Outdoor wood stoves

[Robert Mickley]

Well I didn't read the whole thread, but. I heat with a an outdoor boiler. its the Robert Mickley brand. ain't no way in heck I was going to shell out $5000 or more for a boiler. sorry but thats just highway robbery.

I hve right at $1100 in mine. thats everything. building the tanks, buying the pump, blower, aquastat, 148,000 btu heat exchanger, 120 feet of plex, connectors, welding rod, insualation, flue pipe. 4 inch pvc, 3/4 conduit. wire.

Took me about 4 days working on it off and on. granted we had a pretty mild winter here but I've only burned about 2.5 to 3 cords of firewood, maybe less.

It's an open tank system, yeah you have to add makeup water every time you fire it but all I do is open a valve. so what if it corrodes out in 10 years. thats 110 bucks a year still cheaper than propane

 

[slabracing]

moved?

Is there any way to get this thread moved to the heating with wood forum
there is alot of good info on here,but hard to find because it is off the topic

 

[gotwood]

what to buy

I have looked at many different types of outdoor boilers. It seems when I think I have made up my mind I find a different one. Heatmor was the one that I thought I would buy, Central name it I guess. Does anyone have anything on Portage and Main boilers? They have been around a while seems to have a good reputation and very good warranty. Thanks for any info.

 

[carney19]

Woodmaster 4400

I just have to reply to something that was posted earlier here. I work for Woodmaster as their tech writer and I have a 4400. I have nothing but good things to say about it. I love it....better yet my wife loves it. Somebody said something earlier about a dealer not selling Woodmaster anymore because of the Warranty. I work right next to the warranty guys here and I can honestly tell you(not just because I work here) that I have never been apart of a company that takes care of its warranty issues better and faster. So this "dealer" must have been doing something wrong and chances are he got booted.

 

[fourapples]

Getting off the subject some, I have purchased and installed a stainless OWB. Just curious if anyone has feedback on installing grounding rod and grounding the unit to protect from electrical storms etc.. Should this be included in the installation process?

 

[django]

Been a little while....

Hello to all,
It's been a long time since I posted or even looked at this site,kinda strange since I started the thread back in '01. But I have been on to other things. Seems there has been a few discussions.... FYI, I am on the 5th season with my home made Smoke Dragon and all is well. As you may recall mine is made entirely of hot rolled sheet metal, 7ga. firebox, 10ga. jacket. Dual draft control ( natural or forced depending on the load) Very well insulated.
I use a sludge conditioner and corrosion inhibitor in the water. I scrape the stove out every spring and spray it with a mixture of diesel fuel and clean motor oil. No sign of corrosion. The smoke and efficiency discussions kind of crack me up a little. The basic outdoor wood/water setup wth the water jacket against the firebox wall is so horribly inefficient as to be laughable. Mine included. Go out to your stove. Open the door. Is ther creosote all over the place? It is an inefficient wood pig.Is the smoke black/blue/brown when it fires? It is an inefficient wood pig. Go to woodheat.org and look at what some guy in Pennsylvania did with his Central Smoker. Very good stuff. Very expensive mods. "Warnock Heresy" test? Puhleeeese. The water capacity point is a little ambiguous as well, I don't care if you're heating 100 gallons at the stove or 10,000 , the water in the jacket will never get above the setpoint you have designated (not including deadband) so the cooling effect on the fire is the same, the water is relatively very cold compared to what the flame temp is trying to be. your cycle on/off time will be affected for sure, and that can certainly have an efficiency effect if the burn time is exceptionally short.Blah blah blah, etc etc...You want to see efficient wood to water? Garn. Great system, fantastic flame temps, very low emissions, big ol' heat flywheel. Major coin though. I am making some fairly significant improvements (hopefully) to mine shortly and if anyone is interested I will post more pics. I am not unhappy with my stove but it is what it is, and I have the bug again.
There are a few more players in the outdoor stove game since I looked at all of the manufacturers befor building mine, but physics haven't changed at all.
The measure of "efficiency" is still how many of the available BTU's in the wood end up in the water. Not out the stack, not stuck to the sides of the forebox, not as unburned clinks in the ash, (which in an efficient stove there isnt much ash anyway,wood depending) By that measure most stoves for sale today and making ridiculous I should say criminal claims fall very very short indeed. They are smoky, dirty, inefficient pigs. It is impossible for them to be otherwise, you simply can't get optimal flame temps, not even close, unless you can get water to boil at a higher temp than 212* I love mine anyway. You can "help" by burning small loads more often to minimize unburnt fuel, and a few other things. I personally know 6 people besides myself that used to burn inside and moved outside. We all have the basic stove setup, thier's are Heatmor, Central, Hardy, Mahoning, Pacific Western and Taylor.
We all use around twice the wood we used inside in various modes. Twice.
That's a "real world" measure. Not a misleading "test"
I have a friend who still burns inside, and we have pretty identical heat loads. Again, he uses about half the wood that I do. I still won't go back to inside burning, I don't miss the mess and the hauling. Or the bugs.
Hope everyone is doing well. Stay warm.

