Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
All-Purpose OWF Discussions => General Outdoor Furnace Discussion => Topic started by: badger1234 on October 10, 2012, 08:29:57 AM
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Had chimney fire last week had an aqua therm boiler inside shed. Looking for new furnace aqua therm seems to be one of the only closed systems not sure but seem to be way more open systems out there. I have been looking at central boiler cl 6048, empyer cpw 450, and resently stumbled apon crown royal rs 7400. When talking to dealers or even factory of coarse they say they have best warrenty/boiler/most efficient/boiler. I need one very soon tis the season, i had no complaints about my aqua therm but have nothing to compare it to as well. Looking for some help thanks
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Lots of good talk about the PortageandMain Furnace...
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If I could do it all over again I would buy one of the gassers from P&M, Central Boiler, or Pro fab. If you only want a standard boiler any of the top tier brands are comparable in effeciency and price.
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Had chimney fire last week had an aqua therm boiler inside shed. Looking for new furnace aqua therm seems to be one of the only closed systems not sure but seem to be way more open systems out there. I have been looking at central boiler cl 6048, empyer cpw 450, and resently stumbled apon crown royal rs 7400. When talking to dealers or even factory of coarse they say they have best warrenty/boiler/most efficient/boiler. I need one very soon tis the season, i had no complaints about my aqua therm but have nothing to compare it to as well. Looking for some help thanks
Wow shed catch on fire and burnt the boiler??.. You live in a EPA phase 2 state?..Aqua-therm still makes the old style boilers...Also check out www.brootenindustries.com (http://www.brootenindustries.com) Exact same thing as Aqua-Therm
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if it was a good boiler i would at least tear it down see if it would be worth a rebuild
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What state are you in?
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I am in wisconsin, the more research I do and dealers and factories I talk to, they say gassers are the way to go. I don't have to no restrictions yet here but they say its like buying a car with no fuel injection. I think I'm more lost than when I started just got a quote for a empyer 450 12100 or a 400 gasser 14500 only dealer that offered to look at my situation. Getting cold can here the lp burning man what to do!!.....
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If you would want a gasser or not depends on how you do your wood. Do you store up enough for the whole winter at least half a year ahead of when you will use it to give it plenty of time to dry?
Around here (south central wisconsin) most people seem to either get it out of the woods as they use it or get the winter's supply at this time of year.
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I am in wisconsin, the more research I do and dealers and factories I talk to, they say gassers are the way to go. I don't have to no restrictions yet here but they say its like buying a car with no fuel injection. I think I'm more lost than when I started just got a quote for a empyer 450 12100 or a 400 gasser 14500 only dealer that offered to look at my situation. Getting cold can here the lp burning man what to do!!.....
14,500 installed? Or what
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Yes 14500 installed.
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From what Ive read gassers need more maintance, Im on my third season on my stove and love it, i started it september 15 to heat my hot water for now. Once i got my bed of coals going i just throw couple sticks in a day and dump ashes once a week, once it gets cooler ill have to use little more wood and dump ashes twice a week. Got it installed 3 years ago for $8500, its about 50' from house.
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More maintenance for gassers?? I would much rather spend 10 minutes a couple times a month cleaning heat transfer tubes than cutting twice the wood. Gallon of ash per cord of wood. I will pass on the 30 gallons of ash every month. Just facts I have experienced. Good luck.
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CB Eclassic gassers have vertical heat transfer exchangers. Ash falls down into reaction chamber on its own where I shovel about 2 gallons of power out once per month. I only cleaned my exchangers once at the end of the heating season on my E2400. Stay away from multiple horizontal exchange tubes that require cleaning every 7-10 days. I think this is where all this negative talk is coming from on gasser heat echanger cleaning.
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Search what gassers have the highest failure rate. Those are the ones I'd stay away from. The ones with the Scotch Marine style of heat exchange require only bi-monthly cleaning, and that method of heat exchange is tried and true and has been around for 150+ years.
The cleaner you keep your heat exchange area, the more efficient your boiler will be. That is a no brainer.
Good post Troy73!
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try and talk to strawbalefarms,,he is sumplace in wisconsin,,,he is a dealer of one brand...
strawbalefarms.com
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If my stove actually burns TWICE as much as a gasser, i got to get one! I'm sure it burns more, but i was just saying that from other post ive read on here that most say they have to keep tubes clean and also have to worry about how seasoned there wood is, but like i said just something i read on this site.
