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OWB questions

Started by WLC, March 30, 2017, 03:15:30 PM

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WLC

Wife and I are in the early planning stages of our next home.  I've been tinkering with the idea of adding an OWB in the mix.  I've read till my eyes hurt and can't come to a conclusion as to which brand or OWB would be the "best" for our use.

Little background:  Live in Alaska, use heat for about 8 months a year with 6 of those being our main heating season.  If we buy the property we are looking at it will have natural gas available so any OWB will be tied into whichever NG heating system we go with.  Home we are leaning towards right now is ballpark of 2000 sq ft.

I'm trying to figure out just which OWB is the most efficient, longest lasting, most trouble free etc.  Also trying to get an approximation of just how much wood I'll wind up burning each year etc. May, or may not try to use the OWB for domestic hot water year round, but definitely during the heating season.

ANY help, personal experience etc is most appreciated.
Woodmizer LT28
Branson 4wd tractor
Stihl chainsaws
Elbow grease.

snowstorm

Taylor. Mine is over 20 yes old. Not much to go wrong with them

thecfarm

I have a Heatmor. The newer ones does have a digital readout and a safety switch for the door. I have the old style,a simple OWB. I think the only part that is really a dealer item is the bladder. I know there is something wrong with the rear blower air channel. Might have something to do with the clean out,it is not right in there. When it warms up,I will shut it down and find out the problem. Mine has only been down for no more than 4-5 weeks since 2007. Each time was a vacation,no other reason. I use mine for hot water. Not really the best way,but I clean up the woods when I cut firewood or logs. Lots of small pieces is used for hot water,instead of going into the brush fire pile.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

overclocking

I have a Central boiler. Its been great as far as efficiency, but the cleaning is a pain. Mines an 2009 model 1400, I heat 4k square feet plus my hot water with it and in neutral weather 40-50* I get 24hr burns, in cold weather I get 12-18 hours with the house around 75. Overall I am satisfied with the heat output, but wish there was a better way to clean it out. The gassifiers clog up and its a royal PITA to clean out, but the trade off is you use a lot less wood. The newer models might be better though. I dont have any first hand experience with the newer Edge 750, but from what the dealers are telling me they are even more efficient than mine and they are easy to clean.

WLC

How many full cords of wood do you gentlemen use each winter/year? 
Woodmizer LT28
Branson 4wd tractor
Stihl chainsaws
Elbow grease.

Roger2561

Quote from: WLC on March 30, 2017, 11:32:03 PM
How many full cords of wood do you gentlemen use each winter/year?

Like overclocking, I too have the Central Boiler E-Classic 1400.  I purchased mine in 2011.  I will concur, it's a royal pain in the keester to keep the air channels clear.  For the past couple of seasons the air channel on the right side is starting to crack and it's beginning to separate at the weld seams.  It doesn't effect the water jacket but it's a concern to me nevertheless.  To answer your question; I fired mine up at the beginning of Oct and I've used just a little over 6 cord heating a bit over 4000sqft house and DHW.  I keep the house around 70/72 degrees.  Any warmer and too hot for me.  Roger
Roger

thecfarm

With what I burn,I have no idea. I burn ALOT of small wood,2 inchs,rotten wood,dead cedar,dead white pine. I burn ALOT of odd shaped stuff and really anything I can get my hands on. This is the main reason I bought the OWB,I wanted a way to get rid of my dead wood. Lots of fir too.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

E Yoder

When researching models be sure the one you're checking into is an epa certified unit. The old style units are not legal for residential installation. Like the Taylor that was mentioned.
CB, HeatMaster, Hardy, Polar and some others have certified units.
Google the brand name and model. Any problem units will have negative chatter.
HeatMaster dealer in VA.
G7000

petefrom bearswamp

2005 classic before eclassic
Had one leak 2 yrs ago minor repair cost 120 bucks.
Cant get this model here anymore dont know about Alaska
Cfarm if i burned the softwoods you are I wold keep warm going back and forth to the wood pile.
But I almost never stoke the firebox full im sure they would work OK if i did..
I aM GOING TO TRY Hemock slabs this summer for domestic water.
Maybe in the late fall and early spring too.
Kubota 8540 tractor, FEL bucket and forks, Farmi winch
Kubota 900 RTV
Polaris 570 Sportsman ATV
3 Huskies 1 gas Echo 1 cordless Echo vintage Homelite super xl12
57 acres of woodland

thecfarm

pete,my Heatmor does real good with dead cedar or white pine and any soft wood. Not that much diffeant with hardwood. It smothers the fire out and the blowers only come on when they are needed.
Now one year I wanted to get rid of some white pine. Cut it and burn it the same day. Now there was a diffeance in the amount of wood I was burning.  :o I was getting a better burn time out of dead standing pine than burning it green. Now that was keeping me warm yarding,cutting and spliting. Not something I will do again.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

