We did PEX plumbing at our cottage.. went there in late December after a wedding reception to find the furnace had gone out and the house at 19 degrees F! ..Chucked wood into the franklin stove until furnace guy showed the next morning.. got house to 70 and amazingly never had a leak, still so today. We used the stainless cinch rings, same tool for 1/2, 3/4, or 1” or more l believe, but either system works well l’m told.. 😊
Let me first say how very talented you are. It's people like you that make people like me look bad. Okay, let me fix that, it's people like me that make people like me took bad. I can't draw, can't sing, can't drive a nail straight but I can electrocute myself if I work on anything electrical. I enjoy watching your projects, then I sit and estimate how much time it would take me before I gave up and hired someone. Building the shed for example, I would have spent a month building it and once it fell down, I would have called someone that hopefully has the talent that you have. Thank you for sharing your projects!
Very interesting boiler system, but how do you dictate which woods will be thrown in the mill and which ones will be burned, never lived in a place that ran on fire wood.
Nice video. Since we do not have this type of heating systems over here, how does the fire get lit when it was not burning ? do you have to lit it, with a gas burner or does has a gas propane ignition system to get the fire going ? thanks.
Enjoyed that. Thanx for posting. I am in the process of looking for a good gasification OWB to replace my 30 year old aquatherm. Wish I had put my electrical lines inside pipe same as you
I guess if the target temperature is reached and that GATE VALVE closes, at some point the coal bed is going to starve. How does it get reignited? Do you have tar buildup in the secondary burn chamber or the exhaust from incomplete burn while it is heating up? And can you maybe show or explain how the air to water heat exchanger is designed in such a boiler? I'm interested to see which materials and shape of coils is used in such a commercial device.
Once it has developed a coal bed, it will stay lit for a very long time between burns. Many days. I've never had it go out when I didn't want it to. I imagine after a week or more without burning you might have a problem with ignition, but I've never tested it. I plan to do a more in depth video of my system in the future.
He is correct. I have been heating with an outdoor wood stove/boiler for about 15 years. On mine my damper/fan is on the front of the door and has a damper flap that is on the blower fan. When the water temp gets down to 170 degrees (Thats what mine is set at) the flap on the fan will open and the fan will turn on and the fan will really get the fire going. When it reaches temp, the fan shuts off and the damper flap closes and allows the fire to slowly go out in a round about way so not to cause the water to get too hot and boil. The hot bed of coals take a long time to go out and are very easily reignited once you blow a good amount of air on them. Plus, it also slows down the burning process. If you just left thge damper open and had a constant supply of air the fire would burn out very fast. The damper pretty much is your on and off switch for your fire.
Just curious, does the pex go out to an in floor radiant type system, or a baseboard? Do you foresee any issues with sourcing firewood? I've never lived on a farm so I don't really understand how sustainable firewood would or wouldn't be
Pex actually goes to air handlers for a forced air system. My farm is 450 acres with lots of woods, so no, I will never run out of firewood. Mostly I just burn deadfall. It's very rare that I cut a tree just to burn it. I keep my eyes open for dead/dying trees and burn those. Or I burn the tree tops of trees that I harvest for lumber.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience. Any concerns about igniting the woodshed’s fascia board next to the furnace? Or does the sidewall of the furnace stay relatively cool by design?
I have been heating with an outdoor wood stove/boiler for about 15 years and would never go without again being way out in the country. I dont know how his is but mine has a heat exchanger that goes in the furnace trunk right at the base of the furnace and then we run two thermostats. One is just to kick the furnace fan on in the furnace and then blows the air trough the heat exchanger and in turn blows warm air out your vents in the house. Our second thermostat is set about 6 (F) degrees cooler so if the wood stove should happen to go out or stop working for some reason, the other thermostat will kick on the propane and keep the house warm still.
Just curious - why aren't the hot and cold lines insulated individually? I imagine you'd lose a lot of energy heating up the return line going back to the boiler.
