huge,indoor stove...

york · February 21, 2008, 09:13:55 AM

Check this Bear out.....

http://www.greenwoodfurnace.com/x1_specifications.php

beenthere · February 21, 2008, 10:10:44 AM

Did that....now what?

Looks just like the one my good friend installed in his house....took so long to heat the mass of steel, that it had large swings in temperature .... very uncomfortable due to its size. (but it would hold a lot of wood)

york · February 21, 2008, 10:35:36 AM

Unless,it is full of some kind of thermal mass-to retain the heat..would like to see a cut away of this unit...

Quartlow · February 21, 2008, 10:45:59 AM

If you read all the page, it's a boiler of sorts.

QuoteA Greenwood furnace stores heat in unburned wood and the ceramic refractory, the water is only used to transfer the heat to your house.

It only holds 7 to 12 gallons of water.

Interesting concept

shinnlinger · February 21, 2008, 10:11:44 PM

Beenthere,

Can you confirm that your freind put in a greenwood?

The unit here looks good to me and I still need to figure out how I am going to heat my new house. If your freind is having bad luck with this one I have several other options...

logwalker · February 21, 2008, 10:43:06 PM

In my opinion adding a water reservoir to any indoor/outdoor boiler adds greatly to the efficiency of the system. But it is a added space requirement and expense.

Burlkraft · February 21, 2008, 11:28:55 PM

When I had the farm I had a big old stove like that. It was a Longwood and I could pot 4 1/2' stuff in there. It was forced air and it had a oil burner that lit the wood ;) ;) ;)

Spent most of the winter with at least 1 window open :D :D :D

thecfarm · February 22, 2008, 06:59:28 AM

I'm no know it all about heat and water,but 7-12 gallons of water is not much.I have a outdoor furnace and I think my lines itself hold that much water.Not much heat transfer when the house calls for heat.I would think the water would be cooled off by the time it got back to the furnace.That's why most so called boiler have so much water in them.Need all that water to really heat your home.But maybe it does work.I would want to talk to quite a few people that have one before I would invest any money.

little Bark · February 22, 2008, 12:25:15 PM

I Have been researching this kind of stove for some time. They are called hydronic furnace. There are about 4 companys that make them. The green wood and the wood gun made by Alternative Heat Systems are very simular in how they function execpt that the wood gun has a large water tank in which to transfer the excessive heat to. I think the wood gun is a better set up and not as picky about the moisture contet of the wood.

The stove burns at 2000 deg. and your exhaust is 200 deg. Talk about heat transfer.

http://www.alternateheatingsystems.com/woodboilers.htm

thecfarm · February 22, 2008, 08:09:33 PM

QuoteThe stove burns at 2000 deg. and your exhaust is 200 deg. Talk about heat transfer.

Not to say anything bad about the hydronic furnace,I never seen one or never researched one that I know of,but I have just about the same facts in my Heatmor out furnace manual.

beav39 · February 23, 2008, 07:01:31 PM

i agree with c farm you need alot off water for heat transfer i have an outside woodstove it holds 150 gallons water,now saying that of course im no expert

logwalker · February 23, 2008, 11:53:45 PM

I am designing my next system with a 500 gallon stainless tank. This will allow the boiler to burn at peak efficiency for several hours and then go out while the house takes the latent heat from the water. Currently i am using an old boiler with no extra reservoir.

Quartlow · February 24, 2008, 09:33:46 AM

I see two farms of thought here,

Lots of water and store the heat Which is what I do
OR
small amount of water and heat as you need it.

I prefer the large amount of water myself, if the fire goes out in the current home brew boiler I have heat for about 5 or 6 hours, depending on how cold it is, The down side is if the water gets down to 100° it takes probably 1 to 1 1/2 hours for it to heat back up.
If I remember right mine holds around 280 gallons

Heat transfer really has nothing to do with how much water you have. It has to do with how well the heat transfers from the fire to the water, and from the water to the air in your house. The better your heat transfer the less time it takes to heat your water.

IF and thats a big if, my understanding if the Greenwood is right, you have a thin layer of water over a large surface area, It's going to keep that 12 gallons of water hot easily. Sort of like the theory with an on demand Water heater. It only heats the water when you need it.

