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[WoodMOJoe]

And we are off again, heating season number 5 for this homebuilt has begun!

If I make it through this winter my cost of ownership, all-in (boiler, exchangers, underground pipe, fittings, etc.) will be about $350/year.

I'm guessing it has paid for itself at least twice over with what it has saved in propane bills.

That doesn't include the value of many man-hours of labor between me and my buddy building the boiler of course but that was time well spent.

And once again, thank you to all helped me make this thing happen, some still posting here and some not...much appreciated!   

[BoilerHouse]

Great to hear of another success story.  I will be into my 10th season this year.  My build cost was roughly $6,000 all in.  I buy logs each year for $1,000 and I used to go through 4 tanks of oil per heating season @ close to $1,000 per fill up.  So about a 2 year payback, although I always have extra expenses over and above the wood.  This year was more extreme than usual.  I bought a new pump to have as a spare, bought new cast iron grates which, at $400, were surprisingly expensive, and finally bought a real cant hook, in lieu of the home made one I have been using for years.  Still, I will save over $2000 in fuel costs this year. 

[WoodMOJoe]

Wow, congrats on the 10 years...and holy woodburner, I just searched and found some pics of what you built.

My boiler is a very simple and crude toy compared to that...nicely done sir.

We don't have the cold weather as you in Ont. so it's not a huge money savings for us but I just like waving at the propane truck when they pass us by and not depending on someone else to heat our place.

You are making some pretty good money with your setup.   

We have 100 acres of hardwood forest (oak, hickory, locust, hedge, ash, black walnut) here in the Ozarks, I can't even cut a good percentage of the dead trees.

And my neighbors just selectively logged (several varieties of oak, black walnut) 40 acres right next to me and told me to cut the tree tops if I wanted...an embarrassment of firewood wealth.

[WoodMOJoe]

Shut down for the season this morning, 4 1/2 months after we fired it in November.

Here's a pic of the beast, cooling down till next winter:

[WoodMOJoe]

Just to update this thread I fired up this year on December 14, 2019.

This is year 6 for the homebuilt so I think my yearly cost for the whole system (furnace/enclosure/lineset/heat exchangers/fittings and misc.) is well below $300/year now.

Great investment and thanks again to all that helped me with my build! 

[WoodMOJoe]

And I'm baaaaaaaaaaack.

A combination of a mild early winter and buying propane at 99 cents a gallon led to me not firing up the beast until Monday February 8th this year.

When I saw the predictions of single-digit and teens highs for a week out and -20 to -30 wind chills I knew it was time to make some smoke.

Have a sister-in-law that lives in Saskatoon, she said they have had wind chills in the -60 to -70F range...jeeeez, I can't imagine living like that.

Will probably just burn for a month or so, we are usually seeing high temps around 60 in March and this old monster is hard to keep lit when it gets that warm.

And here's a current pic, Valentine's Day 2021.

[E Yoder]

2012?
Welcome back BTW.

[WoodMOJoe]

Oops, 2021, fixed thanks.

Don't post much but I stop in several times a week year-round.

Miss the "glory days' of this site when it had a lot more traffic but have no desire to wade the Farcebook cesspool.

I know there's still a few knowledgeable guys here that answer questions and am grateful for that.

Keep the flame burning!   

[Scratch]

...

What's with all the satellite dishes?

[WoodMOJoe]

...

What's with all the satellite dishes?

Long-time hobby, C & Ku-band TVRO.

Before we were able to get (somewhat) usable internet service the dishes were our primary way of getting television.

Still fun to get stuff you can't get from the antenna, some sports...wild feeds...breaking news, etc.

There's more dishes that you can't see in that picture.

[Radio Tech1964]

Nice to see a fellow TVRO and OWB person's setup!   My OWB sits below my dishes which are on the flat ground above it. Just have a little LOS problem here on C Band due to being in a bowl of sorts.

[WoodMOJoe]

How's about a pic or 2?