need help deciding on outdoor boiler

[FARMINGMICH]

just outside of Grand Rapids

 

[OH_Varmntr]

10-4.

Sent from my ADR6410LVW using Tapatalk

 

[TheHill]

I'm in the elevations of NH. I am just rounding out year 5 of running a 6048 365 days a year. It supplies hydronic radiant heat for a 2200 sq ft house, a 500 sq ft cottage, a modine for a garage, a hot tub, and all of my domestic hot water. If you can get it through the door, this thing will burn it. Its awesome. I cannot recommend it enough. Nearly NO maintenance. From Dec-April, 10 cord; balance of year, 3-4 cord of junk wood.

 

[Aaron Frasher]

If you can get the central boiler 6048 for $8300 that sounds good to me. I just checked on a central boiler cl 4030 and they wanted $9000 for it. That was with another excanger coil. They wanted $11,000 for the 5036.This price did not include the pipe to run to the house. I dont know if that includes them doing the install.

 

[StihlFroling]

The ohio central dealer has some real good pricing on logstor pipe if you haven't already purchased. I see you put a deposit down. Have you gone thru and laid out your system and what all the other parts will cost? Don't be the guy that learns as you go, too many of those horror stories. There's got to be a couple dozen threads on people redoing their system or underground fancy wrap lines from failure. Or the wrong size line and wrong size pump that they replace every year. Save yourself some money and plan it out right.

 

[Midwestlife]

I was dead set on a timberwolf stove from Muskegon for my new to me home.. Had deposit down and everything. For 3000 couldn't beat it. Then the wonderful county of laporte Indiana said it didn't meet phase two epa criteria and could not be installed. So it went from a 3000$ owb to 10 I just couldn't justify. So I went old school like pops and bought an add on to my furnace. Heat my tri level (with additional basement makimg it a quad) just fine. But I wish I had the easily controlled heat and constant burn of a owb.

 

[ford tech]

Unless you want to burn coal buy the central boiler 6048 - Several people have them near me and love them - I bought one also -

 

[Noah's Ark]

I have a 6048, it has been in service for 7 years and no issues. It does eat wood but will burn anything as others have said. Keep it cleaned out, test the water every year, keep the chimney clean and you won't have issues. I live in eastern CT and went through about 5-6 cords this year. Heat a 3,000 sqf house and domestic hot water for 4 of us (two teen girls, wife and myself) so domestic water demand can be high. I run the stove from early October to 1st of May. Keep a spare pump and damper solenoid on hand and you will be fine.

 

[Woodomaker]

6048 and don't look back, no draft fans blowin heat up the stack and grates. Open the door and put wood in it, shut the door and enjoy the heat. Look at both, the less moving parts the better

6048 is my choice for over 6 years....no problems

 

[milkie62]

What he said x 10

I will double that x10.My 1995 CL40 is running strong with ZERO issues.I did replace the door gasket once.I have the old steel door on mine with no warpage.

 

[Crossotter]

I'm finishing year 12 of my Empyre 450. All non-magnetic stainless. I've had 4 boil overs. dry to the bone. Due to the door being shut improperly by babysitters. Somehow I escaped any major damage. My stove is still doing an awesome job. I heat a 1750 sq. ft. house, Domestic hot water, and a half insulated 1000 sq. ft. barn to 55 in mid-Michigan. I replaced 1 pump, 1 solenoid for natural draft, & 1 aqua-stat at a total cost of about $320 plus wood in all that time. I know of 6 other Empyre ss units that have been in quite a while with no major problems. I have installed quite a few various brands of owb and have seen quite a few burned out carbon steel boilers especially Classic as I go to a Classic dealer for fittings and they always have at least one sitting in their yard. Also, there are different grades of SS. You get what you pay for.

 

[StihlFroling]

So your Empyre hasn't burned a hole thru the steel yet like many other profabs. Empyre seems to top the list last two years with catastrophic failures. I just assumed that's why Craigslist is flooded with dealers trying to get rid of them. Its unfortunate but you don't get what you pay for in the OWB market far too often.

 

[milkie62]

Like I said I am going on 20 yrs this coming season and no issues at all with my central boiler.

 

[benp]

I'm in the elevations of NH. I am just rounding out year 5 of running a 6048 365 days a year. It supplies hydronic radiant heat for a 2200 sq ft house, a 500 sq ft cottage, a modine for a garage, a hot tub, and all of my domestic hot water. If you can get it through the door, this thing will burn it. Its awesome. I cannot recommend it enough. Nearly NO maintenance. From Dec-April, 10 cord; balance of year, 3-4 cord of junk wood.View attachment 347321

Hill,

I like your wood shed. Took me a bit to figure out how you fill it but I like the idea.

 

[Crossotter]

I hadn't been aware of any high rate of failure associated with Empyre but as an installer of owb & dealer of none I try to stay informed. I do know that Empyre came out with a new model in the last 2 years to meet the new epa standards. I will try to find out what Empyre failures you are talking about so i can pass the info along.

 

[Crossotter]

Stihlfroling I was wondering what list you are talking about.

 

[StihlFroling]

The pro models are burning holes right thru the steel, 4-8" hole near the blower fan onto controls , pumps and pipes. 1st season, more are popping up as owners are doing spring shutdowns and cleaning. Dealers are stocking the repair kits that just zip screw over the burnt out holes on 10-12$ stoves. Its common enough that they made a parts repair kit for it. It covers the damage but doesn't fix the problem.
The elites stainless steel box is corroding right thru where the creosote gets behind the firebrick, there are also update repair kits for these too, but only good if it hasn't happened yet.
These are some nice looking units but the low output, failure rate and nearly zero warranty support is leaving many owners hanging after a big investment. It's getting so bad that it's starting to look like what other OWB companies have done just before they went out of business or changed names to avoid all the warranty losses.

 

[Crossotter]

Thanks for the heads up but where is the source of info.

 

[StihlFroling]

Just do a goggle search, empire 200 issues. Pro fab issues or problems. Hearth has 3 or 4 leakers from this season that came up on the first page or two. And a search here too

 

[TheHill]

Hill,

I like your wood shed. Took me a bit to figure out how you fill it but I like the idea.

Thanks, yes, it's a 4 x two-cord rows front to back, 2 rows on either side of the shed. The 'center' is filled back and forth, all loaded thru 'front' doors.

Net result is that I can off load thru side doors right to mouth of stove. Cord wood make kind of a staircase so I can climb and safely toss out that days wood.

Dumb luck more than planning; next time, I would move it just a few feet further from the stove to I don't toss logs in to the front sheet metal of the stove.