My farm landlord (70 years old) and I just installed a heatmoor 200 outdoor wood boiler this last month and gave it a go this weekend. Outside temps were pretty warm at about 35F. We decided to start with a small load of seasoned oak and elm. We had to leave it for about 1 hour but by the time we got back it was up to 180F. We tried to figure out why and realized that the pump had a air bubble in it, so we bled that off. We haven't hooked up the thermostat correctly yet so we just turned the air handler on manually inside the house. About 45 minutes later his wife called out to us and told us she needed her hot-flash medicine again. The house was up to 77F. We turned the fan off and on again a couple of times that day. One time got the house up to 80F
Observations so far; We (myself especially) were suprised at the lack of smoke. A small amount of smoke(not more than a normal wood stove) came out at first start-up, and then a little less each time we opened it up to gawk/add wood. When fully running there was no smoke, but we did see smoke heat going up the stack. I kept trying to convince him to buy a gasser, now I'm not sure it's necessary. It is just hard to convince him @ 70 y.o. to tinker with loading just the right amount of good dry wood and have storage, etc. He's been burning wood in a regular fireplace his whole life. This is a big step up for him. I'll admit it does burn a lot of wood, although we were running the temp up inside the house and the temp was not so cold yet. It will be interesting to see how much wood we use this winter. We got our first snow later this weekend and its windy and getting colder (11F tonight) so we'll see.
Observations so far; We (myself especially) were suprised at the lack of smoke. A small amount of smoke(not more than a normal wood stove) came out at first start-up, and then a little less each time we opened it up to gawk/add wood. When fully running there was no smoke, but we did see smoke heat going up the stack. I kept trying to convince him to buy a gasser, now I'm not sure it's necessary. It is just hard to convince him @ 70 y.o. to tinker with loading just the right amount of good dry wood and have storage, etc. He's been burning wood in a regular fireplace his whole life. This is a big step up for him. I'll admit it does burn a lot of wood, although we were running the temp up inside the house and the temp was not so cold yet. It will be interesting to see how much wood we use this winter. We got our first snow later this weekend and its windy and getting colder (11F tonight) so we'll see.
