Outdoor Wood Boiler FULL INSTALL, Start to Finish
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.พ. 2025
- Melissa and I install a Central Boiler 560 to heat the house and barn. Here's every step in our process from the trenches to the radiators. Our review of the boiler after the first winter is here: • Outdoor Wood Boiler 1s...
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Our review of the boiler after the first winter is here: th-cam.com/video/rpACHy4ot90/w-d-xo.html
Nice video.
We had a sprawling complex - house, store, gun shop, etc. - and my dad built the same thing you have. He used some huge barrels for the stove and welded on a door. It was big enough to cremate a body. He built at pickup truck bed height so you could back up with an 6 foot log and just push it in. Originally it was next to some buildings but the insurance company made him move it across the driveway.
The copper pipes went underground and to radiators throughout the buildings. They were simple repurposed radiators with fans.
He burnt all of the paper from the store and huge logs. It would only need filling every other day. For 30 years it heated all of the building in Minnesota winters - up until he sold everything.
IN our first house my Dad but in in-floor heating (hot water) long before anyone else. He had seen hot floor heating in Korea and wanted the same.
That sounds like an amazing setup and ... crematorium! I wanted to build my own but ended up going the store-bought route. What a cool story you have there!
It's settled. My knitting rocking chair, spinning wheels, cat, and I are moving into the new barn. You two seriously have my dream setup. Plus, I love watching you work together. Great stuff!!
Our barn kitties need the company!!! :)
Sweet couple, I enjoyed watching the harmony between you guys, thank you for sharing!!
Thanks for that! We definitely have some fun out there
Loved seeing this from start to finish--fun to relive it (mostly)
Great doing it with ya!
I think it's great u guys work together.
My questions have already been answered, but I have a suggestion. Turn the basement pump so that the shaft is horizontal.
Oh man, you are so right about that pump! It burned out in that orientation in one day. Seized. So I replaced it and put the new one in horizontal. Doh! Living and learnin' over here :)
Well I think y'all did a great job...I knew it was serious when I saw Spencer reading instructions!🤣
And the instructions weren’t even upside down :)
Thanks!
Big thanks! much appreciated
Great team work. What a great investment and improvement to your house. 4 years to pay for itself, that's not long at all. Nice one 👍
So far so good. :) Nice and toasty in the house
Oh great one. That's how I'm gonna start this off you did a real good job on this video. I am a metal fabricator and a heavy equipment mechanic I know things. And you my friend have great Craftsmanship which is rare. Merry Christmas to you and your family have a wonderful life.
Big thanks for the comment man! You made my day ... stay safe and warm out there
Wow awesome 💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪
Amazing - you guys are so talented
Big thanks! Always some fun out there for sure
What a team. Quality work as always guys. Thanks for sharing how you did it.
Big thanks! It was a fun project for sure
That's a pretty involved project. Nice work! Can't wait to see another episode on the shop build!
Thanks for checking it out! Now that we've got the heat figured out the barn is back on the agenda :)
That is the best installation video I've seen on TH-cam! Quick, but the essential details are there! Thanks!
Great to hear! Yeah, we're pretty happy with the system so far ... just gotta build a big woodshed :)
Hubby and I had fun watching your ( you and Melissa) journey putting this in. It reminded me in some ways when we put in our water system from up creek on our mountain. The water box is 3/4th of a mile up the mountain from our house.
That sounds like an interesting system! Sounds like it's better than my "hoist the bucket!" approach with our creek :)
Id love to get one of these but we only spend around $1000-1500 on propane a year so it would take 10+ years to break even. And I have unlimited wood on my property. Im not convinced that these would last the 15-20years in order to actually save any money. Im in southern PA so you must live somewhere super cold! Liked to vid thanks for the time you put into it👍
Wow, that's an amazingly low heat bill. Amazingly low! For us, the wood boiler wasn't only about the money: it also provides us with much better and MORE heat than our very modest previous system. But yeah, it sounds to me like it might not be the best system for you. For us it's just great! :)
New sub here👋
I'm thinking about an outdoor boiler here at the cabin, I have a central boiler dealer very close too. This is nice to see that i can do this myself. Great video. We currently heat exclusively with wood with a hotblast forced air stove in the basement, but I'd love to keep the mess that wood creates outside.😂
Sounds like a good cabin! We really like the way the wood, bugs, mice, smoke, etc. is all contained far from the house. Great heat too!