E Yoder

White pine is about the lowest BTU wood you get.... Burns up as fast as you can haul it to the stove! :)
HeatMaster dealer in VA.
G7000

thecfarm

I beg to differ on the white pine.Now cut it and burn it the same day,I agree. ;D But dead standing or dry for a year or 2 works good. Maybe you need a Heatmor. I can burn dead cedar and dead fir and it will last long enough for me. I burn very little hardwood in my OWB. I got it to burn all the dead wood. I've been burning dead wood since '07 off and on. I went one whole year just burning pine cutoffs.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

E Yoder

I was exaggerating, sorry.  I know some guys that burn a lot of white pine. It's less BTU / volume than hardwood but hey I'll burn anything that's free.
My furnace is about maxed out size wise, so I tend to stick with hardwoods, at least in cold weather.
I burned some cutoffs and shavings for a while in milder weather. It worked so why not. :)
HeatMaster dealer in VA.
G7000

DDW_OR

here is a link to my CB-750 install

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,92218.0/all.html#top

coldest outside air temp this winter was about +25 F

about 3 cords of Madrona, about equal to Oak.
"let the machines do the work"

gspren

   I like my Portage & Main but it's not one of the new gassers. What dealers/brands are in your area and what do most other people around there use? The only wood that I thought wasn't worth the effort I put into it was Willow, wont do that again.
Stihl 041, 044 & 261, Kubota 400 RTV, Kubota BX 2670, Ferris Zero turn

mf40diesel

WLC, my wife and I put in a HeatMaster G200 last fall. We have a pretty exposed (top of a hill) 2800 ft2 house, although pretty well insulated.  The unit performed wonderfully.  It is a gassifier, however from what I have read, seen and experienced, it is about the most forgiving gassifier on the market.

We used a little more wood that I expected, probably a bit north of 8 cords, however some of it while hard wood, was pretty wet.  I am expecting/hoping to burn less next year as I Will be better prepared.

As far as cleaning, i can't imagine it could be too much easier.  Every 10 days-two weeks I open the reaction chamber, and rake out the dead/fly ash, which amounts to about 1/2 a buckets worth.  Granted its only been one season, as we just shut her down litterally this morning, but we couldn't be happier. Feel free to hit me up, I can send you some pictures if your interested.
John Deere 5055e, mfwd. Farmi JL306 Winch. Timberjack 225 Skidder. Splitfire splitter & Stihl saws.

WLC

Thanks all.  I've been looking at the Heatmaster and CB.  As far as I can find, only CB has a dealer in the state and then only one and Heatmaster has no dealers in the state.  How hard would one of these be to self install?  I will be going from the boiler to DHW and a forced air furnace in the home and also a loop to the garage and most likely the shop.  mf40diesel I would imagine my wood use would be comparable to you as I almost figure your winters can be colder than mine.  Mine would just be a little longer. 
Woodmizer LT28
Branson 4wd tractor
Stihl chainsaws
Elbow grease.

DDW_OR

Quote from: WLC on April 07, 2017, 09:12:39 PM
........How hard would one of these be to self install?  I will be going from the boiler to DHW and a forced air furnace in the home and also a loop to the garage and most likely the shop........
you will need 3 pumps
Pump 1 - house and DHW
pump 2 - garage
pump 3 - shop
the Edge 750 has ports for 3 loops
one that is 1.25 inch and two that are one inch.
would recommend using the 1.25 inch for the longest run

easy with an 8,000 pound mini-excavator
7 day rental should be about $1,500
FYI - my Bobcat 331 could almost lift the CB-750
here is a link to my CB-750 install

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,92218.0/all.html#top

http://centralboiler.com/explore/furnace-installation/

http://centralboiler.com/pdf/installation-guide.pdf
"let the machines do the work"

mf40diesel

We have been extremely happy with our Heatmaster G200.  Strangely too, ours was made in the first couple serial numbers into the range that was supposed to be effected by the airbox flaw.  I checked ours after hearing about the issue, and did see evidence that at some point some creasote had leaked, however we never had any problems.

CB's are by far the most popular in western Maine, all of my friends with exception of one are all running them, and all seem to have had good luck.  Two guys are running there gassifiers, which have been a pretty steep learning curve.  I did have the advantage of learning from them some for sure, however without a doubt my Heatmaster was much easier and just as efficient.

Obviously, we have only had it one season, and just shut her down a couple days ago, but so far I have absolutely nothing bad to say about it.
John Deere 5055e, mfwd. Farmi JL306 Winch. Timberjack 225 Skidder. Splitfire splitter & Stihl saws.

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