluestem]

Definitely don't nickel and dime your way with the underground pipe, I think most people would agree with that. Get the good stuff and the thought of having to dig it up and replace it will never be in the back of your mind!!!

 

[johnnylabguy]

That was for all the pieces/parts I did the install.

I only have 30' of underground pipe.

I should add that the stuff I used underground is falling apart and I should have replaced it this summer,but I didnt .

so I tried to cheap out and it didnt work...if only I had known about AS before I bought.

Hey man, I hear ya! I wouldn't have spent a nickel on buying a new fuel oil furnace 4 years ago if I would have known my wife would let me start burning wood again a short year later. That 2500 bucks sure would've come in handy buying a wood furnace! Same goes for the hotblast but at least it has paid for itself already! Live and learn. Thanks for sharing! Rep sent.

On that same note I'm thinking if I'm going to spend this much money I might as well look at the EPA units and not think "coulda-woulda-shoulda" a few years from now. What Central Boiler EPA model is comparable to the 5036? The E-classic 1400 or the 2300? That 2300 is crazy expensive and it sounds like they've had a fair number of bugs to work out. I've searched and I can't hardly find a thing on the 1400. Anybody use one of these for their home? What kind of square footage they handle if its average insulated? Hearth has a little info but some sound like anti-OWB nazis!

 

[Biker Dude]

I would be a little scared of the 250' run of pipe up to the house. You would have to have 2 circulator pumps just to keep the water flowing. If you have to go that far then you should look at the best insulated pex you can get ahold of and probably 1.5" or 2" tubes.