Hello 🙋♂️from the Netherlands 🇳🇱.
nice to see Melissa (I hope I got the spelling right hihi) interacting more with the camera.
nice job Melissa and Spencer .
thanks for the video Spencer .
Sincerely, Hollandduck 🇳🇱🦆
Good hearing from ya buddy
Really nice video. 👍
I liked everything except drilling those pretty floors.
Thanks for checking it out. Yeah going through the floors was tough :)
What a phenomenal job! Very organic and organized. You make it look so simple despite all the sophistication. You have a wonderful help mate too. Subscribing for more!
Thanks for that! we've been pretty happy with the system ... such an abundance of heat!
Nice job
thanks!
I wondered how these work . Thanks for the video
It's been running really well ... we feed it each day at noon and the house is nice and toasty. Thanks for checking out the project!
Great job keep up the good work
Thanks for that!
It was a great video, I have a central boiler as well, my only question is why would you put it so far from the house? I have an older and less efficient model but I would not want that long walk out to my boiler everyday just to fill it.
We love long walks and like to keep out buildings spread out on our farm ... so yeah, works perfectly for us. It's also nice to have smoke and wood-pile mice far from the house.
It might sound like a dumb question but I notice boilers are always placed way-far away, it that a safety issue or more to do with capacity or maybe a little of both? Great video, for a first attempt it was very well done.
In our case we wanted to keep smoke, wood storage, and the structure away on our property
Hi Gary from the UK here, I'm an old heating engineer and I have been in the game for 55 year's, I don't understand why you instead the boiler so far from the house, And this is a tip for you always fit pumps on the return for 2 reasons No1, the pump will run cooler so the pump will last longer before needing to be replaced and No2 it's quieter because the water jacket of the boiler absorbs the noise. Plus have a look at balancing central heating systems you will get more heat for less wood burnt.
I LOVE THAT BOILER.
Great video very interesting and informative keep them coming thank you
Here's why we put the boiler far from the house: 1) we hate mice in the house and wood piles collect millions of them around here, 2) we like to be able to open the windows in the winter, sometimes, and having the boiler far from the house keeps the smoke away. As for temp drop between boiler and house, it's about 1-2 degrees. So far the pumps are hanging in! :) Thanks buddy!
@@metaspencer Gary from the UK here, thank you for your reply, Now I understand why you install the boiler so far from the house thank you
Hey Spencer. I'm wondering how often you need to add wood and how much wood you add each time? Thanks.
I'm still working those averages out but it seems like a load of wood goes in about every 24 hours and you know how it is: the amount of wood depends on the quality of the wood. Good solid hard wood burns sooooo much slower than birch or poplar. Around here people tend to burn between 3-10 cords a winter but again, it all depends on how much you're heating :)
Radiant heat is so nice.
Heat exchanger for your hot water too. Use all the btus coming from that boiler!
Yep you said it
You are going to love how that heats your house and that people pay you to haul away the fuel. Although I am surprised you put it so far from the house. Long walk on bitter days
The long cold trek to the heater! Who's gonna do it? :) Thanks man
WOW very interesting! Great video you two! That was alot of work! God bless y'all!
Thanks Loren :)
Awesome! It's like an endless fuel for a tree guy!
That's what I'm thinking! People pay ya to heat your house :)
This heating system (water circulating in radiators) is so much more pleasant than electric radiators, and then with all the wood you can recover, it’s a very good investment 👍
Yeah the heat quality is sooooo nice
Nice work. I personally use a wood burning stone oven. Gives both heat to the house and cooks food too.
That sounds like a great setup, especially with fuel prices rising!
@@metaspencer 2€ per liter.
Wow!!
Hopefully you are never sick and have to go out and fill the boiler in the middle of the night when it is -20 with a 40 mph wind from the North. 1st you would have to find the boiler way out there in the snowstorm. Maybe one day a steel shed around that with cover for the firewood? And yes, that insulated pex is ridiculous expensive for what it is. We have similar pipe and we were told that we didn't even have to bury it as even with snow on it the snow never melts even with 180 degree water going thru it.
Plans for the steel shed are in the works -- that'll be nice, but not until next winter. Until then it's all about mud, snow, and ice out there! Woo!
