Any one have a Woodmaster OWB 5500?

[cheseapeke]

I started using this this past fall. Just wanted to compare costs and operation issues. We are almost out of wood. We have burned approx 16 cord so far! Had we still have trouble when it falls to the teens getting the house above 60. We switched to this after using 2 wood stoves (10 cord) and 950 gallons of oil last year. Any tips?
Deb

 

[pfitter]

I have the 4400 and I know where your coming from on the wood consumption. I've had mine 1 1/2 seasons and the efficiency level is terrible. Last winter I went through about 15 chord but not the best wood' so far this year have used about 9. the only thing that I can think of that might help you is to put a switch on the fan, I did this so the solenoid that opens the damper will still work and I can run the unit natural draft or forced draft if I want a quick temp rise. This helps some' If you have access to some coal throw about a 5 gal bucket full in with your wood and this extends the burn time quite a bit, might not be a good idea if you have close neighbors as coal is a bit stinky. I am going back to an inside boiler, it's on order now. The reasons are several, excessive wood consumption is only one, going out in the rain, cold and dark to load so can get through the night is a major issue with me. As a final thought I can run my inside wood stove and the boiler at the same time and use less wood than the boiler by it self. Hope this helps but these things are just very inefficient and not much you can do in the way of mods to the boiler that makes much difference.

 

[cheseapeke]

Boy, that is depressing. We are burning green wood, so I don't know if that makes any difference. Our wood provider went out of business and didn't inform us until we called to see where our wood was in the fall. We were orgianlly looking at a Central Boiler, but friends with a WM reccommended we get that, which we did. They have an older one, same size and have only burned 6 cord of soft wood so far this year. I do have a huge old farm house that we are slowly trying to insulate. I have to stick with this OWB because we had to take a second mortagage to pay for it.
Last year we burned about 10 cord indoor (2 wood stoves) and 950 gallons of oil. So we probably are still saving from last year.
Deb

 

[Eric Johnson]

You might want to check the output temp of the boiler and compare it to the temp of the water entering your house. Sounds like you might have a problem with your underground plumbing. The temps should be within a couple degrees of each other. If not, then the problem is in your piping.

And yes, you'll burn a lot more green wood in any woodburning appliance than you will with dry wood.

Insulating the house is a good idea.

It all adds up.

Good luck.

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

Ok, BUTB

Are you saying you burned nearly 1,000 of oil, plus 1152 ft3 of wood, all in the mid-South?!!??

Is your roof a big blue tarp by any chance?? :roll:

 

[cheseapeke]

Yes we did burn that much! We are in Upstate NY. We live in a Greek Revival that should be down south! We have 12 ft ceilings in most of the house! It was a fixer upper when we bought it. Previous owners said they kept temp at 70 all winter. They were not very honest as we found out from their fuel company they always complained of lack of heat. I'm going to check with the dealer and see if we should lower the temp on the oil furnace.

Deb

 

[pfitter]

Killing that fan will save you about 25% in wood usage. the down side is a dirtier burn, maybe not an option for you, but it works.

 

[carney19]

I started using this this past fall. Just wanted to compare costs and operation issues. We are almost out of wood. We have burned approx 16 cord so far! Had we still have trouble when it falls to the teens getting the house above 60. We switched to this after using 2 wood stoves (10 cord) and 950 gallons of oil last year. Any tips?
Deb

I am the tech. writer for WoodMaster and I would like to help if I can....but first I need more info. How many sq. ft. are you heating? How are your lines insulated? 16 cord sounds like a lot. I have a 4400 and I am heating a new construction 3600 sq. ft. home...I use approximately 7 cord all heating season. I live in Northern Minnesota about 1.5 hrs from Canada, so as you can imagine it is very cold here on average.

Also I ONLY use wood heat...no propane or other source and I heat from about September 15th to about May 15th.

 

[cheseapeke]

Our house is about 150 years old. We have 12 foot ceilings throughout much of the downstairs. When we bought it the realtor told us it was about 2700 square feet. We are not yet using 2 rooms as they need extensive renovation. The stove was installed by a tech associated with the dealer who we purchased it from. We had a 4 ft trench dug for the piping. The pipe is inside foam insulation, about 8" across?
We do not have the whole house insulated. It is a huge work in progress.
Deb

 

[ihookem]

Chesapeke, if you have 12' ceilings you are going to burn a lot of btu's. You can put in fans and that helps. Secondly, this sounds like an old house with those high ceilings. I would look into a good insulation job and start with the attic. Cellulose insulation is cheap in the long run. I insulate attics once in a while when I come across an attic low on the insulation. Every single person raves about how much nicer it feels in the house.

 

[Floydian]

I think you lose around 40% right from the get go with green wood. So 16 cords of green wood=9.5 cords of dry wood before any inefficiencies and heat loss.

Is the insulation sprayfoam?(hopefully closed cell polyurethane if so) If you have not done as Eric suggested and check for any underground heat loss, I would definitely do so.

