Wood Fired Boiler

[steamfitter99]

Hey Guys, I am thinking quite seriously about a wood boiler. In this area it seems that Central Boilers are the brand most people go with. Does anyone have one, im sure people do, and how do you like it. And, what brand do you have? Thanks, Tom.

[CHA011]

I have a taylor 1280 kept and used in side, that I would sale and up grade.
I would guess the distance between us is to far for discussion. 570-622-1289

[Willyr]

Up this neck of the woods people are using wood boilers that are external to the house. From what I understand they work great as long as it stays cold out. Unlike propane or oil, wood fired you get going and keep going. If you get a warm spell that wood boiler will roast you out of the house! Grin, just something to think about.

[Lu47Dan]

Willy, roasting you out of the house would be a control issue, the controls should not be sending heat into the house unless the thermostats in the house are calling for heat.
I have looked at them all that are for sale in this area and I have thought of building my own. I am looking into a High Efficiency model to put in after I build my new shop. The problem with them is that you have to know all the factors, heat gain/loss, total square footage of all buildings heated, and a bunch of other stuff. I can not buy one for the projected sq/ft of all building as it can not handle the smaller sq/ft. I have thought of buying one for the house and one for the new shop when it is built but that would require loading two separate stoves everyday.
The best advice I can give you on what brand to buy is to get references from several different installers and talk to the people who are using that brand.
Dan.

[Tigerhaze]

In my neck of the woods (no pun intended), there are a mixture of wood furnances out there- the wood boilers and also wood furnances that directly radiate heat to the ducts without a boiler.

It seems the main complaints I have heard about the boilers are the need to go outside to feed them . I also thought I head something about long term corrosion/scaling of the water passages, but since I don't own one I can't speak on that.

[MattE]

I have one going on about ten years now. It is a central boiler.

Central is pretty good HeatMor is a little better. The only problem with my Central is there is no ash grate so every few months you need to let the fire die down to clean it out.

Here is the info you need to know.
They (all brands) are inefficient as all hell. If you don't have a large supply of free wood look at other heat sources. I burn 12-15 full cord to heat about 5000 sq ft in northern PA October-April That is house and shop + residential hotwater. My house and shop are both well insulated.

The pipes must be buried deep and be extreemly well insulated or you will lose a lot of heat to the ground.

On the + side I only stoke it once a day and I don't have heating bills unless you count all the time and effort that goes into cutting wood. I cut it long and don't split it. If I can pick it up it gets burnt.

Be careful how big a unit you buy it makes a difference.

Questions PM me and I'll send you my cell #

Matt

[Tiny Crawler]

If you are buying new, I Have a buddy that bought one of these, and loves it

http://www.greenwoodusa.com/residential.php

there are some good blogs out there, but you will get every Tom, Dick and Harry's option, Been wanting to get one myself


tiny..

[cat10til2]

I have a CozyBurn stove and have been running it for 4 years now. I have not burned a drop of oil since I installed it. The stove heats both my garage and my house. House is 30 x 36 and 3 stories and the garage is 26 x 40 and 2 stories. The house was built in 1858 and I built the garage the same year the boiler went in. I purposely undersized my unit by 1 size. The reason I did that is that when the boilers are calling for heat, the claim about an 85% efficiency. When they are not calling for heat, the efficency is near zero. Therefore, I bought a smaller unit that has to be filled more often, but it isn't sitting them smoldering away for long periods of time without the fan kicking in.
From the research that I did, there are very few difference between most of the stoves. They will be either made of mild steel or stainless steel and either round or square firebox. You will find very few other differences.
Check your building codes before going too far. Here in NY, they are passing all kinds of laws trying to make them illegal to use. Seems everyone wants alternative ways to heat until they find out how much it costs the other utilites when paople start to switch.
I will say this, if you do not like to spend a lot of time cutting, splitting and hauling wood, don't get an outdoor boiler. It is true that you can put bigger pieces in the stove (saving you time in cutting and splitting), but I have found that it burns much better if you take the time to do it.

[steamfitter99]

Hey thanks for the replies. I am leaning towards a Shaver boiler. They qualify for tax credit and have been around for a while. I have heated my 2000 square foot farm house for years with a Federal wood stove so I know all about cutting and splitting LOL. I burn about 4 or 5 cords a year in it and it is not a lot of work but I think I would like the boiler better. I currently have a ton of wood to split and I have a never ending supply. I also think I would be able to burn any species and not worry about finding hard wood. I also can heat my two garages with it and that would be a huge benefit. Thanks, Tom.