Great video even cement looked like 6 or 7 bag mix ( not watery thumbs-up) not sure how your winters are was told if snow melts over your lines dug your not deep enough. Heat loss Super job
we have been super happy with it through 2 winters now. No melt over the lines, only 2 or 3 degrees of temp drop between the heater and the house, and we're heating the big workshop now too. can't beat the quality of the heat! :)
Nice job 👏 👍
Central boiler made in MN awesome good choice
Good so far!
Beautiful couple. Wish I had something like that. Thank your lucky stars.
Nice work. Excellent video. I see that you have two pumps. I have seen older versions of that same wood boiler only using one pump. Is the two pump version an upgrade? If one pump fails, can the second pump run the system? I'm seriously considering this as an option. Again, great job on the video.
We've got two pumps at the boiler because we have two lines, but then each line has two pumps. When one fails I think it'll block the line up with it's impeller blades, which will really suck when that happens. My understanding is that the two pumps on one line just improve the flow and reduce load on each unit
Man, you are one busy guy! Looks really good.
a little bit at a time, ya know how it is
@@metaspencer Yes I do! Thanks for the video, I always enjoy them.
I live off grid, and I am considering one of these for my hot water & heating. Where I live gets down to -40f, so for safety I like the “out of the house” heating system. Two questions:
How much energy does it take to power the boiler with all the pumps/etc.? And that insulated pex pipe is awesome, I won’t be using half of what you did. How much $$ per foot does that run (generally)?
Best video yet. 👍🏼
You're gonna love the system -- tons of great heat as long as you have the wood to burn. To figure out the energy usage you'll have to know how many pumps you'll need: probably just one but it depends on how far you'll be pumping to the house and other strucgtures, and what the rise is UP from the boiler. (The boiler has to be lower than the structures or level to them.) So check out the taco pumps, there are many of them out there people use for boilers, and you'll know how much juice you'll need. And note that most boiler pumps run 24/7 365. You'll have to price the insulated pex locally. This was a few years ago but I think we paid $14/foot. could be even more expensive now. the stuff is amazing though as we have virtually ZERO heat loss over our large runs to our buildings.
Just a thought, but if you did re-do this heater, you could take that second line and put a line that goes through the concrete pad where you put your wood so that it will help dry out the wood and remove the snow all at the same time... Give the mice a nice warm place to nest and sleep as well. 😁😆
interesting idea! thanks for checking out the project ... we're pretty happy with it
Thank you for the video. Did you hook the boiler up to your hot water heater as well? I'm interested in how that connection comes together.
That connection is pretty simple as it just takes a heat exchanger: amzn.to/3WroUt0 ... There is no water mixing: the heated water just heats up the exchanger and the water going into the water heater gets pre-warmed. I have the exchanger but haven't done it yet (doh!)
Nothing like drilling first then looking lol
Nothing like rock in the soil when digging good job watching TH-cam on a 50 inch TV I can really see some of the detail you described
Your a good teacher even though I'm sure it's not you intent
My brother in law has one his can be over filled and get to hot and boil the water out
I just figured out how to comet using the smart phone while watching your video
It sounds like the BIG SCREEN is working out for ya! I'll have to set one up at some point as it sounds like a great way to watch things. Good hearing from ya man
What did you do for thermostat?
Are they just shut off manually by the ball valves? Or do you have a sensor that controls when heat is needed in the house?
No sensors, no wires, no nothin. Just run them to heat the house. You could run zone valves and all that, but we keep it simple
Very cool to see this process start to finish. A lot of homes around us in SW PA have these. Two questions...first, what was the tool you were using to cut off that big green pipe inside the box? And you installed a second pump in the house. What is the purpose for that one since there's one out on the stove end? Is it on the same line? Or is it for the water returning to the stove?
Thanks for checking out the project. That cutting tool was an oscillating tool -- good for precise cuts just kinda slow. And as for the second pump it's just to keep things moving along since there is added resistance in the house. There are two pumps on one line ... I didn't figure out the flow resistance exactly or anything but the second pump seemed to make sense
Thanks for the reply! As for the second pump, I just wondered about cavitation having two on the same line.
Cavitation! It’s possible so I’ll have to think about that …. Thanks or the idea as I’m new to fluid systems like this one
I’ve seen these all over northern Wisconsin and they usually are not quite as far away from the house.
