Need help - Pro's & Con's on Benjamin wood combo units

[CT Marty]

Hi all! Another newbie here. I'm need advice on a CC500 Benjamin wood boiler I'm researching for possible purchase and install. Looking at heating around 2000 sqft. Have the access to wood at little to no cost. Have to go with the combo, only one basement flue. I'd look at Tarm if they were'nt 14 grand. Saw Benjamin as another avenue. Hoping someone has had some experience with Benjamin and can elaborate. Thanks.

 

[Mainewood]

Send me a Private message and I will supply you with Benjamin CC-500 owners in New England.

 

[heatmeizer]

I'v had my Benjamin for a full year now and it was the warmest winter we've ever had.... We live in a 200 yr old farm house with no insulation and plastic inserts over our windows during winter and we are about 1800 sq/ft, 2 floors plus basement. We moved in with an acient oil furnace which we decommisioned after 1 yr, so we moved into wood stoves....brr....we then bought a pellet stove...better but still real cold and our washing machine (in basement), kitchen sink and downstairs toilet consistenly froze up every winter so we bought a propane heater for basement, no good, then installed an ashley wood stove in basement and still just could not keep this house warm or unfrozen. >:-(
Now for the Benjamin. Installed in Nov of 07 to a single flue chimney the previous furnace was hooked to, we had it professionally lined with stainless steel 7" pipe and the system was hooked in to our existiing baseboard heaters. A small Modin forced hot water heater fan was plumbed in at one end of our basement as well to help with the temp down there and it's on a seperate zone. We have 2 zones in the living area as well. In the summer we use our propane hot water heater but in the winter we switch to the domestic hot water from the boiler. The real convenience of this system is it being automatic from wood to oil, so you could load up the wood in morning, go off to work and if the wood happens to burn out before you get back, the oil will automatically kick in. If you have wood to little or no cost, then this is ideal because you can really offset your oil consumption dramatically. There is peace of mind also knowing that when you're not home to keep the fire going, your house won't go cold....The boiler controls the fire and when there isn't fire, it controls the oil.....it's a beautiful thing!

All in all, we can't say enough about this system, it's the best thing we could have done, especially for our situation and the 9 years of battle to try and keep warm.....Looking forward to this winter and a toasty house! :coolsmile:

 

[fishon]

Anybody else have any experience with the CC500? Burn time? Creosote problems? Any info. would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[heatmeizer]

Hello all, I just cleaned my chimney. The CC500 produced little creosote. I cleaned the trap before I brushed it, then brushed two more times and it cleaned right out, no big deal. It is stainless steel so it cleaned right up, It wasn't baked on like wood stove creosote, this was lose and fell right off. I then cleaned the unit it self. This is where the glossy baked on creosote was, Not in the chimney. I hope this helps

 

[[email protected]]

Our house is approximately 3000'. Last winter was the first year with the Benjamin CC500 wood/oil combo. We hadn't moved in and the house wasn't finished. We burned 5 cords of wood and 3/4 tank of oil. We have northern exposure with one whole wall 2 story high of windows. We were toasty warm & are looking forward to another warm winter. The service we recieved from Maine Wood Furnace Co. was exceptional! :coolsmile:

 

[Bassman]

Hi,I live in Windham,ME and recently purchased a Benjamin wood/oil combo boiler.I haven't decided yet who will do the install,but the guys at Maine Wood Furnaces were very helpful in putting me in touch with WE Reynolds LLC out of Turner,ME.Ed,the owner was kind enough to spend a good 25min or so on the phone with me sharing advice and knowledge.He obviously knows what he is doing when it comes to installing these boilers.I will certainly be considering using Ed Reynolds for the install.He can be contacted at wereynoldsllc.com.