Ridgewood 6000

Good luck hope it works for you. Would not have been what I would have chosen.

I have gone the gasification route, but if you already ordered it. Good for you, and when our boilers wear out. We can compare experiences, and know what to buy next time. Have fun hooking it up. I am doing my install by myself, and I am learning a lot.

Bwhunter, You won't get a whole lot of love around here because its not a gasser. Head over to http://outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com/forum/ You will get alot more words of encouragement over there.

Did alot of research. Seems solid for a great price. Called the guys and they are awesome to talk to. I backed out due to our first baby due and a remodel at the house. Lotta owb haters here. Seems you already got some hate responses. Old school owb fit some peoples styles just fine. Just feed it dry wood like my neighbor does his old cb "smoke dragon" and enjoy! He burns about 1.5-2 cord more than i do which is nothing comparsd to the convenience
Ps his cb classic hardly smokes actually quite impressive setup. If we werent having our first born here soon i would have a ridgewood 6000 sitting outback right now. Keep us posted on your first season. If they are still in buisness next year its who im going with!

Not sure what I said that was hate, but I wish you well. I hope it works great for you.

Guess i interpreted messages wrong. But any time anyone asks about owb here the first response is always indoor boiler in a shed with 1,000 plus gallons of storage. That doesnt sit well with many people for mulptiple reasons. Not saying you imlied that. I have about 5 people i know with old school owb and all the negatives i read here about them just arent true. They dont burn 20 cord and smoke all day everyday. Unless you cut ans throw in right away or your heating green houses which none do. All of them heat their house and a shop and burn about 7-8 cord a year which is impressive given their sq ft and dhw. All of them cut a year ahead of time and actually split their wood so good practices seem to make a huge impact on the conventional outdoor setups

Bwhunter are you going to plumb this yourself? Are you planning on having a backup heat source?

tjcole50 said:

If they are still in buisness next year its who im going with!

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Wouldn't be my first choice (customer service stand point )if there is a possibility of going out of business in 12 months.

Is Ridgewood a start up company?

They have been around for a bit. I would agree on the company being in buisness part. But not the whole iwb/owb setup. They claim they will continue making them because michigan isnt effected by the epa rules. I doubt that and not sure how they would be...

tjcole50 said:

Guess i interpreted messages wrong. But any time anyone asks about owb here the first response is always indoor boiler in a shed with 1,000 plus gallons of storage. That doesnt sit well with many people for mulptiple reasons. Not saying you imlied that. I have about 5 people i know with old school owb and all the negatives i read here about them just arent true. They dont burn 20 cord and smoke all day everyday. Unless you cut ans throw in right away or your heating green houses which none do. All of them heat their house and a shop and burn about 7-8 cord a year which is impressive given their sq ft and dhw. All of them cut a year ahead of time and actually split their wood so good practices seem to make a huge impact on the conventional outdoor setups

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All you have to do is compare the heat exchangers and flue temp on an conventional outdoor boiler with a downdraft gasser and its very obvious the outdoor boiler is going to burn much more wood. Any boiler without storage is going to smoke like a train when it comes out of idle.

I have the 6000 and love it... I'm not rich, like some here, and don't really give a rats rear end about trying to set up 1000 gallons of storage. I used approx. 8 to 8.5 cords during our fridged last winter heating our 2100sf home and hot water. I did my entire install myself. Don't listen to people that don't even own one. Ridgewood is newer in the last 10 years yes, but their customer service is absolutely the best... I'm talking like the best, over any other purchase I've ever made in my entire life... The owner himself took the time to meet me on a Sunday to give me a tour of the facility, and walk me through their build process and simple design.

I rarely even come here anymore mainly because it is no longer a place for outdoor boiler people. They should just give the gas guys their own section so they can just relax, and not have to tell us how horrible our decisions are.

As for our wonderful state of Michigan, yes we indeed passed a bill stating that the EPA can kiss our rear quarters and stay out of our business. Ridgewood aint going anywhere but up. They continue to grow rapidly, and add new stoves and improvements every single year!

I also installed a Side Arm setup. They need to be installed "CORRECTLY" or their performance will only be sub par at best. Out of everything there is more bad information than good available on the installation of these sidearms. If you want help, let me know. Do not, I repeat, do not, install the side arm coming off of the hot side, nor the cold side...

Here is mine, and we have yet to run out of hot water with a family of 2 adults and 1 kid showering everyday, dishes, laundry, etc. Make sure you put in a good mixing valve.

tjcole50 said:

They have been around for a bit. I would agree on the company being in buisness part. But not the whole iwb/owb setup. They claim they will continue making them because michigan isnt effected by the epa rules. I doubt that and not sure how they would be...

