Looking to purchase a new boiler, looked at hawkens, central, pro-fab the empyre. I tell ya its hard to figure which one to buy leaning towards the empyre with its stainless burn box. Talked to central boiler and they said that they'd void the warr. if they found out of someone burning junk mail or newspaper in there boxes. the emp. has a 25 yrs warr. on there stainless and classic only a 10 the hawkens seems pretty good also with a 20 yrs. warr. but as for performance they all claim there the best. burn times they all claim theres is longer. smoke lol thats another one they all claim to be darn near smokless . who knows can people with different boilers chime in on this or give me something else that i've missed when it comes to comparing these companys. Thanks Hoogie...
No clue which one to purchase man they all seem the same and all say theres it the best
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I am new here, but I've spent hours and hours on this site researching all I can on wood boilers. I am completely convinced that
wood gasification is the only way to go. I think spending some time searching this site is a must before spending any money.
I also think that a lot of OWB manufacturers and retailers are spreading a lot of misinformation. Especially regarding moisture content of wood and underground piping-sizing and insulation. The inefficiencies can be mind boggling.
Just MHO.
Noah
wood gasification is the only way to go. I think spending some time searching this site is a must before spending any money.
I also think that a lot of OWB manufacturers and retailers are spreading a lot of misinformation. Especially regarding moisture content of wood and underground piping-sizing and insulation. The inefficiencies can be mind boggling.
Just MHO.
Noah
Welcome.
I too, am new here.
I had spent many, many hours reading and researching before I even registered.
At first I was convinced that I would get an Outdoor Wood Boiler, and almost pulled the trigger on a Central Boiler E-Classic, because that is what everyone around me uses. However, after reading, researching, registering and asking questions I quickly changed my mind.
I have purchased an EKO 40 from Cozy Heat.
There is a wealth of information on this site provided by knowledgeable people. Thank goodness because I am not.
Ask lots of questions.
I too, am new here.
I had spent many, many hours reading and researching before I even registered.
At first I was convinced that I would get an Outdoor Wood Boiler, and almost pulled the trigger on a Central Boiler E-Classic, because that is what everyone around me uses. However, after reading, researching, registering and asking questions I quickly changed my mind.
I have purchased an EKO 40 from Cozy Heat.
There is a wealth of information on this site provided by knowledgeable people. Thank goodness because I am not.
Ask lots of questions.
The first two responses pretty much size up my experience. I also started with the idea in mind that I might look into an OWB but it did not take too long for me to see that people with a tremendous amount of knowledge and first hand experience have done a lot of the homework for people like us. My learning curve has been amazing due in large part to the patient and often comical banter in these threads. I am not just puffing smoke here. I am a retired teacher of 25 years and some of these guys could easily walk into a classroom. Do not be afraid to ask a question, no matter how silly you might think it is.
I came to the conclusion that I wanted a Garn. It was more than what I wanted to spend, but I made the decision based on this site. You'll find that everybody has their own bias. Do not just ask which boiler to buy because that is not the purpose of this site, besides everybody has an opinion and the site would be inundated with sales people if that were the case. But if you read and try to listen to the spirit behind what these experts are saying about their own experiences, you will start leaning in one direction or another. Take your time and enjoy the process. :cheese:
I came to the conclusion that I wanted a Garn. It was more than what I wanted to spend, but I made the decision based on this site. You'll find that everybody has their own bias. Do not just ask which boiler to buy because that is not the purpose of this site, besides everybody has an opinion and the site would be inundated with sales people if that were the case. But if you read and try to listen to the spirit behind what these experts are saying about their own experiences, you will start leaning in one direction or another. Take your time and enjoy the process. :cheese:
Go with indoor gasification for sure. There are several good boilers on the market. If you are going to have the boiler professionally installed, I recommend you choose a boiler that is available through a local plumbing and heating contractor with a great reputation. Any good wood boiler will work poorly if installed improperly. Even if you are looking to do the installation yourself, I would recommend buying from a local, reputable dealer so that you have some back-up (in addition to the folks on this forum) in case you need it.
