New outdoor wood furnace

[Guswhit]

Well the wife and I have finally agreed on building a new house. A few of you may remember that I had a Central Boiler unit in the old house. I am rethinking things now, as I have managed to get some more education since my first install. I am leaning towards the Portage and Main line, specifically a bl34-44 model. New house will be 2150 sq. ft, 9' side walls, full basement with 9' walls, basement will have infloor hydronic heat tubes, garage 12 sq. ft., 10' side walls, forced air heat exchanger in this part, garage will have prestressed concrete so I will have a 1200 sq. ft., shop area under main garage with in flow heat as well. I wasn't that thrilled with the whole DHW thing on my other unit and I will probably leave that out. Upper eastern Iowa winters for info as well. Looking at the possibility of adding extra thermal storage in the shop area, but not excited about having to downsize that area anymore. What do you guys think for pro's & con's of the Portage and Main? What are some other suggestions, with some pro's and con's? I am going to get this going before the new EPA regs take effect, providing they really do. My main reasons for going this route is I can do they install and the basic costs. I know that in less than 3 years I will have a payback from the propane savings. Thanks!

 

[NSMaple1]

I would do an indoor boiler + storage, in either the house or shop. Keep the winters wood right beside it, warm & dry.

 

[Guswhit]

From what I can deduce from my research the indoor models are going to be 5 to 7 thousand more and take up more of my space inside than I want to give up
I'm not saying the indoor ones are not good by any means. I'm saying I need to stay on this budget and be satisfied with the payback and benefits of an OWB
All suggestions/feedback are welcome, thanks

 

[flotek]

Why not an indoor modern EPA forced air furnace instead far cheaper and less wood use

 

[ijon1]

I bought a portage and main 28-40 boiler this year. Very well made boiler. I had a woodmaster demo boiler for fourteen years before. The under air works real well on the portage and main, hot fire.

 

[NSMaple1]

From what I can deduce from my research the indoor models are going to be 5 to 7 thousand more and take up more of my space inside than I want to give up
I'm not saying the indoor ones are not good by any means. I'm saying I need to stay on this budget and be satisfied with the payback and benefits of an OWB
All suggestions/feedback are welcome, thanks

How much is the P&M you're looking at?

With new construction and a clean sheet of paper to work from, there is just so much opportunity for someone to really set themselves up for days ahead with advances in construction and heating/cooling tech. If I was to start over again here, there are so many more things available to consider that I might not even end up heating with wood since the heat load would be significantly less than what we did 20 years ago for starters. Well, I likely would, but it might not be primary heat. But I'm pretty sure that if I still went with something that burned wood, it wouldn't be an OWB.

Also, it doesn't have to take up a ton of space. I have my entire winters wood (7+/- cords), boiler, and 660 gallons of heat storage in my basement in about a 10'x20' footprint. Having it all inside a heated space pays huge dividends into the future, every year for as long as you live there, just in greatly reduced wood consumption and everything that goes with that.

But it does still come down to, to each his own...

 

[prospectfarms]

"With new construction and a clean sheet of paper to work from, there is just so much opportunity for someone to really set themselves up…."

NsMaple, et al, has it right.

I have an E4. Good, massive unit required for my big/old/leaky house
…but I have to cut and burn industrial amounts of wood to keep it warm.

With modern technique and materials, a new house should have 10% heat-loss compared to mine. No kidding. Take advantage of that fact and go "euro" (indoor, super-efficient, wood-burning, water-heating appliance) with just enough output and thermal storage Cap. to keep your house warm. The only drawback is tighter QC on the firewood, but that's a matter of quality over quantity. Much easier,I think, to produce two cords of excellent firewood rather than eight-ten cords of "decent" firewood.

 

[Guswhit]

New house will be much better insulated than the one we built ten years ago. With the advances in tightening homes up and improvements in Windows. It may sound like there will be plenty of room, but I am downsizing my shop area almost 3000 square feet. I am slowing down some of my extra work to spend with the wife and kids, just not worth it. I love the warm feeling from the radiant cement floors and I work down low alot. I have a 20x20 outbuilding all ready far enough away from the building site for storage of the boiler and wood undercover