Looking to buy a owb

[Khntr85]

I don't think I could justify an OWB if I didn't have multiple buildings to heat. I have an IWB & just heat my house (it is on the large side though - 2800 sq.ft. 2 storey + 1500 unfinished basement). I would still be way ahead of the game even if I had to buy all my wood, at 5 cords +/- per year vs. what oil would cost. If I had an OWB, my consumption would be up quite a bit to the point of maybe or maybe not ahead. As it is with my setup, I think I could also heat a modest detached garage with it (just to stay above freezing a little bit) for minimal increase in wood use - but beyond that with more or bigger outbuildings an OWB might come into the picture. I think I would first investigate a bigger IWB in one of those buildings though, along with the winters wood & storage somewhere. If I did move to an OWB, it would be a gasifier.

Nice set up you have, do you have a burner that hooks up to your furnace/AC fan so it blows throughout the vents in your home........what brand of burner is yours and how long have you had it???

Do you use any other heat source, oil, propane, electric, etc????

If you don't mind me asking how much is your electric bill in the winter months at its highest???

I only ask because I am always planning for the future...I know my OWB won't last forever, sadly!!!

 

[JCMC]

I had a Hot air wood furnace in my basement heating 2400sqft. was burning through 9 cord a year no hot water. Installed OWB the first year went through 10 cord, that was in 1998 still burning OWB burn between 8 and 10 cord a year. I load it once a day and all the mess is outside. House is always warm and plenty of hot water My propane bill goes down in winter.
I do buy a tri-axle load about 7 cord every year and cut from my woodlot also. I am happy with my system and will replace it with a gasser when it gives out.

 

[Khntr85]

I had a Hot air wood furnace in my basement heating 2400sqft. was burning through 9 cord a year no hot water. Installed OWB the first year went through 10 cord, that was in 1998 still burning OWB burn between 8 and 10 cord a year. I load it once a day and all the mess is outside. House is always warm and plenty of hot water My propane bill goes down in winter.
I do buy a tri-axle load about 7 cord every year and cut from my woodlot also. I am happy with my system and will replace it with a gasser when it gives out.

What brand of stove do you have???

So Do you still use propane for heat??

I have used very small amounts of propane in October if we get a really cold night out of the blue before I fire up the stove...but that is only because of our 2-year old girl....if it wasn't for her I wouldn't have to kick on the propane at all.....

I remember when we heated with just propane me and the "boss" would only keep thermostat at 68, hell now its atleast 72-73 all the time since we got the OWB.....

the last straw with the propane company was 6-7 years ago when they supposedly had a "shortage"....they made me go down to 5-10% left in the tank before they would refill....we also paid for "our share" of propane in the summer so we could get it at a cheaper price....when I went into that place to ask them what they hell the problem was I thought I was going to flat out freak out on them....I told them this is flat out bullsh$t, and you need to quit selling people propane that you don't know if you have or not, and many other things I won't repeat....in the end they made it right, but I told the wife right them that I was getting the OWB, I had been tossing around the idea for a few years anyway...

 

[NSMaple1]

Nice set up you have, do you have a burner that hooks up to your furnace/AC fan so it blows throughout the vents in your home........what brand of burner is yours and how long have you had it???

Do you use any other heat source, oil, propane, electric, etc????

If you don't mind me asking how much is your electric bill in the winter months at its highest???

I only ask because I am always planning for the future...I know my OWB won't last forever, sadly!!!

Have a boiler with hot water heat (ordinary baseboards). Swapped in a new one 5 winters ago - a gasifier with 660 gallons of heat storage. It's a Varmebaronen UB 40. Got rid of all oil at the time, put in an electric boiler for backup. Only used a couple days a year, which it is good for (cheap easy install) - but it costs about $20/day to run, so if it was used for anything more than that, well it wouldn't be used and I would getting something else. Electric runs in the area of $100/mo, at $0.18/kwh. Wood heats our DHW in winter, in the summer it's electric which ups the bill around $20/mo. My old oil/wood combo used around 7.5-8 cords a year plus close to 1 tank of oil, and I was a slave to it and keeping the 2 storey chimney clean (haven't cleaned it now in those 5 years) - so life is better now.

 

[Marshy]

I'm installing a boiler and connecting it to my existing oil boiler/baseboard system. I found Tarm is having a sale on their Froling FHGL20/30 indoor boilers because Froling is updating the model. A $10,000 boiler on sale for $6,999. I will build an attached "shed" against my house that will be insulated. I'm putting a 820 gal thermal storage tank in the basement on the other side of the wall. I already bought the storage tank second hand and will begin the construction and the boiler will be ready in Aug. That FHG boiler is a gassification boiler with lambda control (like an O2 sensor) and is high efficiency. Biggest difference is the need for thermal storage unlike the Central boiler systems. I tried heating my house with a Blaze King King and it wasn't working like I wish it would so a boiler is about the only option other than burn oil.

