dutch
ArboristSite Lurker
what kind of owb you workin , what doyou like about it & what dont you like:
owb good & bad
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ShoerFast
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The number one thing I do not like about OWB's is a power-outage. The real bottom line to most that with wood is that it is a backup heat and helps out there primary system.
stonykill
ArboristSite Guru
Free Heat Machine. I forget the model, its the 5000 btu model. I like it, love it. Its my solitary heat source (as in nothing else for a furnace, the old woodstoves are still in the house if the boiler should break) for my house, workshop(self employed, in it every day), and makes my domestic hot water. The entire house is always warm, its not 100 degrees in the living room and 50 degrees in the back rooms, like with a wood stove. I've got the whole power outage issue under control, a generator takes care of that. The firewood mess, the bugs, dirt , bark, etc are all outside where it belongs, not in my house. I could go on forever, I love the thing.
What don't I like? I guess the only thing I don't like is going outside when its 10 below zero Fahrenheit, and I need to load the stove, thats it. Any other time loading it doesn't bother me.
I have a central boiler and love it. It is my primary heat source, I haven't bought propane since 2004. It is true it doesn't work without electricty but my propance furnance won't either. I have thought about a small generator for the stove and funance blower
Butch(OH)
Addicted to ArboristSite
I have a Woodmaster 4400. I like the fact that my entire house is warm, the mess is outside and I only have to tend it twice a day when real cold and once in moderate weather. I also like the fact that I heat my shop too and the cost of the heating unit was very cheap, Geo Metro radiator and old fan. It used some wood but I use a lot of heat. I dont like tending it in wind and zero cold and picking through snow covered frozen wood piles, both will be fixed this summer with one shed for both. A small generator is on standby for the OWB and a couple lights in thehouse.
wait a bit untill you buy.
they are now coming out with better units that smoke less and use less wood .
seems that a secondary burning chamber is a good idea....
I have a cozyburn 250 and love and hate it.
just read and you will see what i am talking about.
they are now coming out with better units that smoke less and use less wood .
seems that a secondary burning chamber is a good idea....
I have a cozyburn 250 and love and hate it.
just read and you will see what i am talking about.
Plus:
I have an Empyre 450 which heats the the old house ( 1790's ) very well via FHW going through an oil furnace I installed in 1989. We don't use the oil furnace much. The 275 gal tank is still 5/8 full from the original filling.
We circulate hot water through a 65 gal superstore tank for our domestic hot water and never run out.
It heats our 40x60 shop and office .
We have a big Modine type radiator to run the dry kiln and next year plan to add a green house to the mix.
Last summer we added a 30kw generator to handle the power outage problems along with UPS systems to keep the voltage correct for sensitive electrical equipment. It's a little overkill , but the price was right.
We've run the OWB now for 5 yrs with no real problems . It runs 365/24/7
We feed it all the waste wood, bark and screenings from our firewood operation during the summer. In the winter we feed it a steady diet of 4-12" diameter 3' logs ,2 yrs old.
Minus:
It will consume 1 cord per week in the coldest parts of the winter.
I don't like all the smoke, except I'm learning some new tricks to keep that under control.
I don't mind feeding it when it's below zero, raining, blizzard, etc because I've never had an indoor job and don't know any better.
It does a wonderful job keeping the yard clean and we get the energy from the waste.
I do look forward to the new generation of gasifiers to get more out of the wood for a better and cleaner burn.
Do a lot of homework and choose your's well.
Good luck!
I have an Empyre 450 which heats the the old house ( 1790's ) very well via FHW going through an oil furnace I installed in 1989. We don't use the oil furnace much. The 275 gal tank is still 5/8 full from the original filling.
We circulate hot water through a 65 gal superstore tank for our domestic hot water and never run out.
It heats our 40x60 shop and office .
We have a big Modine type radiator to run the dry kiln and next year plan to add a green house to the mix.
Last summer we added a 30kw generator to handle the power outage problems along with UPS systems to keep the voltage correct for sensitive electrical equipment. It's a little overkill , but the price was right.
We've run the OWB now for 5 yrs with no real problems . It runs 365/24/7
We feed it all the waste wood, bark and screenings from our firewood operation during the summer. In the winter we feed it a steady diet of 4-12" diameter 3' logs ,2 yrs old.
