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[Scratch]

I have a Central Boiler Classic 6048.  My brother does also, but his is about 10 years older than mine and is about ready to be replaced.

He knew I was on this forum and asked me to ask you guys that have built their own about how much it would cost to build one versus buy one.

I have a small metalworking shop with torches, welders, forges etc along with a 4'X8' CNC plasma cutting table and would be helping him with the build.

We're just wondering about how much it would save him to build versus buy something similar to a CB 6048.

[mlappin]

All depends on how fancy you want to get and how much stuff you already have around. Main thing is how valuable is your own time?

It's finally quite raining here, I'll be spending every waking moment trying to get harvest done, so projects like wood stoves or remodeling the house always take a back burner as my time is too valuable to take away from the harvest. If something acts up on one of our vehicles, I'll pay the shop in town to fix it if we are busy.

So basically, do you have anything that your time is better spent on instead of building a stove?

[slimjim]

Good response Marty!  If a person has the time and resources along with a build plan, it can be a lot of fun as well as rewarding. However I don't think it is possible for anybody to build one stove and it be less expensive than any mass produced stove. Here in the socialist state of Maine, it is against the law to build your own OWB and run it, it must be EPA certified, UL and CSA approved in order to be legally installed. The testing alone is typically $30,000 and up for each model tested, $250 per hour at the lab, pass or fail, we wonder why our businesses go outside of our country to manufacture, there it is folks in a nutshell. Whom do you think eventually pays for that red tape? It's only 6:30 AM and I'm already wound up !!!!!  Best of luck to your buddy Scratch, let us all know if we can help in any way, look them all over before you start and take what ideas you like from each unit, draw up a plan and proceed, we would all like to see your progress.

[mlappin]

In Indiana for now at least homebuilt units are exempt from the EPA crap, also don't need the UL or CSA approval.