Anyone heard of these outdoor boilers??

Yep, I've heard of them, seen them, talked to them, etc......

I think some members here had them....and were pleased.

From what I could see they were built very well compared to some others.....as to the combustion system, I'm not too familiar. I did see some higher tech stuff they made in larger commercial chip burners....

A friend of mine has one and loves it!

Andrew

I have only seen one in action an Optimizer 250 , well built yes. But because it does not have a very big load it idles much of the time and when it does fire very rarely can get up to gasification temperatures .

Have you looked at the Garn Junior it would need a small out building .

if i was to get a OWB it would be a P&M. they look to be the best built units. always wondered how that optimizer would do with storage. might be great fit for something with high heat demand.

I read up on the P&M outdoor boilers, and those are really expensive. I think the last I looked at it, it was in the neighborhood of $20K installed. If you have an unlimited supply of dry, split wood on your property, and you don't mind the upfront cost, those things are unbelievably efficient.You will have to clean them regularly though, although they do make it pretty simple with the supplied tools that they provide.

P&M looked to be the easiest of the OWB to clean/maintain. i think the boiler itself was in the ballpark of $12k. what is your heat load? for YOU, why might this be more attractive than an indoor unit? are you ok with non-pressurized? i do agree that it would take a period of time for the second chamber to reach gassing temps so you would want to avoid the short cycling, hence storage. you could still batch burn small loads or put in massive storage. you would just need to run glycol or worry about the unit freezing between burns.

I am on my 2nd year with an Optimizer 250 and am pleased with it. I was seriously considering storage, but it seems to gasify quickly and not creosote up much after sitting idle so I don't think I would gain much in terms of efficiency. I have a fairly large heat load so during the coldest months it doesn't idle too much. I also turned down the airflow a bit to give it less output capacity and minimize idling. It is really easy to clean and maintain. One issue I have come across is the deterioration of the nozzle. Maybe mine is deteriorating quickly because I push through close to 20 cords a year. Other than that I would say it is a well made unit and would recommend it to anyone looking at a gasser.

James Reimer said:

I push through close to 20 cords a year

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Holy horsefeathers no wonder you don't get creosote. and you're right, you don't need storage.

"If I had an outdoor wood boiler , it would look like an Optimizer."

Barack Obama

Fred61 said:

Holy horsefeathers no wonder you don't get creosote. and you're right, you don't need storage.

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James lives not too far away from the city of "Winter Peg", which has the windiest and coldest intersection in Canada
aptly named Portage & Main!

Looks like whole rounds in there. Possibly not very dry. Explains all the steam.

I'm on third year with my P&M 250 and love it this being my second OWB. It uses about 1/3 the wood but wood need's to be dry,no smoke folks ask if it's going most times only smoke when loaded up after 15 min.nothing showing for smoke. There is some housekeeping about every 2 weeks this depends on weather and how much it's
going but if cleaned often no big deal. Pricey but well worth it IMO as Hobbyheater stated where P&M are made it is
cold as I talked to folks they stated tem. average 20* below and work well,this sold me as I am in an old 125 year old
farm house on top of hill with about a mile of open to the West overlooking the river and I can tell ya the wind blows
some hard but the P&M fills the bill keeping things 70* or more. Good luck I checked for mounts before buying everyone has different needs so check them all and decide what's best for you. Hope this help ya some

W.C.W.

Yup it's cold cold cold here! Highs of -20C and lows -30C already. I can hardly wait for -40C in January/February!! I think there's a reason why there are at least 4 furnace manufacturers within a 100 miles of me.

Also, I burn all softer woods as hardwoods are really hard to come by here on the bald prairies! I fill it up completely every 12 hours and let it go! I do have to clean it out every week because of the large amount of ash created by burning that quantity of wood. My house is a tall 2 1/2 story 110 year old farm house with minimal insulation so the wind really gets in.

When we moved here there was an outdoor smoke dragon. But many years of digging down through the snowbanks to reach the stove convinced me to build the shed in my avatar pic and buy a new Optimizer 250 to put in there. Loading twice a day is almost enjoyable now! My wife mentioned the other day that she wished we still had the old outdoor smoke dragon because then I didn't spend all evening playing with my stove.

hobbyheater said:

I have only seen one in action an Optimizer 250 , well built yes. But because it does not have a very big load it idles much of the time and when it does fire very rarely can get up to gasification temperatures .

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?????
All the 250's that I know of in my area of Mi (there are 5 owners that I communicate with) "get up to gasification temperatures" within a minute or two after they start to cycle-no matter the load size. If your friend's gasser is not, then perhaps you could send me or another 250 owner (there were a few other P&M owners commenting in this thread) his telephone number and maybe we can talk him through issues he might be having.

I'd have to agree with Marty. During the shoulder seasons the stove can idle for 4-6 hours at a time, and when it calls for heat, it starts gasifying in minutes. I've had it shutdown for over 12 hours and it started again on it's own.

James Reimer said:

I'd have to agree with Marty. During the shoulder seasons the stove can idle for 4-6 hours at a time, and when it calls for heat, it starts gasifying in minutes. I've had it shutdown for over 12 hours and it started again on it's own.

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whao, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. this aint a woodgun here!

Haha. I'm not saying the refractory was all up to temp, but there were red coals to get things going. It surprised me because I had shut it down to do a cleanout, then it started burning on me!