Outdoor Wood Furnaces

Post by **kid2** » September 3, 2007, 9:50 am

Anyone have a outdoor wood furnace. We are putting one in and should save a bunch of Money on heat bills. It is a little costly but should pay for itself in less than 5 years.
if you have one, what kind and how do you like it.....Kid

Johnny Canuck · Post by **Johnny Canuck** » September 3, 2007, 10:14 am

Never heerd of one Kid. Does it chop would and feed itself in the winter?

Or is the Iceman's wife coming over to do that for ya?

prost66 · Post by **prost66** » September 3, 2007, 12:13 pm

Lot's of them in our area.My buddy and every amishman in the county has one. They put 36" logs in them in the morning and they are good for the day.The heat is piped into the house and all the mess is outside.You just have to have a free source of wood or they aren't practical.Buying wood eliminate the gain.They use alot of wood also. There are alot of different makes and there are alot of dealers in our area. Merle

Johnny Canuck · Post by **Johnny Canuck** » September 3, 2007, 12:22 pm

Trees.. yeah I have heard of them. Seen them once when I was in BC.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shutterbuglette/362753593/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14424942@N00/518857957/

Post by **kid2** » September 3, 2007, 9:33 pm

The kind we are getting heats water and runs it through something like a A/C A coil in the plenum of our furnace to heat the air. We have access to close to 100 acres of timber for wood and the more people who know we want wood the more we have people tell us to go ahead and cut what we want for windfall and deadwood on their property. had a huge Elm tree given to us tonite that is already dead so it can be used this winter. i figure the furnace will pay for itself in a few years and the house will be much warmer this Year. The water line coming from the furnace to the House is about $11.00 a Ft but only supposed to lose 1 degree of heat in 100 ft of pipe. Gonna save alot of money on insurance alone by not putting a wood furnace in the basement. Insurance company says as long as it is 25 ft away from the House they don't care..........Kid

Phil · Post by **Phil** » September 3, 2007, 9:42 pm

mmm smores.

prost66 · Post by **prost66** » September 3, 2007, 9:58 pm

Kid .you don't want the Elm.Have you ever tried to split any elm. it sucks.You want oak,cherry,poplar,ash,etc. The wood burners cost from about $4500 to $ 6500 here.Yes my buddy has heated floors from his with Glycol running thru Poly tubing. cutting ,hauling,splitting the wood is alot of work,and time. Merle

61 Merc · Post by **61 Merc** » September 3, 2007, 10:33 pm

My brother in Rimby AB has one connected to his trailer home and riding arena, costs him only a few dollars a year more than usual for power. His fires with wood, and I have also seen them run off coal and used oil.

Ford4jack · Post by **Ford4jack** » September 4, 2007, 9:18 am

Beware of sweetgum for firewood near impossible to split.

Also avoid wood that has been hit by lightning if the sap was up in it.
Cut a load of a oak that was hit by lightning once It was frozen at the time but when it defrosted it smelled terrible.

jwh f-100 · Post by **jwh f-100** » September 4, 2007, 10:57 am

Currently I do not but plan to as soon as I can to try and eliminate my $2,800 a year fuel costs. Although in my area they are everywhere. My brother-in-law has had one for 14 years and he said as soon as it "kicks the bucket" he will buy another one. He heats a 5 bedroom house and a 3 car garage. He works for a saw mill so all of his wood is free although he burns about 10 cords of wood a year. Around here that much wood would be about $1,300 - $1,400. He figures he would be spending $3,000 plus on fuel oil if not for the outdoor boiler. So when the day comes the wood is no longer avalible he will still be saving a bunch.
I am only dragging my feet for one reason. Years ago I purchased my property and a 40x48 garage from my folks for a spot to build my house and part of the deal is dad has use of the garage for a number of years. Two years from now it's all mine.

