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[RobertG]

Hi all new to the site but I have been reading your comments for months. It sure is difficult to figure out what wood burner would work the best for my situation or any ones situation for that matter. I think I have settled myself down to a central boiler. The next question is should I get an E-classic or just the classic, and what size do I need? I need to heat 3700 square feet of house and and shop combined plus hot water. My local dealer says the 1400 will do 5000 square feet, but I have my reservations about him. Please help. Thanks Rob

[juddspaintballs]

Regardless the size and efficiency of your house, the more water storage you have to heat up, the longer between firings you can go.  There comes a point where you can go too long between firings and your fire burns out though.  The larger firebox you have, usually the quicker you can heat up the water storage as well.  Firebox and water storage both play into how long between firings your furnace goes, which translates into efficiency.  Figuring out what works best for you is the hard part.  I'd tend to go for the larger furnace in case you want to add a zone later on easily. 

[willieG]

siziing one of these is a good guess at best i think. i would make a guess that you should be at least one size bigger (btu per hour) than you heated with before wood if your home had a heat loss done on it when you got your first source of heat

efficincy depends a lot on the wetness of your wood, type of wood, the heat loss from the stove to the house, the heat loss of your home, the type of stove you have, and of course the way the owner runs it. also a good point was made that you may want to add more zones or appliances to the heat sytem such as heating a shop or if you add on to your home ect.

I have heard many people say they wish they had gotten a bigger stove but i have yet to really hear anyone say they wish they had a smaller one.

[woodywoodchucker]

hey cooch,How many sqft arte you trying to heat?

[woodywoodchucker]

Im heating a 28 x 44 cape with cathed. cealings, radiant in the basement and first floor, baseboard upstairs.The basement is a driveunder shop.I guess its about 3000 sf.I did use 10 to 12 cord last year, but I should have bought the 6058.During the coldest times I refuel ever 8 hrs.I dont have any complants about the boiler thou.It works great.Would like to use the boiler for demestic hot water.