Yeah we like the idea of keeping the smoke away from the house and also spacing out our buildings (there will be an ag building there eventually). Everyone does things a bit differently I guess
@@metaspencer looks like there is barely any smoke though so better safe than sorry I guess.
@@Kaodusanya when it's burning strong there is plenty of smoke! no doubt about it
@@metaspencer really? isn't there a secondary burn?
@@Kaodusanya yes there is but it's an imperfect system producing plenty of smoke until the whole system is really cookin
No thermostat? Is it just "add more wood if you want it warmer indoors, less wood if it's too hot" or do you have a way to regulate the temps at the radiators?
the furnace regulates the water temperature and keeps it cycling between 160 and 180 ... we regulate the temp in the house by turning radiators on, off, up, or down. so yeah, no thermostat! works for us we are at a constant 78 degrees all winter
Have mine intregated in with a gas boiler, when the temp in the wood boiler drops the gas turns on and vice versa, can also vave each one out for repairs and run the opposite one, made my own manifold dont like the complicated ones, been running 22 years now love my boiler
sounds like a great system that you've worked out! for us it's all wood all the time :)
Do you plan to put a roof or enclose the boiler? Here in North Carolina I've seen many wood boilers that have a roof or complete enclosure of the boiler. I think using either one would help protect the boiler and your investment. Good job on your install!!
Yeah you said it. The plan (come springtime) is to build a structure out there with room for wood, tools, tractors, etc. I like the idea of roofing over the boiler, as you describe, to keep the water and snow off. Rust is inevitable but I try to fight it as much as possible
Great job
So we had one a couple of years and then removed it. It was extremely expensive to run not to mention that when the power goes out you have to rush out and hook up a generator to prevent over boiling which if that happens it cracks the fire box. Not to mention you can’t leave your home for more than 24 hours in the winter unless you have someone to feed the fire because you can’t let the water tank freeze in the winter or it will crack the water tank and destroy the pump.
Interesting. We hard wired a generator into our power box to make outages easier to deal with and get wood for free so no cost there. But definitely not for everyone!
You can add antifreeze to eliminate the freezing problem, if you’re going to do this, I wouldn’t run it through your whole house like that I would do a buffer tank hooked up to a heat exchanger, but it is possible
Cool stuff. Why did you place it so far away from house n barn? Heat loss, friction losses etc add inefficiencies. No spot closer to house?
We lose about 2-3 degrees between the unit and the house, it's true, but located it far from the house the keep smoke and mice away. We like to open windows in winter :) We also like to space out buildings apart and this was a nearly equidistant location between house and barn (which is also heated with the boiler)
Hi thanks for sharing the good work you did. For the water expanding did you install an expansion tank?
As I understand this system it's open (open on top of the tank at the heater), so expansion in the system is handled by that open top. So no expansion tanks in this setup as it stands right now
I'd suggest putting a stamped metal tag in a water tight bag labeling the lines with a laminated paper tag. Working in a 80 year old building I've thanked past workers many times for the extra labels on pipes.
Great idea. That kind of labeling is great in the future ... thanks for the tip
great video!
Thanks for checking it out
great job! hope you are sitting warm!
Thanks!
Are you concerned about the pex tubing temperatures you took at all (internally probably hotter than external measurements)? We were warned if we ever hit 200 we must replace everything, and 180 is a danger zone we should avoid? I saw you measuring 170 at one tube, are you afraid you're borderline for the radiator tubing and need to bring that down some so the pex in the house isn't compromised long-term? P.S. I couldn't tell if you had any pressure relief valves that blowoff after a certain pressure to avoid buildup which lowers the maximum temperature allowed as pressure increases?
I don't worry about it -- our temps top out at 185 or 190 when everything is in the swing of things. A lot of guys tend to use PEX and I haven't heard of bursting or leaking from overheating. But that's just me: I don't worry about it and wouldn't mind replacing pipe if it did come to that someday. No pressure release valves as it's an open system
just FYI the UF gray electrical cable doesn't have to go into conduit, it is designed for direct burial. But it doesn't hurt. Great job, helping my research.
Pro Tip! makes sense because that gray stuff is TUFF. thanks buddy
You should get a zone controller, a few pumps and separate it some so it's not all running all the time. Can make it controlled by thermostats in each room if you wanted to. Love watching you guys work together!!
