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[capitalpyro]

My Experience choosing, installing and operating my OWB

I researched OWB’s for a very long time before actually buying one and installing it. I read everything I could find on the subject. Here is a brief of what I did start to finish and the experiences I had. I am writing this to help others who might be planning to install and use one of these.

Choosing the stove - This was much like buying a truck or saw. Everyone you talk to has a different opinion on which one is best and dozens of reasons why. For reasons I won’t get into, I decided on the Central boiler. Several cold months into it now and I have no regrets. I went with a 5036.

Location – I built a new house and really didn’t have a lot of convenient locations. One useful tool I found was prevailing wind maps of my area (compass rose style). These show prevailing wind directions for your area. You can look at an average of the year or month by month. Go to this site and choose your closest weather station. You can then choose each month or several months at a time to see the prevailing wind direction for your area. See link here.
http://windhistory.com/map.html#7.00/39.726/-89.899/
I chose an area that would have the prevailing wind blow smoke away from my house and other areas that I wanted to avoid. I found this tool very useful and accurate.



Installation – I placed the boiler about 100’ from my house. I read all kinds of stories about how people prepared their own insulation before burying, how one brand was better than another etc etc …. I ended up buying the ThermoPex pipe sold by Central Boiler. This was the one brand that people swore by over and over. I found this brand to be recommended on just about every site not owned or operated by someone/company with ulterior motives. I found it for $11 foot. I rented a trencher, trenched the ditch about 24” deep and put it in place. One note. Before you turn up vertically, dig the ditch deeper in that area. You need quite a bit of room to change directions 90 degrees. The ThermoPex is very stiff and difficult to work with. I used ridged pex once I got into the house up to the utility room. At that point I went to copper. I made transitions with Shark Bite fittings. Very expensive but extremely easy to use. I only lose 1-2 degrees from the boiler to utility room about 125 feet away. 

Domestic Hot Water – For this I bought a plate heat exchanger on Ebay from seller freeheat4u. I bought a 10 plate that is roughly 12 inches long (ebay item number 390647808245). The seller guaranteed me that this was all I needed to heat domestic water for my house. He was absolutely right. It is amazing how well it works. The other thing he recommended which I was very skeptical about is the location of the exchanger. He said to place it inline on the outlet of the hot water heater and turn off the gas to the hot water heater. I did this. So the plate heat exchanger actually heats the domestic hot water on demand with no storage and no circulating pump. I have never run out of hot water. Like I said, I was skeptical at this set-up but figured if it didn’t work I could always re-pipe it another way.  No regrets, works great. I also installed a tempering valve (mixing valve) to supply a constant 125 degree hot water. For me, 170 to 180 is just too hot. As a side note, I installed by-pass valves on everything so I could shut off one component of the system without affecting another.

Piping run down – Supply pipe comes from boiler, goes through plate heat exchanger for domestic hot water. Then it travels to the coil in the furnace where it goes through a 3 way valve and then returns back outside to the boiler. I only lose another 1 or 2 degrees when there is a demand on the domestic water. Water entering the coil in the furnace is seldom below 170 degrees unless the fire is going out in the boiler.

Wood – I have found that I don’t need to fill the boiler’s fire box completely full. That burns more wood than necessary. Depending on the expected outdoor temperate, I have learned what to expect. When cutting wood I save everything from about 3” and up. Round logs 10” and under do not get split unless I have a bunch of them and need some smaller pieces. I typically throw in 3 or 4 small logs on top of the existing coals and then a couple of 6 or 8 inchers with one 10 or 12 inch log on top of everything. While I’m sure everyone has their own methods, this works great for me. I also pull all the hot coals towards the front of the furnace each time I load it. I load twice a day and that is more than adequate. Dry wood gives the least amount of smoke and most efficient operation but placing greener wood on top of everything will help to dry it out before it works its way towards the coals and begins to burn.

Summary – There are several good brands of stoves out there. Choosing which one is a personal preference but it would be good to get one that can be serviced locally if you can’t do it yourself. These things do produce smoke and proper placement where it won’t affect you, your family or neighbors is very important. If the prevailing wind is going to constantly blow smoke onto a neighbor’s property it is my opinion that you should locate your boiler somewhere else. The buried pipe and insulation is extremely important. Do not try to cut corners here. Once it is buried, unless you own a backhoe, it is going to be the hardest part of the system to repair. I am not a CB rep or salesman but the product they sell seems to be excellent. I’m sure others have very good installations using other methods but for me the ThermoPex was the fastest, easiest (not cheapest) way to go.

I am very pleased with my OWB and wanted to share my experience with others in order to help them if needed. I thought having all this info in one place might be useful for someone just starting the process. I searched forums for months reading everything I could on this topic. Even though my posts here are few, I have read almost every single thread. Thanks to everyone who has participated in the discussions and shared your experiences. I have learned a lot from everyone.

[jtepn87]

Good post. I too live in the STL area. Only my budget doesn't allow for a CB.

[Roger2561]

Welcome to the forum.  Congratulations on the purchase of your OWB.  Thanks for the excellent post.  It was very informative.  Roger

[capitalpyro]

Good post. I too live in the STL area. Only my budget doesn't allow for a CB.

I am a little North of STL. As far as CB goes, I hadn't quite made up my mind what to buy when I saw an add on Craigslist for a used CB. Of course I am very skeptical of anything from Craigslist. I called the guy and he seemed like a straight shooter. I drove about an hour to his house. It was brand new house with geothermal installed. He had the CB for his old house. I inspected the furnace and it appeared to be very well cared for. He had all the records and original sales receipt. He included two water to air coils and about 50' of used ThermoPex pipe. I knew it was a crap shoot but the guy assured me there were no problems. Before buying it I contacted CB with the serial number and they had no record of any repairs or issues. They also informed me of how the warranty is not transferable (which I think is a crock of ****). I was nervous about the condition of the boiler but once I filled it and saw the condition of the water (clear) with no leaks my nervousness started turning to satisfaction from getting a good deal and saving a bundle. Had there not been an add on CL I probably would have ended up with something else.

Welcome to the forum.  Congratulations on the purchase of your OWB.  Thanks for the excellent post.  It was very informative.  Roger

Thank Roger! I hope someone can find it useful. I have been heating my living space for 20 years with an old wood stove. I love getting into the woods in the winter and cutting wood. When I built a new house, the best thing I did was install an outdoor unit. 

[skorpyd]

Thanks for the informative post.  The wind direction link was interesting.  Pretty much confirmed my observations.