Minus:
It will consume 1 cord per week in the coldest parts of the winter.
I don't like all the smoke, except I'm learning some new tricks to keep that under control.
I don't mind feeding it when it's below zero, raining, blizzard, etc because I've never had an indoor job and don't know any better.
It does a wonderful job keeping the yard clean and we get the energy from the waste.
I do look forward to the new generation of gasifiers to get more out of the wood for a better and cleaner burn.
Do a lot of homework and choose your's well.
Good luck!
grandpatractor
Addicted to ArboristSite
I also have an Empyre 450. I heat a large house and large shop and also hot water heater. I love the cheap heat. I don't miss the large propane bills. I like getting out in the woods and cutting and BS'n with my brothers.
But thats when I figure that I'm really saving money
Yup mine will burn a cord a week also when it stays below zero too!
But thats when I figure that I'm really saving money
I also have an Empyre 450. I heat a large house and large shop and also hot water heater. I love the cheap heat. I don't miss the large propane bills. I like getting out in the woods and cutting and BS'n with my brothers.
Yup mine will burn a cord a week also when it stays below zero too!
But thats when I figure that I'm really saving money
Very true.
Think of what the heating bill with oil or gas for the month heating two buildings and hot water, not to mention the cost of a separate heating system for each building.
And, I don't have to "pre-buy" with an insurance premium on top of that.
I like my wood heat.
stonykill
ArboristSite Guru
very true. What I spent on my owb and the heat exchangers for 2 building and hot water is less than 2 new oil boilers would have cost. I burn only free wood. Not counting labor, gas etc, but the point is I don't buy firewood. I've heated with wood at this house since 91, the owb since last fall, world of difference. I'm not going back
very true. What I spent on my owb and the heat exchangers for 2 building and hot water is less than 2 new oil boilers would have cost. I burn only free wood. Not counting labor, gas etc, but the point is I don't buy firewood.[/PHP]PHP:[PHP]I've heated with wood at this house since 91, the owb since last fall, world of difference. I'm not going back
Amen to that, Tom.
dutch
ArboristSite Lurker
very true. What I spent on my owb and the heat exchangers for 2 building and hot water is less than 2 new oil boilers would have cost. I burn only free wood. Not counting labor, gas etc, but the point is I don't buy firewood. I've heated with wood at this house since 91, the owb since last fall, world of dif
ference. I'm not going back
wow, your machine is 16 years old , thats great, any troubles.
ference. I'm not going back
wow, your machine is 16 years old , thats great, any troubles.
stonykill
ArboristSite Guru
no I bought the boiler last year, the house has been heated with wood exclusively since 91 though
hornett22
Addicted to ArboristSite
my partner has the Central Boiler Classic and loves it.
i'd have one to but it won't fly where i live.there is no way he uses a cord a week.
it doesn't smoke much at all unless you burn wet wood or have the door open.he told his neighbors to let him know if itr was a problem and they said they didn't notice it at all.
i'd have one to but it won't fly where i live.there is no way he uses a cord a week.
it doesn't smoke much at all unless you burn wet wood or have the door open.he told his neighbors to let him know if itr was a problem and they said they didn't notice it at all.
You have to compare apples to apples on this one, Hornet. Your friend may only be be heating one home, so I would not expect him to use a cord a week. I'm heating the equivalent of 3 homes plus the domestic hot water. It stands to reason it would take a lot more energy to accomplish.
stonykill
ArboristSite Guru
this is what most people don't take into account with an owb. Most of us heat several buildings. Thats why we bought them. To have one energy source to heat mulitple buildings, plus make domestic hot water. Those who complain about how much wood their boilers use aren't taking it into consideration either. They only use massive amounts of wood when its real cold, zero or below, and if you think about how much oil or gas you would use to heat 2 buildings plus the gas or electricity to heat your water, anyone can see the cost savings. My sister spent $3000 to heat her late 1700 center hall colonial with oil this past winter, and we had an easy winter. Plus her hot water is electric. The last year I used oil was 1990. I spent $1200 to heat my home at 1990 oil prices. Its been wood from there on out. The owb is a newer addition, and the best investment I ever made.
hockeypuck
ArboristSite Operative
owb
I have a woodmaster 4400 and love it. I went through a little over 7 chords to heat 1400 feet of living space and a 2 car garage.