You are absolutely right! current controls are simple but not as effective as that would be. I've gotta do a bit of research to figure out just what we need ... but that's the plan. Thanks man
awesome setup,now i can send the wife out to cut,split and fill it lol
She sounds pretty tuff!
Out of sheer curiosity, why did you go directly from the boiler to your radiators? If I would’ve done this, I would’ve gone via a water heater to not only get hot water for showers from it but also as a bit of a buffer tank so if you are away for a day, your whole system doesn’t go completely cold.
We later ran a line from our manifold in the house to a heat exchanger at the water heater ... we did it the way we did it to keep things simple. I'm still considering a separate loop with thermostatic valves
Great craftsmanship! I hope it goes great for you all.
Big thanks! Nice and toasty in the house now so we’re happy
I have a big question is there places where the pumps have to be I saw that you have a pump to feed your house from the stove attached to the stove then you have one in the house is the one in the house to help the water return or is it a booster to get it up through the house? And do you need that because of your radiators or would I still need that if I'm just using air exchanger in my furnace??
As I understand it pump size, placement, and number has to do with distance the water flows, how much your boiler is below your house (it can't be higher), and what you're pumping through. I just followed the diagrams on our boiler which suggested two pumps .... and that made sense since having both means less work for the one at the boiler. You'll have to map our your specific system. I've heard that people do things differently.
@@metaspencer thanks.. I don't have any experience with the boiler.. we burned wood all my life in a stove.. the plumbing is the question... I'm unsure
@@1oldteck you can do it man ..
Simple and good heat
@@metaspencer thanks
Should have pit the pumps in the house. That way when they fail and it's freezing cold outside you can be standing in a warm basement servicing them
Sounds like a good idea! that freezing cold day awaits me, no doubt :)
Great video! Would really liked to have heard a $$$$$$ figure vs the 4 year payback. I was really interested in upgrading my non-gasifying boiler to the CB but the $15500 I am getting quoted for just the boiler is really setting me back. I am already reaping the financial savings, but would like to replace my 20 year old stove with an assurance for next 20 year, and interested in the potential 50% less wood but again $15K+ is a lot of wood. Also, why did you put the stove so far away from your house? Mine is under a shed just adjacent to my garage so the convenience is amazing especially on the nasty weather days and nights. Keep the awesome footage coming
Hey man, thanks for checking out the project. Yeah, that price you were quoted is about what we paid -- and then there were all the added/extra costs. Prices are just crazy right now but it's nice to no longer have a propane bill (for us). We put the boiler far from the house for a bunch of reasons: to keep smoke away from the house, but also because we like to spread out buildings out on our property. I'm planning to build a large shed alongside the boiler and didn't want that near the house. Sounds like you have a good setup!
So is there a thermostat to control heat in each room? We heat with wood stove and are looking to switch to the same setup here but wondering how the heat is controlled(besides opening a window)
You can set the system up that way, with each thermostat calling for water off the heated loop. But we have just kept it simple: each radiator is either off or on, no thermostats. works great in our home
@@metaspencer yea K.I.S.S. makes the most sense to me. is it just turning the valve off from manifold or off switch on radiator? see a know on top right on one so assume it’s a fancy ball valve on the actual radiator? thanks for the video and reply looks awesome
@@EricPurington we can do it either way: turn things on and off at the radiators or at the manifold. I prefer the manifold. we typically just run 2 or three radiators and the house is nice and toasty
Where are the pumps best located? At the boiler or at the building?
We have them both in the boiler and in the buildings, but opinions differ on this issue and as I understand it location depends a bit on how much elevation gain you have between boiler and buildings.
Makes sense!. I love that you have placed the boiler at a bit of a distance. I want to do the same, and everyone seems to have them close. Was interested in the heat loss, but you answered that 😊
Great stuff! How often do you have to replenish the wood in the boiler?
I’m still early on with it but about every 24 hours
Film mighy still be 2 years old, but have never seen such a system. We, i live in Sweden, have the woodburners inside the house then the basement is heated as well. How often do you need to warm up? We have cold winter up to -30c. Is there much heat loss because of the distance it has to go under ground? And how deep are the pipes?
