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31

Plumbing / Re: opinions on OWB plumbing to house

« on: November 04, 2012, 05:15:59 PM »

Scott where are you located in area code 606?   I am in Bullitt county and if aren't too far east it might be worth a drive and just pick up what I need...

kc

32

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: furnace install near woods

« on: November 04, 2012, 05:12:48 PM »

Got her poured today so the first big step is done.    Now to figure out my pex and HEs and get the stove on the pad.   I am hopeful to get it fired up before old man winter get serious.   Doing much of this myself is pretty satisfying and it's great to get advice on a site like this.   I sure appreciate it...

kc

33

Fire Wood / Re: TYPE of CHAIN SAWS USED

« on: November 03, 2012, 08:58:57 PM »

I am stihl man too.  MS280 20" bar, 028 wood boss 18" bar, & a MS170 16" bar for the small stuff.   Want a pro model with a 25" bar next.   I have a couple of red oaks down that a 20" bar will be a slight small...

kc

34

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: furnace install near woods

« on: November 03, 2012, 08:43:54 PM »

I got it formed up today and I will end up about 10' - 15' from the edge of the woods.   I trimmed back a bunch of the small stuff and there are a couple of other mid-sized trees I will probably trim too.   Tomorrow is pad day.   Back of the truck is loaded with concrete.   Still need to dig out a pex hole and gravel fill but I should be mixing and pouring by late morning.   One small step but it feels good to actually start work on something given so much thought.

Thanks again for the feedback!!!

kc

35

Plumbing / Re: opinions on OWB plumbing to house

« on: November 03, 2012, 08:34:19 PM »

I saw somewhere (2) pair of 1" pex wrapped and a 12/2 or 12/3 electric line all put in a 4" black drain pipe.   Is that something common or is that putting too much together at once?   I already feel a little sqeamish about drilling a 4" hole in my foundation and thinking of running two separate pipes compounds that feeling.

Also I am going to have a 50' or so run of pex through my garage and crawl space back to the furnace.  I know it should be insulated but I am thinking the pex inside a  4" drain pipe might be overkill especially if I am going to hang it from the floor joists.  Any suggestions for that part of the run?   Would it be enough to use straight pex and use the tubular foam insulation?  This would be a single pex pair for the furnace (HW is in the garage) and the run is a perfectly straight shot.  I'll run another pair for the hot tub later.

Scott - how long to ship if I were to place a pex order?    I will probably be doing the underground pex in two weekends as I take Thanksgiving week off every year and will have plenty of time that week.   I'll probably do my inside run as well at that time.

Thanks again guys for the advice.   

kc

36

Plumbing / Re: opinions on OWB plumbing to house

« on: November 03, 2012, 07:49:52 AM »

Thanks guys on the reality check.   I am forming my slab today pouring tomorrow and the next step will be the trench and burying the pex to the house and I wanted to be clear on doing one line or two before that step.   Two it is!   My first step will be hooking up the furnace and HW so I can expand to the hot tub and garage later...

kc

37

Plumbing / opinions on OWB plumbing to house

« on: November 02, 2012, 10:31:15 PM »

Trying to get my head around my plumbing design and the few I've talked to directly have given me different ideas.   Bottom line is I have a 3000 sf pretty well insulated home in northern KY and I want to plumb in my forced air furnace (20"x20" plenum), hot water, 250 gallon hot tub, and a small HE in my 20x25 garage for occasional heat if I work on something in there.   My question is can I plumb all of this off of a single 1" loop back to the OWF?   The first guy I talked to had me with one loop to the furnace only, another pair to a coil in the OWB for hot water, and a third loop for the hot tub / garage.   I have already decided to put in a heat exchanger at the hot water heater so I don't need that loop back to the OWB.   I feel pretty confident in one loop for furnace, HW, and garage but I am wondering if adding the hot tub would be too much.   Also if I can do all 4 on one loop should I consider a larger pump to push more water?   What about bumping up to 1.25" lines?   Some more specs which may be relevent is from my OWB to my garage and hot water is 60' or so, to the furnace is an added 50', and another 15' past to the hot tub so the total loop would be 125' or so.  Thanks in advance for your thoughts as I am set on doing as much of this as I can myself but want to make the right calls and not have to redo any work if possible...

