Heatmor OWB

[thecfarm]

I got a Heatmor OWB back in 2007.Best thing I could of done.I bought the size that will take a 54 inch stick. I do not need one this size yet,but hope to have my own working garage someday.Good thing I bought one this big. This size has 2 blowers to drive air into the fire box when it cycles.I cut anything over about 6 inches into 2 foot length.Much easier to fill the furnace this length.I am heating 2 floors,basement and living quarters,hot water and hot tub.
First year,2007,I burned dry hardwood wood in it.Mostly white maple.Very happy with how much wood I used,but I only had it pushed up into a pile tree length.I can not give an accurate amount on what I used.
The next year,2008,I got brave and burned green hardwood it in.Just about cut it in the morning and burned it that night.Did real good keeping the house warm. I do think I burned more wood,due to the fact it has to dry the wood to get any heat from it.I did have some dry wood just in case this great plan of mine did not work out.
In 2009 I had another great idea of burning green white pine.Just like the above,cut it in the morning,burn it at night.I had a bunch of nasty looking pine close to the house.To sell them as logs would of been hard.Nicknamed scrub pine in this area.I cut and split pine all winter.I would have to fill the 54 inch wood box to get a 14 hour burn when I was working.It worked great,but I bet I burned 20 cord of pine.Looking back on it now with what I'm doing this year,I should of dried it for a year first,but I wanted to try to burn green white pine and see what happens.There were a few green fir and green hemlock burned too.I also was cutting wood in the bog too at this time too.Had a good burn time when I was working.
Here it is in 2010,this season and I'm trying to burn just dead wood in it.Most trees are standing white pine and fir.I am using some dead ceder too.Some trees are down on the ground.A few trees I should of left in the woods.Hard to tell when the wood is froze.I know the danger of cutting dead wood.I hope I don't get one on top of my hard hat.Working out pretty good.The 14 hours I am gone is a challenge.I have a dry pile of hemlock that I had left over from last year that I throw in the back to get the burn time I need.I could throw in some hardwood,but just trying to get through the year without burning any hardwood.I might have to burn just hemlock to get me the 14 hour burn time I need when it gets cold here. Has not been into the single numbers for more than a day or night,yet.This has helped me out on my burn times.Temps have been down to 140 a few times when I get home.But throw in some of that dead pine and I'm up to 200 in less than an hour.House is still up to temp,wife does not even know the temp in OWB was down. If she was cold,I would hear about it.Don't blame her either. I do fill it 3-4 times a day when I am home.I really burn some odd shaped pieces when I am home.Can't get much into it with these pieces.
Wife has lung trouble,so she can not be around the smoke at all. She tried to fill it a few times,but could not do it. This was the reason we got the OWB in the first place.Was not just the smoke,but the kind of wood would bother her lungs too.Just the smell of certain kinds of wood would bother her.She could always tell when I was burning hemlock in the basement.
Looks like I will make it through the 2010 season with just deadwood,as long as we don't get 3 feet of snow all at once.There's a few big trees that I can get at once the snow does get deep.I do have some wood pushed up in the woods yard too.
The dealer I bought it from told me I could do all the above,even though I was very skeptical of him telling me this.I just about told him he was lying to me about burning green wood in it AND getting heat from it.But when I went to look at his he was burning ceder in it.There was a pile of ceder by the furnace when I went and looked at his. I did go back and tell him he was right.Some dealers will add a little to make their product sound good. I did burn out one blower.I was not putting a few drops of oil into it every 3-6 months.He was surprised I burned one out until I told him that.I am very happy with the unit,so far.It allows me to get rid of my junk wood I have.By the way,I do not cut any dead trees that I can see the wood peckers are working on.OWB has only been shut down once.We went on vacation in May of this year.I did not want to bother anyone to fill it,so I shut it down. I am in the process of claiming back a grown up pasture.That's where the pine came from.I have a small trailer that I go around and pick up limbs and I use this to keep the hot water going in the summer time.I was burning wood that I was cutting,but one day on the way to the brush pile with a load of limbs I thought it would work good for hot water.With using limbs it does requiring filling 2-3 times a day,but don't get much in at a time.I have grates in the bottom of the furnace.I clean out the ashes with an augur.There is sand on each side of the grates.Probably grates are a foot wide.
The wood from the grown up pasture would go into the brush pile,now I'm geting some use from it.