Hello friend! Our winters are very cold as well, though only down to -17c on the coldest days. The water loses 1 or 2 degrees between the outside unit in the house, and we have no smoke, wood, or wood pile mice in the house. The pipes are a little over a meter deep
@metaspencer thank you for yous reply, that sounds great. Can you choose to instal it closer to the house?
Yes, in our area, we can put it anywhere we want but for some people there are code requirements on location. We like it far from the house to keep smoke and rodents away.
Been thinking about one of these for my place. Watching your video made me realize that it looks like something I could tackle. How much time do you think you spent on your install (boiler + thermopex + interior piping)?
The time is a bit hard to measure since we worked on it only on weekends and intermittently. All in all it was probably a solid week to get it done, what with the 9 million trips to the hardware store :)
@@metaspencer yea, especially with plumbing projects it seems. A week is pretty impressive considering all the mini projects, slab, trench, electrical, etc.
Thanks for the video. What size pex did you run to the radiators?
1/2”
Is any of this up to code? Did you have a premit, also, Did you had this inspected
yes it's permitted as that's required in our area. every area is different so check with your local code officer
I’m brand new to the world of wood boilers, very intrigued! Just curious why is the boiler itself so far away from the buildings?
people located their boilers in all kinds of places -- we like ours far from the house for layout/design reasons on our property, to keep smoke and wood-shed mice away from the house, and to space things out. so works for us but not necessary to located it where we did
@ that makes sense, I was trying to figure out if there had to be a minimum loop length on the pex or something which required it to be farther away. Appreciate the response! Killer setup
@@Cws0024 some people have insurance company or local code requirement regarding placement, so there are several variables
Question - why are the boilers located far from the house? Would be a pain in the ass to walk a football field length just to feed it more wood.
Never bothered us we like to space out our buildings and keep mice and smoke far from the house
Where do you get the panel radiators
we ordered them from our heater dealer ... searching for "euro radiator" brought up some very similar to the ones we installed
Do wood boilers have safety valve incase of over pressuring?
There are a lot of different designs and ours is what's called "open" so no pressure. They can over boil if the controls (dampers, sensors, etc) go screwy.
Curios if you used rebar in the boiler pad?
nah just poured it ... hasn't cracked yet! :)
We want to know what the temperture in the house is! Or how much electricity and Wood it uses!!
We keep the house between 75 and 78, so it's pretty tropical in here all winter long. Wood use is one load a day ... I'm not sure in terms of cords as it depends on what you're burning. We burn mostly ash and oak so go through about 6 cords (though I haven't measured exactly). Electric use on the pumps and the blower in the shop is something I haven't measured ... probably $20/month to run the system ... maybe less. Oh and I keep the shop at 60 degrees f
I see people install a radiant heat concrete floor. Is this boiler something that could be used for that application?
Yeah a lot of people heat that way with this boiler -- it pumps out a lot of hot water so it can be used in heat exchangers, radiant, radiators, etc. Some people heat their pools with them even
Hi ! Why did you put the unit so far away from your buildings ? Do you think that will cut the temperature down , being so far away ??
temp only drops 1degree between the unit and the entry to the house ... we put it that far away to keep the rodents and smoke away from the house, and also because we like to spread out buildings out. Nice to be able to open windows in the winter and not get smoked out :)
@@metaspencer Hi ! Thank you very much for the information !
Hi ! Thank you very much for the information !
Did u use oxygen barrier pex?
No I didn't bother with that stuff given that it's an open system. No problems so far :)
Do you like your stove?Thinking of buying one.Thanks.
We love it ... best heat we've ever had in the house, only have to refill it every day or two (depending on outside temps), and for us it means free heat because I get the wood for free through work. So yeah, runs great as long as you keep it clean
hopefully you put expansion couplers on the PVC because I've heard it'll expand / shrink and break if you don't.
Well maybe that'll be the first thing to fix! I'm assuming there will be some hiccups along the way
Are they efficient?
We load ours with wood once a day and the whole unit is insulated with little heat loss, so I'd say it's pretty efficient. Just runs on one or two pumps
Great video! What kind of local or state permits are required? Thanks!
Just a simple $30 permit through our Town zoning office where we live, but it varies in different locations
Why did you put the boiler so far away from the house? Is it a permit thing?
Nah the zoning around here doesn't regulate that part of the boiler -- we did it for three reasons: to keep mice away from the house (mice love woodpiles), to keep smoke away from the house so we can open windows, and because we like to space buildings out on our larger property.
