We will retired to a northern lake where we are able to use outdoor wood heat. Can you help me make the right choice for our needs. What should I be looking for in a wood boiler or outside wood furnace? I have done some web surfing but.....most reports do not include all the companies. Is there a national directory that gives honest evaluation of all the brands out there? Has anyone one of these heaters that is several years old operating without problems?
Where does one get honest evaluations?
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First of all welcome to the forum.
Second you are in the right place to learn all you ever wanted to know & a lot you probably didnt ;-) .
The good news is there are lots of reputable firms that build/sell wood gasification boilers, many have been around for decades with plenty of satisfied customers.
Most members here will recommend that you go that route (wood gasification) as it is far more efficient & neighbor friendly.
The choice in units is wide & varied, so probably the best place to start is with a description from you as to the size, shape, type of construction, R value of insulation, etc of your retirement home, as much info as possible is helpful.
Congrats on the retirement by the lake BTW, hope I make it there as well some day. Retirement that is.....well the lake too, sounds nice.
The reason for all that info on the house is so members will not waste your time & theirs by recommending units that are too small/large or that don't fit your budget/preference.
As I said there are a lot of choices, may as well let the "been there - done that crowd" help narrow it down for you, as there are units you will want to avoid as well as those you should look closely at.
Second you are in the right place to learn all you ever wanted to know & a lot you probably didnt ;-) .
The good news is there are lots of reputable firms that build/sell wood gasification boilers, many have been around for decades with plenty of satisfied customers.
Most members here will recommend that you go that route (wood gasification) as it is far more efficient & neighbor friendly.
The choice in units is wide & varied, so probably the best place to start is with a description from you as to the size, shape, type of construction, R value of insulation, etc of your retirement home, as much info as possible is helpful.
Congrats on the retirement by the lake BTW, hope I make it there as well some day. Retirement that is.....well the lake too, sounds nice.
The reason for all that info on the house is so members will not waste your time & theirs by recommending units that are too small/large or that don't fit your budget/preference.
As I said there are a lot of choices, may as well let the "been there - done that crowd" help narrow it down for you, as there are units you will want to avoid as well as those you should look closely at.
If you have the choice, be sure you are heating either/both with in-floor radiant (pex) or low temperature emitters (panels, LOW temperature baseboard). Your options expand, efficiency increases, and life becomes much better. Regardless of how you will heat with hot water, if you want to heat with wood, I cannot imagine a reason not to buy a wood gasification boiler.
Welcome, I too am new to this site, I wish that I had found this site before I was finished with my system! It has worked out (my boiler/radiant heat system) just as I had wanted, beginers luck? My 2 cents for you is after my (limited) experience with my boiler (Wood Gun designed for indoor use) is that I could not imagine having to go outside and across the yard to tend to my fire! Not that it takes much attention, but I am guilty of being a "tinkerer" and just like to slip over to my new shiney boiler and check it out, maybe just until the "new" wears off... I don't know, but I am sure that there will be times with any wood fired device that the unexpected will hapen, fire out, fell asleep and didn't load, etc. . That might be a beech at 10pm and in your undies, 100 ft. to the OWB, 10 deg. dark and snowing! Thats a senario that probably will hapen! It seems that most of the guys here have a indoor gasser and I havent seen many posative posts when it comes to OWB's. My boiler is in an attached (12'X13") room (concrete slab) on the outside of our house "footprint" and I have plenty of room to clean the boiler and store a few days worth of wood, the rest of my wood is just next to this "boiler room" under roof. Beside that that long thought I would add a few others. Provide for a hood vent or power venting of some sotr for this room, there will on occasion be smoke no matter what you do. And if possible, try to design so that you can use the heat radiated from the boiler. I did not think of this and my "boiler room" does get up over 100 deg., real nice for drying wet clothes and firewood, but if I keep the door (insulated exterior) to the rest of the house open it warms up the house and throws off (satisfies) the thermo. for the radiant heat and my toes get cold! Good Luck!
What he said ^^^^. I learned A LOT on these forums. Sometimes a particular brand owner may be slightly biased(we all like to brag about "our" stuff)...but I don't think you can get any better honesty than you'll find in this area.
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