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[jdruhnke]

I'm having a dilemma picking out the correct furnace for what we need and hope you can help.

We live in SE Minnesota outside Rochester.  We have 12 acres of mostly hardwoods (oak, walnut, maple, cherry).  I'm pretty good on leaving wood split and stacked for at least one summer to season.  The OWB will be to replace our current indoor, forced air, wood burning furnace. 

The OWB I want go buy will be heating the house and my work shop (steel pole barn, which is insulated in the back half).  The shop currently has a hanging LP furnace.  The house has a heat pump on the AC unit that can keep the house heated down to around freezing, also we have a LP furnace.

House
-roughly 3,000 sq ft
-Two living rooms that have high vaults, with currently no ceiling fans to move the air.  The basement is only under half of the house and the rest is crawl space.

Shop
-Roughly 1,000 sq ft
-Insulated, and has 16 high ceiling.

With the heat pump we can effectively heat our house late into November or even early December.  Even if the temps dip down past freezing at night and we have to burn a little LP through the night that's fine because it still won't burn much.  Also with that in mind i can keep the burn hours of the OWB to a minimum to hopefully extend it's life a few years longer down the road, and can get by with less wood consumption.

Current Scenario - As of now i'm planning on only keeping my shop around 40 degrees F and then turn it up warmer when i want to spend some time out there.  With that in mind i'm very confident that the BL2840 would be the right choice, regardless of the outside temps, with at least 12 hour burn times in mind.

Future Scenario - Possibly 5 - 10 years down the road when the kids get older i'll be spending more time out in the shop and I will want to keep it warmer all the time (maybe 50-60 F).  Could the BL2840 still be plenty of BTU for that?  Winters here usually stay above the Zero Fahrenheit and obviously when i know of a bitter cold snap coming i could turn down the shop temp to that 40 mark till it warms back up a little.

I don't want to get a boiler that's too big and have it smolder for most of it's life and have to worry about extra creisode and faster rusting.  I get the impression that a, more regular, hot burning fire is by far the best option for these OWBs.

IS THERE ANYONE ELSE that has been in this situation already?  I need to make up my mind soon as the EPA ban is getting closer.   

[Bud Man]

I am heating about the same amount you are and live in SW Iowa. I keep the house at 70 and the shop at 60. I'm heating my DHW also. Doing it with a 2840 but if I had to do it over I would get the 3444. The 2840 needs a little help when it gets below 8 degrees and we get some wind. I usually cool the shop to 45 and let the LP heat the DHW when it gets that cold. The shop and house are both insulated very well but the house needs new windows. So far this winter I have used 5 cords of wood.

I get to Rochester 4 or 5 times a year. Mayo Clinic saved my life 17 years ago and has kept me going since. Some of the people there are like family to me.

I bought my furnace from South Central P&M. Luke is great to work with.

[MerrellRoofing]

They tried to tell me a 2840 would work for me. I had already decided to go bigger and glad I did. Only heating 1800sf now, 800sf addition in the works. I am a little concerned for when I get that opened up. I can get up to 14 hrs on a pretty good load.  I'd rather be  a little big than have to feed it every 8 hrs.

[Big Wood]

Had a customer on the fence And he went to the BL 3444 and is very happy 12 to 14 hr run times with extra for expansion

[agriffinjd]

Go bigger.  You'd hate to have one too small and burn more wood trying to keep up with the heat demands.  You have to plan on the owb hopefully being the last one you ever purchase, so plan for expansion.  By the time you want a bigger unit you won't be allowed to buy one thanks to the epa.  I have the 3444, heat 4000 sq. ft. Plus dhw plus a 1200 sq. ft. Garage with 10.5' ceilings and I get 12-14 hour burn times without filling it full, even with the constant sub zero temps we have had.  I keep my garage at 65 or so and the house at 73. 

[jdruhnke]

I get to Rochester 4 or 5 times a year. Mayo Clinic saved my life 17 years ago and has kept me going since. Some of the people there are like family to me.

