Central Boiler question

[JEBIII]

I am planning to build a new home this spring and considering putting in an OWB.  I called the Central Boiler dealer in my area today(southern MO)  I asked him some general questions about the price and sizing of the stove.  (I plan to have about 2300-2500 sq ft main level plus the same size walk out basement mostly unfinished for the time with the prospect of finishing it at a later date)  I also want to heat(warm may be a better word) once in a while when working in it.  I plan to just put a heat exchanger in there and not turn the fan on unless I want to warm the shop.  He informed me that Central Boiler no longer manufactures the Classic models and only makes the E-classic models.

Now the questions:
1.  Is it true that Central boiler no longer makes the classic boiler(the website doesn't say anything about this)
2.  He said for my application I would need the 1400.  Does anyone have any idea if this will work.  I looked at the website and general sizing rule but would like someone with real world knowledge from an 1400 owner and what they heat with one.  Also how often does it have to be fed.  I am hoping for 1 time a day.
3.  Will warming the shop only occasionally(like maybe once a week to 50ish degrees and probably not that often) work or is that just a bad plan all the way around?

My home will be well insulated and have really good doors and windows. 

[mrwood]

Welcome to the forum. I run a 5036. Wich is the non e version of a 1400. In my opinion I would go with the 2400 model for your square footage. This is just my opinion as the sizing chart will say that you need a 1400. I heat a 1500 sqft home that is decent insulated and I wish I had gotten the bigger model due to bigger firebox makes loading and clean out much easier. 1 day loading is correct sometimes even a day and a half or so. Depends on the weather. As for your garage. You would want to heat this 24/7. The way these systems are designed the pump needs to run constant. There are ways around this such as boiler antifreeze and such but I would say you are better off just heating it. The extra wood usage would be minimal.

[thecfarm]

JEBIII,welcome to the forum. The pump does,will run all the time. You will probably want to have the loop on something else too. I kinda do the same thing in my garage. I have mine loop with the basement,that the heat exchanger is used on all the time.I would go up a size with whatever they say. I always find bigger is better in the real world and not on paper. Yes,it will cost more,but is worth it. Welcome to the OWB club.

[doctorb]

JebIII - welcome to the FF.

While I agree that too much capacity is better than too little, several FF members run the 1400 and are quite pleased with it.  I think that their homes are as larger or larger than yours.  I also thought the new unit was the 1450, but I don't have any knowledge of that.  My gut reaction, as a 2300 owner, is that the 1400 would handle 2500 square feet of livinfg space, as long as its insulated, quite well.

Are you going to heat with radiant heat, hot water baseboard (or radiator) or forced hot air?  I think this decision is key to answering your question about future heating or part-time heating of the remainder of the space your described.

Check whether the 1400 permits more than one loop of heat.  The 2300 does.  You could plumb in the new area and hook it up to the OWB when it gets sutiable for heating.  You could have shut off valves for that loop to the OWB so you would not have to circulate that water all the time.  The issue there would be freeze-up.  While you could but an antifreeze substance in your OWB water, this decreases heat transfer is used in large quantities.  You could also plan your garage loop with a by-pass that is set up inside your heated house, enabling you to drain the garage loop easily so that freeze-up is not an issue.

I probably have confused you more than helped, but what you need is definitely doable.  The other consideration is for wood.  You have to be able to get enough of it, stack and split it, have it seasoned for at least a year (dependent upon species), and have close access to the OWB during the heating months.  Planning is the key.  Keep asking questions.

[JEBIII]

My system will be a forced air system through the existing duct work. 

As far as my shop goes I was thinking of putting in a forced air system that just hangs from the ceiling or something similar.  I realize that the water would circulate through it continuously,(which would keep it from freezing) but planned not to turn on the "forced air" until I needed to warm the shop.  I just wonder how much heat this would draw from the wood boiler when sitting idle and how in efficient it may make the boiler?

As far as wood goes I have 20 acres of land that has been logged so I have good hardwood tops that need cut up.  I just need to get to them in the next couple of years before they start to rot.  I also border the nation forest so I can always get a wood cutting permit from them and cut firewood after my tops are all gone. 

thanks for the input so far
Joe

[Jack72]

Hello Jeb

I have a E 1450   The difference between the 1400 is more combustion air outlets and secondary charge tube which the 2400 has also    I dont think they are making the 1400 anymore either (I could be wrong with that though)and the back access door is one solid door much nicer access than the 1400  just to let you know                My house is just under 2400 square ft Ranch on a 4ft Crawl                  I'm filling once a day with wood easily Im getting a 16 hour burn has not been that cold yet but Im not burning my good fire wood yet either   Ive been burning pallet type wood (pine)   and mixing with firewood (Oak,elm hedge) le  My house was built in 03  well  insulated l and is forced air and supplying my natural gas  water heater  which is completly off   it seems to keep up fine with my house demands  but it has not been that cold yet with this weird winter we have this year.            Jack in Illinois

[Gary_C]

Now the questions:
1.  Is it true that Central boiler no longer makes the classic boiler(the website doesn't say anything about this)

Not true!

[ShowMeSawyer]

The Central Boiler dealer that i deal with informed me that the older Classic series will be discontinued at the end of March 2012. Was told that anyone can order a Classic up until that date.

I have the older Classic 5648 and it works very well.

SMS

[Dean186]

JEBIII,

This is my third year using the E-Classic 1400 to heat the following:

House Built 1989 - A 3,000 square foot above ground home plus 1400 sq ft basement & a heated two car garage.  The OWB also heats our domestic hot water.  The home is a well insulated, is 2x6 construction, and has one vaulted ceiling.  The home has some solar gain.

Most of the time we have two bedrooms shut off with the thermostat set to 45 degrees in those rooms and the garage thermostat set to 45 degrees.  When we have guest, the whole house is heated to 70 degrees and the garage is set to 55 degrees for the guest dogs.

We live at 7,600 feet elevation here in the rocky mountains.  Last winter we had a record low of 30 degrees below zero. 

We run our stove for 7 months from October 15th to May 15th and burn 7-8 cords of pine and fir mix, replacing approximately 1,500 gallons of propane.  It is hard for me to know for sure how much propane I would need to heat the house, because before the OWB, we burnt about 2 cords in the inside fireplace and kept our house on the very cool side.  We now keep the temperature in our house on average at 70 degrees.  We no longer use the inside fireplace.

There has never been a time the stove did not make it 12 hours on a load of wood.  I usually load the amount of wood that will meet our heating needs for 12 plus hours and seldom load for a 24 hour burn.  Most days the stove could make it 24 hours if that were my goal.  Burning hardwood, the time could be increased by approximately 60 percent.

Central Boiler had not yet come out with the 2400 when I choose the 1400.  I am not sure which way I would have gone if both were available.  The E-Classic 1400 does meet all our heating demands.  The only down side is:  If I want to be away from the house for a couple of nights, it won't make it more than 36 hours (unless the weather is very mild). 

Dean