turning a indoor wood furnace to a outdoor wood boiler

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wlf89

Member
Oct 16, 2010
22
middle TN
can anyone give me advice on how to do this and make it as efficent as possible. our neighbor has one he will sell us but we was wanting an outdoor one thought we might could convert this one and be alot cheaper. or would i be better off just putting it in my house also would they smoke very much if i have the right flu set up when you open the door?
 
Legailities aside, turning a hot air furnace into a boiler would not be very practical. A boiler usually have a water jacket or similar arrangement aroung the firebox. You do not have that with a hot air furnace. With a proper chiminey (and perhaps a draft inducer for when you open the door) you can manage the smoke.
 
unless you are selling the things, you own it, do what you want. These are the words that are killing American creativity - approved,certified, listed. "come on" Do the research - Think it threw - then do it. A wood furnace could be converted by putting in a water tube type heat exchanger. welded or threaded. The burn efficiency will be poor unless some refractory is added.
 
it already has a water pipe inside the firebox for hot water use, is there anyway i could run a series of pipe in the heat box and then send it to the heat exchanger in my house. im just throwing out ideas i dont think that would be enough water to do the job would it.
 
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