I have two neighbors with owb they fill the area with smoke at times, I went with a tarm gassifer no smoke issues. I would look at two things, how close are you to your neighbors and is there someone around to feed the fire. owb will burn longer but use more wood and not as "green" as gassifer but from my short experience the gassifier needs to be feed more often if you want to keep it @ temp.All things considered Im happy with my tarm 30. A bonus is I don't have to venture out to feed the fire, which in this weather is a plus. keep reading one thing this site isn't short on is opinions. Good luck!
An indoor gasifier can be put in a shed or out building too if your home will not accommodate it's installation. Many have placed their gasifiers over 100' from the house. I was looking hard at OWBs but I only found one that cost less than a gasifier. The trouble with most current OWB's is the smoke then there is the problem with wood consumption. I went with an EKO40 because it was available (other wise I would probably have gone with an Econoburn), was more flexible to find places to install, smokes very little, cost less than most OWB's, fit in a smaller space and it was delivered right to my home. It went right from the trailer to within inches to where it was set to run by Dave at Cozy Heat. I did not know of this site but Dave at Cozy directed me to this site after I asked him a question about 1 1/2 years after I was up and running. The installation went like clock work and Dave gave me some real good pointers. BUT I wish I had known about this site first because I am going to have to do some things differently with my system and I would have done them once and been done with it. Money I invested into my boiler would have just gone to gas and oil bills and I would have just had to replace the oil furnace and paid last years ridiculous prices too. Like they have been saying "ask questions" general and specific it won't hurt but it will surely help.
Those regular models are certainly not smokeless!
http://www.vtwoodsmoke.org/
If you are going to go OWB, get one of the EPA tested designs with the hang tag and label on it.
Read this info:
(broken link removed to http://www.epa.gov/woodheaters/what_epa_doing.htm)
So the phase II are 90% cleaner than regular ones. That means more heat for you and less smoke and pollution for the rest of us (east of you!)
http://www.vtwoodsmoke.org/
If you are going to go OWB, get one of the EPA tested designs with the hang tag and label on it.
Read this info:
(broken link removed to http://www.epa.gov/woodheaters/what_epa_doing.htm)
So the phase II are 90% cleaner than regular ones. That means more heat for you and less smoke and pollution for the rest of us (east of you!)
In 21 years I have delivered wood to literally 100s of OWB's. I have seen quite a few burnt out Taylors and Heatmores. These could be from misuse , I didn't ask. Have heard the pro's and con's on many of the makes and the Central Boiler stands out to me as the model with the least complaints from my wood customers.
Hoogie,
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions; personally I went with gasification, why handle more wood then you need too. I installed and Eko 25 with 500 gal. of storage. I replaced my 21 yr. old oil furnace with a gas boiler for backup. I live in central NH where it get quiet cold, I didn't do an out building install for two reasons, 1) didn't want to deal with the heat loss from a HX and (2) my wife likes to take a vacation in February and tough to do when you need to keep an "outside" boiler going to avoid freeze up. I would never have gotten her blessing on this project if we had to stay home for 6 mos. of winter.
I looked and 3 different gasifiers, The thing that sold me on the Eko was the person I bought it from. He has given me great support, provided me with a detailed mechanical drawing of the working system. I could call him day or night and even on the weekends.
The important thing is to stop burning those damn fossils!
Good luck
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions; personally I went with gasification, why handle more wood then you need too. I installed and Eko 25 with 500 gal. of storage. I replaced my 21 yr. old oil furnace with a gas boiler for backup. I live in central NH where it get quiet cold, I didn't do an out building install for two reasons, 1) didn't want to deal with the heat loss from a HX and (2) my wife likes to take a vacation in February and tough to do when you need to keep an "outside" boiler going to avoid freeze up. I would never have gotten her blessing on this project if we had to stay home for 6 mos. of winter.
