wood burning box outside of house

[tncattle]

We might be moving to a house in a more rural area that is heated by a big metal box like thing. It's probably 5 or 6 ft. tall and 3 feet wide. I have only briefly looked at it and don't really know how it works besides it burns wood. It's about 15-20 ft. from the actual house, it's outside. Does anyone heat there home this way? How exactly does it work?

 

[Alan]

Never heard or seen anything that far from the house. I've been around some wood burning furnaces located in the basement of a house with heating ducts going throughout the house.

What tip of ducting does it have to the house? One one the ground, above ground etc; or does it heat water through the flooring? Not a clue but a little more info may help some in the know.

Alan

 

[barnyard]

It is probably a wood burning water boiler. They are very common around here. People say that
they work well but tend to burn alot of wood.

 

[tncattle]

I found this in youtube and this is what is at the house where we might move. I've just never used one and wondered how well it worked, apparently well if it's in good operating condition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQYqnSMTPeU

 

[LazyARanch]

We use one to heat our shop in northern Minnesota. Works good and we've had it for quite some years now.

There are several manufacturers but the closest one to us (and they do big business selling them) is Central Boiler in Greenbush, Minn.

 

[tripleBfarms]

I've had one like this for 8 years. http://hardyheater.com/Products/products.html

I will never stop using it as long as I'm able to cut the wood. We crank up the thermostat and are warm as toast all winter......for free. I might be interested in buying it if you decide not to use it.

 

[tncattle]

I've had one like this for 8 years. http://hardyheater.com/Products/products.html

I will never stop using it as long as I'm able to cut the wood. We crank up the thermostat and are warm as toast all winter......for free. I might be interested in buying it if you decide not to use it.

That is it and I hope it works as well as advertised. It hasn't been used in about 13 months because the farmer died that lived there and it has just sat. Although it looks fine when I did briefly look at it. We'll see hopefully.

 

[tripleBfarms]

All Stainless. Mine is 18 years old and still looks the same, maybe not quite as shiny as new, but still looks good. Big money saver, but as i said before, you can be as warm as you want to be and youre not stressing over turning up the thermostat. A lot of people around here buy blocks from the sawmill, and you will still spend less that propane, or a heat pump and you'll be warm. Good luck with it. If you hav any questions about it shoot me a pm.

 

[poorboy]

CO2 poisioning?

That is it and I hope it works as well as advertised. It hasn't been used in about 13 months because the farmer died that lived there and it has just sat.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

We might be moving to a house in a more rural area that is heated by a big metal box like thing. It's probably 5 or 6 ft. tall and 3 feet wide. I have only briefly looked at it and don't really know how it works besides it burns wood. It's about 15-20 ft. from the actual house, it's outside. Does anyone heat there home this way? How exactly does it work?

My bro-in-law in MO, and a neighbor here, both heat with these outside wood-burning units, and except for the hassle of securing firewood, they love them.

 

[dun]

CO2 poisioning?

Probably not since the only part that has anyting to do with the burner that enters the house is hot water.
My only complaint with them is the creosote stink that hangs around them. They heat (in most cases with proper installation) more uniformly through the house then any inside stove/fireplace/heater. They also don;t take as much wood as the others and will eat much bigger chunks so there is less filling to do.

 

[herefordlover]

we have had a hardy here in this house since 1993 takes a little time to get use to them. but i wouldnt be with out mine. found out that if keep just enuff wood in it to run ur about 12 hours instead of filling it full every time i save about 1/3 on my amount of wood burnt in a day.

 

[Alan]

How is the hot water plumb as a heat source in the house? Into radiators in rooms, through plumbing in concrete floors or through walls? In our area use wood stoves with mostly electric as a secondary heat source. I have never heard of this type of house heating and am very curious.

Alan

 

[dun]

How is the hot water plumb as a heat source in the house? Into radiators in rooms, through plumbing in concrete floors or through walls? In our area use wood stoves with mostly electric as a secondary heat source. I have never heard of this type of house heating and am very curious.

Alan

Anything with ductwork is used. Some in new places are in the floor but not many. Neighbor jsut built a big shop and plumbed the hot watre through the floor, man is it nice an cozy.

 

[herefordlover]

ours has a radator in the old furnce like an ac a coil works slick so every thing works like it use to when buring gas

 

[expensive hobby]

I have a central boiler. It works well, but sure does eat the wood. There is a low voltage pump that circulates water to your house. The feed and return lines are insulated and burried in the gorund. The hot water is fed into your house and can be used for heat in various ways. I have a heat exchanger in the furnace and heat by way of forced air. If you have the option to heat by way of radiant type heat, you will be better off as forced air heat is drafty. The only thing that I would caution you on is to check the system for leaks. If the system was sitting for 13 months then it could have frozen causing the pex water lines to rupture. I will heat this way for a few more years but will get rid of it soon. All I ever do is haul in fire wood, cut and split it. You do not need to split everything but its much easier to split the big stuff down. I can't tell you how many times I have smashed a finger when loading large logs. Plus, the wood burns much hotter when split. Just my 2 cents.

 

[fitz]

I know what you mean expensive hobby. A fellow I used to help some has a huge shop and he had coils installed in the concrete floor during the initial construction.
Have another neighbor that has his lines running along the floor joists and a heat exchanger for his domestic hot water. He has hundreds of acres of wood and too elderly and sick to cut it. I've been cutting wood for him and others have helped out also.
They both could just about have a man cutting full time in bad weather. They burn a lot of wood. I had given one some thought but after my experiences with these two guys and at my age I'm going to just stick with the old wood stove.

fitz

 

[dun]

In 35 years this is only the second place we've lived that wood wasn;t our only source of heat. I don;t miss the cutting and splitting a bit.

 

[terra8186]

I own a central boiler 6048. They are maintenance free, but they eat the wood. I burn 20 cords of soft woods a year. It saves me $4,500/year, but my back only has a few more years left.

 

[Fly-guy]

I'm thinking that I don't mind propane as much as I thought I did.