I have an existing oil burner boiler in the house I just moved into. I have 2 insert wood stoves, and one little free standing. None of the stoves are efficient. I looked into new inserts, but really wanted to tie into the boiler for a more even overall heat to the house since I already have different zones, and radiators in all the rooms. A free standing stove simply couldn't get heat to the one room easily. My question is am I better off going with an outdoor stove, or an indoor boiler? Which is more efficient, and which is more cost effective? I'm on a budget, and want the most bang for my buck. Thanks in advance, and be forewarned I am new to this boiler stuff, so I may ask tons of questions. Shawn.
Owb or indoor wood boiler?
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maple1
Minister of Fire
It would come down simply to whether you prefer to have the fire inside the house or outside.
Both will be costly, indoor more efficient. Perhaps considerably.
I prefer & have indoor. If I wanted the fire out of the house, I would put an indoor boiler in an outbuilding before I would buy an OWB.
No 'right' answer to this stuff usually when personal priorities & preferences are factored in.
Both will be costly, indoor more efficient. Perhaps considerably.
I prefer & have indoor. If I wanted the fire out of the house, I would put an indoor boiler in an outbuilding before I would buy an OWB.
No 'right' answer to this stuff usually when personal priorities & preferences are factored in.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Indoor is always more efficient, except for heating DHW in summer, as all boiler and transfer losses are in your house.
SO is the only reason an indoor is more efficient due to the heat loss during line transfer? Does the indoor burn less wood to do the same job?
maple1
Minister of Fire
It is more efficient because of less heat loss during line transfer & from the unit itself - combined with that fact that any heat loss from an indoor unit is lost to the heated space. So it's not really lost - it still goes to heating your house. An OWB sitting outside in freezing temps is constantly giving up some heat to the outdoors no matter how good it's insulated, and if the underground pipe isn't done the right way with the right (usually expensive) stuff there is potential for losing quite a bit of heat to the ground too.
So all else being equal, indoor burns less, yes.
I did not have the height for and indoor boiler in my basement so I went with an outdoor gasification boiler. Very clean and efficient.
You need to look at your wood movement too - Which will be easier to get wood to? Would you have to move it the length of the basement in a wheelbarrow as opposed to backing up to an outside building? Do you have a chimney in the house that can take the new unit? Do you have dry wood?
I have an "indoor" wood boiler in a room off the back of my garage that is tied into my oil boiler. If this is an option for you I would recommend it. It's nice to be able to check the fire in your slippers plus the residual heat will keep the garage/ vehicles nice and warm. The only real downside is the fly ash that accumulates during the heating season.
I put a Garn Jr. In my shop and never looked back. The fire and all the mess is in the shop and the heat is in the house
Ashful
Minister of Fire
So, on cold winter nights, your family gathers in front of the... baseboard radiator?
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Wisneaky
Minister of Fire
There are no cold winter nights with a Garn running! 
maple1
Minister of Fire
Mine has spontaneous gatherings at any place in the house at any time. They don't have to muster to the stove room to do it.
Been known to gather 'round the green monster to drink beer and tell lies on occasion...
If your house is well insulated and has some of the best insulated windows and doors along with radiant floors there is no need to gather in a "warm" spot nor will you find one as all spots are comfortable. I remember the old days when the kerosene stove was cranked up and the thermometer was reading 78 degrees and I still felt cold on those 30 below nights. The skimpy insulation or lack of allowed the walls to suck the heat right out of your body.
At our house we can sit around anything and kick down a few beers. You've heard of "wine by candlelight." We can have "beer by flashlight." It doesn't take a stove to gather around to drink, lie, spit and fart. We usually do that while leaning over the sides of a pick-up truck so we can also kick dirt.
I hear ya but the boiler room has certain draw after a day of rabbit hunting. Maybe it's just the beer fridge....IDK.
wardk
Feeling the Heat
There should be a reduction on your homeowners insurance with outdoor because you have removed the wood burning appliances, but you never know with those bandits.
