Woodmaster or Acme

[rickdavis]

Im building a new house with 3000 sq ft of living quarters, 1.5 story with a vaulted ceiling in the kitchen/living room area. And a 1200’ garage. I installed a radiant floor system, am planning on installing a heat exchanger in the duct work and heating my water. In a couple years I plan on building a separate 30x40 shop with either floor heat or just a heat exchanger. One of my coworkers has an Acme 335 and has had good luck with it. But I’ve read several bad reviews. I do like it’s simplicty of no electronics. I’ve also been looking at the Woodmaster 4400, it’s a couple thousand more but seems reliably. Not sure it’s big enough to do everything I want though. Any suggestions on which one to go with?

 

[hondaracer2oo4]

First off non phase 2 outdoor boilers are illegal in all 50 states expect some specific locals that have pledged not to enforce the law. Old systems are grandfathered.

Next up you are looking at Ford model A technology. Those old conventionals were terribly inefficient and smoked like crazy. The new owb gassers on the market are very simple to run, don’t smoke 99 percent of the time and are very efficient. Take a look at the Heatmaster G series boilers. With your sqft now and your intended sqft later a G200 would be perfect.

 

[rickdavis]

They’re awfully proud of those lol. I’ve heard stories about the stainless cracking. Have they gotten that figured out?

 

[hondaracer2oo4]

You most likely heard that propaganda from a company called central boiler who use to own the majority of the market share in the owb world. Guess who now builds with stainless as well? Central boiler. Cracking can be an issue with 304ss which Hardy boilers was using. Those could crack if run out of water. Heatmaster uses 409ss along with the other market leaders. It does not have the issues that 304 presents. It is a very good fit for the conditions owb expierence and they have been using it for a long time with great success with other companies now following suit.

 

[Medic21]

The 4400 is not going to be big enough for expanding to the new building unless you want to feed it three times a day. You need to consider the 5500.

I went with a Crown Royal MP 7300. Its not a gasser, I don’t want that, and I can burn coal if needed. The next one I was considering was the GS200, same price but, I didn’t want to cut and split wood small anymore and like I said I like the coal option if needed.

Woodmaster makes a very good product, quite a few around me have them. Like was said it is old, very simple, Tech. It is also not stainless.


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[E Yoder]

I know some manufacturers advertise as having no electronics. But how do they control the draft? My guess is there is some kind of temp controller on all of them.

 

[maple1]

Not all temp controllers are electronic though. Although likely most are these days.

I think sometimes people mix up 'electronic' and 'electric' or 'electro/mechanical'.

 

[Highbeam]

I know some manufacturers advertise as having no electronics. But how do they control the draft? My guess is there is some kind of temp controller on all of them.

Bimetallic coil? That’s what my stove uses.

 

[JMihevic]

I know some manufacturers advertise as having no electronics. But how do they control the draft? My guess is there is some kind of temp controller on all of them.

There are no electronics on My Tarm MB 55 boiler. It has a Samson mechanical draft regulator that does a very good job of maintaining boiler water temp. I installed my boiler in 1980 and have been using it every year for 39 years. I have not had to replace one part on the boiler system. The boiler operates as good as the day I put it in. I have no water leaks. There is no corrosion in the boiler. With natural draft, it never back puffs and there is no smoke smell at all in the house. I know it isn't as efficient as the new gassers, but I am very happy with the maintenance free operation.

John M.

 

[SpaceBus]

Not all temp controllers are electronic though. Although likely most are these days.

I think sometimes people mix up 'electronic' and 'electric' or 'electro/mechanical'.

Your boiler doesn't have a fan, but does it have electronic controls? The diagram on the smokeless heat website just says "control panel". Also, are the 2020 EPA regs the cause of the natural draft boilers being under the "commercial use only" tab?

 

[maple1]

Your boiler doesn't have a fan, but does it have electronic controls? The diagram on the smokeless heat website just says "control panel". Also, are the 2020 EPA regs the cause of the natural draft boilers being under the "commercial use only" tab?

Nothing electronic, I don't think.

It does have an exhaust temp controlled thermostat, that starts & stops the main boiler circ when fire starts & stops. I think it is electro-mechanical, and not electronic per se, like an old school aquatstat. The probe isn't a wire, it is a small tube. I could be wrong on that, haven't looked inside it's box to see what it has for guts exactly. I wouldn't call it a control panel - but the fan models do have more controls that I would call a panel.

Yes on the regs. It is still a very clean burner, none the less - I haven't swept my chimney once in 7 full heating seasons of use.

(My consideration of what is 'electronic' or not, might be off a little bit, not sure...)

 

[Bucksnort Jimmy-Bob]

First off non phase 2 outdoor boilers are illegal in all 50 states expect some specific locals that have pledged not to enforce the law. Old systems are grandfathered.

Next up you are looking at Ford model A technology. Those old conventionals were terribly inefficient and smoked like crazy. The new owb gassers on the market are very simple to run, don’t smoke 99 percent of the time and are very efficient. Take a look at the Heatmaster G series boilers. With your sqft now and your intended sqft later a G200 would be perfect.

..............................................................
FYI -> My G200 experiences follow:
Still on the fence with my G200, after 3 yrs operation. Details: bought used (6 yrs) from a dealer. am heating 2500 sqft log home, southern Indiana. Using approx 5 cords wood during heating season (mid-Oct to mid_Mar) .....
POSITIVES: seems to be fuel efficient.. no smoke when burning dry/seasoned wood.. dealer in southern Indiana very helpful.. regional factory rep very helpful..
NEGATIVES: had been "eating" a fan motor** +once/season... poor display visibility during daylight hrs. .. (1) display failure.. (blanked out) .... (1) alarm light (LED) failure... wiring schematic inside back of unit does NOT depict actual as-built power/control wiring config...
LESSONS LEARNED: use dry wood (obvious)...clean ash 2x a month (average)...make sure that all fibre gaskets seal very well, including the bypass door gasket (this is a critical one!) ** Now, about this item: fan motor is not adequately cooled during operation; ball bearings eventually fail... "Fix" that seems to allow motor to run cooler -> bypass door gasket PLUS 10 ga wire gasket added between motor disc mount and back of furnace. (thermal isolation) Have recently added hi-temp silicon gasket between motor itself and disc mount (sandwiched between the motor studs) for even more thermal isolation...Coincidentally, this added isolation seems to result in less ash / no creosote on fan impeller.
SUMMARY: in future, would consider Heatmaster only if I could get assurance that "newer" version product would minimize above noted issues.

 

[E Yoder]

Sounds like you have a fairly early year G series (you mentioned a gasket on the bypass).
In approx 2015 they redesigned the bypass to seal metal on metal, with basically no maintenance. It is very critical that the bypass seals or it throws a lot of trash through the fan. Other issues you mentioned (control screen, motor cooling) have been addressed also. Your control can be replaced with an updated version.
I have a few older 2013 model G200's running here locally. I sealed the bypass shut and replaced the control, and they're chugging along.

 

[Bucksnort Jimmy-Bob]

Hi... My G200 was built in yr 2013.... I viewed another much later model G200 in use at another site in Indiana and did see that the bypass was different, and that (by touch) the induction fan motor ran cooler that the one in my 2013 vintage product. Have tried to thermally insulate the motor from its mounting face, with inconclusive results, to date. Did find that another fan motor vendor had a replacement part that was more reasonably priced (<$100) than the original equipment, and trying this year to check life. Regarding the "upgraded" controller that you referenced -> is it compatible with the 2013 vintage product? Thanks for your interest in helping out