As for the water being cold by the time it got back to the boiler from the house, I don't think its going to be a problem. Theres going to be no difference in the amount the water cools from the time it leaves the boiler goes to the house and back to the boiler.
I don't care if you have 12 gallons or a thousand gallons. The only difference is with the greenwood when the house calls for heat the boiler is going to go in to high gear and build a big fire to heat that water while its in demand. With your typical outdoor boiler your going to start moving water through the heat loop for the house, the boiler is not going to fire up till the water temp drops enough in the boiler to make the aquastat turn on the firebox blowers.

So right now my furnace in the house isn't running, but since I haven't fixed the fire since about 8pm yesterday I can guaranty you
that the blowers are running trying to get water in the boiler up to 180°. Since it's been 13 hours since I fixed it last there won't be much of a fire in there. I've been heating the last 4 hours or so on the stored energy in the water.

From the time my water leaves the boiler at 180° goes to the house through about 65 feet of UNINSULATED lines through the heat exchanger at the furnace and back to the boiler it only drops about 10° I will verify those temps this morning since I haven't been outside to fix the fire yet.

All right I'm off to fix the fire and start the truck, and I'll check my temps while I'm out there

I'm back
Boiler temps
Boiler 142°
Line going to the house 142°
Line from the house to the greenhouse 138°
Line back in at the boiler 135°

Have a wonderful Sunday, the wife and I are off to play in the woods

thedeeredude · February 24, 2008, 12:30:42 PM

I saw this site today

http://www.newhorizoncorp.com/

logwalker · February 24, 2008, 12:31:36 PM

The basic premise that I use is keep the furnace cycling to a minimum. Three advantages I see are the amount of smoke at start of cycle, no loss of unburned wood gas after furnace shuts down, and increased stress on firebox and heat exchanger through thermal cycling. So to me a well designed should have a reservoir.

Handy Andy · February 24, 2008, 01:34:24 PM

Checked out both of those sites, and saw no prices. Anyone have any?

little Bark · February 25, 2008, 08:22:34 AM

The SS Wood Gun to heat 5,000 sf is around 7,000.00 The Green Wood is 6700.00 Plus Install

Lud · February 25, 2008, 08:50:03 AM

I heard from a friend here in Ohio that the EPA was "outlawing" outside furnaces ???????????

Is there an issue, even potentially? ??? ???

Quartlow · February 25, 2008, 12:19:30 PM

Quote from: Lud on February 25, 2008, 08:50:03 AM
I heard from a friend here in Ohio that the EPA was "outlawing" outside furnaces ???????????

Is there an issue, even potentially? ??? ???

Not outlawing them, just want to pass some regulation to control what gets burned in them, no trash, tires, waste oil. Thats what ? i heard anyway.
.
http://www.epa.state.oh.us/pic/nr/2008/february/OWBRules.html

york · February 25, 2008, 05:20:09 PM

Spencer,ny....not far from me-is trying to outlaw,outdoor wood stoves...

Quartlow · February 25, 2008, 08:52:48 PM

Quote from: york on February 25, 2008, 05:20:09 PM
Spencer,ny....not far from me-is trying to outlaw,outdoor wood stoves...

If it's in a building, it's not outdoors ;) The plan for this summer is to revamp my setup which is going to include the building of a shed to house the boiler and the wood.

thecfarm · February 25, 2008, 09:11:29 PM

Soon as you say outdoor furnace everyone says they smoke all the time,even if they have never been around one.My FIL hollered,They smoke,They smoke.He's only seen one,has no idea what kind it is,but knows they smoke,they smoke.After seeing mine,he won't admit it,but knows that is not true.I always point out how much it smokes when he comes up.He made such a big deal out of how much they smoke.Mine will pour the smoke out at first burning green wood but will settle down after a few minutes.There is a business in town with one just like mine.I feel if you dry your wood the way it should be for a regular wood stove that helps out alot.

little Bark · February 26, 2008, 07:21:17 AM

Quote from: thecfarm on February 25, 2008, 09:11:29 PM
After seeing mine,he won't admit it,but knows that is not true.I always point out how much it smokes when he comes up.I feel if you dry your wood the way it should be for a regular wood stove that helps out alot.

If all outdoor furnaces were like the Heatmor they probly would not have the bad wrap that they have.