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[moonpie]

After last winters propane expenditure I've got to find an alternate heat source.  Wood here is free and plentiful, but I want to find out which is better.  An outdoor furnace that ducts hot air into my existing ductwork (such as Vogelzang), or an outdoor boiler (which seems to be mostly what I'm finding online).  Hot water for bathing, washing, & etc. is not a big issue since I have a tankless water heater that's very stingy about burning propane. All advice and experiences will be much appreciated.

[Husky455]

If I understand your question, either way will put hot air into your existing duct work.  I have a forced air furnace.  My OWB's water comes into my house and then to a heat exchanger that is mounted in the bottom of the plenum of my forced air furnace.  In case you are not familiar with the parts of a forced air furnace, this is the big box just before your duct work splits to go to different parts of the house.  The fan from the furnace, which is turned on and off by a seperate thermostate, blows the heat up through your existing duct work and there you have a warm house.   I also have a flat plate heat exchanger that heats my hot water for my house so I don't even have my hot water tank turned on in the winter.