Wood fired boilers

[Gorms]

Looking for personal experience with those that have wood fired boilers.

We heat our home with wood through 2 wood stoves, one stand alone and one fireplace insert. Only other heat source in the house is electric baseboard, very pricey to run so it stays off unless we go away for a weekend.

Been toying with installing an outdoor boiler and running some hydronic baseboard through the house, thinking it could keep the wood processing down a bit. We go through 8-10 cords, and everything i burn now is split, moved, stacked, then moved inside daily. I've heard the outdoor boilers aren't so fussy about having wood split, plus I could split, stack and feed all in the same area.

Anyone know it they are worth it?

 

[Vondy]

Had one for several years. Heated house, hot water, and shop. Stacked wood right beside it. Only split what was too big to handle. Worked great but used plenty of wood which my back didn’t like. Went geothermal when we built new home. My back is happier now.

 

[JTW]

@GlockMeister had one at his old place I believe.

You could always do an indoor wood furnace.. we had one at mom and dad’s and would use it as supplemental heat when it was too cold for the heat pump.

 

[GlockMeister]

I had a Hardy outside wood furnace for about 5 years at my old house. Loved the heat and hot water, but hated cutting wood for it. Mine was basically maintenance free..in 5 years i replace 1 water pump.

 

[GPR1500SC]

We had a Hardy outside wood furnace when I was growing up at home very durable, simple furnace, but very inefficient the chimney waste a lot of heat going strait out the top of the furnace.
I really love LP just filled at $1.09 a gallon

 

[CPope]

I had a Hardy, like was stated earlier, very inefficient. Have a central boiler for about 8 years now and love it. Burns about half the wood the hardy did. I run it year around. Heating house, shop and water.

 

[Gorms]

I think I like everything about the central boilers except the price. What's the difference between residential and non-residential models?

 

[CPope]

It’s been so long since I’ve even looked at the newer models. I have the classic 5036, the newer e classics have all the environment friendly crap, they have to burn hotter, therefore burning more wood. I would find a dealer and look at your options. Central Boiler is one of the best IMO.

 

[jwfirebird]

wood use really depends alot on the design and age oft the unit you are talking about, i replaced both my upstairs stove and the wood furnace(basement), they were 80s and 90s designed stuff to modern summers heat stuff from lowes, i paid about 2500 for both and my wood use is about half. same house same use. if you get a good quality stove your only maintenance would be the same as a boiler i imagine, i clean the chimneys myself quality stoves only need door gaskets once a year, which i got the best i could find two packs for 30 bucks, but here you can die from power being out when the temps are what they are here 5 months a year and the power goes out quite a bit so i needed something like the 2400 stove thats big and heavy and can handle no power. i just have a little 2000 inverter gen that uses 1g per 8 hrs to power ceiling fans and the fridge, that heats my whole 3500 square ft house even upstairs after a few hours. in my experience the best stoves are the heaviest and those were the heaviest best reviewed value stoves, sure there are more efficient but they are more than twice the price for just one, so to me not worth it

i run one or the other my house is open and i run the upstairs 2400 madison stove when the temps are above 0 no problem making my house 70s downstairs and 60s upstairs, when its negative temps i run the forced air 3000 in the basement, it can normally make it what ever i want or you can keep it 60s with the knob and the wood load last alot longer 4-6 hrs when the knob is off, i like it cold, the newer heavy stoves hold there heat a long time too so you can run it a while and then let it go out and the next day still a bunch of red coals in it on both

 

[ohanacreek]

We heated a barely insulated house with wood when I was a kit we went through 200+ cords of wood each winter. Cutting it, loading it unloading and splitting and stacking it. I hated it.

when we built I put in spray foam and dual fuel setup, HP works down to 35F then it swaps to HEfficency Propane. We’ve used about 200-250gallons each winter that way. also lets the house stay normal temp if powers off because gen which is also propane only has to run blowers. Which in the winter means it doesn’t load shed at all no matter what we have on.

 

[Sjc3081]

I have a Heatmaster MF 5000 wood boiler for 10 years. 3000 square foot built in 2002. I live in New York. Burns 10 to 15 full cords of hardwood Sept to May 1st. It makes all my heat and hot water. Most important is to get a quality water proof insulated pipe so you don’t loose water temp from your house to the boiler. I have ThermoPEX Insulated Piping System | Central Boiler and lose lest than a degree for 60 feet of pipe my buddy has this crap and loses 10 degrees for 80 feet of pipe. 1