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Portage & Main Vs. Polar OWB

Started by mf40diesel, June 12, 2016, 09:03:51 AM

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mf40diesel

So I am in the midst of research and hoping to pull the trigger on a new OWB.  Up until today I have been pretty set on the Portage and Main.  I am a seafarer and the fact that it is a fire tube boiler, loosely based on a ship boiler strikes a chord with me.  I hadn't heard of the Polar boilers until this morning reading the post that is right below this one on the forum...  intrigued so I have been dubbing around their site.

One from Saskatchewan and one from Manitoba, however they seem extraordinarily similar, almost like they are sister companies?  The new Portage and main EGR 250 almost looks like the same housing as the G3.  There clearly are some differences, but *DanG they almost look too similar.  Anyone have any thoughts?

We are heating our 2500 ft2 house and I am hoping to plumb in heat to my barn/garage one day.

Any thoughts?  Thank you ahead of time.
John Deere 5055e, mfwd. Farmi JL306 Winch. Timberjack 225 Skidder. Splitfire splitter & Stihl saws.

gspren

  I have been happy with my P&M but it is a conventional, non gasser. If I had anything to do over it would be to get better underground piping, as I know one section to an out building has a leak in the outer shell which causes heat loss.
Stihl 041, 044 & 261, Kubota 400 RTV, Kubota BX 2670, Ferris Zero turn

mf40diesel

Pretty sure where I will end up placing OWB I will be looking at 100' at least of pex.  So with that in mind it will be really important not to skimp on the quality there. 

Several of my friends around where I live (western Maine) all have CB's and a couple Heatmors in there too.  I don't know anyone with a P&M, with that said,  in reading about all of their systems I am most impressed with theirs.  Reading about them, at least in my mind they seem to make sense.  All the ships I have been on all have fire tube boilers, now for heating up the main diesel engines, not for propulsion anymore, but still the design is there.

We own 65 acres of woods, and I love cutting firewood, just makes sense to utilize that crop to its fullest.  We have a wood stove now, but that really only heats the great room, the boiler would heat the whole joint.
John Deere 5055e, mfwd. Farmi JL306 Winch. Timberjack 225 Skidder. Splitfire splitter & Stihl saws.

stratton

MF, Look up Slimjim over on Outdoorwoodfurniceinfo. He is the king of PM boilers.Luke

stratton

MF, Also, Please post your finds over here. Im a wood and coal burning addict. I check out all the wood coal sites daily.....

mf40diesel

Thanks very much for the tip on the site... and slimjim.  I will slide right on over there... and keep you all posted on whatever I learn.
John Deere 5055e, mfwd. Farmi JL306 Winch. Timberjack 225 Skidder. Splitfire splitter & Stihl saws.

BigWill

Quote from: mf40diesel on June 12, 2016, 09:03:51 AM


We are heating our 2500 ft2 house and I am hoping to plumb in heat to my barn/garage one day.

Any thoughts?  Thank you ahead of time.

I run a Polar G2 on the farm here in upstate NY. We heat apprx 3200 sqft as well as all of our hot water needs. This is just about the limit on the G2 if you dont want to load more than 2 times a day during the coldest winter months. We've had the boiler for 5 years now and havent had to replace or fix a single thing. This season we will order some new guards for the interior of the stove but they're relatively inexpensive and certainly seem simple enough to install (they hang from steel tabs in your firebox).

Prior to switching over to a gasser we ran a Hawken and although it was a decent unit, we ate up wood like crazy and the smoke was a massive problem with neighbors. The Polar burns clean and is a breeze to maintain compared to the Hawken. Even the aesthetics of the Polar have held up over the years almost flawlessly.

Another nice feature of the Polar was the ability to seamlessly integrate our various zones during the initial installation. The boiler comes pre-plumbed with a 2 supply/2 return port manifold, a heavy duty 3 speed circulator and a boiler protection valve. Literally all we had to do was install 4 fittings and connect the pipe. The entire process was done clean and leak free in under 2 hours.

Also to speak to your comment on the underground pex. Don't spend your life savings on underground if you're only going 100ft. Most standard underground pex is rated at less than a 1 degree loss per 100ft and less than $10 per foot. As long as you bury the pipe at a reasonable level and are careful not to sling rocks on it you wont have an issue.

I hope this helps!!!

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