My fiancé and I just purchased our first home and I have always wanted to go the OWB boiler route and amazingly my town approved me to have one. We have a 1800sq ft ranch with a full basement with HWBB heat. We have a Jotul 500 in our family room and currently in the process of finishing the basement and I was originally going to install another big stove in the basement as I currently have no heat down there. So the catch is, this home is supposed to be a temporary home for 2-4yrs until we can make our move into the country. Ive come across a few nice OWBs on Craigslist that are somewhat local and a friend of mine is a dealer for Natures Comfort boilers so I can get good pricing and relatively cheap install if I cant handle the install myself. I have seen some people take their OWBs with them when they move and that would have to be the case where I live as not many people use OWBs so it would not add value to the home. Do you feel its worth going the OWB route based on my current plan? If I go the OWB route Ill still need to add a heating element in the basement.
Deabting if OWB is worth it right now
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velvetfoot
Minister of Fire
stee6043
Minister of Fire
I'd also wait. You invest a lot of money in the installation and/or reinstallation of a boiler. Paying for it twice will be hard to recover in just 2-4 years I suspect...
NateB
Feeling the Heat
If you really want to burn wood, I would get a stove. Locate it centrally, and it would heat well. It would also get you into to wood hauling shape.
OH_Varmntr
Burning Hunk
I would save my money for the next 2-4 years and if you still want to go the wood-heat route, buy a boiler setup with storage.
I have a Central Boiler OWB and wish I would have spent the money I have invested in it (right around $15k total) in a boiler with plenty of storage.
I have a Central Boiler OWB and wish I would have spent the money I have invested in it (right around $15k total) in a boiler with plenty of storage.
jotul?
Burning Hunk
I would save my money for the next 2-4 years and if you still want to go the wood-heat route, buy a boiler setup with storage.
I have a Central Boiler OWB and wish I would have spent the money I have invested in it (right around $15k total) in a boiler with plenty of storage.
X2
I have a Central Boiler OWB and wish I would have spent the money I have invested in it (right around $15k total) in a boiler with plenty of storage.
X2
What do you mean by a boiler with storage? I'm new to this and was looking into an owb.
If you are moving in that short period of time I would seriously recommend waiting. I'm in the install stages of my setup and I seriously underestimated the cost of the install. Unless you plan on uprooting everything to take with you I would wait.
maple1
Minister of Fire
Another vote for waiting. I think.
A good part of an outdoor burner investment is the underground piping. That investment will be very hard to recover or take with you if you move. Although if you 'temporarily' run it above ground rather than under, that might help. They also aren't quite plug & play, you will need to cut the plumbing into your existing system & undo that if you try to take it with you. Unless you put something totally separate in the house to distribute the heat, like unit heaters.
How much wood do you have ready to burn for this winter? If you can't keep it going all winter you will need to fill it with glycol, which I hear is also expensive.
Re. the storage question, lots of reading on here about that. My install thread in my sig shows a storage scenario.
A good part of an outdoor burner investment is the underground piping. That investment will be very hard to recover or take with you if you move. Although if you 'temporarily' run it above ground rather than under, that might help. They also aren't quite plug & play, you will need to cut the plumbing into your existing system & undo that if you try to take it with you. Unless you put something totally separate in the house to distribute the heat, like unit heaters.
How much wood do you have ready to burn for this winter? If you can't keep it going all winter you will need to fill it with glycol, which I hear is also expensive.
Re. the storage question, lots of reading on here about that. My install thread in my sig shows a storage scenario.
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