Outdoor wood burning boilers???

[2zwudz]

    Does anyone have any experience with outdoor wood boilers for heating?
I did a search and didn't come up with much.  We have so many "explorers" on this site I would think that someone on here has some knowledge of this type of heating.

Thanks
Mark

[MountainDon]

There a couple folks here who have IIRC.... we'll see.
Maybe John (redoverfrm)    or ScottA     or.... 

[glenn kangiser]

Not the greatest in my opinion.

They were made to get around pollution, air quality and safety laws or issues and insurance considerations mostly. 

I have no personal experience with them.  Just what I've read and my reasons for not going to one.  I don't want to get dressed, run out in the snow, rain, wind or other inclement weather to stoke up the fire.  Not practical for me and I like the fire indoors so I can just back up to it and toast my buns if I desire. 

An inside fire responds quickly to changes with proper fire management and dry fuel.  We can warm the cabin in about 15 minutes if we want.  We can put in a big log for over night or a little fuel for a quick slight warm up and no more.  We can barbecue steaks in it too.

I don't want to deal with water lines, pumps, heat exchangers etc.  Too complicated.

Maybe others have reasons they like one but I wouldn't consider it myself.

[Redoverfarm]

Mark I had made a post on this subject but I do not recall what the subject matter was about so it might take me some time to find it.  I did however find these post on Outdoor Furnaces that you could look over.

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?action=search2

[Redoverfarm]

Mark I think this was the post that I made.  There were several post on this so you might have to check before and after my post.  Hope this helps you out.

John



http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=3900.msg46287#msg46287

[NM_Shooter]

That's an interesting idea.  I wonder how you keep from overheating the water?

-f-

[Redoverfarm]

Mark  I had one in 1996 it was a Hicks. There is one made by Hardy and also Taylor.  They have improved them alot the last couple of years. I went to Southern State and they had some there which were like a small barn shaped. Advertised as Stainless Steel tank and tubes.  They are used quite widely in this area given the availability of the wood.

[Ernest T. Bass]

What about the possibility of freezing in the dead of winter if the power goes out? That's the main reason we've steered clear of them. That and the expense, and the complicated system that requires maintenance, and the pollution...

We have many friends that use them, and have heard horror stories about the (very expensive) underground piping.. One family who lives on wet soil has had to replace their entire line three times since they installed the thing, not all that long ago.

[Redoverfarm]

Well they are essentially a water line and the installation of the supply, return lines should be treated just like you would with a well supply line. Below the frost line depth.  The water circulation pump and draft fan are 110 and a midsized generator should suffice.  Ran my off a generator several times during outages. The lines that I used were "pex" the same used in indoor water supply.  Never had any problems except cutting and splitting the winter supply of wood.

It might be possible that the wrong type of pipe was used and/or too shallow buried. 

The biggest advantage was the domestic hot water which is the greatest expense in utilities.

[ScottA]

Boilers = High maintenace  Wood boiler = Higher maintenace

What are you planning to do with it? Heat, hot water, both?