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They claim it, because it is true.
You complain enough to your Rep's, they help draft a bill, it passes, and your Governor signs it into law...

tjcole50 said:

Guess i interpreted messages wrong. But any time anyone asks about owb here the first response is always indoor boiler in a shed with 1,000 plus gallons of storage. That doesnt sit well with many people for mulptiple reasons. Not saying you imlied that. I have about 5 people i know with old school owb and all the negatives i read here about them just arent true. They dont burn 20 cord and smoke all day everyday. Unless you cut ans throw in right away or your heating green houses which none do. All of them heat their house and a shop and burn about 7-8 cord a year which is impressive given their sq ft and dhw. All of them cut a year ahead of time and actually split their wood so good practices seem to make a huge impact on the conventional outdoor setups

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I can only speak for myself, but I'm one of those who mentions the indoor in a shed thing sometimes and believe me, there is no hate involved. I have just seen some make a choice & regret it later because they didn't know about other things they could have chosen that would have fit their personal preferences better. I want my fire in the house so an OWB wasn't a consideration, but I was almost one of those who made a wrong choice (FOR ME) without knowing what else was out there, for what I wanted. If someone still decides on an OWB after getting other suggestions to think about, because it better fits what they want - well, that's fine. I also have friends & neighbours with them, and I certainly harbour no OWB hate towards them.

Congrats on your wood fired boiler plan. Yes, most members here are about gassers with me in that list. I am impressed with the Ridgewood over other owb companies. They have kept a low pricepoint with a very well built and simple design. When I was shopping boilers, they were under different ownership and I passed them by. Since that time, I have heard largely good reviews.

My opinion on owb is about the owner/operator. If you respect your neighbors and do right by them, more power to you. Many times I have seen those buggers streaming thick plumes at ground level across several homes. These are the people who have necessitated the more stringent epa regulations. Blaming the epa for brown brained boiler operators is an attempt to shift blame.

Stay warm

Not much love on here for the OWB crowd. I have a Ridgewood 2000 (I think it is their 1500 model now). I like it. Going into my second year. Lots of good wisdom on here for your distribution system though. Check out www.outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com for more like minded folks.

Greenwood 100 here, not a true gasser but I couldn't be happier , took awhile to get it dialed in, doing the install myself. But finally, just turned on the boiler power switch after a good summer slumber, and the GW woke right up and started making huge amounts of hot water....Need to finish up my storage soon, then , I expect it will be at its best...There are many options beyond the gasser, and many of them have advantages over gassers....

GENECOP said:

There are many options beyond the gasser, and many of them have advantages over gassers....

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Other than the wood being outside the ability to burn "wet" wood what are some other advantages? Two months ago I was all set on a Garn but the more read the more I'm undecided.

Another important question, how easy is it for the wife(or someone unfamiliar with the system ) to make a fire? If she struggles to make fire or smells like smoke when she is done that burner is a no go at my place.

Buzz Saw said:

Other than the wood being outside the ability to burn "wet" wood what are some other advantages? Two months ago I was all set on a Garn but the more read the more I'm undecided.

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Just to clarify you don't burn wet wood. You dry it in your firebox, and collect the steam in your exhaust stack, which will lead to a premature failure of something in your boiler, and a waste of BTUs. After you finish drying the wood, then you will start to heat water. Don't trust a salesman who tells you its ok to burn wet wood in our boiler.

Buzz Saw said:

Another important question, how easy is it for the wife(or someone unfamiliar with the system ) to make a fire? If she struggles to make fire or smells like smoke when she is done that burner is a no go at my place.

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I have the same issue as you. My wife would throw a piece or 2 in a wood stove inside, but there ain't no way I could get her to go outside to load a boiler. The solution I came up with is a boiler in the garage, with storage in the basement. I heat the storage in the morning, and she stays warm all day. When I am not home the oil takes over. I hope to add a heat pump hot water heater next summer, to heat the storage for DHW.

Hope this helps. feel free to ask questions

So for all of us who have decided to use wood as a primary source of heating we work at it, it doesn't matter what brand of boiler you purchased, self loading, gasifier, chip, whatever, it is a lot more involved than writing a check to the oil man, so for most of us there is something else about it that we find rewarding...In my current situation if I had to do it over again I would go Seton or Greenwood, the main reason is time, currently still working , my wood source (mostly) is local tree guys pulling onto my property and dumping hardwoods, the sizes can range from 2' long to 10' long, and up to 30" diameter pieces..what I am able to do because of my boiler style is basically cut up into pieces large junks, non split, if I can lift it, and it fits through the door, in it goes...Some of these big junks will burn for HOURS...The thought of processing these loads down to small split pieces is not appealing to me. Now if I was retired, and had more time, hanging out behind a splitter for a few hours a day cracking logs could be fun, chit you can even have a couple buddies come over, have a few beers, and watch wood split...but these days, I have to just get it done. Additionally, while I try not to, higher moisture wood will burn easily AFTER the Greenwood is up to temp, with the thermal mass, (which remains crackless) keeps the chamber Very hot, when you add pieces at the hottest point, the GW will burn just about anything. I am not saying these units are perfect, nothing is perfect, but between the huge amount of hot water the GW can make, the large pieces it can use, and the height temp thermal mass, it's perfect for me....After my new storage is complete, it should even be better...

Nate, my setup is similar, GW in garage, I use a Nyle Geyser for domestic year round....