All Central Boiler Users

[newmanab]

If you were to buy another unit again. would it be an Classic or E-Classic.

I'm still Debating on cb5036 or E1400. :deadhorse:

I Don't want the hassle of split everything and babysitting a burner.

Thanks for your input!

 

[Circle B MN]

If you were to buy another unit again. would it be an Classic or E-Classic.

I'm still Debating on cb5036 or E1400. :deadhorse:

I Don't want the hassle of split everything and babysitting a burner.

Thanks for your input!

Sounds like you've answered your own question...

 

[varna]

I agree with MNGuns, you answered your own question.
For me, I had a gasser till about 3 weeks ago. It worked great but too small for my application so I had to go larger.....
You are correct.....I had to babysit it, fill it 3 times a day, and had to wait till 11pm everynight to fill for an overnight burn, split wood more so than a regular unit. Again the unit was not quite big enough for me.
Now, I have a 6048 and back to having "fun" with heating with wood. It really doesn't smoke any worse than my neighbors indoor wood stove. I use dry, seasoned wood and can go 24 hrs++ if I want to on a load. So if you don't have "not so freindly" neighbors right on top of you, I would not get the E-Classic.
Now this may also be due to having too small a unit previously, BUT, I use 1/3 the wood in the 6048 natural draft than I did in the fan forced draft gasser.

 

[newmanab]

Varna,

Thank you.... how much sq ft are u heating with the 6048?

 

[applefarmer]

I agree with MNGuns, you answered your own question.
For me, I had a gasser till about 3 weeks ago. It worked great but too small for my application so I had to go larger.....
You are correct.....I had to babysit it, fill it 3 times a day, and had to wait till 11pm everynight to fill for an overnight burn, split wood more so than a regular unit. Again the unit was not quite big enough for me.
Now, I have a 6048 and back to having "fun" with heating with wood. It really doesn't smoke any worse than my neighbors indoor wood stove. I use dry, seasoned wood and can go 24 hrs++ if I want to on a load. So if you don't have "not so freindly" neighbors right on top of you, I would not get the E-Classic.
Now this may also be due to having too small a unit previously, BUT, I use 1/3 the wood in the 6048 natural draft than I did in the fan forced draft gasser.

What kind of gasser did you have? Something doesn't sound right, I thought the gassers were proven to be more effecient you just had more work with the wood. For me my standard owb makes more sence. I just finished replacing the wood I have burnt so far this season, it took me 3 full days to go from the woods to ready to burn in 2013-2014! As long as you have access to wood, a owb spoils you.

 

[varna]

2000 sqft house, 900 sqft attached in-law suite, 24 X 32 pole barn, all domestic hot water which includes 2 showers, (6 folks) 2 dish washers, 2 clothes washers and heat my 500gal hot tub.
House has 2 forced air propane heating units, Hot water 10 plate HX, hot tub 70k tube HX, barn in floor radiant heat.

Don't be scared to go bigger than you think you need in the boiler. I made that mistake with my first one. I highly reccomend you get the 6048. you won't be sorry.

 

[varna]

What kind of gasser did you have? Something doesn't sound right, I thought the gassers were proven to be more effecient you just had more work with the wood.

Apple, I had a Wood Doctor HE5000. Now, Like I said, it wasn't big enough for my heat load and the fan always ran because the unit was working "hard" to keep up. I feel that most of my heat was going out the stack. I firmly believe that if I had went with the HE8000 I would have been better off. I do not in anyway think that the Wood Doctor is a bad unit and if I was only heating a 2000 sqft house I would have been fine. They told me 5000 sqft.........but ALL OWB companies seem to stretch the "heating capacities" That's why I say, figure the size you think you need......and go one bigger.
The 6048 is so much nicer....

 

[applefarmer]

Varna, I thought you were really happy with the 5000 earlier, what happened? Did it have trouble when it got really cold back in Janurary/Feburary?

 

[varna]

Yes, I was happy with it........ until I got tired of "having" to feed it 3 times a day...and staying up till 11pm just to fill it. When it got down into the 20's or lower, the fan just ran and ran and ran.......but I knew I was asking alot from it. The unit was a very good well made boiler.
The main reason I got rid of it was......we have saved over 11k in propane in 2 years of using it, I paid a little over 7500 for it so it had paid for itself.....and best of all, I found someone that was looking to buy a "less expensive" boiler and the used HE5000 was just what he was looking for.
It was a win win situation.
Did I mention the CB-6048 is awesome.

 

[newmanab]

Did I mention the CB-6048 is awesome.

