a little different take on outside wood heat

[badcars2]

this may be of interest to some people in here. these stoves do go outside ut dont have the plumbing , water and heat exchangers involved with a boiler type setup. i just thought it was interesting.
http://www.outsidewoodheater.com/
acually looks pretty easy to build, like a 30 gallon barrel inside of a sheetmetal box. the blower just pushes the hout air into the house surrounding the barrel in which the fire is.
just thought it was cool.
but hey thats just me
Later!

 

[MATTYB11]

very interesting. I've never seen anything like that before but it looks like it would work well. I wonder how its wood consumption would compare to a "regular" outdoor boiler

 

[gtstang462002]

I imagine that it would warm the house faster than the boiler set up but at the same time when the fire goes out it would prabably cool down equally as fast. The boiler setup would have to heat the water then heat the house air. but you then have the heat stored in the water for a slower cooldown period.

 

[cunrya]

I've seen a similar setup to that at hunting shacks/trailers. They work very well to pump hot air through the ducts. Can even use a regular old wood stove and make a similar enclosure with blower motor. Not fancy but functional for sure. And Dirt Cheap

 

[AngelofDarkness]

I looked at it and I think it is kind of cheap and chinzy looking. All the installations looked like hack jobs, whereas an OWB installation is much "cleaner". Also note the lack of insulation on the ductwork, especially the return air duct.

On the system design, a 425 CFM blower is really not enough airflow to move 100,000 BTU's. Most furnaces of that output have at least 1,000 CFM's. The page makes extensive reference to return air systems, but can such a small blower efficiently move enough air through a long return air system to work properly? I would rather have a REAL blower that can actually build some static pressure and push the hot air through a real duct system, something the website explicitly does not recommend. Also, it does not have a grate or ash pan, so all the ashes must be removed by hand, and if they build up they interfere with the furnace operation, a particular problem wth something that is supposed to burn for 8+ hours.

I think you would be way better off ordering a Daka add-on furnace with the big 1320 CFM blower, building a little insulated shed around it and running insulated supply and return air ducts to it from the house. That will give you a system that is more aesthetically appealing, can connect into your home's existing ducts and will outperform this system for aout the same cost.

Lastly, I find it unprofessional to have personal family content and religious links on a business website. If you are into you're faith, that is fine, I am not. Please keep your personal and professional lives separate.

And that is my $0.02.

 

[cunrya]

Look at the site pics Angel, Not after high end homes, all trailers and modules from the looks of things. Might be a respectably clean instilation for there particular market. Not for my house but they do have a place.

 

[AngelofDarkness]

Look at the site pics Angel, Not after high end homes, all trailers and modules from the looks of things. Might be a respectably clean instilation for there particular market. Not for my house but they do have a place.

Yes, but still, I think the units could be a little better designed and constructed. The site claims that they use a thinner steel fire barrel to transfer heat more quickly, but how long will it last? And it doesn't matter what group the product is marketed to, anyone who knows about advertising would say that you have to portray your product in the best light possible, and I think showing these units sitting on cinder blocks with a crudely-run chunk of ductwork does not show them in a very glamorous light.

 

[chowdozer]

Interesting idea. I agree that it's kind of a cluged setup. I think in a high end installation, I would put it in a small brick outbuilding adjacent to the house. I suppose you could actually connect it to the house or garage so you wouldn't have to trudge out in the snow to load it.

 

[zsteinmetz]

Just my opinion but i like my winters supply of wood right next to my outdoor wood boilers door 50 feet away from the house. With this unit you would be dragging wood to it all winter through 2 feet of snow ahh no. Unless of course you would want it all right next to your house. Multiple buildings would also be a problem. Probably use less wood but wood is wood not gold.

 

[wdchuck]

It fills a niche, and at a price point that works for interested folks. The 32" clearance from the house probably came from an insurance requirement of sorts(just thinking out loud), so for a mobile home this would be a good option. The unit has more advantages than disadvantages, and homeowner installation looks pretty simple, it works for them.

Could you build it for less, probably, build something similiar, most likely.

I'd thought about a similar approach just to keep from using up floor space and poking holes in my garage floor(twostory) and roof, and it keeps the flames outside. But I'd like the radiant heat that comes off a woodburner near the workbench, nice on the joints.

