Hardy Outdoor Furnace

I stopped last night to look at a stainless steel outdoor boiler style furnace. It is manufactured by Hardy Manufacturing in Philadelphia, MS. Does anyone here have any experience with this brand?? It is able to provide domestic hot water as well as hot water for a heat exchanger that ties in with the central air unit.

Is there anything in particular that I should be on the look out for with an outdoor wood furnace? There are several in my area. I don't have any real close neighbors to complain about the smoke, but I was thinking it would be a good idea to extend the chimney to around 12-15ft just for my own breathing pleasure. The way the unit sits from the factory the top of the smoke stack is at about 8ft.
hardyheater

My brother-in-law has one and has the hot water option. He did have trouble with county water eating up his brass to steel connections.

I have a Hardy -this is my 7th winter using it. I have the 180,000- BTU.I heat my house and part of my shop with it. We love it, no problems at all,but if you dont, have lots of wood and don't like to cut wood don't buy one. They will burn anything you put in them. I'm working on my 20th pick-up load for the winter.It does have a water heating coil.Don't think Hardy recommends a tall flue pipe.I have 2 joints on mine.

How much do they cost?

Lots of those furnaces in south Missouri and never heard any complaints about them. Not much smoke except when they are freshly charged with wood. Best to install them downwind from the prevailing wind direction. Wish I had one.

My neighbor has one and he really likes it. Don't know much else about them though.

Don't really know todays cost. Mine is 7 years old. mine has two circulating pumps, had to install an A coil in house furnace and two heater units in shop,probably 500 ft of PEX tubing, wiring,concrete pad, etc. Mine cost at that time about $6500.00. I did all the labor myself.

I know several people that have them and really like them, they do use a lot of wood though, about 2 to 3 times the amount an inside stove takes, but on the plus side you get a more even heat throughout the entire house, not just in one spot. Be sure to put it downwind, because when it comes on just after filling or when the house needs heat the smoke cloud is pretty big and dense, though only for a few minutes.

One thing to think about is that they use water circulated in the coils, not an antifreeze mix. If you are going to be gone overnight in cold weather someone needs to fill it for you or the coils will freeze up and probably be damaged.

The rough price that I was told last night was about $6,000. That would be with me doing a large part of the labor. The dealer told me that he would need to be involved with the installation for warranty purposes. He also told me that the more I can help the cheaper it would be.

"One thing to think about is that they use water circulated in the coils, not an antifreeze mix. If you are going to be gone overnight in cold weather someone needs to fill it for you or the coils will freeze up and probably be damaged."

I asked about using ethelyne glycol in the system and I got the impression that they don't really approve of that. I also wander about the water sitting in the unit in the warmer time of the year. He told me that he has had the same water in his unit for years. I didn't ask while I was there but, would it need to be treated with an algecide or something?

We have one (H4) It runs our house 2 furnaces, Kick's on independently for each as well as it heats the domestic water, Works great, Will run 10-16 hours depending on how cold it is and where thermostat is set( wife keeps it at 77)
They will use alot of wood so you should have a ready access to wood, The greener wood last the longest,

I was told to change water every year.

On the hardy furance, I had one and used about 5-6 years. They do burn a lot of wood. I had a 40X70 barn and a small farm house and heated both. What I did was set the inside furnace at 50 degrees and outside heater to 70 degrees. I only used water, but when the outside unit wasn't burning then inside unit kick in. Then the outside unit would keep circulatingthe water.
You need to have 2 thermostats in the house and maybe relays to make switch between the 2. also bury the supply line to the furance and the line to the house togather to keep the two warm and from freezing. Hope this helps, also I live in Wisconsin and get to-25 or colder.

Check www.arboristsite.com Look under firewood etc lower down on the list.

Twenty truck loads! Are you in a long season real cold climate such as northern state or Canada? Years past I've burned approx. six to heat the house with a wood stove and considered that was work. We've thought about building a house and having an outside wood installed in a three car garage for shelter and supplement with geothermal. Wood source would be 100 yards. But the twenty loads issue likely will table the wood furnance issue, because not going to become a slave to the thing.

My Hardy is 12 years old. Burns year round. I'd buy another one if some tragedy destroyed this one.

I have a grandson who has asthma, and for that reason I originally tried using three lengths of pipe on the exhaust. The top section ran cool enough that I constantly had to fight the creosote buildup, and it didn't seem to make much difference in the amount of smoke in the yard. Ended up going back to one section of pipe. Grandson was never bothered by the smoke - just grandpa worried that he might be. . .

I've never changed the water. I don't use any "conditioner" or anti-freeze. I think they recommend pure water, in fact, the installer brought the water with him at the time of installation. He said it was reverse osmosis water. I use distilled water if adding to the boiler - might need a couple gallons per year.

If you are on well water and presently have trouble with mineral buildup, you'll need to think about a water softener to prevent the hot water coil from plugging. I replaced two coils before springing for a softener. Slow learner. . .

Things to look for in an outdoor boiler?? I like having an ash door. Some don't have that feature. You have to deal with the ashes once or twice a week, and I think the ash door makes life easier.

When you install your boiler, throw a UG cable in the trench for a work light to tend the fire.

The nicest feature about any outdoor boiler is the wood handling. Back a trailer load of wood up to the boiler and feed it right off the trailer. Eliminates a lot of wood handling.

Paul

No actually I live in southern West Virginia,but it has been an unually rough winter here.We start a fire around Nov 15 and end up about April 15th. Twenty loads willl usually do me the entire winter. You also have to consider that I am heating approx 6000 Sq ft and some of it is not too well insulated.

James, I was planning to install mine in an outbuilding and the dealer talked me out of it. They are made to withstand the elements. A man down the road from me has his under an open sided building with a gable roof. Pipe goes through the roof. It's a nasty looking mess on that roof.

On the 20 loads of wood - I burn around 13 loads here in Southern Illinois. For comparison, I was fortunate to have a wood furnace in my basement for 22 years before installing the Hardy. Both furnaces use about the same amount of wood, but the Hardy also heats the domestic water. The outdoor boiler is easier to regulate in the spring and fall. You know, when it's cool at night, but warms up in the 40's during the day. The basement furnace would run you out of the house on days like that, ha.

They are not for everyone. If you like to go on a winter cruise, don't have ready access to firewood, have close neighbors, or local restrictions, then you don't want an outdoor boiler.

I worked with a guy who was installing a geothermal unit at the same time I was installing the Hardy. He said, "Man you're going backward and I'm going forward".

Something to think about. . .

Paul

Thanks for all the input.

I have a H-4 Hardy, it's the best thing I've bought in thirty years. The only gripe I have is that I didn't buy one when I was younger
I heat my house and 40'X50' shop and water