DavelafsrCT
Member
I went with an indoor wood boiler (gaser) last year. Couldn't make up my mind at first and thought I settled on the OWB. Then I read all the restrictions on the OWB. Found out I would not be allowed to install one because I have a neighbor less than 250 feet away. SO, I went with the indoor. NO restrictions. I am in CT by the way. After the LONG winter we had, I am very very happy I went with the indoor option. I would just dump wheelbarrows full of wood down the bulk head. Move it to some pallet bins I made in the basement on the nicer days. I always had at least two weeks worth of wood inside. At night before bed I would fill the stove. Rake it in the morning before my shower. Go out for coffee. Come home for work (in home office), then at about 9 or 10 I'd fill it enough to get me till about 5 or 6 in the afternoon with a few sticks to last till bed time and repeat. All those cold snowy nights - I was in the VERY warm basement putting my wood in. Slippers on. Toasty. Happy
Davelafsr,I went with an indoor wood boiler (gaser) last year. Couldn't make up my mind at first and thought I settled on the OWB. Then I read all the restrictions on the OWB. Found out I would not be allowed to install one because I have a neighbor less than 250 feet away. SO, I went with the indoor. NO restrictions. I am in CT by the way. After the LONG winter we had, I am very very happy I went with the indoor option. I would just dump wheelbarrows full of wood down the bulk head. Move it to some pallet bins I made in the basement on the nicer days. I always had at least two weeks worth of wood inside. At night before bed I would fill the stove. Rake it in the morning before my shower. Go out for coffee. Come home for work (in home office), then at about 9 or 10 I'd fill it enough to get me till about 5 or 6 in the afternoon with a few sticks to last till bed time and repeat. All those cold snowy nights - I was in the VERY warm basement putting my wood in. Slippers on. Toasty. Happy
Which gassifier did you choose? Storage? I'm in the process of selecting a boiler and would be interested to hear your experience. I'm in CT as well
DavelafsrCT
Member
Hey TS. What part of CT are you in?
I ended up going with the Empyre Elite 100 (indoor model). My house is about 2,100 sq ft. and I had zero problems heating it and had more than enough domestic hot water as well. For the record, my wife will take LONG baths with just about 100% hot water while leaving the drain open and running the hot water the whole time. Used to drive me insane when I was buying oil
Anyway, back to the question. I do not have any additional storage. I read a lot about that here on these forums and I confess, I didn't really understand it all. I ended up calling and talking to the engineers at Pro-Fab (they make the Empyre) and they said I did not need that. I went with their advice and had no issues like I said. It may be due to my set up? I had been using an oil fired boiler, baseboard hot water heat, and my domestic just came from the boiler (internal coil). That set up by the way would not keep up with the demand when my wife took her baths. At the end she would run out of hot water and turn it off and let the boiler catch up. With the Empyre she never ran out of hot water. So my set up now is the wood boiler running through an exchanger back to the wood boiler. I also have a circulator on the oil boiler side pushing water into the top of the oil boiler and out the bottom and through the exchanger. The circulators run 24/7 so the oil boiler now remains "hot" all the time. As far as feeding the wood boiler goes it is pretty easy for me. I fill it at night before bed. On really cold clear nights I stuff it as full as I can get it. Usually I do this at about 9 or 9:30. At about 6am I am up and go down stairs and rake the coals to the center and go take my shower. Go out for coffee, come home and usually my wife is in the shower. About 8 am I will go fill it about half way up. I let that fire burn out until water temp in the boiler drops to about 150. Then I load enough to go till the night time feed. Usually about 4 pm the water temp is down to about 150. I do this on the advice of the engineers at Pro-Fab. The reason they gave me is that the remaining wood is super dry, the stove is looking for moisture, so it burns up any creosote in the fire box because that is the only moister available. So it helps to keep everything dry and clean. Last winter I used about 5-1/2 cords of wood. I burned until April 12. My wood was not as dry as it should have been and I had a lot of oak. This year I have wood left from last year, and got about 3 cords of Ash and Black Birch added to the pile so I expect to use less just due to the drier wood. I have heard some people complain about the Empyre on this forum, but I have to say I am more than happy I went with it. I have enjoyed every minute of it. I used to keep the house at 67 - 68 all winter (oil prices) and now it is at about 72 all the time. I use to also shut the heat down at night (down to 60 anyway) but now I just leave it at 72. On those mornings coming home from duck hunting after sitting on the waters of long island sound for 4 or 5 hours that higher temp was great! Just so you know also. The guys at Pro-Fab are great to work with. I have the name and number of the main engineer and called him multiple times when I was trying to decide and after I made my decision, just for set up advice and he is a great guy. Very helpful. Sorry about the long winded response.
DavelafsrCT
Member
I actually ran it last weekend (test run) because it got pretty cold here - about 22. This week though it is 70 so it is not running now. I will probably light it middle of next month for the season. I don't like to start and stop it. I think it is better for it to stay hot once you get it going. Too much chance for condensation with all that heating up and cooling down IMO.
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