Wood heating

Many years ago this old house was heated by a Wonderwood circulator in the cellar that was ducted in. As upgrades came the stove was taken to the wood shop/garage and has provided heat there for about 15 years. The other day I put some hedge in it and I had to open the doors - the thermometer said 109.

Well, yesterday I discovered just how much terminal rust the old girl had. I installed a pot bellied stove in there today. It just isn't the same, but I was not going to spend $700 on a stove for the shop. I'm too stingy. I'll be comfortable but not in short sleeves.

Anyway, I am going to put in a wood burner back in the house to supplement the heat pump. There is no fireplace left and I really don't want to carry wood through the house to where the chimney is anyway. I am seriously considering an outdoor wood furnace that I can duct in. I run the HVAC fan year round so I could duct it in the trunk line and get good circulation.

Do any of you use such a setup? The neighbors had one growing up and loved it but theirs was not ducted in. The hot air entered through a large vent in the side of the family room. I don't think I want that look.

Oh, and I have to stay warm in the house so I can go out and chore every morning. On the tractors. See, it's related?!

I would forget the hot air type of wood stoves. You just are too limited in where you can locate the stove. I would go with a hot water boiler type of wood stove.

You can then place the stove away from the house and just run water lines to the house. Since you have a shop put the hot water stove inside the shop without an insulation kit. The radiant heat will heat the shop and the hot water can be piped to the house to heat it.

You just install a heat exchanger in your air ducts and use your furnace fan to spread the heat.

I've got a wonder wood in the basement. I'd love to have the outdoor wood furnace. When I can afford it that's the route I'll go. No more wood carrying down the stairs. Neighbor has used one for 25 years and he loves it.

Had a neighbor who lost his house - somehow burning material from outdoor wood furnace found it"s way through the ducts and into the house. Fire chief wasn"t impressed.

I am currently in process of final installation of a CB 6048 out door wood furnace. It's a very expensive deal, but I been heating with wood since 1976, first with an old coal furnace, then my Brunco wood furnace in the basement, now getting this hooked up to heat my house and also my shop. It is located 140' from the house and only 40' from my shop. A new building is also going up around it...I know I'm not supposed to do that but I am not one to let others tell me what I can and can't do....lol. I will make it work one way or the other regardless.
Looking forward to only tending a wood fire at one location to heat 2 buildings, maybe 3, if things go right and only firing it twice a day.

I agree, hot air does not transfer heat like hot water, I have a indoor wood boiler, or hot water stove, heats the water for the baseboard just like the oil boiler does. Now I'm thinking of putting in radiant heat on the first floor, and eliminate the baseboard.

I've thought about an outside wood boiler, but they seem to eat a lot of wood. I like to cut wood but don't want to have to cut wood. BIL heats his greenhouses with an outdoor furnace. Runs the hot water through an old radiator with a fan blowing over it.

Larry

I installed a Meyers Woodchuck wood-furnace nearly 10 years ago outside next to my house. Model 4000. I built a room around it, along with a Canadian stainless-steel chimney (more fireproof then USA versions). It's attached to the house. It has worked great. Hooked to our oil furnace air-ducts. Also has hot water coils hooked to an 80 gallon storage tank and in-series with our propane tank heater. The room around the furnace holds about 3 full cords of wood at a time (4' X 4' X 8'). A side benefit is we can hang all our wet winter clothes in there and they dry fast. Same with wet firewood.

I didn't want to use an outdoor-type furnace because of the high cost and the possibility of leaks with a boiler system. This Meyer's furnace is basically just a hot-air furnace with a stainless-steel coil just for domestic hot water.

http://www.meyermfg.com/woodchuck.php

My three-story barn and shop is heated with the same wood-stove as Jay NY shows in his photos. A Thermo-Control 500 made in Cobleskill, NY. A very crude, utilitarian furnace that can really throw heat. Mine has no fan and just heats by convection. It's baffle has been burned out twice but weld in a new one when needed. I used to work for a Thermo-Control dealer. I went to Cobleskill a few years ago and was surprised to find a few guys there still making them. They were trying to "tweak" them a bit and market them as out-door furnaces instead of indoor "woodstoves" which the EPA no longer allows.

http://www.thermocontrolstoves.com/

JD, I have had that same furnace for seven years now. It is plumbed into one of my buildings but have not used the heat there yet.

This boiler is plumbed to the house where it is coupled with a hot water heating system that includes under floor heat under the larger tiled areas (kitchen and master bath) in opposite ends of the house. A heat exchanger in the air handler sends forced air heat to the whole house when kids are home for the Holliday . Geothermal heat exchanger sends heat to the hot water heater. Heat pump takes over in the summer for cooling.

My goal for next year is to have a building to keep wood dry and furnace covered . Would like to see what burning dry wood is like.

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Face cord; 4'x8'x18". Full cord; 4'x4'x8'.