. The house and building are about 90' apart. There are out door boilers that are designed to go in a shed/structure (unlike most that are built enclosed)but I plan on installing it in the garage with my wood (no fighting with snow and mess) and I'll still have room for a couple projects and my daily driver......... Park my pick-up in the garage, fill the boiler, and head into the house or before I head out to work throw a couple of "sticks" on and jump in the truck and go. I hope to heat my house, the attached garage, and the garage where the boiler will be. I'm also lucky enough to have access to wood for nothing. Now all I need to do is wait for access to the buiding.

jwh f-100 · Post by **jwh f-100** » December 3, 2007, 10:43 am

Well, I did it. Bought me an outdoor woodboiler. As I mentioned earlier I was waiting to be able to do a different set up but when I recieved my first fuel bill in October I almost fell over backwards!! I did not want to find out what the January to March price will be. I sat down and did the math and it became a "no brainer" It is a Woodmaster 4400 and so far I love it.

The best part is sitting on the sofa at night and all I hear from the bacement is the slight sound of the zone circulators BUT never that loud, money burning, furnace firing up. Oh yeah it also sure was fun calling the fuel company and telling them not to bring me any more oil.

36truck · Post by **36truck** » December 3, 2007, 1:31 pm

A friend of mine is putting in a corn/pellet boiler. Sits outside with a 2 ton hopper to feed it. He grows corn so cost will be cheap for him.

dwbr · Post by **dwbr** » December 3, 2007, 3:56 pm

Down South here in Texas,, i havent even turned my Heater on this year, was running the A/C this weekend matter of fact,,,, but then again i have 400-500 electric bills in the summer, wood burning stoves isnt an option.. now if i could build a wood burning a/c unit that would be great
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iolite vaporizer

Post by **Greg D** » December 3, 2007, 4:41 pm

The one we have here works great! The heat pump pretty much doesn't kick on all winter. This one is just a fireplace insert too. Old friend of mine used to have a forced air one in his 3000 sq ft 100 year old house, his gas bill was about $15.00 a month in the winter, he had a gas stove & water heater.

66fordtrucknut · Post by **66fordtrucknut** » December 3, 2007, 8:04 pm

Hey Kid, the ones I looked at here are pretty cool because it doesn't matter what you burn in it (pine etc.) and what ever size, we have a woodburner and have had it for a long time, as far as elm and sweetgum, thats what a logsplitter is for, best 1200 bucks I ever spent and haven't seen anything it won't bust. I even used it bend a piece of sheetmetal for my truck one night, I have a friend that calls my garage the "Redneck rod shop"...wonder why?
Charlie

Post by **Kid** » December 3, 2007, 9:11 pm

They are coming to put mine in a Week from Today. I am also getting a deal to heat my water so I wil not be using Electric to run my Hot Water Heater. I will also be heating my Garage with it. I figured with my savings it would pay for itself in about 5 years with Propasne at $1.40 a Gallon but I payed $1.80 a Gallon for Propane a week or so ago in our rental house so it will pay for itself quicker. I have acess to alot of timber and have quite a bit of wood cut already but doubt it will go as far as I think. I have a wood slpitter.................Kid

Horsepower · Post by **Horsepower** » December 4, 2007, 6:19 pm

I took an indoor add on wood furnace with water and forced air heat and built a shed to put it in. Now I heat the house (forced air) and the garage (water pipe in the floor) at the same time. I couldn't heat this old farm house any other way! last year when I built it I was paying $375 a month for LP! Those days are long gone. But I built it all with piping and all for just under $1300. Paid for itself the first year.

Fordman · Post by **Fordman** » December 4, 2007, 7:23 pm

my brother in law makes his own. he uses 55 gallon drums for the burn chamber and then another larger drum around that to trap the heat. he then has ducts going from the outer barrel to the house and then back again with a mobile home furnace fan controling the heat for the house. it works real good. and he cuts his own wood. i wish i could put one in my yard. the one in my house just doesnt seem to keep it warm enough on some nights.

ICEMAN6166 · Post by **ICEMAN6166** » December 5, 2007, 2:12 pm

i happened to run across a gas forced air furnace yesterday while over at one of the neighbors -free- and threw it in the bed of my truck so now i can gut it and install the big blower.should really help.