Outdoor wood boilers

Do any of y'all have an outdoor wood boiler? I'm considering switching from my indoor wood stove which seems to be barely keeping up to one of the large outdoor ones. Anyone have experience with them? How often do you have to stoke it? Thanks!

Re: Outdoor wood boilers

While I do not have one (YET) alot of my neighbours do.
Research the MFG's, there are alot of fly by night ones out there, the warranty is something to pay attention to!!!!!!!!!


Biggest issue that seems to happen is there is an issue with pin holes in the boiler element (dissimulier metals (sp) and you get electrolisis causing the the walls to get the pin holes do to a low or high PH balance (Air bubble arcs to the metal and punches a hole over time.
See ford 7.3 diesels electrolisis, thats my bet.

Re: Outdoor wood boilers

My neighbor has one and he uses hot water heat. He burns BIG logs regardless if they are pine or hardwood. On occasion it smokes to beat the band.

I have forced hot air heat and I am not going to try to build a heat ex-changer. My 150 year old post and beam does fine with forced hot air.

Maybe if I move into another home someday.

I have been looking into solar to supplement my heat

Re: Outdoor wood boilers

I'm in the process of building a cabin and have done some research on the outdoor boilers. What I found was that the outdoor boilers you see are horribly inefficient, 25-50% if you're lucky. Most of the heat goes right out the chimney along with tons of pollutants. Depending on the size house you are heating, you could burn 10-15 cords of wood a year up here in the northern states. Loading times depend on outside temps and the size of the boiler fire chamber. I would expect loading every 1-3 days.
After reading about these I began to see myself with a part-time wood processing job without pay except for the saving on propane/gas.
I eventually found a boiler type called Gasification, which is a much more engineered outdoor boiler that can be up to 90% efficient. It uses half the wood and emits mostly steam from the chimney. they cost more but IMO, are the future of outdoor boilers.
Check them out on youtube/google.
I've decided to wait to buy an outdoor boiler until the price of the gasification style come down.

Re: Outdoor wood boilers

So, chief, what's your current setup?

I've got a wood burning furnace and heats my place really well. I go through about 5-6 cords per winter.

My neighbor has an OWB, just coughed up about $13K for his system He burns triple what I do Crazy!

Re: Outdoor wood boilers

My son has an outdoor boiler that he uses to heat his 40 X 60 shed. It has water tubes in the concrete floor. Nice and clean, and has a propane boiler backup inside the building. He does burn a LOT of wood. Depending on the weather, he must stoke every 24 to 48 hours, and he turns the temp down to 45 every night, though the floor has a lot of heat in it and it stays warm nearly all night. Depending on the weather again.

Re: Outdoor wood boilers

Very good friend sells and installs them. He loves his ... It will burn coal, wood, or oil. He used wood till he got older and couldn't handle the cutting and loading. Now he mostly uses coal with the exception of vacations when the oil will kick on after the fire goes it. Keeps heat to the house and keeps the boiler and pipes from freezing.

Also does his domestic hot water. In the summer he burns his junk mail and newspapers in the furnace and that is enough to keep the domestic hot water hot!

Some a better than others, as already mentioned. High smoke stack and catalytic converter are musts. As for how often you stoke, that is a lot of variables. Generally once a day ...give or take for temp, etc.

Re: Outdoor wood boilers

I know that Bondo built one a few years back and you can probably searc for it in this section

Re: Outdoor wood boilers

Jason, currently I have a US Stove Co indoor woodstove in which I burn about 4-5 cords of ash wood. It heats OK, but the fire only lasts about 3 hrs and the coals about 7.. if I sleep in I have to start a new fire every morning. I'm looking at either a owb or a wood furnace installed in the garage.

Re: Outdoor wood boilers

Hmmm, that's about how long my burns last too. I actually really enjoy the routine of getting the fire going, stoking it later, add a few pieces, enjoy the heat first thing in the morning along with a strong cup of coffee... Ya know, that sort of thing.

Hey, do they even allow OWB's in Port Huron? Or are you further out?

Re: Outdoor wood boilers

Jas, I live about 30 miles out of Port Huron, its just the closest town of any size. Do you have a wood stove or a wood furnace?

Re: Outdoor wood boilers

1973Chieftain said:

Jason, currently I have a US Stove Co indoor woodstove in which I burn about 4-5 cords of ash wood. It heats OK, but the fire only lasts about 3 hrs and the coals about 7.. if I sleep in I have to start a new fire every morning. I'm looking at either a owb or a wood furnace installed in the garage.

Click to expand...

We replaced our old air tight with a new blaze king-king we heat 2000sq (main floor and upstairs) and went from 5-6 cord down to 2.5-3 cord this year.
Burn time was between 16-36 (48 HRs is a total push but can be done) hours depending on how warm we wanted it.

Re: Outdoor wood boilers

1973Chieftain said:

Do you have a wood stove or a wood furnace?

Click to expand...

Furnace, 35 year old Energy Mate that's just about wore out.

I bought this guy that I'll install for next winter...

BIG JACK ADD-ON WOOD FURNACE

Super heavy duty piece of equipment, very nice.