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Still looking for the right boiler now back looking at classic style burners empyer and central lot of diff in price what to do
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Still looking for the right boiler now back looking at classic style burners empyer and central lot of diff in price what to do
Well if you live in a epa phase 2 state..You have to buy a gasser/ epa approved boiler
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There is NO WAY in this world I will/would think about spending 14K for a installed wood stove--NO WAY--period! For 14K I can pay the gas company for MANY years while sitting in my easy chair pushing the remote buttons......
I just completed my install of a Ridgewood wood stove, I have less then 5,500 installed for a unit which heats 2 homes and a pole barn--not a 14K unit for the heating of one home +/-.
http://www.ridgewoodstove.com/ridgewoodsept.htm (http://www.ridgewoodstove.com/ridgewoodsept.htm)
I also decided against the gasser avenue, everyone I talked to that HAS one hates the 2-3 week cleaning episode to keep the unit operating proper---both of the actual units I seen did not impress me at all!...When talking to a gasser unit individual who moved from a conventional OWB, the actual wood useage on the same house was only about 2 face cord a year difference---and @ $50+/- a cord for the wood makes for a $100 year difference, the additional money for the gasser up front PLUS the cleaning regiment simply does not justify the purchase of a gasser if you are not required by law in your area.
When I did my searching for a conventional OWB, the pricing for a unit was all over the map. The one I ended up with was not only one of the least expensive units I found, but it had and addressed the items in a wood stove that I thought where critical. Plus the owner sells the premium Z-Pex underground piping at cost which is a big benifit.
http://www.z-supply.com/index.php/prices (http://www.z-supply.com/index.php/prices)
The price the OWB supplier charged was 50%+/- less then the retail price of the underground piping!!! And when you look at your whole package, the UGP is a significant $$$ of your package.
The way I looked at it, SO WHAT if my conventional stove uses 2+/- face cords of wood more then a gasser per year, but you will not see me when it's O degree's outside burning down my stove to clean it so it operates proper---Plus the extra 5K I saved will look a lot better in my bank account then someone elses.
If you live in Wisconsin, the above Ridgewood stoves are made on the west side of Michigan--a simple low cost trip over on the boat to Michigan, picking one of these stoves up and returning home would be pretty reasonable---Even if you choose for someone else to install it, the low cost of the stove makes the WHOLE package reasonable unlike the 14K estimate.
JBC
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I live in wisconsin so no restrictions here on stoves any info on what anyone paid for a empyer 450?
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Here are some of the others I looked at...nice units but I made my choice because of the way it was made.
http://www.burnritestoves.com/models.php (http://www.burnritestoves.com/models.php)
http://timberwolffurnace.com/models_and_prices.html (http://timberwolffurnace.com/models_and_prices.html)
I have found a number of OWB manufactures in my area, and as can be reasoned---many of the more popular OWB manufactures MUST spend major dollars to promote/advertise there OWB's---and it can only be reasoned that these major costs will be added to the cost of your new stove if you choose a major player in the OWB market....Simply a cost I am not interesting in paying--
I made my decission by the way the stove is made--quality of manufacturing--and the quality of parts/steel used in manufacturing. There are some junk stoves out there--and others are pretty nice as in the unit I found which fit my bill to spend money on.
Good luck on your choice, but I can not recommend enough that you look at the way the stove is MADE and NOT the brand name!...And the money spent on your purchase makes reasonable sense--and stay away from the 12-14K installed salesmen/middlemen out there----you will find a significant amount of OWB stoves made without the major $$$ spent on advertising sell direct from the manufacture and do not use dealer networks for a reason----A REASONABLE reason it's called the "Yee-old mighty dollar!!!"
Spend the time here on this forum and others--educate yourself and avoid middleman salesmen.
JBC
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talk to dave jacoby in trego wisconsin at strawbalefarms.com #1-715-214-6683 i bought an ml36 boiler from him it not a boiler its a wood burning machine iam burning so much less wood with so little maintance its just a great unit. i heat a 28x40 polebarn and a house about the same size on about 5 to 7 cords a year