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[snelson220]

First of all I would like to say thanks in advance for any info. So, here goes what I am looking at.  I have been looking and researching OWB not for a while and there is a ton of info all over about all the different burners but it seems every brand is about the same with the amount of good to bad reviews so it is hard to tell which would be the best buy for myself.

The three closest dealers to me sell the Central boiler, Heatmor, and the Hawken. I have kind of been leaning towards the Hawken 2100 since I have a 1650 sqft house plus basement and also a 40x80 pole barn. I plan on just getting it installed, I am sure I can do it myself but I figure just let them then if there is a problem they are more likely to help remedy said problem. I have seen a lot of reviews for this OWB but a lot of them are from a year to three or four years ago. Is this still a good OWB to invest in or should I be looking more towards the Central Boiler?

I have read a lot of good things about Hawken with a few here and there about them either not heating right or poor customer service, but the good reviews seem to way outweigh the bad. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Sean

[juddspaintballs]

IF you have them install it, make sure they use a good pipe system.  Logstor is heavily recommended on this forum, although I have no personal experience with it.  It looks like a great product, though.  The triple wrap in drain tile pipe systems are junk regardless of what your dealer tells you.  If they insist on using anything that is junk, do not let them install it for you.  It won't affect your warranty. 

I have a Heatmor and I like it.  I know very little about the other two units. 

[Ridge]

Good Morning, Another first time poster, I too have been wondering what OWB to get, narrowed to Heatmor, Heatmaster, and Portage and Main. I have been reading and learning alot from this site which really helps make the correct choices on every part of the install. We are in north central Wi. and have all the dealers within 45 miles and can't wait till spring/summer to get the ball rolling.

[CountryBoyJohn]

Mr. Ridge and Mr. snelson220, my recommendation is to narrow down the features you're looking for in a stove.  304 Stainless, 409 stainless, or carbon steel.  Forced draft or natural draft.  Budget friendly or price is no issue.  Ash pan or no ash pan.  Ability to burn coal or not.  Air over fire or under.  Then, rank your priorities.  I ranked my preferences draft fan, budget friendly, air under fire, 409 stainless, ash pan, coal.  After that, there was 1 clear choice and I landed on my Heatmaster 10,000E.  I love my stove and it has performed wonderfully for my family.  I'm not pushing anyone towards HM.  If you don't want a natural draft or if you want mild steel, then HM won't be for you.  Rank your priorities, then you'll land on one.  Good luck!!  If you have any questions specifically for HM, I'd be happy to answer them! 

[yoderheating]

 Country Boy makes some good points.  He listed the basic differences of many furnaces, this should give you a good starting point to work from.

[willowbk]

ridge
i'm not going to promote any owf, but instead, be sure you are ready for the other things that go w/ an owf.
time needed to maintain the stove, getting wood,spliting,storing and having a power source back up if electricity is lost.  read as many posts as you can to see all the "hidden" things that go with the owf. that being said, when all those things are taken care of you can sit back in your pj's at 70 plus degrees and laugh.  DAMN THE MAN!

[ITO]

 I think Countryboy did a good job of summing up the choices also, it IS hard to decide though and you have so many new choices not like 10 years ago when I looked for one. Like Judd's said piping to the house is a huge consideration, I would plant mine close and use good pipe, it's expensive, also keep it out of wet ground, I would go above ground rather than in wet soil.
 I'm not a dealer and my HS1 is a Heatmor knockoff but I would look at the Heatmor because of simplicity in design, stainless, the ash auger system and the sand in the bottom. I dont have experience with the others though and would look at the differences closely. Good luck!

[Scott7m]

Keep reading, keep asking questions, learn to decipher cheerleading from actual experience.  Also, if you read any test where they rate wood furnaces, chuckle and move on, it was simply paid for by who evers name is on top

I believe there are a lot of good stoves on the market, and im my personal opinion, not real crazy about Hawken.

[chaikwa]

I believe there are a lot of good stoves on the market, and im my personal opinion, not real crazy about Hawken.

Could you elaborate on that a bit Scott? I'm not challenging you're opinion but I'm interested in what I may have missed. I'm not real crazy about their gasification units, mainly from what I've seen first hand and read about them. But their non-gassers are about as simple as it gets, which is why I bought one. Now with that said, had I know of you back a year ago, I may have ended up doing business with you instead. I may have even considered a Heatmaster despite my dislike of the use of stainless in an OWB!

[Scott7m]

Stainless in an owb can be great, it was a marketing approach by central to say stainless cracks etc, but in my personal experience the 409 stainless stoves are hard to beat.  I have seen stress corrosion which is basically crow foot like cracks in stainless stoves that are 1/16" thick 304.

In regard to hawken, ive just spoke to a lot of folks with folks complaining about there haeken and having warranty issues and such, it just seemed that per brand I heard more bad than good out of them, whether it be phone calls or stuff like on the forum here.  There was a lot of complaints on the forum under hawken a year or so ago, suddenly they were all deleted

[slimjim]

I Like the newsletter! can't comment on the product, don't have one.

[yoderheating]

 Hawkin has used other manufactures to build their furnaces in the past. I have no idea if they still do or if they build their own. There were some issues back when Global built furnaces for them but that may have all changed when Global stopped. I think that is one of the issues that makes it hard to get a grasp on whether Hawkin has put out a good product over the years. When you switch shops you switch methods so when one person loves their furnace and another has trouble you may be comparing apples to oranges even though they are the same brand.