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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Heat gun on pex?
« on: November 21, 2013, 11:06:31 AM »
I used a heat gun on some of my pex pipe when trying to fit the tubing around my furnace and making some tight radius's for various connections. It works great, no issues. I also used it on a leaking connection. You could tell it was under some stress and slightly crooked on the barbed connection. I heated it up and massaged it so it was straight, then crimped it in place. It has been that way for 2 years no with no issues. I am not sure about a 90 degree connection. It's worth a try and won't cost you anything but a little bit of time to find out.
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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Insurance question about OWF installed inside pole barn
« on: October 10, 2013, 09:12:56 AM »
I certainly appreciate all of the responses. There is a lot of good information here on this blog. Like all of us, I don't want to pay a dime more for insurance than I have to. Point being, the insurance company wants things to be as safe as possible. Either you will pay to have it safe, or pay extra for the increased risk. I also know they look for ways NOT to have to pay for a claim. I am willing to pay a little extra on installation to make it "insurance friendly". My job is to install this thing as safe as possible using common sense and following some of the lame brain rules required by insurance companies. Double wall pipe is obvious, 18" away from wood roof perlins, and 30-50' from the propane tank is also a no brainer. 50' from your propane tank is not far enough if you have a propane leak, I get all of that. It's the insurance company's ignorance on the safety of these OWB is what is so discouraging to me. Some just flat out say no, it is not insurable. Others charge you a premium. I thought when I started this post, someone out there would have heard of a reasonable installation requirement for these stoves when installed inside of a lean to or building. Any kind of wood stove inside a home is far more dangerous (IMHO) than this outdoor wood furnace. We had ashes popping out of the fireplace in the living room we dumped our Coca-Cola on to put it out when I was a kid. Another time we had a chimney fire that put the fear in all of us. Again, no damage but still a concern. These were typical hazards of any stove whether inside the home, basement, or garage. I put this in my barn on a concrete pad with metal sided room and double walled chimney pipe. It is checked at least 2x a day. The stove is air tite (or else it won't work correctly) so nothing gets out. In the event the fire would flame up and get out of control, it boils the water out making a steam bath like the other poster noted. One of my other safeguards is I turn my propane tank off after my stove is burning. No reason to have the lines pressurized when not in use. If I need my propane, then I turn the valve back on at the tank. I would only do that if I ran out of wood, went on vacation, or had a problem with my stove and couldn't burn wood to keep warm. This OWB is safer than if I put it inside my home!
It surprises me the lack of knowledge the insurance companies have when it comes to these stoves. They don't understand the value of them and choose to remain ignorant on their safety aspects. "Look at the hillbilly with his wood stove!". It's a bunch of BS. It's one of the best things our family has ever done.
New chainsaw $300
Outdoor wood furnace $8000
Warm heat, hot water, making memories and sharing weekend's with the family cutting wood - PRICELESS!
It surprises me the lack of knowledge the insurance companies have when it comes to these stoves. They don't understand the value of them and choose to remain ignorant on their safety aspects. "Look at the hillbilly with his wood stove!". It's a bunch of BS. It's one of the best things our family has ever done.
New chainsaw $300
Outdoor wood furnace $8000
Warm heat, hot water, making memories and sharing weekend's with the family cutting wood - PRICELESS!
3
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Insurance question about OWF installed inside pole barn
« on: October 02, 2013, 06:25:06 AM »
We live in northwest Ohio and in the country. I honestly believe the construction of these furnaces are just as safe or safer than what the indoor furnaces are. Both my wife and I grew up burning wood inside the home. We had a furnace in the basement, fireplaces in the living rooms, and also a wood burner in the den of our cabin. Not all at once, but in different homes we've lived in over the years. I don't recall too many years we didn't cut wood either for ourselves or other family/friends. It's just what we did. Now, years later, the wife and I wanted to save on propane and start burning wood again but having bugs and bark inside our home wasn't an option. We chose the outdoor model to keep that stuff outside. I honestly don't see how it is any "more" unsafe to have these inside a pole barn, outbuilding, or some sort of leanto. There are just as many concerns with chimney fires whether it's an indoor model or outdoor model. The smoke, bugs, soot, and wood debris is kept outdoors. Heck, we should get a discount on our insurance!
