Greetings all! I am well into the process of getting set up with an outdoor wood boiler. I have been in the process for almost 8 months now. It has been quite a journey so far and I still have quite a ways to go. I enjoy sharing my story with others. I decided I should post it here as well in the hopes that someone else may benefit from it.
I purchased my house (home details to come later) in May of 2012 and was told my yearly average for my all electric utility bills was $300 per month. That turned out to be a lie. My electric bill was $720 for December. My January bill would've been higher, but we abandoned upstairs and completely shut it down. Seeing the unaffordable situation I was in, I began researching alternatives. I ruled out Geotherm as I didn't have $25,000 sitting around, nor did I have the equity to finance it. I had heard about outdoor wood boilers and began researching. Much of that research included some of you on this site! So, in December, I bought a Stihl MS290 Farm Boss and began cutting wood.
As many of you know, there are quite a few type of boilers out there. After being overwhelmed with choices, I jotted down all the different features found in OWB's and ranked them in priority. I decided I wanted a forced air furnace, I wanted stainless steel, I wanted affordability, and I wanted a conventional style. My house is 3700 sft of living space, 900 sft of garage space, a hot tub, an 18'x36' inground pool. This space is heated with 3 resistance electric furnaces and 2 electric water heaters. My insulation is terrible and windows are non-insulated.
In May, I expanded my wood storage area with 10 tons of gravel. I felt that the gravel will allow water to drain away and give me a good surface to work on and stack. I got the gravel spread out and now I have enough room to store as much as 15 cords if I wanted to. I am currently up to about 8 cords on my way to 10 before heating season starts up. I live in southwestern Indiana, and based on my research, I am anticipating using between 5 and 7 cords.
Last week I ordered my stove. I got the Heatmaster MF10,000E. This stove fit all my criteria in what I was looking for, and met the criteria for the state of Indiana. Indiana is an EPA Phase II state, but they allow conventional stoves that generate 350,000 BTU. My demand was such that I needed that type of stove. My stove will be arriving at the end of this month!
My design is a bit different that anything I have found on this site, so I am going to share. I have a main house area that consists of nearly 3,000 sft and a semi-detached garage that includes a bonus room above it. My stove will be located at the "ground" level behind my garage. I can't get into the main part of the house at ground level, so my supply/return lines will have to go up and down as much as 10'. I have attached a plan view PDF and a profile view PDF that shows all this in detail. My demand is also so high, that I thought it best to run 2 circuits and split the load demand as evenly as possible. My upstairs furnace and downstairs furnace will be on separate circuits. My hot tub and pool exchangers will be on separate circuits, so on and so forth. Spreading the load on 2 circuits will allow me to keep my temps up and not have items at the end of the circuit starving for heat.
That is my story so far. I plan on updating and loading more pictures as everything progresses. If you veterans have any comments or suggestions, feel free to PM, e-mail or post. Newbies with questions, feel free to do the same.
Thanks!
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