Looking for advise on outdoor wood boilers

[gdk84]

I have been pondering the idea of installing a wood fired boiler. I have plenty of wood to harvest on my own property. I like indoor wood stoves because of the "off grid" design, but wood boilers spike my interest because you can do a lot more with the heat it produces. Anyway, my questions are...

- I have been looking at Central boilers and a company called Natures Comfort. I really want it to be as reliable as possible. The Central has all kinds of electronics. The Natures Comfort has no electronics and uses that statement in its advertising. The electronics kind of makes me nervous. Electronics are bound to fail, parts availability when the unit ages and lighting are all things that cross my mind. Your thoughts?

- Distance from house. Central says 500 feet, Natures says no way to 500 ft. 250-300 max and that 500 is a sales pitch. Thoughts?

- Any other brands you recommend?

Thanks in advance!

 

[mike van]

Just a quick thought - You have to go out & feed the fire, it's pouring rain or snowing sideways - Would you rather walk 500 ft or half that? Price out the [good] pipe too, not the cheap stuff.

 

[peakbagger]

Be careful, you didn't say what state in New England you are in but OWBs are heavily regulated in most New England states. Despite the claims of EPA rated clean burn OWBs they all suffer the same problem that when there is no need for heat they cut down the air supply and the unit goes into incomplete combustion. This is most notable in shoulder season where the demand for heat isn't high. When they are damped down, they stink and are quite noticeable for quite a distance depending on the stack configuration and terrain. Don't even think about it if you are in neighborhood unless you want to upset the neighbors. As an unhappy neighbor with an OWB next door, it took a 30 foot high stack on my neighbors boiler to make it tolerable. When originally installed it would set a off smoke detector in my attic on occasion. His house is much closer and he has small children which is bad combination. NH calls for minimum 300 foot between an OWB and the nearest neighbors home and in the right conditions that not enough.

 

[gdk84]

The only reason I ask about pipe distance is because the distance of the pex would probably be 375' due to the route I have to take to get to the boiler with septic and leach field in the way (boiler not 375' away from house). I'm wanting to place the boiler at this location so I can also run a line to my 32x40 man cave shop behind the house where I tinker with antique vehicles.

I live in Maine. I didn't realize these things chocked the fire that bad but I guess it makes sense. The heat has to go somewhere if proper combustion takes place. I thought this would be more practical than a wood stove for the house but I'm not sure that's true... Plus heating the shop (or at least keeping it a reasonable temp) as I can't "legally" have a wood stove in it.

 

[maple1]

Can you build on to the shop?

 

[vtwoodheater]

375' of pipe at roughly $15/ft.= $5,625. Plus digging a ditch. How far apart is the shop and house?
That is a long walk in the rain, snow, or dark to feed the beast.

 

[gdk84]

375' of pipe at roughly $15/ft.= $5,625. Plus digging a ditch. How far apart is the shop and house?
That is a long walk in the rain, snow, or dark to feed the beast.

They are probably 400' or so apart. there is a second access road that goes to the shop from the main road. It's pretty much all open field until you get to the shop then it's surrounded by a few trees. The boiler would probably be 200' from the house, along the the side of that small access driveway that I snow blow with my tractor anyways.

 

[gdk84]

I've got a backhoe so the ditch is not problem and it's easy digging here. The price however is getting a little steep!

 

[blades]

10-12k for an owb installation is avg. and that dose not include hot storage. I see a lot of these popping up in advertisements lately - New EPA regs going on line so everyone is trying to dump current inventory as 98% will not make new EPA specs and can't be sold after a specific date.. Personally I would hold off until the shake out is over as there will not be as many mfg. similar to the shake up on wood stoves in the late 90's early 2000 era. Lost some pretty innovative equipment back then due to the cost of certification- don't see anything different happening with the state side mfg owb units- who have been blissfully ignoring the possibility of regulation on emmisions - Weasel in the hen house now. European mfg wood fired boiler units way ahead of the curve in comparison.

 

[Karl_northwind]

10-12k for an owb installation is avg. and that dose not include hot storage. I see a lot of these popping up in advertisements lately - New EPA regs going on line so everyone is trying to dump current inventory as 98% will not make new EPA specs and can't be sold after a specific date.. Personally I would hold off until the shake out is over as there will not be as many mfg. similar to the shake up on wood stoves in the late 90's early 2000 era. Lost some pretty innovative equipment back then due to the cost of certification- don't see anything different happening with the state side mfg owb units- who have been blissfully ignoring the possibility of regulation on emmisions - Weasel in the hen house now. European mfg wood fired boiler units way ahead of the curve in comparison.

To argue with you, there has been a lot of movement from north american manufacturers. Central, Portage and maine, HeatmasterSS (Which I sell), AHS, Econo burn, and AHS all make Gasifiers.
some of these have many years of track record, some not so much, but the industry is going that way in a hurry, driven in no small part by the EPA regulations, as perfect or flawed as they may be.

Inventory was supposed to be gone by May of this year If I remember correctly. NON EPA stoves are not supposed to be sold any more at all. Used, commercial or coal are the exceptions.
karl

 

[StihlKicking]

I have a hardy OWB and really like it, you might checkout their website. I installed it myself and have roughly $7500 in it. The heater sits about 80' from my house.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[duramaxman05]

I have a portage and main bl28-40. I love it. Aquastat is the only electronic thing on it. It's simple. I was in the same boat you are in with not wanting a bunch of electronics

 

[WoodHeatGoodHeat]

Be careful, you didn't say what state in New England you are in but OWBs are heavily regulated in most New England states. Despite the claims of EPA rated clean burn OWBs they all suffer the same problem that when there is no need for heat they cut down the air supply and the unit goes into incomplete combustion. This is most notable in shoulder season where the demand for heat isn't high. When they are damped down, they stink and are quite noticeable for quite a distance depending on the stack configuration and terrain. Don't even think about it if you are in neighborhood unless you want to upset the neighbors. As an unhappy neighbor with an OWB next door, it took a 30 foot high stack on my neighbors boiler to make it tolerable. When originally installed it would set a off smoke detector in my attic on occasion. His house is much closer and he has small children which is bad combination. NH calls for minimum 300 foot between an OWB and the nearest neighbors home and in the right conditions that not enough.

In defense of boilers, not all boilers are created equal and newer EPA we qualified models make virtually no smoke at all. Although your argument is correct in that they are not always burning, some new models use an automatic draft adjustment to match the fire to the work load, minimizing starting and stopping, dormant time, and thus smoke. Unfortunately inconsiderate neighbors have, over time given the industry a worse reputation than it deserves.

 

[heaterman]

Unless you have to do it right now, I would wait. There is a pretty significant "shakeout" going on in the OWB industry right now due to the new EPA certifications and several manufacturers have closed up shop. Some dealers are stuck with inventory that can't legally be sold and the unscrupulous ones are flat out lying about them or selling them "under the table". A good number of them are re-certifying (or trying to) their same old stuff as coal burning equipment. This of course will skirt the regulations for a while but will come back to haunt both the manufacturers and likely the home owners too.
Interesting times....