Outdoor Wood Boiler

Lightning wrote:My neighbor has a tree service, so I guess they get a lot of free wood. He has a ginormous outdoor boiler that heats his house, a barn and a garage that has small hunting cabins upstairs and all the hot water. Runs it year round. Unfortunately he was injured in an accident. The boiler is so demanding to tend that they have to hire a person to feed it 2 or 3 times a day. Its crazy...

I asked him if 50 cords of wood per year was close to what he uses. He smirked and giggled a little. I'm not sure what that meant

my brother in law has an outdoor boiler, he asked me how much I spend on coal a year I tell eh 1200 bucks roughly. He says I spend 300 dollars thats wood and everything. I told him well thats not a bad deal, too bad your time isnt worth more than that. I am not bashing outdoor wood boilers by any means, don't tell me how great they are tho. Last thing I ever want to do is go out in single digits at 2 am to load the boiler to get the water up to temp. Hey this is just me others may enjoy this. What burns my ass is my neighbors burning all thier trash in theirs and watching the smoke fill up my yard. Thats what gives OWB a bad name.

I am sure glad I didn't go that route . Two of the dealers in my area no longer sell them ,I would guess due to them not lasting very long. I wonder why they rot out so fast as my indoor wood boiler was 20 plus years old when I sold it and still going strong last I knew . The plumber I use has put many of the newyorker wood boilers in and said they can last about 25 to 30 yrs. . The ironic thing is he is now taking many of them out as people are going to coal or wood pellets , mostly wood pellets here in my area . We have a very good Harman dealer here with a great reputation . My plumber has a Harman pellet furnace and loves it .

hcarlow wrote:I am sure glad I didn't go that route . Two of the dealers in my area no longer sell them ,I would guess due to them not lasting very long. I wonder why they rot out so fast as my indoor wood boiler was 20 plus years old when I sold it and still going strong last I knew . The plumber I use has put many of the newyorker wood boilers in and said they can last about 25 to 30 yrs. . The ironic thing is he is now taking many of them out as people are going to coal or wood pellets , mostly wood pellets here in my area . We have a very good Harman dealer here with a great reputation . My plumber has a Harman pellet furnace and loves it .

The key word is BOILER ,most outdoor wood burners are not boilers,most are an open system which allows oxygen into the water,therefore rust is common from within the tank.Boiler has a sealed system,no matter the fuel used,we have our OWB in constant use since 9/2006 non-boiler,30-50 cords a yr. heating 4000 sq.ft = 2 houses & shop,& DHW, our OWB now has a small water leak.Knowing what I do now,i would never go with a non-boiler again,of course knowing what I know now,i wouldn't go WOOD = WORK,WORK.......!!!! BUT we would probably have spent 12-15 K on oil,instead we spend 2500 + yr. plus all the WORK.

windyhill4.2 wrote:The key word is BOILER ,most outdoor wood burners are not boilers

Really? I thought any hydronic system was called a boiler... You sure that's right?

Lightning wrote:

windyhill4.2 wrote:The key word is BOILER ,most outdoor wood burners are not boilers

Really? I thought any hydronic system was called a boiler... You sure that's right?

It is kind of a grey area...it uses water to transfer the heat, but it isn't a pressure vessel. Regardless, oxygen in the water is the killer. Many people do not monitor the water chemistry and add the NECESSARY corrosion inhibitors.

Rob R. wrote:It is kind of a grey area...it uses water to transfer the heat, but it isn't a pressure vessel.

Thanks for straightening me out on that
So what do you call it then.. An oversized external solid fuel water heater?

Lightning wrote:

Rob R. wrote:It is kind of a grey area...it uses water to transfer the heat, but it isn't a pressure vessel.

Thanks for straightening me out on that
So what do you call it then.. An oversized external solid fuel water heater?

Outdoor wood eating monster-OWEM, looks & sounds weird so they shortened it to Outdoor wood burner- OWB.

Rob R. wrote:

Lightning wrote: Really? I thought any hydronic system was called a boiler... You sure that's right?

It is kind of a grey area...it uses water to transfer the heat, but it isn't a pressure vessel. Regardless, oxygen in the water is the killer. Many people do not monitor the water chemistry and add the NECESSARY corrosion inhibitors.

Yep,gotta do the chem test,we didn't often enough & our stove manufacturer sold us a powder to mix in the water,it didn't stay mixed very good,they switched to a liquid 2 yrs.ago,it works much better. If you were to study different manufacturers OWB sites,you would be sure to come across a statement like this, " our stove is not pressurized,much safer for you & your loved ones with no fear of hot water under pressure spraying you if something (pipe,etc.) bursts.They don't tell about the lost efficiency with the tank vent constantly venting heat.

I forgot to add ,there's no point to study OWB sites as this forum is a much better use of your time,wish I had seen this forum in 2005/2006 before we went the OWB route,although we will have an even greater appreciation for coal when we do switch. If you are not convinced this is a good forum,go to a wood burner forum,it will convince you.

I forgot to add ,there's no point to study OWB sites as this forum is a much better use of your time,wish I had seen this forum in 2005/2006 before we went the OWB route,although we will have an even greater appreciation for coal when we do switch. If you are not convinced this is a good forum,go to a wood burner forum,it will convince you.

I forgot to add ,there's no point to study OWB sites as this forum is a much better use of your time,wish I had seen this forum in 2005/2006 before we went the OWB route,although we will have an even greater appreciation for coal when we do switch. If you are not convinced this is a good forum,go to a wood burner forum,it will convince you.

A 3peat ????????????? insert my embarrassed face here,sorry to waste that space

windyhill4.2 wrote:I forgot to add ,there's no point to study OWB sites as this forum is a much better use of your time,wish I had seen this forum in 2005/2006 before we went the OWB route,although we will have an even greater appreciation for coal when we do switch. If you are not convinced this is a good forum,go to a wood burner forum,it will convince you.

Our Coal Burning Forum has a few Graduates from the Wood Burner Forum, but most of us are only Drop Outs.

Feeding the OWB did have a vague locomotive feel to it......loading the firebox with large splits and whole logs and watching the smoke belch out the smokestack. Kept reaching up to pull the whistle,.....and I've never even run a locomotive

Carbon12 wrote:Feeding the OWB did have a vague locomotive feel to it......loading the firebox with large splits and whole logs and watching the smoke belch out the smokestack. Kept reaching up to pull the whistle,.....and I've never even run a locomotive

Never thought of that ,but very close,our firebox is 60"longx38",door is 22"x25"--6 wheelbarrow loads,in cold weather we have used up to 10 wheelbarrow/24 hrs,should've had a horn to blow after all that.