A question I had myself. It's a matter of cost, and diminishing returns. The heat transferring from the hot line to the cold line isn't really lost, as it just goes back to the boiler. With the water moving at 5GPM, the amount of time it takes for it to get to the house is less than a minute. It comes down to only a few degrees lost, and buying pipe with the lines insulated separately was very expensive.
You burn THAT much wood every 1-2 weeks? Wow, that seams like ALOT of work! Not just in loading, but also in cutting down the wood and transporting it into the shed... Also how do you still have any trees around you? :D
Am I gonna be the only one to point out that the hot is coming out of the BOTTOM? and the RETURN is returning to the TOP?! This is backwards.. Heat rises. It's gonna be hotter water at the top of the boiler. I own a boiler and this is how I assumed it was explained to me by the manufacturer (Dodds Brothers) It's an Econo 500. OLDIE but a GOODIE!
It's not backwards. Pulling from the bottom and returning to the top causes the tank to mix hot/cold. This keeps the tank at a more uniform temperature and prevents boiling and excessive water loss through steam, while maximizing heat transfer.
What would be the issues with installing a SMALL one of those in an all-concrete room in a sub-basement of a house and vented up through an otherwise unused flue in a chimney through the top of the roof three-4 stories above ground level? With the insulated fire box in a metal box in an insulated concrete box, there would be no meaningful risk of fire to the structure, and the wood/water furnace would be inside the house that it's servicing. Much easier to service it and reload it. Only issue I see is installation and the utter lack of any meaningful way of replacing it if it failed completely. Even torching a defunct one apart to remove it just leaves an empty space with no way to hoist a new one down into its place.
Mine has no way to exhaust the smoke while you are loading it. It just rolls out the door. I wouldn't want to do that inside of a structure. If you open it when it has recently burned, it can flame up quite a lot out of that door. But there are certainly units that are made to be installed indoors. They don't tend to be as big.
My outdoor wood stove/boiler has a flu handle on it right above the door so when you open it, the smoke and any flames goes straight up out the chimney on the boiler and it doesnt all come rushing out the door. Now if you dont open the flu before you open the door, it will all come rushing out the door. But, even with it open, you still get smoke and sometimes some pretty big flames come out the door if the fire is really going. I have had flames shooting out my chimney a good 1-2 feet plenty of times. A lot of the small indoor wood stoves usually have a flu on them to open before loading so all the smoke doesnt come back in the house. As for the wood boilers like these, I cant say I have ever see one for indoor use.
Awesome video as always... I'd still be wary of sneaky embers making their way out of the boiler into the wood shed if it was windy when you're loading it up and disturbing the wood already in the furnace. I saw a few bits come out of the furnace and make their way sideways towards the shed! Eeeek! I guess you'll be a LOT more wary of anything like that happening again. Good going, John... take it easy! Jeez, I wish I had a back-hoe! 🙂
Awesome setup. I wondered how it worked. Thanks for the info. I envy you and your setup for heating.
Hey Jon, I pay >$400/month for heat in winter in MA! Just thought that would bring a smile to your face.
Nice job installing the linear actuator . You have inspired me to do the same as I go through those standard solenoids like cookies .
My dog heard that squeaking and brought me her squeaky toy. 😂
We did PEX plumbing at our cottage.. went there in late December after a wedding reception to find the furnace had gone out and the house at 19 degrees F! ..Chucked wood into the franklin stove until furnace guy showed the next morning.. got house to 70 and amazingly never had a leak, still so today. We used the stainless cinch rings, same tool for 1/2, 3/4, or 1” or more l believe, but either system works well l’m told.. 😊
Let me first say how very talented you are. It's people like you that make people like me look bad. Okay, let me fix that, it's people like me that make people like me took bad. I can't draw, can't sing, can't drive a nail straight but I can electrocute myself if I work on anything electrical. I enjoy watching your projects, then I sit and estimate how much time it would take me before I gave up and hired someone. Building the shed for example, I would have spent a month building it and once it fell down, I would have called someone that hopefully has the talent that you have. Thank you for sharing your projects!
3:55 SHOW ME THAT DOG.
4:52 THIS IS A GOOD CHANNEL.
