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[wood2burn]

Does anyone out there have or know of someone who has  Heiss Heater?  They are relatively new and are made out of concrete and built in Michigan.  Are they forced draft or natural?  Thanks for any input.

[martyinmi]

   My friend had one up till this year. He ran it for two or three years. They came right to his house and poured it on his pad. If memory serves me correctly, he AVERAGED burning about 3/4's of a full cord/week heating a 1200 sq.ft. house. His was basically a cement box with copper tubing buried inside. The storage was in his basement(no outside jacketed water storage). On a 10* day, the outside temperature of the boiler was 160* in places. There was no insulation on the outside or top of the concrete. The concrete pad was over 100* on the same 10* day. I wouldn't consider one unless they had insulation on the top,sides,front,rear, and bottom. We estimated his thermal efficiency to be around 10%.
Unless they've came a looooong way in the last few years, I wouldn't consider one. However, their pricing looks to be competitive, as well as offering models that are insulated now.
   

[merrellroofing]

    I went and saw one in action last winter when I was shopping for an owb.  Like Marty said, the storage was a 50 gal plastic barrel in the basement.  They do have insulation surrounding them now with a stucco finish.  Among other things, the main thing I didn't like was the door.  There is no good way to fasten the door or latch to the concrete.  The one I saw had a blower fan mounted under the door.

[Scott7m]

Sounds likes very very poor system to me! 

[wood2burn]

Thank you to all who input responses.  Will take them into consideration.