I live in a 300 year old uninsulated farmhouse in SE PA and am considering buying a OWB. Currently, we have an oil boiler and a small indoor wood stove in the stone kitchen. Our house is 2600 sq ft, heated by hot water baseboard.
The local dealer suggested a 200 css because of the old, uninsulated house and some drafty windows. We are going to start by putting in a new oil boiler this year to replace the 30 year old existing one, so that should save us some on oil consumption. To get the 200 css delivered and installed would be right around $10k so we have to budget for that until next winter, but I have heard a lot of bad things about OWBs hear lately, more than good things. I have heard several people say that they installed one, and could not keep their old house warm, so they went back to conventional heating (oil, gas). I have also heard that new oil boilers are very efficient and rather inexpensive compared to an OWB, it makes me wonder if we should not just heat with oil. I enjoy cutting firewood and sell 8-10 cords a year, but have thought about just using it to heat our entire home and hot water. I have a small tree business and access to woodlots, so I am not worried about access to firewood. I think we will use a new oil boiler this year and in the spring compare it to what an OWB would do. We also thought about putting a propane firplace in the stone bedroom upstairs for ambiance, but I think it would actually heat that bedroom.
A couple general questions-
How much wood would we burn compared to oil we would use with a new boiler?
Does it sound like we could get by with a 100 css with a small indoor wood stove in the kitchen and a gas fireplace upstairs, or should we go with a 200 css? (about $1200 difference)
What is the maximum distance we should put the OWB from our home?
Can we burn green wood as well as pine?
Is there a lot of smoke from the OWB?
Does anybody have an indoor wood boiler and any comments about those?
Thanks a lot I look forward to hearing from you!