Looking for a insert or free standing combination stove/boiler

[Jeremy8916]

Hi guys, been ages since I've posted on here. My aging parents are looking at a new woodstove of some variety. They're working on building their retirement home, and want multiple redundant systems. They want a open vented outdoor wood boiler with infloor heat, and a woodstove in the kitchen area. To me this doesn't give true redundancy, and they won't cave on the stove inside. I figure if they can do an air to water heat pump as backup, and then an indoor wood stove with built in boiler they'd be happiest.

Now for my question: is there anyone in North America that makes a stove like the Europeans have that puts 60-80% of the heat into the water, and the heat released into the room is basically just ambiance?

Attached is a stove with similar qualities of what I'm looking for.

Boiler stoves, for wood powered central heating and hot water

Boiler stoves provide hot water which can run your central heating and hot water. You can get multi fuel and wood stoves with back boilers, some of which can run your whole house, others can contribute

www.stovesonline.co.uk

 

[EbS-P]

Not that I’m aware of. Some cook stoves have a water loop. I think you will have a hard time finding a contractor that would plumb a wood heat boiler into a system with an air to water heatpump (good luck finding a contractor that does those).

So my ideal system would be heatpump (air or water) and a wood stove with no water loop and an automatic standby generator. The cost of air to water is still really high compared to air to air. If going air to air an indoor wood furnace could be run by the standby generator. Kitchen woodstove could be used for cooking.

Keep us simple to operate.

 

[Jeremy8916]

Not that I’m aware of. Some cook stoves have a water loop. I think you will have a hard time finding a contractor that would plumb a wood heat boiler into a system with an air to water heatpump (good luck finding a contractor that does those).

So my ideal system would be heatpump (air or water) and a wood stove with no water loop and an automatic standby generator. The cost of air to water is still really high compared to air to air. If going air to air an indoor wood furnace could be run by the standby generator. Kitchen woodstove could be used for cooking.

Keep us simple to operate.

There are a few places in my local area that will do air to water heat pumps. When you factor in the issues that a ducted furnace would cause (slab on grade with unconditioned attic), the cost is likely not much higher. That, and a heat demand for the house that's roughly 25kbtu at -5f(design temp) there's not much need to do anything other than baseboard heaters.
They used to have a wood/oil/coal boiler, and missed that. They liked the heat. I'm the one that will have to drive through the weather to feed it so I'm not keen when the load is so low. A mixing valve coming off the storage tank takes care of the 180f water and brings it down to the 90-95f the stamped concrete floor will need. Most of the kids have a trade, between all of us we don't really need to sub any of the house out. If I can find a decent stove I'm going to do the same thing for my house which has a similar heating load.

 

[EbS-P]

There are a few places in my local area that will do air to water heat pumps. When you factor in the issues that a ducted furnace would cause (slab on grade with unconditioned attic), the cost is likely not much higher. That, and a heat demand for the house that's roughly 25kbtu at -5f(design temp) there's not much need to do anything other than baseboard heaters.
They used to have a wood/oil/coal boiler, and missed that. They liked the heat. I'm the one that will have to drive through the weather to feed it so I'm not keen when the load is so low. A mixing valve coming off the storage tank takes care of the 180f water and brings it down to the 90-95f the stamped concrete floor will need. Most of the kids have a trade, between all of us we don't really need to sub any of the house out. If I can find a decent stove I'm going to do the same thing for my house which has a similar heating load.

knowing all that is helpful. Especially the heat load. Really I don’t see why you wouldn’t just plan a larger standby generator. You will need one anyway to run the circulation pumps. My old three ton heatpump uses 3kw.
You might get a coco stove with a water loop but I doubt it’s going to run 25k btus through the water. And any stove will need the circulation pump on whenever the stove is on.

My in laws are over 80. There is no way they could manage any that wasn’t automatic right now. They could like a stove a hopefully not fall carry the wood up 4 steps from garage to the house. my father and law is on oxygen 4-6 hours a day and the automatic generator has made his children worry much less. It’s expensive but the peace of mind is really nice. The propane will last 6 days if they are thoughtful. That’s enough time to get roads cleared and have someone check in on them. I can’t images them moving 6 days worth of wood. That would be an accident waiting to happen.

 

[Jeremy8916]

knowing all that is helpful. Especially the heat load. Really I don’t see why you wouldn’t just plan a larger standby generator. You will need one anyway to run the circulation pumps. My old three ton heatpump uses 3kw.
You might get a coco stove with a water loop but I doubt it’s going to run 25k btus through the water. And any stove will need the circulation pump on whenever the stove is on.

My in laws are over 80. There is no way they could manage any that wasn’t automatic right now. They could like a stove a hopefully not fall carry the wood up 4 steps from garage to the house. my father and law is on oxygen 4-6 hours a day and the automatic generator has made his children worry much less. It’s expensive but the peace of mind is really nice. The propane will last 6 days if they are thoughtful. That’s enough time to get roads cleared and have someone check in on them. I can’t images them moving 6 days worth of wood. That would be an accident waiting to happen.

My stepfather is 73, and will likely die loading wood into a stove. He's attached to it for whatever reason. My mother is only 60, so she's got a lot of good years left. Her 90 year old mother still lives by herself. I haven't been able to talk them into the generator, but I did manage to talk them into an ATS so I can add one easily later. They're too cheap to go straight heat pump even with the performance of the newest models. The euros have units with 8kw+ of boiler heat, which is close to 25000btu, plus they also heat the space. I've got a year likely to find something, I'll likely manage one way of the other. If it works I'll do the same setup at my house