Outdoor Wood Furnaces

[jswatson0917]

Greetings to all,

I am looking into a outdoor wood furnace and I have read alot of different posts about the different types of furnaces both indoor and out. I am rather confused about the one of the complaints about the outdoor furnaces and that the amount of smoke they produce. What is the deference between the amount of smoke OWB's produce compared to a my indoor fireplace or the fire pit that I use in my backyard during the warmer months?

Thanks,


Joel

 

[antos_ketcham]

Greetings to all,

I am looking into a outdoor wood furnace and I have read alot of different posts about the different types of furnaces both indoor and out. I am rather confused about the one of the complaints about the outdoor furnaces and that the amount of smoke they produce. What is the deference between the amount of smoke OWB's produce compared to a my indoor fireplace or the fire pit that I use in my backyard during the warmer months?

Thanks,


Joel

Hi Joel - the main difference is that unlike your fireplace and fire pit tradtional OWB cuts off the air supply to the fire when it has reached the preset temperature. The unit will then "idle" and when it reopens it can let off quite a plume. The other difference is that the traditional design has the firebox surrounded by water that keeps the fire from getting as hot as it needs to be for a clean burn. All that said, there are now cleaner, EPA approved, OWB's that use a different design process to promote cleaner burns. You can see a list with links to manufacturer's web sites at (broken link removed to http://www.epa.gov/owhh/models.htm)

Good luck.

Pete

 

[webbie]

You don't likely burn 10 cords or more in your open pit. Also, your fireplace has refractory walls which stay hot - that makes it much cleaner than a firebox surrounded by water. Also, what Antos says about air limiting.

My thinking is that a place like CT is likely to clamp down pretty tight on dirty OWB's...if it has not already. I would suggest investing in cleaner technologies for a number of reason, not the least being that you will get much more heat for each piece of wood.