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[JTS717]

I have been heating my house solely with an indoor forced air wood furnace for many years and recently installed my first OWB, a P&M Optimizer 250.  It seems like I have been burning through significantly more wood than I was with my indoor furnace.  I am heating my DHW so I expected to burn more.  But also thought the efficiency of the gasification would make up for some of that since my indoor furnace isn't much more than a firebox with a chimney out the top.  I usually burn through around 5 cords with the indoor one. Just curious to see if anyone else made the switch from indoor to outdoor and how your wood consumption compares.

[sceptre74]

I'm definitely burning more. The thing with the indoor with me is that I didn't always have a raging fire in it. Some days I would light it first thing in the morning and then not need to fire it up again until after supper. Like you I'm also heating my dhw and just today I finally got my new shop hooked up with in slab radiant. I burnt 6 cords last year and I fully expect to burn at least 12 this year with the shop

[mlappin]

What did you use for underground line?

I burned less when I went with a OWB. Don't have a cold house in the mornings either.

[Maxnchej]

I had a wood stove that I used but never could heat my whole house since it is to big and I'm not home enough to load all of the time. I would burn about a wheel barrow from 5 pm to my last load at about mid-night and a couple of wheel barrows each day on the weekend. I have only had my OWB running for just over a week and it looks like I'm burning about a wheel barrow per load and that is twice a day. My house is warm, I have unlimited hot water and not burning any propane. So I'm going to burn more since I have it running all day. but It's heating a lot more. If I compare it to the wood stove I would be burning less in the sense that I'm heating the whole house and hot water.

After we get into some really cold weather it will be interesting to see how much I'm burning right now we are in the low 30 during the day and low 20 during the night with some snow and wind.

At this point my guess is around 12 face cords of wood compared to a normal 8 with the wood stove.

[JTS717]

I have a temperature gage where the water enters my sidearm and it is at 179.  I am only running a total of 30' from boiler to sidearm, the outside line is insulated very well and above ground since the back of the boiler is only about 8' from my house. 

I used to load the indoor furnace three times a day, once in the morning once after work and once before bed.  Now I load the outdoor boiler at the same times but with at least twice as much wood each time.  I feel like the boiler itself might be loosing some heat since it is outside and when the fans are running the door to the gasification chamber is way too hot to touch.  Also the back of the boiler doesn't seem very well insulated.  Every time I open the rear doors it is very warm back there but the doors aren't insulated and the whole bottom where the pipes come up is open.  I was going to work on insulating that this weekend.  I will plumb in a duct for the combustion air fan and close up the rest.

[dukethebeagle]

12 cord,thats not bad.these things don`t run on matches.mine takes more then my forced air furrnace
BUT the consistancy in the heat is without question and air quality in the house is much better.
there is less dust and it is less dry.

[mlappin]

12 cord,thats not bad.these things don`t run on matches.mine takes more then my forced air furrnace
BUT the consistancy in the heat is without question and air quality in the house is much better.
there is less dust and it is less dry.

Very good points, house stays much cleaner with the fire outside. The humidity in the house stays up better as well, both these make my wife happy. Happy wife, happy life.

[free heat]

My biggest difference is I sleep much better with the fire outside. Yes I burn a few more cords of wood now, but have endless hot water. And you will love the difference in humidity outdoor versus indoor. When you have a indoor wood stove I don't care how careful you may be anything can happen at any given time, life is to short to roll those dice for me and my family. Also your insurance premiums should drop.

[Roger2561]

Before the OWB and before oil, I had 2 wood stoves in the house and I would go through around 7 1/2 to 8 cord of wood per year.  But that was only heating 900sqft of area.  Now with the OWB, I'm heating over 3000sqft and DHW.  The house is a constant 70 degrees, 24/7 and not cold when I get out of bed in the morning or when I return home from work.  Plus, the danger is 25 feet away from the house.  And, I burn around 6 to 8 cord of wood depending on the severity of the winter.  Roger

[automan77]

I burn more wood then my inside stove did but don't have to worry about feeding it  all day long plus ii get unlimited hot water.   Wood is much cheaper then propane .  And my wife is happy.