I looked and 3 different gasifiers, The thing that sold me on the Eko was the person I bought it from. He has given me great support, provided me with a detailed mechanical drawing of the working system. I could call him day or night and even on the weekends.
The important thing is to stop burning those damn fossils!
Good luck
Hello Hoogie,
It is a tough decision. I opted for the Greenwood 100 which is what I consider a low tech steel box loaded with refractory (fire brick). I installed it with all the options, bells, and whisles for just under $12,000.00 Had a couple of instal quirks to work out but now it is a no brain operation. Open the door 3 times a day and throw in 4-6 whole logs (up to 18" dia. by 16" long). Keeps the house at 70 - 71 degrees plus makes all our domestic hot water. Overall I am pleased with the fact that it only smokes when you first throw the logs in for about 5 minutes then clears up to only a heat wave or steam cloud out of the stack. If you buy one don't put it in your house. It does push some smoke out the door when loading. Not real bad but I would not want it in my basement. I welded up a hood over the door with and exhaust fan that vents outside my garage. Uses what I consider a small amount of firewood compared to previous wood stoves I have had. Heating the entire house uniformly plus all hot water since October 20 and I just started on my 5th cord of wood. Hopeing to get away with a total of 6 cords for the winter. we are heating a 201 years old solid stone farmhouse that is impossible to insulate any better. We were looking at $5000 to $6000 in oil this year. I bought a triaxle load of logs for $750.00 which gave me 8 cords cut and stacked. Should have 2 cords to get started next year. No matter which model or brand you choose, it will be work and up front expense but not hearing your oil or gas furnace run is "priceless". Just have to add that it was an absolutely incredible night last night when I went out to load the boiler at 11pm. Calm, cold, clear, silent and the stars were brilliant. I would have missed that if I stayed in the house and went straight to bed.
It is a tough decision. I opted for the Greenwood 100 which is what I consider a low tech steel box loaded with refractory (fire brick). I installed it with all the options, bells, and whisles for just under $12,000.00 Had a couple of instal quirks to work out but now it is a no brain operation. Open the door 3 times a day and throw in 4-6 whole logs (up to 18" dia. by 16" long). Keeps the house at 70 - 71 degrees plus makes all our domestic hot water. Overall I am pleased with the fact that it only smokes when you first throw the logs in for about 5 minutes then clears up to only a heat wave or steam cloud out of the stack. If you buy one don't put it in your house. It does push some smoke out the door when loading. Not real bad but I would not want it in my basement. I welded up a hood over the door with and exhaust fan that vents outside my garage. Uses what I consider a small amount of firewood compared to previous wood stoves I have had. Heating the entire house uniformly plus all hot water since October 20 and I just started on my 5th cord of wood. Hopeing to get away with a total of 6 cords for the winter. we are heating a 201 years old solid stone farmhouse that is impossible to insulate any better. We were looking at $5000 to $6000 in oil this year. I bought a triaxle load of logs for $750.00 which gave me 8 cords cut and stacked. Should have 2 cords to get started next year. No matter which model or brand you choose, it will be work and up front expense but not hearing your oil or gas furnace run is "priceless". Just have to add that it was an absolutely incredible night last night when I went out to load the boiler at 11pm. Calm, cold, clear, silent and the stars were brilliant. I would have missed that if I stayed in the house and went straight to bed.
Hoogie, I too am new here although i spent months looking at this site and years kicking tires. If finances had been different a few years ago I would have put in an OWB. I sell a lot of fire wood and have a small sawmill so I always have lots of scraps. but after talking to people that installed OWB's some of them complained that they burned ALOT of wood. I enjoy cutting wood but i didn't want to be a slave to it. ( i also have neighbors within 300' to the east) After I stumbled upon this site and started to do reaseach i realized that gasification was the way to go. I have had 2 different wood furnaces in other homes that I owned so I am no stranger to filling the stove. The whole "long burn time thing" didn't really matter because my wife is home all day and I'm only going to burn ugly wood anyways. I was able to put my boiler in a corner of my attatched garage and pipe down to my basement into my heating system. all seems to be going well.
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