Central Boiler vs Wood Master

[hardy steve]

What about ash doors on the CB's how do you clean the ashes out.

 

[mimilkman1]

I usually take a Saturday morning when the wood is burned down to coals, just move the coals over to one side while I shovel the other side and repeat. Takes me about 10 minutes or so.

Kyle

 

[bowtechmadman]

I've had my Woodmaster 4400 w/ this being the 5th burning season. Very happy with it. My final decision was btw CB and WM...WM won out based on I liked the dealer much better.
Good luck bet you'll be happy w/ either.

 

[Blazin]

I usually take a Saturday morning when the wood is burned down to coals, just move the coals over to one side while I shovel the other side and repeat. Takes me about 10 minutes or so.

Kyle

:agree2: Same here once a month.

 

[tmanmi]

What about ash doors on the CB's how do you clean the ashes out.

Ashes come out through the same door that you load the fire box with. The CB doesn't have any grates in the bottom, just flat steel. I suppose if you wanted to be really lazy you could keep pushing the ashes to the back and get a couple of months before cleaning them out. The door is large enough that you can get a scoop shovel in to clean the ashes out. I clean mine out every 4-6 weeks.

 

[gwiley]

What about ash doors on the CB's how do you clean the ashes out.

One of things I like about the CB is that the door and burn chamber is large enough to allow me to load anything I can lift. This means that crotches and gnarly rounds just go in with no splitting as part of an overnight burn.

No ash door leaves more room for the main door - ashes easily scoop out with a flat shovel (supplied with my furnace). No grates to corrode or decay or fool with.

 

[iowaowb]

We have a woodmaster 5500. Last four years have been heating 4400 sq ft house plus 700 garage and domestic hot water. We had no problem heating the house.This year we added a 1700 sq ft pole building. We had some problems until I raised the water temperature. It will heat everything however have increased wood usage by at least a third but the last three weeks have been below normal. We have been very happy with the woodmaster. Our neighbors around us are about 50/50 WM, or CB and everybody seems to be close to the same wood usage per sq footage (using good wood) and happy with there individual owb.

 

[bowtechmadman]

If you go w/ Woodmaster I wouldn't invest in the ash auger. Everything I hear they dont' work worth a darn. Mine I just shovel out no grates or anything to mess w/.

 

[mtfallsmikey]

One of things I like about the CB is that the door and burn chamber is large enough to allow me to load anything I can lift. This means that crotches and gnarly rounds just go in with no splitting as part of an overnight burn.

No ash door leaves more room for the main door - ashes easily scoop out with a flat shovel (supplied with my furnace). No grates to corrode or decay or fool with.

I'm jealous!...didn't get a shovel with mine....a mud hoes works good too for raking the ash to the door.

 

[SergeantG]

Owb

I've had a CL 4030 since '03 and am very satisfied with it. My dealer cut me a $500.00 break on the price since I helped him install it and trenched the water lines in myself. It keeps up pretty good even when the temps are below zero. It might have been a little chilly in the house, but if a person dresses like it's winter instead of summer, it's not bad at all. I keep telling my daughter that but she won't listen, she dresses like it's 90 degrees out and complains that it's cold. Also what's kind of funny is that if the fire dies down when I'm not home, the kids always would turn up the thermostat and wrap up in a blanket. They can't make the connection that if there is no fire in the furnace there's no heat in the house unless ( heaven forbid! ) they actually go outside and put some wood in the furnace!

 

[gwiley]

Also what's kind of funny is that if the fire dies down when I'm not home, the kids always would turn up the thermostat and wrap up in a blanket. They can't make the connection that if there is no fire in the furnace there's no heat in the house unless ( heaven forbid! ) they actually go outside and put some wood in the furnace!

I am on the road 3 days a week so I trained my boys to tend the furnace. The only rule is - Mom NEVER gets a cold shower. I told them that I had better NEVER hear that she had to have a cold shower.

They do a great job, so far this year I have only had 1 incident - very angry wife calling, putting boys on the phone to explain why the CB temp was at 120degF.

 

[SergeantG]

Every so often I have to go away for my Army Reserve job, so I had to teach my wife how to take care of the owb. She's never had a problem except for forgetting to wait a few seconds before opening the door all of the way and almost singed the eye brows off of the granddaughter. That's a characteristic of central boiler units, sometimes if you don't crack the door and give it a few seconds to flame up before opening it all the way flames will come out at you.