Thank you.@@metaspencer
Nice job on the install. I can envision you trudging all that distance out to the boiler to stoke it on a bitter winter day. Why did you place it so far from the house?
There were a few reasons for the location of the heater: we like to keep buildings spaced out on our property, and there will be a big wood shed near the heater ... another reason is that we wanted to keep the smoke far from the house. Plus, crowding the house isn't our thing and there will be lots of wood piles, tractors, equipment, etc. near the heater
What size drill bit did you use to cut your foundation for the Thermopex?
4.5” but needed some massaging to fit through
@metaspencer gotcha so 5in for some room for mortar or foam?
@@connorbense241 yeah that would prolly work for ya ... I didn't want too big a hole so went with "smaller is better" hahaa ... but I'd be sure to measure your green pipe just to make sure that you're drilling for your exact pipe. dunno if they manufacture them all with identical diameters
Thank you for the video. I am in the process of building a home in PA and I am considering this setup. Could you let me know what that system costs? Ive seen a $20.000 gassifier system which is a lot for my budget. I dont know what propane costs either lol! Thanks again
I think cost really depends a lot on region, model, how much of the work you do yourself, distance to house, type of heating setup in the house, etc. I'd say the price range would be $10k to $30k depending on all those factors.
what do you do if its freezing 0 degree temps for several months and I decide im going on a tropical vacation for a week or two. What happens to the boiler at that time?
there are a lot of options: you can not worry about it and the water temps will likely be fine, you can heat your house with your other heating system and that heat will backfeed into your boiler, you can put a heat lamp inside your wood box, and/or you can run a glycol mix with water that will never freeze.
I really like the radiators that you installed. Can you provide the manufactures information please.
They're great -- we like them too. Myson makes them www.mysoncomfort.com/Products/Radiators---T6--T6-IVC
Looking at this I was a little confused at the "4 years to pay off the unit" given the cost of firewood for most folks, but I look at your channel and yeah, looks like you don't have to pay much, if anything for the bulk of the wood you feed into this system, given the tree work.
Yeah it's nice getting paid to bring home firewood -- the cost of good hardwood would definitely lead to different equations for others. Thanks for checking out the project!
Are you going to do a end of season review
I think that would be a good idea ... lots to share
Very good setup few questions though.
How many times a day u throw wood in it..?
Why burner itself is so far from house
.?
What if temp goes over heat..?
Thanks
When the air temp is between 20-30f we refill it once every 24 hours. With temps down around zero f we have been refilling it about every 16 hours. Strong winds seem to also lead to more wood burning. There were a few reasons for the location of the heater far from the house: we like to keep buildings spaced out on our property, and there will be a big wood shed near the heater ... another reason is that we wanted to keep the smoke far from the house. Plus, crowding the house isn't our thing and there will be lots of wood piles, tractors, equipment, etc. near the heater. As for temperature, the wood boiler has a lot of sensors so suppresses the fire when the water gets to a highpoint ... then the fire comes back on when the water reaches a cool point. So the water is always in an ideal temperature range
@@metaspencer Thanks a lot, that's very detailed answer. Enjoy the warmth of it.
@@ajazvahora3124 super toasty in the house! :)
@@metaspencer great,
Really liked it...
So for hot water for bath and kitchen also comes from same wood stove..?
@@ajazvahora3124 Yes the hot water for bath and kitchen goes through a heat exchanger and is heated by the wood boiler, but only in the winter when we're running the boiler
So far from the house so much heatloss from pipes?
3 degree heat loss between the boiler and the house, which I'm happy with. Keeping it far from the house means less smoke in the house and all the wood storage (and mice that come along with it, invariably) can be far away. Works great for us
@@metaspencer impressive I would have expected more
@@MrButuz And then the house itself pulls about 18 degrees out of the water
Why so far from the house ?, isn't there a lot of heat lost in the length it has to travel .?. Just asking because I don't know the answer.
we lose 2 degrees between the unit and the house -- for us it's ideal to space our buildings out, keep smoke away from the house, and keep woodpile mice far away as well.
How close to a structure could you place that boiler?
That would depend on your local codes and your insurance coverage. Some insurance carriers require it to be 50' away or more. But without any regulations the choice would be yours