Free standing wood burners

[firetech]

Well the time has come for a replacement of the wood burner in the house. I need to heat about 2300 sq ft. I live in mid Michigan and the house is well insulated. I've been looking at the stoves on line and they vary so much in the sq ft ratings as to what they can do. What stoves are you folks running and what are pros and cons to your stove. The house is set up for radiant heat from the wood stove. I don't think I'm interested in a wood boiler I think they are wood hogs and expensive to install but I'll listen.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

I have an outside wood boiler. Yup, it is a wood hog but I heat a huge old, poorly insulated house, plus all hot water for a 60 cow dairy plus all hot water for 2 families. I have lots of wood and enjoy cutting it. If I had it to do over I would (and may anyway) install the newer super insulated piping for the hot water to improve efficiency. I already had hot water heat when it was installed so all I had to do was install a heat exchanger in the house. It is cleaner because it is outside, safer and may cut insurance costs. Local restrictions can force you to not burn in the summer. For me it works great but it isn't for everyone. I don't burn trash and I use good dry wood so I have little smoke problem. I can also burn wood chunks as big as I can handle which saves some splitting. As far as cost, it was not much more than a new indoor woodburner would have been and that would not have heated the water in the barn. A direct savings of over $100 per month

[kirkhedding]

Look up cozyheat.com, he's around Indian River area. He sells just about everything. His name is Dave. A friend of mine just bought an indoor wood boiller from him. Said he was a great guy to get info. and buy from.

[royalmaple]

I have a central classic outdoor boiler. It is awesome. I don't burn trash but I do burn anything for wood. Green, dry, hardwood, softwood you name it. it all goes in and as my wood goes in, my middle finger points to the middle east. As big as you can lift and fit through the door is what I put in there. It's full of hemlock right now.

Best thing I ever bought. I was not going to run it this summer but honestly it is very easy in the summer, doesn't take hardly any wood to keep it going and heats my hot water. I refuse to buy oil, so I continue to burn wood. I heated my 40x60 (13' ceilings) barn and my 2800 sq ft home on maybe 10 cords so far since last fall. My house is very well insulated but I also kept the heat inside around 76 degrees. My wife is now allowed to put the heat where she wants it. Just throw a couple more logs in.

I don't mind burning wood at all and I have pleanty of access to all I want, so for me I can't see any downside.

[TapME]

I was at Royalmaples this winter and i can say that it eats wood of any kind(nothing bad for the air) and kept his house very warm. Also if I could I would put one in my house in a heart beat. If you have the wood it's even better. I personally heat my house with a Vermont castings parlor stove and NO OIL, and my house is 110 yrs old. We are looking at pellet stove to replace this one if we can find one for the right price, other wise we stick with what we have and 6 cords of wood.

[Russell Lampron]

I too have a Central Classic outdoor wood boiler. It supplies the heat and hot water for 2 ranch houses. I only have to put wood in it once a day except when it is really cold then it is only twice. In the coldest part of the winter I was using about a cord of wood a week. In the summer I can fill it to the top and run it for 3 or 4 days before I have to add more wood and that is with a steady diet of green pine.

Upside haven't burned a drop of oil since Dec 23rd, can keep the house at a comfortable temperature and heats 2 houses. I am also going to heat the addition of my sugar house with it when I expand. With the current and projected oil prices it is paying for itself a lot sooner than I expected.

I can't think of any negatives other than a little smell during the summer. If you have a supply of free wood like I do it is the way to go.