Butch(OH)
Addicted to ArboristSite
Not sure if this is proper use of this forum but all the hula on the Internet about smoke and fuel usage has had me wondering a bit about my choice to buy an outside wood boiler. Well we fired up the Woodmaster for the first time last week. Really didn't need a fire at the time but wanted to check for leaks and add the treatment to the water. One large arm load of dry cherry and the kindling to light it brought the system up to temp. The temps then went down in the low 50s at night so I turned on the shop (22x24) circuit and kept it cozy in there, also heated the water for washing several batches of clothes and showers for four people. Never ran the blower in the house but the pipes running under the floor to the furnace and water heater provided some heat at night and we opened windows during the day. Anyway we have been pulling some heat out of it, not a lot, but useful amounts. I added one more armload of dry cherry two days later and it was still hot last night. To sum it up we have heated all of our domestic water for 4 days, provided some heat for house and shop in the 50 degree evenings for those days plus warmed the system up from dead cold all on two arm loads of cherry plus kindling. As for smoke? what smoke? Neighbor lady came over and said it smelled good outside. A brief puff when the blower kicks on is it, other wise a clear stack. I realize that wood usage will go up when we start pulling some serious BTUs from it for so far I have not seen fuel usage out of line with heat pulled from it as I have read about on some other forums. I am thrilled with our 4400 so far:biggrinbounce2: Will add to this thread later when the temps go down as I plan to keep track of all wood used.