I've seen many posts on here and heard many people installing these under roof of some sort. Thanks for posting. I'm still planning to leave mine in my barn. One of the best investments I've every made. All comments are appreciated.
I've seen many posts on here and heard many people installing these under roof of some sort. Thanks for posting. I'm still planning to leave mine in my barn. One of the best investments I've every made. All comments are appreciated.
4
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Insurance question about OWF installed inside pole barn
« on: October 01, 2013, 11:17:24 AM »
Question: What is required for installing our OWF inside our pole barn?
We purchased an NCB250 last November of 2012, used it all last season with no issues. We are very happy with our purchase. It was outside, about 125' from the home and another 30' from the propane tank. This past summer, we decided to put up a 30x45 pole barn, building it over the furnace. We put it on a concrete pad inside the barn and have a stone floor. The chimney pipe is double walled and extends through the roof as high as the gable.
State Farm will not insure our barn or its contents due to the outdoor wood furnace located inside our barn siting policy. They do not have any requirements, and just give a no answer. Our township fire marshall gives an okay and the township has no requirements. All looks good. We eventually plan to put a metal sided room around it inside the barn as another safety precaution. I plan to store about a weeks worth of wood in that room so it stays dry and I am not carrying in 2-3 arm loads of wood 2x a day. The rest of the wood is all outside.
Has anyone else installed their OWF in an outbuilding? And, what did you do to make sure you were "insurance compliant"? Anyone else have problems with their homeowners insurance wherever they installed their furnace? Your inputs and opinions are appreciated.
We purchased an NCB250 last November of 2012, used it all last season with no issues. We are very happy with our purchase. It was outside, about 125' from the home and another 30' from the propane tank. This past summer, we decided to put up a 30x45 pole barn, building it over the furnace. We put it on a concrete pad inside the barn and have a stone floor. The chimney pipe is double walled and extends through the roof as high as the gable.
State Farm will not insure our barn or its contents due to the outdoor wood furnace located inside our barn siting policy. They do not have any requirements, and just give a no answer. Our township fire marshall gives an okay and the township has no requirements. All looks good. We eventually plan to put a metal sided room around it inside the barn as another safety precaution. I plan to store about a weeks worth of wood in that room so it stays dry and I am not carrying in 2-3 arm loads of wood 2x a day. The rest of the wood is all outside.
Has anyone else installed their OWF in an outbuilding? And, what did you do to make sure you were "insurance compliant"? Anyone else have problems with their homeowners insurance wherever they installed their furnace? Your inputs and opinions are appreciated.
5
Natures Comfort / Re: Interested in NC 250. Is anyone using this model?
« on: September 27, 2013, 07:33:45 AM »
We installed a Natures Comfort NCB250 November of 2012 so we have one season under out belt. I approximated the wood usage between 7 and 9 cords and used it well into April of 2013. The unlimited hot water usage was awesome and the thermostat stayed about 72 even on the coldest days. Needless to say we are very happy with our purchase. I also installed everything myself and found it to be relatively straight forward. We live in northwest Ohio and had an average winter last year. I have about 8-10 cords ready to go for this year and plan to fire it up again in the next few weeks.
