Options for add on wood boiler or furnace

[Sparcky]

Hi, first post, been doing a lot of reading though. Always too much info to take in when starting to research options.

Looking to add-on a wood heating solution solution to existing LP gas furnace. Currently not living in the home full time, but will be in 2026, hence starting to research ahead of time.

Near North Bay, Ontario, Canada

Started searching for gasifiers, outside wood boilers units, (Heatmaster, Polar), then indoor wood boiler (Froling, Autonom, MBtek), then indoor wood furnace (Kuuma, Drolet. I have messaged Kuuma to see if they have a distributor in Canada, as the VF-200 sounded interesting if it is available)

As I already have a propane furnace and duct work, I am looking to add a wood option to reduce the cost of propane, as its getting even more expensive up here with our carbon tax added in. ( I figure it could be $5kin propane to heat for a full year at todays pricing)

Not a big place to heat. 1200 sf, main flr, 1200 sf basement, Would be either a water to air heat exchanger in ductwork for boiler, or parallel the LP furnace and wood furnace into existing ductwork. Propane would stay as backup in case we are away for extended period and fire goes out.

Cost is not the driving factor, but don ‘t need to have the best just because. Easy of use for wife is also big consideration. As is using less fuel.

Can anyone add anything to my already exhaustive searching that might help me decide the best route to seriously consider.

 

[Gearhead660]

How is your wood supply? Do you have any processed and drying? All of the new wood burners need dry wood. OWB can be very expensive. Since you already have a forced air furnace and duct work, an add on furnace may be best. Have you considered a wood stove? With only 1200 sqft to heat, a stove should be able to carry the heat load.

 

[Sparcky]

Thanks for the reply. I do have some wood currently that is dry, and more that is cut just needs to be split and stacked. However, I would be basing this on mostly having to buy wood instead of cutting and splitting myself. I could supplement a bit of wood for free from my property, but not the entire yearly amount that I might need. I have thought a bit about a wood stove and also cold climate heat pumps
.
Reason I didn't go much further with a wood stove is from people I know that have them, saying that while they do provide good heat, the extra mess, etc inside is a bit of a PITA. Cold climate heat pumps are getting up there in cost, but not quite as much as OWB.

Indoor wood boiler seem to me that they cost would be a bit less that OWB as the trenching for burying the insulated line, power runs, etc, are not needed.

Indoor wood furnace seems even a bit less, due to not needing heat exchangers, tanks, etc. but would required minor duct work mods.

Does my ramblings make sense?

This is a learning experience, investigating all the different options.

 

[salecker]

I am in northern Canada, Yukon
Have a 1100 square foot house with basement and loft bedroom
I went with a boiler in a separate building as we have a volunteer fire department, my wife and daughter had asthma, and the mess.
I built a building to specifically house my heating system.I have 1000 gallons of storage for the wood boiler and my back up oil boiler is in the same building .The bonus is a 24/7 heated workshop.
I use 8 cords of spruce to heat with wood.Once the temps warm up i shut off the heating system till fall.
Living in a log house, if there was wood heat in it the insurance costs would be astronomical with a volunteer fire department.

 

[brenndatomu]

Easy of use for wife is also big consideration. As is using less fuel.

The Kuuma is almost idiot proof...and very efficient...and reliable. I know they sell into Canada, but don't know exactly how its done.

 

[all night moe]

So many pros and cons of each. If the mess of a wood stove in the house is a deterrent, you thing more in the lines of an outdoor unit. In it's own building is nicer. Your loading and maintenance is done in a warm envelope. An indoor wood furnace/boiler will still be messy inside. Nature of the beast. Although, at least it's in the basement. You need to be able to keep a supply of wood down there too. Outside entry or cellar window to bring wood in. Some do an indoor unit with plenty of thermal water storage outside like @salecker . If you choose outside, possibly find a good used unit, so all the plumbing isn't such a financial blow. Indoor boilers really benefit from thermal storage tanks too. With adequate storage, fire it up to charge the storage. Run it heavy until it's done. Called batch burning. My take, I perceive hydronic heating to be more efficient. With a heat exchanger and ductwork, or not.