I'm very glad to hear that!  I wouldn't be surprised if you've ran into my wife a few times.  She works in Radiology and i'm in IT/Networks.

On a side note I have my neighbor pretty serious about buying a furnace at the same time,  he's still fuming mad from the gas prices last year.  Is it unreasonable to see if the dealer would give a discount if we decide to buy two furnaces at the same time?

[jdruhnke]

What types of wood are you burning?  hard/soft?  seasoned/green?

[12valve]

Go bigger, in this case it will be better.  The corporate headquarters seems to want to push the 2840 they did with me to.  I am glad I got the 3444, much more wiggle room and I know it gets cold and windy in Minn.

[FareNorth]

Currently running the BL2840 heats my leaky house and garage along with DHW. Have had temps close to -20 and windchills down to -45 so far this year. This is my first year, so burning green beech, which is not ideal or efficient. However shortest run time I have had was 10 hours. Not once did this the 2840 fall behind.

My thoughts would be to buy the model that would burn HOT the majority of your winter weather. Also make sure it can keep up with demand on the worst nights.

I have a few sensors on my various sections of my heating system including the boiler temps. I have this saved into a chart. I can show you the history of my temps over the past two months in conjunction with outside temps. Might give you an idea of how it performs.

Then again, if you plan on heating more space than you currently have now, then think you should consider the 3444. Buy it and setup once.

Thats my two cents based upon very little experience but have been reading about these systems for a few years before making the leap myself. I can fully endorse P&M system over its competitors. I have had neighbors and friends who have other systems confirm these are a setup above some of the more common boilers out there.

[Bud Man]

I'm burning all hardwood. Oak, elm and ash. A little bit of walnut at times. All of it seasoned a minimum of 18 months, the oak 2 years.

I probably have met your wife, they sure like x-rays, Cat scans and MRIs of me. I'm a poster child I guess. Just glad they are there, Docs around here had me written off, told me to get my affairs in order. That was 17 years ago, guess I won that one!

Get the 34-44, you won't be sorry. Call South Central P&M, Luke, in Eagle Lake. Tell him the guy in SW Iowa sent you.

[jdruhnke]

well I'm buying a 34-44.  Such a big chunk of money... I hope i'm making the right choice!

Thanks to you all for your opinions and help.

[cando attitude]

JD,

I'm a bit late to the thread but I absolutely believe you're making the right decision on size with the bigger unit, for what you intend to heat.  If I had it to do again, I would buy the bigger unit.  I'm heating 5K total sq feet (3k living, 2k unfinished basement).

I'm most likely not going to change out my unit at this point but having the bigger unit would mean that I would not have to go out so early in the mornings to feed the unit when the temps fall around "0".

Show us a picture of that thing when you get it.

Cando

[Jwood]

Currently running the BL2840 heats my leaky house and garage along with DHW. Have had temps close to -20 and windchills down to -45 so far this year. This is my first year, so burning green beech, which is not ideal or efficient. However shortest run time I have had was 10 hours. Not once did this the 2840 fall behind.

My thoughts would be to buy the model that would burn HOT the majority of your winter weather. Also make sure it can keep up with demand on the worst nights.

I have a few sensors on my various sections of my heating system including the boiler temps. I have this saved into a chart. I can show you the history of my temps over the past two months in conjunction with outside temps. Might give you an idea of how it performs.

Then again, if you plan on heating more space than you currently have now, then think you should consider the 3444. Buy it and setup once.

Thats my two cents based upon very little experience but have been reading about these systems for a few years before making the leap myself. I can fully endorse P&M system over its competitors. I have had neighbors and friends who have other systems confirm these are a setup above some of the more common boilers out there.

I agree mine has never once had a problem heating 2500 sq ft and dhw I'm still getting 14+ hr burn times out of mine burning white poplar.

[Bud Man]

Congrats on the 3444. I think you made the right choice.

[ijon]

One thing I noticed about my 2840 is that bigger wood, less split wood will give you longer burns and less ash buildup.