FYI also, the Pacific Western, supposedly made from fabulous 409 stainless, rusted out from the OUTSIDE in 3 years. He had to haul it to Thunder Bay at his expence to have it exchanged. "Transportation is at the expence of the owner" They were very unresponsive to any other option. It was too rotted to be worth repairing. Amazing. Sad.

 

[WRW]

We all use around twice the wood we used inside in various modes. Twice.
That's a "real world" measure. Not a misleading "test"
I have a friend who still burns inside, and we have pretty identical heat loads. Again, he uses about half the wood that I do. .

I've found that since the daughter that took two half hour showers every day plus washed one load of clothes in the same time frame left, my fuel consumption has gone back to around what it was with the inside wood heat. My drainfield is happier, too.

 

[DDM]

I have moved this thread to the firewood & Heating with wood forum.I Believe its more fitting here.

 

[beerman6]

:censored: This is a long thread...do I need to read it all?

 

[Marklambert61]

Heatmor

Love my stove...

 

[zsteinmetz]

i have a wood doctor and love it. There made of boilerplate and have a 30 year warraty, one of the best in the business.

 

[chubs]

i was looking at the wood doctor converter, anybody have any imformation on them?

 

[pipe welder]

I guess this is as good a place as any to throw in my 2 cents. Been burning wood for 35 years. Inside stoves, indoor boiler and OWB. My biggest complaint with the OWB is the amount of wood it burns. Probably twice my IWB and almost 3 times the inside stoves. I bought a woodmaster 4400 ,does everything woodmaster says it will do. I could have and probably should have built my own given my background 35 yrs pipefitter welder but I had other things to do. At my age cutting 11 or 12 cords of wood a year gets old pretty quick. I would like the option to burn some coal to supplement the wood. I know the woodmaster isn't set up for coal but I could modify it or just put it on craigslist and build my own. I read here somebody in Indiana burning coal. If anyone reading this knows where to buy coal in east central Il or west central In where did you get it and how much per ton?

 

[troyd1]

Shaver model

Has anyone dealt with these people?
http://www.nextlevelsolutionz.com/index.html

They have a burner that is reasonable appears to have a nice warranty. I have not seen any posts on them and wanted to get some opinions. Also is there a good site for stove comparisons?

 

[cimalt]

Haven't actually got an OWB but after loads of research (we use ~2250 gallons of oil a year so looking to move from this) I have decided that if we are going to buy one that the Shaver from next levelsolutions (weldrite Inc) looks like it is built well (I have been told one fell over a cliff {I guess when someone who shouldn't have been was moving it} and was still able to be used; just superficial denting!).
One thing that is missing is good real life testimonials of wood usage compared to previous fuel (oil/propane etc) but I have already asked for and got some info in another post. Again thanks to those people who have replied so far as I'm sure it will help those of us still making up our minds.

 

[kalib stock]

I have a Taylor T-500CB its going on it's seventh year! This is their 37th year making the stoves. No problems with it. Its has more than paid for itself, as far as the the care of it goes you drain the water jacket ounce a year and put two Quarts of chemical and a Anode rod in it and you're set! I've seen a LOT of them that are from 15 to 30 years old that still work great! God luck with your purchase! Kalib

Any of y'all have an outside woodstove? Also known as a wood fired boiler even though they dont boil. I am considering buying or building one and would like some pros/cons.
Thanx.

 

[LeakyWoodDoctor]

My Leaky Wood Doctor

I have lots of information to share regarding my OWB!

Pipping ideas, anodes, boiler treatment, homemade DHW heat siphon, mixing valves, patching leaks, warranty wording to watch out for, corrosion problems, etc.

I will try to put up posts on all of these subjects where appropriate!

I have had two Heavy Gauge Stainless Steel Wood Doctor OWB develops numerous leak within the first 5 years of my warranty. The first in only it's second heating season and the second in only it's third heating season!

 

[LeakyWoodDoctor]

My Wood Doctor Warranty - No Warranty at all!

Have you notices the phrase in your Wood Doctor warranty, "on site or at our factories"?

Returning "a part" to the factory when requested by Wood Doctor may not seem like a biggy, but what if Wood Doctor considers "the part" to be your entire furnace and what if "the factory" is in Manitoba?

I am the not so proud owner of my second 2000 lbs heavy duty stainless steel exterior wood furnace. My original furnace developed perforations in it's belly causing it to loose all it's water in only it's second heating season. I managed to make it to spring by holding vigilance over ten or so pine plugs hammered into the holes to stop the leaks!

This first boiler was promptly replaced under warranty by Wood Doctor at virtually no cost to me.

