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[johnwinch]

building a new home and want to put in a wood boiler...   
A wood boiler is a long term relationship and expensive commitment (with a great cost to change)

so many manufacturers and of course each one claims to be the best...

turbulators make sense - but the area in contact with the smoke - slowing and absorbing heat - makes me wonder how much the junk will stick to the turbulators
     makes me wonder how they clean or if they need cleaned...

Central boiler seems to avoid that with their design... but reviews seem to be mixed (people love them or hate them)

I assume the gasifiers all tend to get dirty since they slow the smoke down  but get more heat out of the wood

overall - I would lean toward the CB HDX - but like I said so many love/hate

it seems people say - find a dealer and pick one you like....  that is like buying a car because the dealership has doughnuts)

where can I find honest comparisons?   (looking here people either are talking about their equipment failures (will happen to all products at one point or another) or are only able to talk about their unit)  While you all have great insight - it winds up only about the one unit you have. 

your guidance would be appreciated

[mlappin]

If your doing everything correctly there should be no smoke past the nozzle, turbolators still get dirty bit its from flyash, not smoke.

Id suggest a 100% 409 stainless model, either HeatMaster or Crown Royal.

It boils down to which brand has a dealer in your area that you feel comfortable with, a good dealer can make or break any brand of boiler.

[Scratch]

Because of how long they last, not many people buy an OWB and end up replacing it with a different model so it's going to be hard to find someone that has an opinion on more than one brand.  And even if you do, you'd be taking the word of one specific person that may or may not have had good or bad luck with their specific stove, so that opinion may be skewed.

I feel your pain.  I dont know if there is a place to find qualified, non biased, opinions about different brands.

I think what I would do I try to find the brands or models with the least amount of issues/problems, then do your research and see which brands have the features you want.

Good luck.

[E Yoder]

I agree with Marty, if there's creosote on the turbulators you've got a major burn issue. I tried burning some big wet blocks this summer, my turbs got tight. Switched to smaller dryer pieces, the issue disappeared in days. I'm loving my new G7000.

[johnwinch]

Thank you for the reply's

I guess the fly ash is not like creasolt and does not bond to the surface like my old wood stove chimney.  It seemed that if you need the turbolators to move and scrape the flyash that eventually they would clog up the tubes...  Central boiler has a good video of how hard it is the clean the turbulators...  removing half the top back of the boiler...  kinda like saying every this part in the middle of a transmission is hard to replace.  At this point in my knowledge of OWB - I have no idea how fast a unit gets "that" dirty...

Searching online there have been no big issues with cleaning them...  no screaming of how clogged they get and how someone had to breakdown their boiler in Jan to clean...  (although I am sure it happens)

Installations costs are the same for all OWB...

and there is an option to get sell old one and buy a different one - but at GREAT cost - I would prefer to NOT lose $5000 on a bad one
     
There may be some great ones that are from small companies - I would not take the risk...

so it seems the heatmaster or CR  seem to be the best option

I have a couple local people that have them - will talk to them to see who they went though and their experiences

Again - thanks

[mlappin]

You have to take some advertising with a grain of salt, I’m sure they took great pains to actually stick those turbolaters.

I’ve not had a set stick yet, not even the ones on a stove the owner did literally everything wrong that could be done wrong.

[E Yoder]

That video had several inaccuracies.
I've pulled at turb out the top exactly one time, and that was due to my ignorance, I could had freed it up in place. The guy had packed the whole back end of the stove with ash.
No matter what the brand, I'd cruise the forums, FB groups. Look at general feedback.

[boilerman]

Johnwinch,
Be sure to use your own intelligence when making your choice. I encourage you to personally lay your eyes and hands on a Central Boiler Edge HDX, Heatmaster & Crown Royal before making your purchase. Compare the features and manufacture of each. I have nothing but good things to say about my Edge 750. The Heatmaster and Crown Royal dealers have nothing but bad things to say about CB, but they don't seem to have that much to say about their own features but are quick with "CB is no good so don't buy". Don't let forum and facebook dealers sway your decisons, check the furnaces out, compare and buy what you think is the best choice.

[E Yoder]

I would agree, seeing them in person is important, all three have improved greatly over the last 5-10 years.