I'm looking into alternative heating sources for my new house and pole barn. The outdoor furnaces that burn wood or corn look to be pretty nice, but the initial cost is quite high. Are these things worth it, or are they a PITA?? Anyone here have one? Do you like it. I've been getting quotes as high as $10k installed for a small system. Is that too high?

Kris

I know some here one has one of these.

go and ask in the survial area or search it.
i remember it was discussed awhile back in SF.

btt

I've looked at them heavily. Great output but expensive upfront cost. $10K is right on target. I've seen them as low as $7K and as high as $15K. I've also seen plans to build them. It's basically a boiler system.

Quoted: I've looked at them heavily. Great output but expensive upfront cost. $10K is right on target. I've seen them as low as $7K and as high as $15K. I've also seen plans to build them. It's basically a boiler system.

Any links to the plans or some one who sells them?

me, my father, and my brother all do tree removal. they heat their houses with a wood stove.

its highly cost effective for them, since the fuel ( wood ) is free.   but its a VERY time costly task.
you have to cut, split, and stack the wood, you need the place to store it, and you have to fill the thing twice a day. he goes through almost a cord a week i think, for a pretty large house.


heres my advice. if you get a wood stove  / boiler, get a GOOD chainsaw, and buy a decent wood splitter.  call the local tree removal companies nearby you and tell them if they need to get rid of wood, you WANT it. you dont want to pay for it though, since you are doing them a favor by giving them a place to get rid of their logs.  i dont know where youre at but... you need to tell them HARDWOODS only. with the exception of maple.  

we give away 70% of our wood.  dont let anyone drop off boxelder, or willow.   maple, ash, oak, elm, walnut, black cherry trees all split and burn good.  we give away so much wood because we dont have time to cut, split, stak and sell it... we make more money cutting down the trees and it helps us to have people we can just dump it off to.

itll take a long time before the high initial cost starts to pay for its self, but if you plan on before there for 20 years and get free wood the way i mentioned, itll pay off.

any questions send me a message

ETA- ive seen alot of people get good stoves for $6500 but i dont know if that includes install / water pipes / etc...  and it helps TONS to put them in an insulated shed with a chimney sticking out... by doing so it saves ALOT of wood while providing better heat

Woodmaster!


www.woodmaster.com


I think the price is around 6 or 7 thousand bucks to get started with the stove.  Its an outdoor boiler system, with a self contained (or isolated) water system, so you don't have to worry about it contaminating your home heating system.  It employes a heat exchanger sytem to pre- heat water before it enters your existing heating systems.  When you choose not to use your outdoor boilers, or you're gone for an extended time and the fire goes out, your propane or natural gas will take over as nothing happened.

They offer systems to work on forced air, hot water radiant heat, and you can hook it up to your water heater as well.  To install it, plumbing into your home heating system first, then your hot water heater is about the way to go.  No more cold showers ever.  Thats damn near worth it alone.

As for the wood burning part, its got a forced air fan that kicks on when the water temperature drops to a certain temperature (~160*) and kicks off at around 170*.  I think this may be adjustable, I cannot remember for sure...  It has a fairly large firebox, you can cut your logs about 36" long and as large as you can heave into the stove.  Beyond that, fill it up and let it burn... no big deal.

Maintainence isn't huge.  When its not in use, you scrap the kreosote out and I think woodmaster supplies a treatment to apply to the firebox.  I don't think the chimney needs any sweeping, its short and not in your house to burn it down...  You can also buy extensions (up to 10 feet) if your short chimney puts smoke into your house.


The one challange to placing the stove, is to get it some place where the smoke doesn't blow into your house.  Aside from keeping the smell of out, if you choose to burn some treated wood, it won't make your babies be born naked...

Uh, thats all I can remember for now.  Hope it helps...