Hello everyone, I just found your site, and it's been great reading and information, but a bit overwhelming! I'll explain my situation, and see if you guys can make some comments and suggestions. This may be a little long winded, but please bare with me. It all started at the MN state fair, oh probably about 8-10 years or so ago, where on machinery hill they have places showing all kinds of things, and that included a couple brands of outdoor boilers. Being a hands on guy who loves 'stuff', I swung in and had a talk with them, they told me about their boilers, I thought it was kind of neat but a little 'out there' for my situation at the time, and went on my way. I go to the fair prob every 2-3 years, and seem to stop back and chat each time. Well, last year, I had an epiphany, and thought that maybe this was the year for me, because of the changes in my situation.
I have a mid 1960's 2 story colonial, 2900 sq/ft, orig windows,130k btu 94% efficient NG forced air furnace. I also built a 23x37 workshop out in the back yard, which I put wirsbo into, and am almost finished constructing (but don't have any of the heating equipment in yet, just the piping coming out of the floor going into the manifold at this point). I am also in the beginning stages of building a 2 story storage shed/playhouse sitting on cement columns and 3 8x8 beams(it's on a hill), it's 12'x16', 2x6 framed, was spray foamed under the lower level floor before the deck was placed as a single unit on the 3 beams, is fully insulated, and has wirsbo on both levels. From the spot where I had planned on installing the OWB, it is about a 125' or so run to the workshop, a 15' run to the storage shed, and about a 90' run to the house, plus whatever it takes to get it inside, maybe 10-20' on the bigger buildings. The line to the house goes one direction, the line to the workshop going in another direction would probably end up passing under the storage shed.
As it turns out, I may be in the situation where there's this friend of a friend that _may_ be able to get me one scratch and dent discounted from the factory, and save a few thousand on it. I was thinking that the e3200 would be decently sized for my situation (as I like to make things a little bigger/better than undersized/cheaper, but only if it makes sense of course), but then I came across this site, and all my presuppositions are quickly going out the window. First of all, the expensive pre made piping I initially thought was so great may not be the best way to go, esp in MN, as it seems that ppl have been using the foamed in trench method with better success. Also, from reading, it sounds like the CB brand has issues honoring their warranties, which is a Huge red flag for me. I spent a number of years doing appliance repair, and I have first hand experience with companies, and how they do or don't honor their warranties, and the indigestion that causes. It wouldn't be as big a deal on a $700-1000 dishwasher, but on a $10000+ heater, that is another matter entirely, because I can't imagine serious repairs on something like this come cheap.
From reading, there are a number of opinions on different makes that I've read, and the main reason I am doing this because I have access to unlimited 'free' wood, all I have to do (yeah, minor stuff, I know...) is cut, split, stack and dry it, and then load it into the furnace. I would only do an outdoor furnace, or not at all, I'm not interested in having one inside the house. I also read a little about the shoulder periods, which I honestly never even thought about, because in my mind all you did was go out and toss in a full load of wood every day or 2 from fall when you fired it up till spring when you shut it down, and that's all there was to it. Yeah, right, not so much. I also thought that it just ran at full tilt all the time, looks like wrong again. Turns out there's a lot more to it than just paying the NG bill every month. I knew that of course, but really didn't appreciate the scope of the project, nor the care and feeding.
Here are my (initial) questions. Is the boiler I am looking at properly sized for my application? Is CB in 2015 a decently designed outdoor boiler (you would think so, based upon their price...?), how do you deal with the shoulder seasons? I am planning on this being the primary heat source, and having the current NG furnace as the backup, if we go on a vaca, or I can't for whatever reason feed the hungry beast. Is 1 1/4 or 1 1/2" lines sufficient for my climate and BTU needs, or is bigger always better, and if so up to what point? Also what do you do to it when you shut it down in the spring, anything special to know? Any other things after reading this that you think I should consider would be great to hear about as well. As I said, this is turning out to be much more involved than I had initially expected, but definitely well within my skillset to implement, just need the background knowledge to be sure to spend all that money wisely, and to only do it Once!
Thanks everyone for reading this 'book', any comments/suggestions are greatly appreciated.
I have a mid 1960's 2 story colonial, 2900 sq/ft, orig windows,130k btu 94% efficient NG forced air furnace. I also built a 23x37 workshop out in the back yard, which I put wirsbo into, and am almost finished constructing (but don't have any of the heating equipment in yet, just the piping coming out of the floor going into the manifold at this point). I am also in the beginning stages of building a 2 story storage shed/playhouse sitting on cement columns and 3 8x8 beams(it's on a hill), it's 12'x16', 2x6 framed, was spray foamed under the lower level floor before the deck was placed as a single unit on the 3 beams, is fully insulated, and has wirsbo on both levels. From the spot where I had planned on installing the OWB, it is about a 125' or so run to the workshop, a 15' run to the storage shed, and about a 90' run to the house, plus whatever it takes to get it inside, maybe 10-20' on the bigger buildings. The line to the house goes one direction, the line to the workshop going in another direction would probably end up passing under the storage shed.
As it turns out, I may be in the situation where there's this friend of a friend that _may_ be able to get me one scratch and dent discounted from the factory, and save a few thousand on it. I was thinking that the e3200 would be decently sized for my situation (as I like to make things a little bigger/better than undersized/cheaper, but only if it makes sense of course), but then I came across this site, and all my presuppositions are quickly going out the window. First of all, the expensive pre made piping I initially thought was so great may not be the best way to go, esp in MN, as it seems that ppl have been using the foamed in trench method with better success. Also, from reading, it sounds like the CB brand has issues honoring their warranties, which is a Huge red flag for me. I spent a number of years doing appliance repair, and I have first hand experience with companies, and how they do or don't honor their warranties, and the indigestion that causes. It wouldn't be as big a deal on a $700-1000 dishwasher, but on a $10000+ heater, that is another matter entirely, because I can't imagine serious repairs on something like this come cheap.
From reading, there are a number of opinions on different makes that I've read, and the main reason I am doing this because I have access to unlimited 'free' wood, all I have to do (yeah, minor stuff, I know...) is cut, split, stack and dry it, and then load it into the furnace. I would only do an outdoor furnace, or not at all, I'm not interested in having one inside the house. I also read a little about the shoulder periods, which I honestly never even thought about, because in my mind all you did was go out and toss in a full load of wood every day or 2 from fall when you fired it up till spring when you shut it down, and that's all there was to it. Yeah, right, not so much. I also thought that it just ran at full tilt all the time, looks like wrong again. Turns out there's a lot more to it than just paying the NG bill every month. I knew that of course, but really didn't appreciate the scope of the project, nor the care and feeding.
Here are my (initial) questions. Is the boiler I am looking at properly sized for my application? Is CB in 2015 a decently designed outdoor boiler (you would think so, based upon their price...?), how do you deal with the shoulder seasons? I am planning on this being the primary heat source, and having the current NG furnace as the backup, if we go on a vaca, or I can't for whatever reason feed the hungry beast. Is 1 1/4 or 1 1/2" lines sufficient for my climate and BTU needs, or is bigger always better, and if so up to what point? Also what do you do to it when you shut it down in the spring, anything special to know? Any other things after reading this that you think I should consider would be great to hear about as well. As I said, this is turning out to be much more involved than I had initially expected, but definitely well within my skillset to implement, just need the background knowledge to be sure to spend all that money wisely, and to only do it Once!
Thanks everyone for reading this 'book', any comments/suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Propane would need to be <.85 cents a gallon. Geo wins hands down.