This replacement stainless steel boiler has now just barely made it threw it's third heating season, this time developing perforations primarily along the belly weld lines!

My original furnace has a 25 year replacement warranty covering repairs at 100% for the first 5 years. I am still within the first 5 years of my warranty and have had two of these boilers corrode out on me.

This time around though, Wood Doctor is exercising a phrase in it's warranty which they believe gives them the right to request that I ship my entire furnace half way across the country for assessment to repaired or replaced rather then they send someone local to fix it. It is simply ludicrous to me that they believe they can interpret their warranty in this way, making it, in fact, no warranty at all! Their interpretation is essentially that an entire 2000 lbs furnace is, "a part" that they can request be returned to them for repair! :jawdrop:

I wonder what phrases you might find in your warranty? Would your dealer consider an entire 2000 lbs furnace, "a part" that he could simply request be returned for accessment!

I've stuck epoxy putty over all the holes in my Wood Doctor and put it back online for this heating season, but I have no idea how long it will be able to hold water! I do not seem to have much choice at present!

 

[November Wolf]

Have you notices the phrase in your Wood Doctor warranty, "on site or at our factories"?

Returning "a part" to the factory when requested by Wood Doctor may not seem like a biggy, but what if Wood Doctor considers "the part" to be your entire furnace and what if "the factory" is in Manitoba?

I am the not so proud owner of my second 2000 lbs heavy duty stainless steel exterior wood furnace. My original furnace developed perforations in it's belly causing it to loose all it's water in only it's second heating season. I managed to make it to spring by holding vigilance over ten or so pine plugs hammered into the holes to stop the leaks!

This first boiler was promptly replaced under warranty by Wood Doctor at virtually no cost to me.

This replacement stainless steel boiler has now just barely made it threw it's third heating season, this time developing perforations primarily along the belly weld lines!

My original furnace has a 25 year replacement warranty covering repairs at 100% for the first 5 years. I am still within the first 5 years of my warranty and have had two of these boilers corrode out on me.

This time around though, Wood Doctor is exercising a phrase in it's warranty which they believe gives them the right to request that I ship my entire furnace half way across the country for assessment to repaired or replaced rather then they send someone local to fix it. It is simply ludicrous to me that they believe they can interpret their warranty in this way, making it, in fact, no warranty at all! Their interpretation is essentially that an entire 2000 lbs furnace is, "a part" that they can request be returned to them for repair! :jawdrop:

I wonder what phrases you might find in your warranty? Would your dealer consider an entire 2000 lbs furnace, "a part" that he could simply request be returned for accessment!

I've stuck epoxy putty over all the holes in my Wood Doctor and put it back online for this heating season, but I have no idea how long it will be able to hold water! I do not seem to have much choice at present!

Could your problem be from not having your unit grounded with a ground rod? The reason I ask is someone told me It is critical to have a stainless boiler grounded.

 

[ghitch75]

Have you notices the phrase in your Wood Doctor warranty, "on site or at our factories"?

Returning "a part" to the factory when requested by Wood Doctor may not seem like a biggy, but what if Wood Doctor considers "the part" to be your entire furnace and what if "the factory" is in Manitoba?

I am the not so proud owner of my second 2000 lbs heavy duty stainless steel exterior wood furnace. My original furnace developed perforations in it's belly causing it to loose all it's water in only it's second heating season. I managed to make it to spring by holding vigilance over ten or so pine plugs hammered into the holes to stop the leaks!

This first boiler was promptly replaced under warranty by Wood Doctor at virtually no cost to me.

This replacement stainless steel boiler has now just barely made it threw it's third heating season, this time developing perforations primarily along the belly weld lines!

My original furnace has a 25 year replacement warranty covering repairs at 100% for the first 5 years. I am still within the first 5 years of my warranty and have had two of these boilers corrode out on me.

This time around though, Wood Doctor is exercising a phrase in it's warranty which they believe gives them the right to request that I ship my entire furnace half way across the country for assessment to repaired or replaced rather then they send someone local to fix it. It is simply ludicrous to me that they believe they can interpret their warranty in this way, making it, in fact, no warranty at all! Their interpretation is essentially that an entire 2000 lbs furnace is, "a part" that they can request be returned to them for repair! :jawdrop:

I wonder what phrases you might find in your warranty? Would your dealer consider an entire 2000 lbs furnace, "a part" that he could simply request be returned for accessment!

I've stuck epoxy putty over all the holes in my Wood Doctor and put it back online for this heating season, but I have no idea how long it will be able to hold water! I do not seem to have much choice at present!

it's just not wood doctor...all wood boiler company's will make you do all the leg work....then when they get it they'll say your ash line is to high or some other crap to get out of covering warranty....sorry for the bad news.....had dealings with 4 different company's over the past 6 years and there all the same on warranty.....and if you do get them to fix it...it could be 6 months to a year before you get it back...