Outdoor Wood Furnace Info

All-Purpose OWF Discussions => General Outdoor Furnace Discussion => Topic started by: CDF_USAF on August 17, 2019, 07:47:28 PM

Title: Is bigger better?
Post by: CDF_USAF on August 17, 2019, 07:47:28 PM
So, after a long hiatus. I'm looking at a owb again. Called Heatmaster, polar and cb. CB is the closest, then polar and then Heatmaster.

I live in Delaware, have a 1600ish sqft house, and in a neighborhood, there are no regs restricting a owb.

That being said, I'm looking at the small units from all three. However all the dealers recommended the next up such as the g200, g2+ and the edge 550 since that's what they normally sell.  Besides the cost difference, would having a too big of a owb create an issue due to long dwell times between fireing? My thoughts are that the small units will run more, which would keep things hot and gassing. I'm ok with the oil picking up slack if needed, I just don't want a smoking mess if this makes any sense.
Title: Re: Is bigger better?
Post by: wreckit87 on August 17, 2019, 07:55:17 PM
It is not advisable to oversize a gasification boiler. They like to run hard. One cannot size a boiler by square footage alone, a proper heat loss calculation should be done in order to be accurate but if you have decent windows and insulation, all 3 of those are going to be well oversized. What size is your oil boiler and what type of emitters do you have in the house?
Title: Re: Is bigger better?
Post by: CDF_USAF on August 17, 2019, 08:14:21 PM
Decent windows and insulation, f/a furnace, I believe to be 80k btu. Used 550 gallons of oil last winter, I'd have to check the record to be for sure.
Title: Re: Is bigger better?
Post by: RSI on August 17, 2019, 10:25:49 PM
You are way better off with an over-sized stove than an under-sized.
With 550 gallons of fuel oil used I would guess a G100 would handle it ok. But there are other variables that make a big difference.

What kind of wood will you use? What length and split size? How dry will it be? What length of burn time do you need to be possible?

Those are just some of the things that will matter a lot on a G100 with that heat load. A G200 would tolerate a lot more variables due to the extra room in the firebox.
Title: Re: Is bigger better?
Post by: hondaracer2oo4 on August 18, 2019, 07:09:31 AM
Living in a mild climate, small sqft and being insulted with decent windows I would think you would want to use a G100 or 350 hands down . How much fuel oil per winter do you use?  I live in New Hampshire and am heating a 3000 sqft 220 year old house and I could get away with a G100 80-90 percent of the time I believe. Like wreckit said, gassers want to run hard, hot and often.
Title: Re: Is bigger better?
Post by: CDF_USAF on August 18, 2019, 08:16:09 AM
I scrounge from tree services and friends, so I have a pretty good mix of hardwoods and some pine. It's all cut to 16in now.  Goal is to be able to go atleast 10 hours unattended while I'm at work.

I


Title: Re: Is bigger better?
Post by: hondaracer2oo4 on August 18, 2019, 08:26:21 AM
You’ll want to shoot for 12 hour loadings which I can’t see being an issue with only heating 1600 sqft in your climate. Not sure if your are expierenced with wood burning or not but you’ll want to be a year ahead on wood and with a g100 you’ll want your splits to be a mix of 4 to 6 inches in diameter.
Title: Re: Is bigger better?
Post by: mlappin on August 18, 2019, 03:13:01 PM
I have 2800 sqft of old farmhouse, a G100 would handle my house the majority of the time. Without more info I’m going with the majority and say a G100 will be plenty. I’ve dealt with the oversized thing before, better off to have to stuff it clear full every 8 hours in once in awhile freakishly cold weather than have it oversized.
Title: Re: Is bigger better?
Post by: CDF_USAF on August 18, 2019, 05:49:40 PM
I grew up with wood stoves and furnaces, never used an owb before. So I have an understanding of dry wood and have about 2 seasoned cords of mixed hardwoods and close to 1 of tulip poplar? cut this spring, Not sure how that stuff is never burned it before, and some pine.

I would rather give an extra load of wood a day on the few brutal cold moments we have.

I'd like to severely reduce the oil use, but I'm ok with using some as well if needed.

I'm leaning towards the cb due to dealer proximity since I've never had an owb before, he's 15 min vs 2+ hrs. Anyone seen an edge in action?
Title: Re: Is bigger better?
Post by: CDF_USAF on August 18, 2019, 07:36:34 PM
Would an over sized gasser smoke more or what would the down side be from a pros stand point? The dealers just said they don't really smoke.
Title: Re: Is bigger better?
Post by: hondaracer2oo4 on August 18, 2019, 08:39:10 PM
Creosote formation and moisture issues due to long periods of time idling. I didn't really like the edge because of the two different metals welded together, the manual hx cleaning design as well as historic customer service with CB products from the manufacturer.
Title: Re: Is bigger better?
Post by: E Yoder on August 19, 2019, 03:38:58 AM
From everything I'm hearing the G or GS 100 sounds like a good fit. I have a few customers though with G200's on smaller houses that have learned to load them lightly during warm weather, letting them burn down to hot coals, which is working well in keeping moisture cooked out of the firebox.
Tulip poplar is basically fluff, I've burned quite a bit. It's fine, just figure on much shorter burn times.
Title: Re: Is bigger better?
Post by: E Yoder on August 19, 2019, 03:43:58 AM
BTW, I'm burning a GS100 heating about 3,400 sq ft at 2,600' elevation in VA. Burn times down to 10 hours last winter in coldest weather, loading oak.  Ran the socks off that stove when it got below zero but it did fine.
Title: Re: Is bigger better?
Post by: hondaracer2oo4 on August 19, 2019, 05:51:53 AM
I bet that 100 ran great though heating that many sqft. I can only assume you didn't have a whole lot of idle times which means a nice and dry firebox and very good efficiency.
Title: Re: Is bigger better?
Post by: CDF_USAF on August 19, 2019, 06:07:41 AM
Ok thanks, I'll continue to look at the smaller units. If it can heat 3400 sqft, then my.1600 should be a breeze.
Title: Re: Is bigger better?
Post by: E Yoder on August 20, 2019, 02:19:12 AM
Yes, it had a beautiful deep coal bed, ran like a champ. But I will emphasize, that was pushing the limits, and it had to be loaded on time on those cold nights. No wiggle room.