With good seasonal maintenance, he claims 6-9years on the firebox. If the whole unit makes it 8years, amoritized, that's only $160/yr, you could buy a new one and still be ahead.

Compared to the money outlay in the "How much money do you save by heating with wood" thread, this would be a viable option.

:greenchainsaw:

 

[jrclen]

this may be of interest to some people in here. these stoves do go outside ut dont have the plumbing , water and heat exchangers involved with a boiler type setup. i just thought it was interesting.
http://www.outsidewoodheater.com/
acually looks pretty easy to build, like a 30 gallon barrel inside of a sheetmetal box. the blower just pushes the hout air into the house surrounding the barrel in which the fire is.
just thought it was cool.
but hey thats just me
Later!

That is interesting looking. I had something similar right in the basement years ago and heated the entire house with it. Putting it outside would have great advantages. And the price beats the newer OWB hot water units by a lot. Maybe someday. Thanks for posting this.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Interesting idea. I agree that it's kind of a cluged setup. I think in a high end installation, I would put it in a small brick outbuilding adjacent to the house. I suppose you could actually connect it to the house or garage so you wouldn't have to trudge out in the snow to load it.

No no, Heres what a high end installation looks like.....

 

[aandabooks]

I looked at those when I was getting ready to buy. I figured by only having one vent into the house, it would create a hot spot and to circulate air we would need a bunch of fans. Floor plan of the house is just too cut up to use efficiently.

Matt

 

[jrclen]

No no, Heres what a high end installation looks like.....

Yup, that looks like it would work fine. I hope they drained the gas tank in the van. Or maybe they drive it over to the neighbors when they get cold. :monkey:

 

[jrclen]

I looked at those when I was getting ready to buy. I figured by only having one vent into the house, it would create a hot spot and to circulate air we would need a bunch of fans. Floor plan of the house is just too cut up to use efficiently.
Matt

I think I would run the supply into the existing house duct system. And use an appropriately sized fan. One supply duct through a window doesn't do it for me. But I do like the concept.

 

[AngelofDarkness]

Yup, that looks like it would work fine. I hope they drained the gas tank in the van. Or maybe they drive it over to the neighbors when they get cold. :monkey:

That might be an idea, a portable furnace-van with a big flex duct that drives from house to house during winter power outages giving them heat 20 minutes at a time. I dunno how to make the chimney road legal though.

 

[bowtechmadman]

Growing up a family friend built my Father an outdoor forced air wood burner. Worked much better than having one in the basement. Heated about 2500 sq. ft. home pretty well. Unit was well insulated as well as the ducts going into the home to where we tied into the existing forced air vents. Used probably 8 - 10 cords a year in southern Michigan.
Pluses I seen:
no mess in the home
cost
close proximity to home
no worry of lines freezing if shut down

Negatives:
close proximity to home - I prefer my OWB and wood pile 100+' from the home
size of holes in foundation to get the ducts through the foundation
burn time...we would fill 3-4 times a day anytime under 30

 

[badcars2]

everyone relax now

i brought the link here just to make it known, if anyone hadnt seen it,,,LOL
Any who in my view, with a much larger fan i could work. just plumb it into my existin heat pump ductwork (which is a joke when it does actually get cold).
i am a welder fabricator, mechanic by trade, looks easy to build to me. my main interest is to get away from a $5000 boiler setup to heat my house , greenhouse, and my garage.
Love this site, you still get to hear al sides of any argument.
VERY GLAD TO BE BACK!!
Later
Chris

 

[AngelofDarkness]

Like I had posted earlier, I think you could get better performance from an indoor wood furnace installed in a little outbuilding with ducts coming off of it. The DAKA with the optional belt drive blower would be my first choice.

 

[Mkarlson]

The old farm house I just purchased had a set up in the well house at one time. There are two pvc pipes running just under the surface of the ground between the well house to the basement window(20ft). From what I can tell they heated the well house (approx 8x10) then ran a line to the cold air return on forced air furnace not sure what they did with cold air reurn from well house. I was actually considering trying a system like this for this winter but didnt know if it would work. Anyone ever done this? Could I heat the well house then hook a squirrel cage fan to the pvc heat pipe to blow air into furnace? Than just leave cold air return to the well open? Just curious.