Following the topic posts, I also noticed having trouble keeping the wood burning in the back of the stove. The grates are in the front and every morning, I'd have to pull all the charred wood to the front. I was not happy. I talked to my dealer and he said I had to "tune" my furnace to my home. I can only use so much energy. Okay....(scratching my head and adjusting my hat). Long story short, we lowered the temp on the aquastat down to 170 and I closed the damper by half. What was happening was the fire was buring hot for 5 minutes. Full bore air, heat, etc. Then cutting off for hours at a time. This was the cycle that left unburned pieces in the back of the stove. He said I needed to extend the burn. The goal was to gradually build up the fire, let it burn for a while, then let it stand idle for a less period of time. Instead of having hot fires at 5 minutes, I needed to have medium fires for 15 minutes. It worked but I found I could increase the burn time by closing the damper even more and also adjusting the temperature differential down to 15 degrees on the aquastat. My wood began buring longer, coals were hot in the back and I noticed less creosote build-up. This balance allowed me to use less wood and had a cleaner furnace/chimney. The only issue I had is when the temperature outside dropped below 0, the furnace had trouble keeping up. I opened up the damper to half way and solved thie issue. Once the outside temperature raised back up into the 20's, I just closed the damper back down to 1/4, never changing the aquastat controls.
My feeling is the furnace is too big for my home. However, I told my dealer I wanted to eventually heat my garage and possibly the barn. I decided to upsize to be safe. We have about a 2000 square foot home. Once I had tuned my set up for my application, I burned far less wood. the first month or two, it was really working me. Now, I am confident it is working as designed. We are very happy with our purchase.
For what it's worth, we did some considerable shopping around a year or so in advance. We have 2 other family members burning wood, one uses a heatmaster and the other a Shaver. I also have a good friend using a Shaver. We looked at the display models at the county fair. We found the warranty to be the best on the Natures Comfort and a reputable dealer close by for parts if needed. Our commitment was for 10 years and we felt Natures Comfort met our needs the best. I am very happy with the engineering on this stove, the company requtation, and features it offers. So far so good, Feel free to ask me questions or give some advice. I still consider myself a novice.
Following the topic posts, I also noticed having trouble keeping the wood burning in the back of the stove. The grates are in the front and every morning, I'd have to pull all the charred wood to the front. I was not happy. I talked to my dealer and he said I had to "tune" my furnace to my home. I can only use so much energy. Okay....(scratching my head and adjusting my hat). Long story short, we lowered the temp on the aquastat down to 170 and I closed the damper by half. What was happening was the fire was buring hot for 5 minutes. Full bore air, heat, etc. Then cutting off for hours at a time. This was the cycle that left unburned pieces in the back of the stove. He said I needed to extend the burn. The goal was to gradually build up the fire, let it burn for a while, then let it stand idle for a less period of time. Instead of having hot fires at 5 minutes, I needed to have medium fires for 15 minutes. It worked but I found I could increase the burn time by closing the damper even more and also adjusting the temperature differential down to 15 degrees on the aquastat. My wood began buring longer, coals were hot in the back and I noticed less creosote build-up. This balance allowed me to use less wood and had a cleaner furnace/chimney. The only issue I had is when the temperature outside dropped below 0, the furnace had trouble keeping up. I opened up the damper to half way and solved thie issue. Once the outside temperature raised back up into the 20's, I just closed the damper back down to 1/4, never changing the aquastat controls.
My feeling is the furnace is too big for my home. However, I told my dealer I wanted to eventually heat my garage and possibly the barn. I decided to upsize to be safe. We have about a 2000 square foot home. Once I had tuned my set up for my application, I burned far less wood. the first month or two, it was really working me. Now, I am confident it is working as designed. We are very happy with our purchase.
For what it's worth, we did some considerable shopping around a year or so in advance. We have 2 other family members burning wood, one uses a heatmaster and the other a Shaver. I also have a good friend using a Shaver. We looked at the display models at the county fair. We found the warranty to be the best on the Natures Comfort and a reputable dealer close by for parts if needed. Our commitment was for 10 years and we felt Natures Comfort met our needs the best. I am very happy with the engineering on this stove, the company requtation, and features it offers. So far so good, Feel free to ask me questions or give some advice. I still consider myself a novice.
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