 

[headleyj]

Every so often I have to go away for my Army Reserve job, so I had to teach my wife how to take care of the owb. She's never had a problem except for forgetting to wait a few seconds before opening the door all of the way and almost singed the eye brows off of the granddaughter. That's a characteristic of central boiler units, sometimes if you don't crack the door and give it a few seconds to flame up before opening it all the way flames will come out at you.

I've never met a boiler that doesn't do that My Shaver si that was as is my BIL's Hardy

 

[milkie62]

I love my CB CL40.It has been trouble free for 14 yrs.I have the old style pex though that was encased in blue foam that you ducted taped around.It is 18" deep and with the ground temp at 0 degrees the ground is still thawed.So I guess I will have to eventually dig it up and replace the pex tubing.

But down the road I will have to install a oil furnace in the house as I get older and may want to travel in the winter.Then I will go back to a nice woodstove in the basement so that I do not have to go out in the cold.

 

[brushfire]

WoodMaster Is Way to Go

I'm a property manager and my employers have a Central Boiler wood furnace. I have a WoodMaster 4400. The WoodMaster is far better in my opinion as you don't get the nasty smoke and superheated air blowing back in your face when you open the door. The other problem with Central Boilers is the non-blower firebox aspiration. Not only does the smoke blow back in your face, I've also had times when the wood was just smoldering and not burning. The WoodMaster uses a forced air blower which allows you to use greener or wetter wood if need be.

Also, whatever stove you decide on, make sure you check out the dealer. A bad dealer with a poor customer service attitude after installation can make your life miserable.

 

[Putter]

New to the site but thought I would jump in here.
I was down to the same choice and decided on the CB because of the dual fuel option. Just in case we go out of town the gas will keep things hot. Also there is a clean start setting that fires the gas for 5 min to get the fire going if you let it go right out. I am out of town a lot and wanted to keep it as simple as possible for the better half. So far I love it. No need for a fan in my opinion. Sounds like you should be happy either way.

 

[milkie62]

Been using mine since 1996.Never an issue,never a breakdown.I have used some pretty wet poplar mixed in with the pine I mostly use.I do get some smoke on initial door opening but would never trade my CB 40 for another brand.

 

[mhyme71]

2nd full year with cb5036 never had a problem other than my crappy copper sweating skills. burning pine for the last 3 weeks from local amish sawmill. The central boiler is nice because of simplicity. the blower fan i believe is unnecessary. the wood will smoulder when the fire isnt suppose to burn but give it 2 mins after the damper opens and it is a raging fire. This time of year in ohio it isnt the coldest outside so the damper may only open once every 2 hours or so and the wood might smoulder a little bit more then when it is colder. in the colder winter months smoke is not a problem. The only things i dont like about my 5036 is the way you need to leave the door open for a minute to let the smoke out if it, if it isn't in a burn cycle and the fact that the door opens to the left. i wish it would open towards the right where the plumbing and electrical service is because the service door is on the right to the plumbing so naturally you stack your wood on the left well you have to walk around the door to get wood. not a big deal but i would have definately done it the other way. overall i would give it a 8.5 out of 10

 

[STLfirewood]

I have a CL40 also. I think it works great. I haven't had it very long. It does throw some smoke in your face when you open the door. Also they do make a forced draft upgrade for the vent. I don't see where a person would really need it if your boiler is sized correctly.

Scott

 

[Circle B MN]

I'm a property manager and my employers have a Central Boiler wood furnace. I have a WoodMaster 4400. The WoodMaster is far better in my opinion as you don't get the nasty smoke and superheated air blowing back in your face when you open the door. The other problem with Central Boilers is the non-blower firebox aspiration. Not only does the smoke blow back in your face, I've also had times when the wood was just smoldering and not burning. The WoodMaster uses a forced air blower which allows you to use greener or wetter wood if need be.

Also, whatever stove you decide on, make sure you check out the dealer. A bad dealer with a poor customer service attitude after installation can make your life miserable.

Burning green or wet wood in a boiler, stove, fireplace, or even pit is frowned upon to say the least. It is the "feed it anything" mentaility that gave wood boilers a bad name. Properly seasoned, dry wood, is the ONLY thing that should be put in the boiler.