LIkes:
No $2000 heating bill for the winter.
No wood mess inside.
Not messing around with the wood stove every 2 to 4 hours.
Wife does not have to mess with the stove
Kids do not get burnt.
No smoke in the house
Not have to worry that my house is going to catch on fire.
I can burn any wood, soft, hard, punky,
Dislikes:
Ash removal sucks
uh........ I am thinking....
electric bill went up by $14 to run the circulator 24/7
They may use a little more wood, but you get domestic hot water out of them. I burnt 4 chord of wood in my Vermont castings stove the year before, and did not get hot water out of it, or heat the garage. The nice thing about the owb, is you do not have to split and cut the wood into small pieces. Most wood you half or at worst case 1/4 it just so you do not throw your back out getting it in side (larger door is key). So you could cut 3 chords of wood for an owb every 2 or less for a small stove.
I have a woodmaster 4400 and love it. I went through a little over 7 chords to heat 1400 feet of living space and a 2 car garage.
LIkes:
No $2000 heating bill for the winter.
No wood mess inside.
Not messing around with the wood stove every 2 to 4 hours.
Wife does not have to mess with the stove
Kids do not get burnt.
No smoke in the house
Not have to worry that my house is going to catch on fire.
I can burn any wood, soft, hard, punky,
Dislikes:
Ash removal sucks
uh........ I am thinking....
electric bill went up by $14 to run the circulator 24/7
They may use a little more wood, but you get domestic hot water out of them. I burnt 4 chord of wood in my Vermont castings stove the year before, and did not get hot water out of it, or heat the garage. The nice thing about the owb, is you do not have to split and cut the wood into small pieces. Most wood you half or at worst case 1/4 it just so you do not throw your back out getting it in side (larger door is key). So you could cut 3 chords of wood for an owb every 2 or less for a small stove.
Sodboa
ArboristSite Lurker
A cord a week.
Let's say an average wood has about 20 million BTU/cord. There are 16.5 gallons propane per million btu. So you are talking 330 gallons of propane. But a propane furnace would be 80-90% efficient and the OWB is probably more like 30% that still means the equivalent of 110 gallons propane. At $2.85 a gallon thats $300.
Nice bit of savings!
Let's say an average wood has about 20 million BTU/cord. There are 16.5 gallons propane per million btu. So you are talking 330 gallons of propane. But a propane furnace would be 80-90% efficient and the OWB is probably more like 30% that still means the equivalent of 110 gallons propane. At $2.85 a gallon thats $300.
Nice bit of savings!
in all fairness... one cord a week may not be that much out of line. when you consider hot water tank is included and factoring differences in climates and sizes of heated area.
for this season I burned 4.5 cords and 100% heated 2500SF in Tulsa with a custom JUCA insert.
quite the difference between Wi and OK...
a major factor is reduction of prep for burning. much larger wood can be handled by wood burners with large doors/burn chambers. My custom JUCA insert has 12 cubic feet burn chamber and can take 2ft x 18in logs with ease. OWB of course can take way bigger than that, but I would not want to be loading much bigger all the time.
bottom line is much less wood prep is needed for OWB's. sure hate to clean out ashes from 10+ cords of wood per season
wood can be gotten free, but labor to prepare and load is not....
for this season I burned 4.5 cords and 100% heated 2500SF in Tulsa with a custom JUCA insert.
quite the difference between Wi and OK...
a major factor is reduction of prep for burning. much larger wood can be handled by wood burners with large doors/burn chambers. My custom JUCA insert has 12 cubic feet burn chamber and can take 2ft x 18in logs with ease. OWB of course can take way bigger than that, but I would not want to be loading much bigger all the time.
bottom line is much less wood prep is needed for OWB's. sure hate to clean out ashes from 10+ cords of wood per season
wood can be gotten free, but labor to prepare and load is not....
I also have an Empyre 450. I heat a large house and large shop and also hot water heater. I love the cheap heat. I don't miss the large propane bills. I like getting out in the woods and cutting and BS'n with my brothers.
Yup mine will burn a cord a week also when it stays below zero too!
But thats when I figure that I'm really saving money
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