 

[gwiley]

I have the 5036 and absolutely love it. Use it to heat 3600sf (+/-) - wife keeps house at 73degF! House has huge ceilings (10.5' downstairs, 9' upstairs, 17' for a very large family room) which eat a lot of the heat. We fill it twice a day unless it is very cold (then 3-4 times) or very warm (once every 2-3 days).

 

[mtfallsmikey]

Can't go wrong with the 5036. Mine has worked out great, sometimes I have to reload 3 times a day, especially when it's real cold, and I have the shop at 70+ degrees. Talk about luxury!

 

[Alan Smith]

5036

We fill it twice a day when cold when i have oak wood 1 time a day when cold

 

[mtfallsmikey]

I have the 5036 and absolutely love it. Use it to heat 3600sf (+/-) - wife keeps house at 73degF! House has huge ceilings (10.5' downstairs, 9' upstairs, 17' for a very large family room) which eat a lot of the heat. We fill it twice a day unless it is very cold (then 3-4 times) or very warm (once every 2-3 days).

Not to hijackthis, but how did that pole barn turn out you were building, and are you still working up here in the northlands?

 

[Danbiggs]

If you were to buy another unit again. would it be an Classic or E-Classic.

I'm still Debating on cb5036 or E1400. :deadhorse:

I Don't want the hassle of split everything and babysitting a burner.

Thanks for your input!

I have the 5036 since 1/2011 and love it. I heat a 1800sq.ft. cape, a garage that is not finished off (open ceiling) 24x30, all the hot water we need for 3 people. Got 2 friends with 5648 which is now 6048. Both burn year round. One guy heat big log home,water heater,pool. He packs it and goes away all weekend. The other guy over bought small house and water. I fill once a day at night. Now here is the important part to consider. The word I got from dealer was Central was going to stop making Classic in 4/2012 and go with nothing but E-Classic to conform to EPA. Now my dealer had a E-Classic 1400 did not like it because it limits what you can burn and they got rid of it. Do the research 5036/200 gal.jacket 6048/400 gal.. If you have lots of room and I didn't I might go with 6048. However keep in mind if you don't need to heat 400 gals. and that takes more wood. I could have got by with house and water with 4030 but went up to 5036 and added garage which I heat when in there with a 100k heat exchanger. Good Luck to you a big purchase so give a lot of thought.

 

[gwiley]

Not to hijackthis, but how did that pole barn turn out you were building, and are you still working up here in the northlands?

The pole barn is almost finished (a little more sheet metal on the walls and we are done), we had out septic system collapse in December which got my attention and turned into a multi-month fiasco. When you only have 1-2 days per week to do all the real projects around the house it doesn't take much to push something like the pole barn out for months.

To keep this at least a little in sync with the thread, I use my weekends to scrounge wood to feed the OWB. A buddy had me cutting some monster standing dead oaks on a pasture fence line so time spent out there means even less time for the barn.

I am still working near Dulles - I think the commute has degraded though, up to 3.5-4 hours each way from home.

 

[Iska3]

One more vote for the 5360. It's the best thing we ever did. Well seasoned wood is the key. I think we got a bit spoiled with this OWB. Love the free hot water. I always thought the OWB's were a PIA because of all the smoke. Soon found out it was the person filling the stove with junk that give this a bad name.

If I were to do it again, I might look at the CB-6048 because of the extra water storage. I don't think it would take any more wood than the 5360.

Sept 11th is the last day to buy one.

 

[chiefs584ever]

CB 6048. Hate to even think they are going to stop selling them. Simplicity in design means less problems. I might need to buy a spare and keep in the barn for when mine wears out.

 

[ks_osage_orange]

CB 6048. Hate to even think they are going to stop selling them. Simplicity in design means less problems. I might need to buy a spare and keep in the barn for when mine wears out.

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[mtfallsmikey]

The pole barn is almost finished (a little more sheet metal on the walls and we are done), we had out septic system collapse in December which got my attention and turned into a multi-month fiasco. When you only have 1-2 days per week to do all the real projects around the house it doesn't take much to push something like the pole barn out for months.

To keep this at least a little in sync with the thread, I use my weekends to scrounge wood to feed the OWB. A buddy had me cutting some monster standing dead oaks on a pasture fence line so time spent out there means even less time for the barn.

I am still working near Dulles - I think the commute has degraded though, up to 3.5-4 hours each way from home.

Well, good to hear you are making progress on the barn, sorry about the septic. I've been involved with repairing those in the past, always a nightmare...

Wish Central made a boiler with 250-300 gal. canpacity, wold fill a need between the 5048/5036.