For me, I am choosing an outdoor boiler in a "boiler house," as I call it. Large enough to comfortably service the boiler and hold, say, 10 cord of wood. 10 cord is over kill but there's a safety margin of always having enough for a entire burning season. The con: have to go out to access the boiler. I like that better than processing wood outside, bringing it to the basement entry and tossing it in, and stacking over near the furnace. A boiler house will save me a ton of work.

Hope this helps.

 

[sloeffle]

I've had all three except an indoor boiler ( Froling, Varm, etc ).

My parents partially heated their house with an old very inefficient coal stove when I was kid. I guess that's how I caught "the bug". When I bought my current house I installed a Dutchwest Catalytic stove. When I put my house addition on, the room layout was planned around a chimney chase from the basement for a PSG Caddy wood furnace. I moved to a much more efficient way to process my wood and due to the lack of "real winter" I was tearing up my yard pretty badly putting wood totes into my walkout basement. I needed to either stop burning wood or change what I was burning wood in. With Uncle Joe's all you can eat 30% rebate ( yes it ended being 30% vs 26% ) I went to Heatmaster G4000 outside, and then I had a building built around it and sold the Caddy because I was tired of the mess in basement. IMHO it was starting ( 10 or 11 years ) to come to the end of its useable life for that particular model due to a design flaw. The furnace took a few years to get up to speed so I wasn't constantly over heating the house. I know the Kuuma, and Heat Commander furnaces are much more forgiving in that department than my Caddy was.

From a cost perspective, the wood stove is cheapest, and the OWB being the most expensive. From a usability perspective I'd say the OWB is the easiest to use and the wood stove being the most finicky. If I was to buy another wood stove it would be a tube stove for sure. Learning to fine tune a catalytic stove took a while to master, and a windy day would throw a wrench into the whole thing. Maybe the newer stoves are not as finicky.

With my OWB, I stir the coals up, throw half a dozen pieces of wood in it twice a day, and shut the door and set the thermostat to whatever temperature I like and do a 10 minute cleaning once a week. With the OWB, if there are issue it's definitely a lot more complicate to troubleshoot than the wood stove or the wood furnace was. If you are not self sufficient / can't troubleshoot issues yourself I recommend NOT owning a OWB.

Not a popular opinion on a wood burning site but if you are looking at a wood burning appliance to save money I think if you do the ROI figures you will realize they it isn't that great, especially if you are buying wood. I burn wood because I want to be somewhat energy independent, plus I have hundreds of dead ash trees that I hate to see go to waste. If money wasn't and object I'd have a Froling with 1k gallons of storage sitting in my building vs a G4000. Gasification OWB's turn into creosote making factories if they aren't run hard. That's the beauty of a boiler and storage. If the temperatures are in the 50's you make a fire once every few days and then let it coast on storage. My OWB has roughly 130 gallons of water so I can only coast for a few hours in warmer temperatures.

If you can't get ahead a a few years on having dry wood you'll have a miserable experience with any modern wood burning appliance. I see it pretty much everyday on the Heatmaster Facebook group. If you are having to buy wood, you'll need to outlay a decent amount of money to get ahead ( please see my ROI comment above ). I'd also recommend doing all of the insulation and air sealing upgrades that you can afford. It's the gift that keeps on giving back 24x7, no cutting, splitting or stacking is required.

 

[Sparcky]

great info above

I had a discussion today with someone in the wood business. What it came down to was their comment that buying wood instead of processing your own, can make wood burning as a main heat source prohibitive. Couple this with the mess of wood inside, if your used to it, great, but if your not it might become a nuisance. I know this is a learning experience that will determine if wood is even right for me.
Wood pellets were mentioned. Not a huge cost difference between cut, split and delivered, and pellets according to my calculation. Read a few places that said 1tonne of pellets = approx 1.5 bush cord of wood. And not likely the same mess inside. Thoughts?

I want to make sure I explore all the options, so I can rule certain things out, and start reducing the options.

 

[brenndatomu]

The mess depends somewhat on your house/setup...if you have an indoor burner right near a walkout basement door, and can easily get the wood stacked close to said door, that helps a lot.
I can bring a pallet of wood right into the basement level attached garage and the Kuuma is 40' away...basement is only partially finished and we really don't find it all that messy with this setup.