 

[JCMC]

What brand of stove do you have???

So Do you still use propane for heat??

I have used very small amounts of propane in October if we get a really cold night out of the blue before I fire up the stove...but that is only because of our 2-year old girl....if it wasn't for her I wouldn't have to kick on the propane at all.....

I remember when we heated with just propane me and the "boss" would only keep thermostat at 68, hell now its atleast 72-73 all the time since we got the OWB.....

the last straw with the propane company was 6-7 years ago when they supposedly had a "shortage"....they made me go down to 5-10% left in the tank before they would refill....we also paid for "our share" of propane in the summer so we could get it at a cheaper price....when I went into that place to ask them what they hell the problem was I thought I was going to flat out freak out on them....I told them this is flat out bullsh$t, and you need to quit selling people propane that you don't know if you have or not, and many other things I won't repeat....in the end they made it right, but I told the wife right them that I was getting the OWB, I had been tossing around the idea for a few years anyway...

I have a Central boiler CL-40 and I only use propane for hot water.

 

[Khntr85]

I'm installing a boiler and connecting it to my existing oil boiler/baseboard system. I found Tarm is having a sale on their Froling FHGL20/30 indoor boilers because Froling is updating the model. A $10,000 boiler on sale for $6,999. I will build an attached "shed" against my house that will be insulated. I'm putting a 820 gal thermal storage tank in the basement on the other side of the wall. I already bought the storage tank second hand and will begin the construction and the boiler will be ready in Aug. That FHG boiler is a gassification boiler with lambda control (like an O2 sensor) and is high efficiency. Biggest difference is the need for thermal storage unlike the Central boiler systems. I tried heating my house with a Blaze King King and it wasn't working like I wish it would so a boiler is about the only option other than burn oil.

So can you load these 1 or 2 times a day ant it burn for 8-10 hours without messing with it....

I do t know much about these type systems....do you have to build and extra area werebthe hot water tank will sit??

 

[NSMaple1]

So can you load these 1 or 2 times a day ant it burn for 8-10 hours without messing with it....

I do t know much about these type systems....do you have to build and extra area werebthe hot water tank will sit??

You don't want long burn times with these systems. That means smoldering. The fire burns full speed until the fuel is gone, extra heat made goes to storage to be used later. My fire is only burning 6 hours a day in winter, the rest of the time it is out. As in, well, out.

 

[Khntr85]

You don't want long burn times with these systems. That means smoldering. The fire burns full speed until the fuel is gone, extra heat made goes to storage to be used later. My fire is only burning 6 hours a day in winter, the rest of the time it is out. As in, well, out.

Ok I read up on this systems some, very interesting!!!

Those are just mainly used with boiler system type heat????

Can you load your stove and let it run while you are away.....or does it not need ran until you are home....

Another reason I am asking you all this is because my dad has old boiler type heat in his house....I believe this would be the best set-up for him....thanks for the info!!

 

[NSMaple1]

Yes, boiler based.

If you can get over the fact that you need to make a new fire every day (biggest thing to adapt to from someone used to the conventional way [that was me]), every thing else is better. My schedule is to do that late afternoon, do one reload on a good coal bed 3 hours or so later, then the fire is almost out as I am going to bed. Repeat the next day. So rarely a fire burning when I am not home or asleep. That can be adapted to your schedule - you could get one load burning when you get up in the morning, and do another in the evening. Or whatever. It can run while away same as any other one, but you should have contingencies in place for a power outage. Like, good layout for convection flow, a dump zone that will also work by convection - I also added a UPS to my boiler pump 'just in case'.

I have two used 330 gallon LP tanks for storage, stacked. Takes up about a 3' x 10' footprint in my basement. Would like to have 2x500, but not quite enough room.

There are also some very good forced air furnaces that are gasifiers. Kuuma is likely one of the top ones if not the top. But if the fire goes out - no heat except from backup.

 

[Marshy]

I will be using a 820 gal thermal storage tank made by American Solartechnics. It's a modular type square tank which is made of assembling insulated panels. It's a non-pressurized tank but sealed to mitigate water evaporation and has a coil heat exchanger in it. The boiler itself will be a pressurized system and flow through the coil heat exchanger. The control system will give the house loads the priority when calling for heat and then heats the tank second. The tank has a 76"x76" foot print and is 54" tall and is best to find a location in your dwelling to limit the thermal loss. I have room on my basement for it and will put the boiler on the other side of my basement wall in an insulated boiler room that I will build/frame in. This will eliminate the need for the insulated pex with is around $15/ft or more if you need 1-1/4".

The boiler operates basicall at one setting, maximum heat output. If all the loads are satisfied and the thermal storage is full it will go into standby mode but essentially its just trying to keep a small fire going to conserve the remaining fuel load. The operating strategy is completely different from the older boilers because the idea is you use the storage tank as stored energy to draw from and the boiler burns out and when you need to recharge you make a new fire. Depending on your heat loads and storage tank size, you might only have to fire it once or twice a day. Or in some cases, light one fire a day and reload once (two burns basically). The biggest challenge is making sure you use dry wood. The recommended moisture is 20% or less.

