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[Scott7m]

Wouldn't it be nice if there was more consistency across the industry of owb's.  In had a customer drop in today bragging about how wonderful his stove was and how it held 750 gallons of water.  He went on and on about it and how he only burned 31 truck loads of wood heating a 2400 sq ft home and a 1200 sq ft shop.  He said his buddy burned 40 loads heating less!!!!  I told him that was extreme but it was apparent I wasn't getting anywhere.

Moral of my story is that I just hate how certain brands or homemade jobs can really hurt the reputation of the owb industry as a whole.  Folks around here for the most part don't dig deep enough to even realize there are many brands. 

I had a customer want me to do an install the other day so I asked what kind of stove he had and his response was, "oh you mean they make more than one kind"  I was baffled.  Went and looked at his job and was astonished at what I saw.  It was 2 old oil tanks welded together.  Most crude piece I'd ever seen in my life. 

Another customer I encountered wanted me to look at his stove, I go over and look and it's huge, water boiling out and a makeshift temp gauge pegged at 210.  I open the door to a roaring fire.  Customer didn't even realize that the fan shouldn't run all the time.  He said it loves the wood.  lol

But the things I see never fail to amaze me, just thought I'd share a couple stories.

[jackel440]

Unfortunately the industry is what I would say fickle. Its not huge enough like automobile production to have a set standard. On how to produce a product.
I agree withyou That the consumer has no clue on all the different manufacturers out there.I have people coming to me all the time asking about owb just because I built mine.
I tell them to get online and start researching all you can before deciding on one manufacturer.
I have seen some questionable stoves and ideas myself.I guess that's what makes the world go round.

[muffin]

It is very difficult for the consumer.  I just got mine this year so I had never looked into them until a couple months prior.  The research was tough.  There are no common numbers to compare and contrast units.  No one really posts effiecency.  The water capacities are all over the place.  Still no clue what is really optimal.  I imagine it depends a bit on your usage too.  The companies, of course, are going to tell you how wonderful theirs is.

This was a very difficult thing for me to do.  So far I am happy with my CB though.  Hope I chose well.

[Ridgekid]

We were going to get a Hawken because my son knew someone that had one. He raves about his. When we went to the same dealer, he had switched to Central Boiler. So we started looking at them. We then looked at many websites (including this one) and we we made our final decision based on dealer location, BBB background check, cost and overall construction of the product. We also learned our state was going to the new EPA standards for OWB's. So our research was short and decision was made quickly.

Did we make the right decision? I guess it depends on who you talk to. For us, we couldn't be happier!

[lugnut]

I knew thee were many choices  pertaining to OWBs, but like muffin stated, there are no set standards to go by and no way to really do a contrast scan, and of course everyone will tell you their furnace and company is the best on the market.

I did as much research as I could possibly do and after a while they all began to look the same...except in price.  I planned to install the furnace myself so I was looking for the least expensive, yet quality furnace.  I know most of you sitting at home reading this are going to choke on your coffee/beer /"insert choice of drink here," but I chose a Shaver 250.  I liked the fact that they have been in business for quite a few years and that their furnaces were pretty much basic.  That if anything went bad in them, outside of the water jacket...that i could go to Fleet Farm or Menard's and purchase whatever it is that I required.

I had an installer form Central Boiler, from about 15 miles down the road come out and give me a price for the entire installation and furnace...well golly gee whiz I would have to live in the house for 60 years to recoup the total investment  Price: $15-17k.  then I checked with another company just outside of Green Bay,WI.  and they too said it would cost me about $14,990.00 for the entire installation and furnace and to this day I don't recall the name of the furnace. 

I decided to install everything myself or at least part of it and barter out the rest and I went with Shaver.  If I figure correctly, I can recoup my entire initial lay out of money in 5-6 years.  This is really quite good compared to 50-60 for anyone else. Is the Shaver perfect?  By all means no, but the price was right and this is all that matters to me.  It burns wood and heats my house and hot water heater.  Next year it will heat my shop.

[tulenutn2o]

I knew thee were many choices  pertaining to OWBs, but like muffin stated, there are no set standards to go by and no way to really do a contrast scan, and of course everyone will tell you their furnace and company is the best on the market.

I did as much research as I could possibly do and after a while they all began to look the same...except in price.  I planned to install the furnace myself so I was looking for the least expensive, yet quality furnace.  I know most of you sitting at home reading this are going to choke on your coffee/beer /"insert choice of drink here," but I chose a Shaver 250.  I liked the fact that they have been in business for quite a few years and that their furnaces were pretty much basic.  That if anything went bad in them, outside of the water jacket...that i could go to Fleet Farm or Menard's and purchase whatever it is that I required.

I had an installer form Central Boiler, from about 15 miles down the road come out and give me a price for the entire installation and furnace...well golly gee whiz I would have to live in the house for 60 years to recoup the total investment  Price: $15-17k.  then I checked with another company just outside of Green Bay,WI.  and they too said it would cost me about $14,990.00 for the entire installation and furnace and to this day I don't recall the name of the furnace. 

I decided to install everything myself or at least part of it and barter out the rest and I went with Shaver.  If I figure correctly, I can recoup my entire initial lay out of money in 5-6 years.  This is really quite good compared to 50-60 for anyone else. Is the Shaver perfect?  By all means no, but the price was right and this is all that matters to me.  It burns wood and heats my house and hot water heater.  Next year it will heat my shop.

If you can pay it off in 5-6 yrs for the shaver, couldn't you reasonably have expected to pay it back in 10-15 with the others? I don't know what LP is now, since I haven't bought any for some time so I don't care what price is. BUT, I would guess that it is around $2.50-$3 and at 1000gal. year at 60 deg inside temp. My system pays for itself in 5 yrs or less. Actually closer to 3.5 yrs since I did it me self. However, now we get to set stat at whatever temp we like, have extremely hot water, and heat the shop too. Congrats on joinin the fray and running a stove. Screw  the energy companies.