kc

38

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: furnace install near woods

« on: November 02, 2012, 10:07:52 PM »

Thanks for the feedback guys.   I feel better about my chosen spot and I'm going to form it up tomorrow!

kc

39

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: furnace install near woods

« on: October 31, 2012, 09:41:21 PM »

I am leaning toward an Earth Furnace.   Either the Rancher 365 or the Mountain Man 505.  Solid looking furnace and affordable.  I have a friend who does boiler work and I am queued up to have him drop by and help me iron out the details of an install of hooking up my furnace, HWH, garage, and hot tub with sizing and component recommendations.   I have another friend who has a central boiler and that is a nice furnace too but kind of pricey.   I have read some about spark arrestors but I am not clear if they would help or hurt my cause (clogging up)...

kc

40

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / furnace install near woods

« on: October 31, 2012, 09:21:08 PM »

I am gearing up to install an OWB with my next step to pour a concrete pad hopefully in the next week.   I have what I thought was a perfect spot picked out - 50' from the house, near the driveway for convenience, and also downwind from the house as it is to the east.   But this spot is near a drop off going down into a hollow which is wooded.   If I continue with this plan this spot my stove will be 10' to 20' feet from the woods.   I have never operated an OWB and I am wondering if being that close to the hollow and woods would be a mistake.   Starting a forest fire would not be big fun.   Are there any precautions I can take to eliminate the risk or should I forsake the convenience and shorter distance and install it further back from the woods?

Thanks for any advice in advance...

kc

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41

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: basic underground pex question

« on: October 25, 2012, 08:30:06 PM »

I think I am leaning toward staying underground mainly because I think it will be more straight forward to just come straight in with the pex instead of coming up out of the ground plus in my case I am bringing my lines in to my attached garage foundation.   If ground water follows the lines in it will be on the concrete garage floor which isn't nearly as bad as in a basement or crawl space in my book.   Plus I am sure it will be better insulated in the ground...

kc

42

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / basic underground pex question

« on: October 24, 2012, 08:47:20 PM »

Trying to get my head around my first OWB install and today laid out my pad, wood shed, and the insulated pex path to the house.   60' through the driveway and my wife's cobblestone walkway and on to the back corner of the house.   I live in northern KY so I am shooting for a 2' deep trench.   But my question is entry into the house.   Is it best to stay underground when coming into the house with the insulated pex lines or do most enter above ground?   The obvious thought is breaching the foundation below ground could cause a foundation leak but staying underground would preserve the ground's insulation.  What do you guys think?

kc

43

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: trailering new OWB

« on: October 24, 2012, 07:14:54 PM »

I have looked at Central Boiler, Taylor, Shaver, and Earth furnaces and I am leaning toward the Earth Mtn Man 505 and hence the towing / unloading issue.   I like the tow truck idea as I have also considered renting a fork truck for the day which would set me back $200 to $300.  Earth stoves do have fork slots but I understand you can also lift them by the chimney.   I don't think the boom height will be a big issue because I plan to trailer the stove and the trailer I will use sits pretty low.  Maybe AAA will cover the tow if I call and tell them I jackknifed the Earth in my driveway!  I appreciate the feedback...

kc

44

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / trailering new OWB

« on: October 23, 2012, 08:58:02 PM »

New to the site but have been absorbing the posts on this site the last couple of weeks as I am "hot and heavy" into getting into an OWB -- hopefully before this winter.   I moved to my current homestead a little over a year ago with 10 acres of woods and more firewood that you can shake a stick at so an OWB is highly appealing to me.
I am looking at a couple models and getting my head around how to do this and the furnace I am most interested in does not have the option to be delivered and set on the pad for me.  Talking with the dealer he said that I could pick up the 2200 lb stove and trailer to my install pad.   I don't have any equipment to move around a one ton stove so do you guys have any ideas / tricks for safely moving it from a trailer to the pad?   He suggested using boards and iron pipe which I can somewhat visualize.   One plus is the pad will be just a few feet from my driveway so I should be able to back the trailer up to / over the pad.   Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and I can't tell you guys how much a site like this comforts us newbies!   Information is good!

kc