 

[Clyde Messinger]

Yes, boiler based.

If you can get over the fact that you need to make a new fire every day (biggest thing to adapt to from someone used to the conventional way [that was me]), every thing else is better. My schedule is to do that late afternoon, do one reload on a good coal bed 3 hours or so later, then the fire is almost out as I am going to bed. Repeat the next day. So rarely a fire burning when I am not home or asleep. That can be adapted to your schedule - you could get one load burning when you get up in the morning, and do another in the evening. Or whatever. It can run while away same as any other one, but you should have contingencies in place for a power outage. Like, good layout for convection flow, a dump zone that will also work by convection - I also added a UPS to my boiler pump 'just in case'.

I have two used 330 gallon LP tanks for storage, stacked. Takes up about a 3' x 10' footprint in my basement. Would like to have 2x500, but not quite enough room.

There are also some very good forced air furnaces that are gasifiers. Kuuma is likely one of the top ones if not the top. But if the fire goes out - no heat except from backup.

How does the extra storage work for you? Do you burn more wood heating the storage up to ???* (180*) temp and do you have to load it more/less often to keep house warm? can you go away overnight without the boiler temp dropping below 90/100*? What boiler do you have? thanks Clyde

 

[NSMaple1]

How does the extra storage work for you? Do you burn more wood heating the storage up to ???* (180*) temp and do you have to load it more/less often to keep house warm? can you go away overnight without the boiler temp dropping below 90/100*? What boiler do you have? thanks Clyde

Storage is the answer. I would like to have more. I usually don't heat higher than 180. More wood than what? The longer you can keep your boiler return temps as cool as possible (minimum 140°), the more heat the heat exchanging section of the boiler can scrub from the exhaust. Therefore likely more to be gained by not heating storage up higher than you need to get you to the next burn time. Hence more storage = better. The boiler fire goes out - completely- between burns. For me that is maybe 18 hours of no fire. So yes the boiler temp might drop below that. Boiler posted above in post 24.

 

[panolo]

I ran a CB550 last winter and it worked great. I have a pretty large house and my thermostat never left 72 even when it was -25F. There is a learning curve with the gasification stoves but you get the hang of it. I was also helped by a couple folks on here who have ran them. Good dry wood is a huge part of it. My goal is to have a 3 year supply cut, split, and stacked so I will always have nice dry wood. I had an issue with mine and thought I lost a solenoid but it was a plugged elbow. Changed some settings and finished the season with no problems. The nice thing about the edge is you don't have to clean the unit often. I empty ash every week or two and shake the chains over the heat exchange tubes at the same time as well. I really like the wifi adapter they have so you can check on your stove from anywhere. It also gives you a great idea how the stove is running.

I went with CB even though I know there are better systems out there for a couple of reasons. The boiler is simple. Very simple. Not a whole lot to go wrong. I also have a great dealer 20 miles away. If I have an issue he'll answer his phone anytime and I can get parts quickly if needed.

 

[Marshy]

I'm getting closer to getting my boiler installed. I'm building a small 8x6 boiler room at the edge of my basement. I want to get everything hooked and operational before I start a thread.

@panolo, can you explain more about the wireless? Can I get wireless info from my Froling?

 

[panolo]

@Marshy I don't know if anybody else offers it but the version I have is for Central boiler and is distributed by them.

 

[Marshy]

@Marshy I don't know if anybody else offers it but the version I have is for Central boiler and is distributed by them.

Interesting. I'm going to call Tarm and ask.

 

[Timbercreek]

i run a heatmor and have very good luck with it. no solenoids. pretty simple construction.
id say a heatmor burns cleaner then a central boiler, seeing both operate at the same exact house. the central used to smoke out my business next door.
once i bought the house and put a heatmor in, the only time mine smokes is upon lighting it. it smokes for 10-15 minutes until i get the water temp up to 120, then gasification occurs, and all u see is heat leaving the chimney.
ash auger out the bottom, once every 2 weeks, clean upper flue(heat exchanger) every month. easy peasy.
look on craigslist, they come up used from time to time. old ones come very close to meeting emisions of the new batch, few simple mods is all they did. same boiler otherwise, and it still meets emisisions.

 

[Mustang71]

There's a guy down the road from me who smokes out his neighbors. My neighbor has an owb, I never know it's running. Smoke means bad combustion.

 

[panolo]

i run a heatmor and have very good luck with it. no solenoids. pretty simple construction.
id say a heatmor burns cleaner then a central boiler, seeing both operate at the same exact house. the central used to smoke out my business next door.

Must have an older CB because the edge I run smokes on startup and that is it. Once the gasification kicks on it's only steam coming out the top. My buddy has a heatmor and it's a great stove but there ain't any tangible difference in smoke.