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[hondaracer2oo4]

New Heatmaster model names coming Scott?

[Scott7m]

Maybe not across the board, not sure where they'll be or available to but there will be a coal series of stoves from heatmaster, yoder has made reference to these on here too

[mlappin]

Hi, we are looking to buy our first OWB.  We have been looking at the the EPA recommended high efficiency model.  However after reading these forums I think I am leaning to a HM E series. 

I have a couple questions.  Does anybody recommend oversizing the wood burner for longer burn times?
We have  2700sq ft of living space to heat, and would like to heat my 2 car garage just to 40 degrees or so, unless working in there. 
We are in CT and like our house at 70 degrees.

I was thinking the 5000e would be good, or would it be better to oversize and get the 10000e?

Also how much wood do people usually burn.  People I talk to are all over the board with this one, some say 5 cord, some say 10-15.  If it is closer to the second number than the work involved and the cost just doesn't add up for me to get a OWB.

How much are you paying to heat your house now should be the real question?

Well insulated or so so? Single pane or double pane low e windows?

Electric or gas water heater? If gas is it LP or nat gas?

Almost 15 years ago when I went to a OWB I was paying almost $400 a month for nat gas and running a side kick wood burner on the furnace, and the house was anything but warm as we wanted it but was as warm as we could afford. Since using the OWB my gas bill is the minimum allowable in the winter. My nat gas bill is actually higher in the summer than the winter as I don't run the OWB for hot water in the summer and instead rely on the gas water heater. I pay $38 a month for gas in the summer. Biggest plus is the house is as warm as you want it in the winter with a practically endless supply of hot water.

One plus for me heating with wood is I'm a farmer, own almost 300 acres then rent another 1000, if I didn't cut those down trees up for firewood they would instead be shoved in the fence row and left to rot. I am of Dutch, German and Swiss heritage on my dads side, letting something useful goto waste is a mortal sin.

[mikect05]

Thank you all so much, very good info here.  Yes I have been getting ready to take the plunge with a OWB and then I start hearing people burning 15 cord and my jaw dropped. 
I will be buying my wood for about $100 a cord for green log length.   
To answer a few questions:  our house is not very well insulated right now, with older windows, but I plan to insulate the house this summer and replace the windows so that I can say that it will be at least insulated moderately well.
We like to keep our house at 70 degrees while people are home which is 3 full days a week, and in the mornings and evenings.  at night we drop the temp in the house to 66, and during the days when nobody is home we drop it down to 62.  My buddy with an indoor wood furnace said that is not advisable with a Wood burner and we would be better off just leaving it set for 70.
1/3 of our house has baseboard heat, and the other part of our house will have hydro-air with a new duct system put in.
We are also going to put in a heat pump on the side of the house with the duct, and a ductless mini split heat pump on the other side of our home.
So when it is 35 degrees or warmer we expect most of the heating load to switch over to the heat pump, and below that we will rely on the OWB. 
How well could the 5000e handle being used that way, in other words if we have a few days where it is not being called on much for heat will I be able to keep it going okay with just a little wood? 

[mikect05]

Our house is a one level ranch with an add on in-law apartment.  Right now we have a boiler on one side of our house that heats through baseboard and heats our hot water.  On the other side of our house we have a oil furnace and an electric hot water heater, well did until yesterday when I took it out and connected the boiler to all the hot water lines.
Our furnace is old and I don't know how efficient it is or rather isn't.  The ducts are under, and uninsulated and run through an uninsulated garage.  This will all be redone with a hydro-air system to either run off of the OWB or boiler so it is hard to say what our heating bill is now because I will be ripping much of it out and insulating everything better.

Another question:  If later on we wanted to heat a pool, and a small greenhouse would I be able to do that with the 5000e?

[mikect05]

One more question:
What is the  AFUE rating of the 5000e?

[Scott7m]

The 5000e is very forgiving unlike you'd find with a gasser or some other models.  But it will work well at its max potential and also do well puttering along.   

The 5000e has the capacity to do more than your home for sure, how much would depend on the size of the greenhouse/pool and whether it was going to be used at the same time as the home and for how late or how early into the year..

[mlappin]

Changing your windows makes a huge difference, after just installing new double panes in place of the old single pane wood windows we lowered the thermostat a degree as 72 just felt to warm.

We drop to 67 at night, both the wife and I don't like a warm bedroom at night. During the day we leave it at 71 regardless if anybody is home.

[AirForcePOL]

Why waste the money on a heat pump when you are buying a owb?  I haven't used my heatpump in 3 years.

[mikect05]

Why waste the money on a heat pump when you are buying a owb?  I haven't used my heatpump in 3 years.

Yea, I was just mulling this over in my mind, maybe a heat pump water heater would be a better investment for the summer....
The reason I was thinking heat pump is we need to change out our ac anyways and we are going to be going solar so I figured free sun energy to heat, wood I will have to pay for.
Can I do okay with a gasser unit on warmer spring days with just a few sticks to keep it going, would I be better off using a hot water tank to hold the heat for night and letting it go out...?

[AirForcePOL]

Gotcha.  If you're already getting a new ac then I would do the heatpump too.  Which reminds me that I still need to call the hvac guy and have him come fix mine!   

[caper]

hey pal, I also have a heatmaster 5000,heating approx. 4000 sq feet,includn a garage and bonus room,here in nova scotia we burn hardwood, and alittle juniper,i burn about 12 cords,hopefully next yr a lot less,when I make a few adjustments to get better effic, my family has been in the forestry business for about 7o yrs,here we call it a cord 4x4x8 ,lol...heat pump, I have one ,but just for ac,and in early fall before I start the owb up,good luck,free heat is awesome and burning even 12 cords is easy.take care pal.