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[Heynewf7]

Hi Everyone

New to the board and to a outdoor wood furnace

Looking to purchase a home with a 20 year old wood boiler. The boiler seems in great condition, and no leaks. The pump has been replaced etc. Should I be concerned, or can these furnaces last and last?
If I was to upgrade, can I simply install the existing lines to the new furnace and continue on?

Thanks for any info!

Mark

[jcc273]

I purchased a home in 2010 with a Hardy boiler that was a little over 20 years old.  The former resident had died in a car crash and the home sat all winter meaning stuff froze.  I had to replace pump, blower, domestic water coil, T&P Valve, Vacuum Valve and a small copper feed segment.  I also had to clean years of creosote build up out of the firebox.  It has been working great ever since. 

When i purchased the home the boiler was the only form of heat so i know it got some serious use (unless the former resident was a polar bear).  I added electric baseboards as a backup but never use them.  I have only had one issue since the initial fixes and that was with a polybutylene fitting inside my house rupturing.

As long as the thing isn't leaking i wouldn't see much reason to worry.  Pretty much all the individual parts on those things are replaceable and yeah if you upgrade you can simply put in the new system and connect up the water lines, just make sure to get a pump sufficient enough for you needs.

[Heynewf7]

thanks very much for the info!

If I was to upgrade, is there such a combo as a propane add-on if you were away from the house, the propane would heat the water?

[jcc273]

I have definitely heard of combination units before, but i don't have enough knowledge to provide any information.  What is the reasoning for the propane backup?  If it is simply in case you go away for a week or more during the winter and you don't want the water to freeze there are other solutions such as using antifreeze, or using electric heaters to keep the water above freezing, load it up turn it down and have a buddy feed it every few days, etc.

If you are thinking you want the propane in case you decide you don't want to cut wood one year I would buy a separate propane unit.  That way you can purchase the most cost effective propane unit for you home and not be locked into what you can find in a combination unit.  Then if one winter you don't want to use the boiler just empty it out and go with propane.  You can even have them both active and simply set the propane thermostat lower than the wood boilers so that it will only kick on when necessary, although as long as your wood unit is sized appropriately for you home you should never need to use the propane as long as your fire is going : ).

Others on this site may be able to provide you with some more technical information on combo units and such.  Good Luck : )

[slimjim]

There certainly are combo units but I would not suggest it and here is the reason why, the combustion chamber is far to large on a wood boiler to be efficiant when using gas or oil, also the draft required on wood is far higher than gas or oil therefore the heat generated by gas and oil simply goes up the stack and not into the water jacket. what these folks are trying to tell you is that the best combo is to put your gas or oil inside the home and tie the piping together with the wood boiler as a backup. there are many ways to pipe the two together, the best is a primary-secondary loop this type piping though far better and in some cases such as gas wall hung on demand boilers is neccesary,if however your secondary heat source is a conventional boiler then simply plumbing through the heat exchager and then right into the boiler is acceptable. cold start boilers are best to use primary secondary plumbing to remain as efficiant as possible. Switching can be done automatically by monitoring incoming water temps with an aquastat that kills power to B-1 on the oil or gas boiler when temps are up from wood boiler circuit and the contacts will close when temps drop below setpoint allowing gas or oil to fire on a call for heat