Good luck,
Noah

 

[pfitter]

At the risk of making the OWB people mad, not my intention. They have their place everybody's situation is different. I just replaced my 4400 with an Energy King 45EKB and I am only using about 1/3 the wood, it's 19 degrees with a 22mph wind here this morning and no problems. The same house, same windows and same insulation. I eliminated some pipe, a water to water HX and one pump, these were all quality items. The bottom line remains the same, I am using far less wood to do the same job. All OWB's regardless of the brand are at a disadvantage. They are heating a large amount of water and doing it outside under the worst possible conditions and then you are trying to move that heat where you you need it. I think someone already said this but it's hard for an OWB to compete with an inside boiler because you get any heat lost through feeding doors, stack, associated piping etc.with the inside unit. The high ceilings do make for more cubic feet but I have a vaulted ceiling in half my house, 21ft to the peek so that in itself is not a total heating issue. My OWB just blew so much of the heat up the stack that I could have been using. More insulation and storm windows would be your best bet short of any major change's to your heating system. I am not saying to go with an inside unit, it was just the right move for me, didn't like going out in the cold, rain, snow etc. to load anyway. I hope the OWB builders get it together and make a more efficient unit. If they keep heading down this same road there demise is inevitable, to this point only one maker seems to be making any headway toward improving their product. Only when people demand a better product will this change.

 

[carney19]

I agree with the 2 posts before me. Insulation is key...it is going to cost a lot now but the savings in the long run are really worth it. The underground heat loss is a thought but I would lean towards the little insulation and 12ft. cellings. The fans are a great idea, generally you can change the rotation on the fans to push the warm air down in the winter and draw it up in the summer. Try to get a temp. reading where your feed line exits the stove and compare that to a temp. reading where that same line enters the house...then you'll find out if you are losing anything is the ground.

 

[carney19]

I am only using about 1/3 the wood..........I eliminated some pipe, a water to water HX and one pump, these were all quality items. The bottom line remains the same, I am using far less wood to do the same job.

I am sorry but that is kind of a contradiction.....Eliminated pipe, a domestic water exchanger and a pump.....that is not the same setup you had with the 4400.

I am not going to sit here and deny that there is heat loss in a OWB, that would be ridiculous. But if you are going to make a comparison between an outdoor and an indoor setup, at least compare apples to apples. How much is some pipe?...and of course when you eliminate your domestic water draw you are going to use less BTUs/less Wood.

It all comes down to personal choice Indoor vs. Outdoor...I am sure this battle will rage on for a long time.

 

[JSJAC]

I have a 4400 and burned about ten cords of pine slabs last year from Oct. 15 to May 22. I would look to see what your temp drop from your boiler outside to your boiler inside is.
This year I have used about 4.5-5 cords of mostly pine and hemlock.

 

[pfitter]

The HX I eliminated was for the cast iron radiators, still doing domestic water with an internal coil submerged in the boiler and I had very little piping. The fact remains that about the only reasonably inexpensive alternative he has is better insulation and or windows,storm doors etc. Even those plastic window film kits help, not as much as real glass but if you can cut down on infiltration or even stop some drafts it will help. Those tall ceilings are part of the appeal of an old house, its what make's them feel roomy and open. A fan up high helps too I have one going most all winter. Granted you wind up heating a lot of cubic feet of space. Some foam door seal helps a lot too it's surprising how much air can come in around an old door. Like him my house is big and old, I just keep plugging away at it and it keeps getting better. But have no doubts that the one best thing you can do is about a foot of blown in insulation in the attic, that will make the most difference. You can rent the machine real cheap and some places like Home Depo will let you use the machine free if you buy the insulation off them.

 

[ihookem]

If you have old windows, tap on the glass, if they rattle you know the glass is loose enough to let air through. If you need a cheap fix just get some late caulk and clip the tube so just 1/8 " hole is made. Just caulk around the glass where it meets the sash and you will notice a difference in a hurry on windy days.

 

[e60982]

4ft trench. could your U/G pipe be in water. Just a thought Respectfully Windy

 

[runningmike]

I'm just finishing up my first season running a WM 4400 here in the Adks; some thoughts (echoing others, mostly):
>3200 ft2 home, 5 heating zones, hot water baseboard heat, A LOT of windows, I get both heat and domestic hot water from the OWF...with three teenagers we go through a lot of the latter.
>Insulate, insulate, insulate (you know this, obviously). Be careful though, when you start blowing quantities of cellulose in the attic, you're going to start popping sheet rock (Maybe not though, you're probably plaster and lathe...in any case be aware of the extra weight on the ceiling). I think my best bet would be spraying foam everywhere...but that's an expensive project for the future.
>In lieu of window replacement (There's another mortgage!) put heat-shrink plastic over the insides of the windows in the fall, it will make an incredible difference in comfort and heating...I was astonshed at the immediate difference.
>I burned green hardwood (mostly) all winter and cannot make an educated comparison with burning seasoned wood; I burned about 13 cords from October through last week.
>I have about a 90' run from the OWF to the boiler room and heat exchanger and experience about a 10-15 degree temp drop. I have the typical WM installation with PEX supply and return lines side-by-side through the insullated housing (Not the best setup, IMHO, but it is what it is). I'm OK with the temp drop...it sounds as though your installation is adequate in this respect.
>The only time I had a problem with maintaining desired temperatures in the house were when I neglected the furnace and let the fire run down...after the first time rebuilding the fire in -25 temps you would think I would have learned my lesson!

I think you're on the right track, but there's obviously a lot more than just heat source that goes into heating your home. Remember, just like people, a home with a lot of character is going to be quirky as hell sometimes.

Mike