Woodmarc
ArboristSite Lurker
This is my first year with the 5036 and so I thought I would post I initial thoughts after my first three months of running the boiler in hopes that it may benefit someone making their own decision.
First a little about me and my situation. I've been around wood burning my whole life, so wood cutting and collection are nothing new to me. I have heated my house (1500 sq ft well insulated) for years with an indoor wood stove and was quite happy with it. However my son has developed asthma problems and the dust from indoor wood burning had become an issue. After a lot of research I decided to go with the CB 5036 mainly because there is a dealer close and he seemed to be quite knowledgeable.
I mounted my boiler on a pad made of paver bricks which is 6' by 8', this leaves me with maybe 2 feet of bricked area in front of the boiler. If I had it to do over again I'd make the pad larger in the front since I find myself standing half on, and half off of the pad when loading. This can be problematic when there is ice on the ground.
I chose to set it close to the house in order to minimize the cost of the underground lines. I bought the thermopex lines from CB and seems to have been a good decision since I see minimal heat loss. The lines are only about 6 inches underground in the vicinity of the house due to the way i had to penetrate the foundation wall, and when there has been snow on the ground it does not melt in these areas.
After talking to the braintrust here, I set the boiler with the door facing the prevailing wind. I'm glad I listened to the advice I got on here because these things can put out the smoke when you first open the door. Whatever you are wearing when loading the boiler will smell like smoke! Doesn't bother me to much, but the wife complains about it on the rare occasion that she has to load it.
On wood consumption, I burn a mix of oak, hackberry, Honey Locust, and a little bit of walnut. This is all wood that I had cut to load in my stove and is about 18in long, seasoned about 14 months. I have not noticed excessive amounts of smoke from the stack like some report. I always get 12 hour burns and have gotten as much as 36 hours. Now that I have gotten the hang of how this things likes to burn, I just load enough to get 12 hours, which keeps the firebox from getting a lot of excess coals, and i think helps get a complete burn. Based on what I have used so far this year I estimate I'll burn about 5 cords.
All in all I'm very happy with my CB and love the fact that all of the mess is now outside. I'll try to post some pics of my install at a latter date.
First a little about me and my situation. I've been around wood burning my whole life, so wood cutting and collection are nothing new to me. I have heated my house (1500 sq ft well insulated) for years with an indoor wood stove and was quite happy with it. However my son has developed asthma problems and the dust from indoor wood burning had become an issue. After a lot of research I decided to go with the CB 5036 mainly because there is a dealer close and he seemed to be quite knowledgeable.
I mounted my boiler on a pad made of paver bricks which is 6' by 8', this leaves me with maybe 2 feet of bricked area in front of the boiler. If I had it to do over again I'd make the pad larger in the front since I find myself standing half on, and half off of the pad when loading. This can be problematic when there is ice on the ground.
I chose to set it close to the house in order to minimize the cost of the underground lines. I bought the thermopex lines from CB and seems to have been a good decision since I see minimal heat loss. The lines are only about 6 inches underground in the vicinity of the house due to the way i had to penetrate the foundation wall, and when there has been snow on the ground it does not melt in these areas.
After talking to the braintrust here, I set the boiler with the door facing the prevailing wind. I'm glad I listened to the advice I got on here because these things can put out the smoke when you first open the door. Whatever you are wearing when loading the boiler will smell like smoke! Doesn't bother me to much, but the wife complains about it on the rare occasion that she has to load it.
On wood consumption, I burn a mix of oak, hackberry, Honey Locust, and a little bit of walnut. This is all wood that I had cut to load in my stove and is about 18in long, seasoned about 14 months. I have not noticed excessive amounts of smoke from the stack like some report. I always get 12 hour burns and have gotten as much as 36 hours. Now that I have gotten the hang of how this things likes to burn, I just load enough to get 12 hours, which keeps the firebox from getting a lot of excess coals, and i think helps get a complete burn. Based on what I have used so far this year I estimate I'll burn about 5 cords.
All in all I'm very happy with my CB and love the fact that all of the mess is now outside. I'll try to post some pics of my install at a latter date.