Just for the knowledge.. this gate valve called in the industry SLIDER valve.
very nice. thanks. do you use both grunfos circulator pumps on their highest settings?
Very interesting boiler system, but how do you dictate which woods will be thrown in the mill and which ones will be burned, never lived in a place that ran on fire wood.
Pretty simple. Good logs get milled. Twisted logs with rot, knots, tree tops, etc, get burned.
as a steam enthusiast, this makes me smile so hard!
Nice video. Since we do not have this type of heating systems over here, how does the fire get lit when it was not burning ? do you have to lit it, with a gas burner or does has a gas propane ignition system to get the fire going ? thanks.
I love that Mahindra.Great video btw.
Thank you. Nice to see a project from Summer to Winter and it's operation. Good job.
I read somewhere that you can add electricity generation to these as well and they can power your house while you’re heating it. ?
Nice set up, keep it simple
Enjoyed that. Thanx for posting. I am in the process of looking for a good gasification OWB to replace my 30 year old aquatherm. Wish I had put my electrical lines inside pipe same as you
I guess if the target temperature is reached and that GATE VALVE closes, at some point the coal bed is going to starve. How does it get reignited? Do you have tar buildup in the secondary burn chamber or the exhaust from incomplete burn while it is heating up? And can you maybe show or explain how the air to water heat exchanger is designed in such a boiler? I'm interested to see which materials and shape of coils is used in such a commercial device.
Once it has developed a coal bed, it will stay lit for a very long time between burns. Many days. I've never had it go out when I didn't want it to. I imagine after a week or more without burning you might have a problem with ignition, but I've never tested it. I plan to do a more in depth video of my system in the future.
He is correct. I have been heating with an outdoor wood stove/boiler for about 15 years. On mine my damper/fan is on the front of the door and has a damper flap that is on the blower fan. When the water temp gets down to 170 degrees (Thats what mine is set at) the flap on the fan will open and the fan will turn on and the fan will really get the fire going. When it reaches temp, the fan shuts off and the damper flap closes and allows the fire to slowly go out in a round about way so not to cause the water to get too hot and boil. The hot bed of coals take a long time to go out and are very easily reignited once you blow a good amount of air on them. Plus, it also slows down the burning process. If you just left thge damper open and had a constant supply of air the fire would burn out very fast. The damper pretty much is your on and off switch for your fire.
Nice work gotta love pex🤠👍
Awesome, nice system!
Efficient way to heat. Do you run antifreeze or water in the pipes?
Just curious, does the pex go out to an in floor radiant type system, or a baseboard? Do you foresee any issues with sourcing firewood? I've never lived on a farm so I don't really understand how sustainable firewood would or wouldn't be
Pex actually goes to air handlers for a forced air system. My farm is 450 acres with lots of woods, so no, I will never run out of firewood. Mostly I just burn deadfall. It's very rare that I cut a tree just to burn it. I keep my eyes open for dead/dying trees and burn those. Or I burn the tree tops of trees that I harvest for lumber.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience. Any concerns about igniting the woodshed’s fascia board next to the furnace? Or does the sidewall of the furnace stay relatively cool by design?
It stays cool enough to touch, so no chance of fire from that.
Great video, thanks for posting. Does it matter if the wood is wet (freshly cut) or do you dry it out for awhile before putting it in the boiler?
It does matter.
How often do u need to load the wood in the fire 🔥
Depends on the temperature. If it's not colder than the 20's at night, I can get away with once a day. Otherwise twice daily.
Got a link for that cane bolt you installed? Or did you make it yourself 🧐
Do you use this to heat your house hot water also by a heat exchanger.
Yep
how do you connect the boiler to the systems in the house..?
I have been heating with an outdoor wood stove/boiler for about 15 years and would never go without again being way out in the country. I dont know how his is but mine has a heat exchanger that goes in the furnace trunk right at the base of the furnace and then we run two thermostats. One is just to kick the furnace fan on in the furnace and then blows the air trough the heat exchanger and in turn blows warm air out your vents in the house. Our second thermostat is set about 6 (F) degrees cooler so if the wood stove should happen to go out or stop working for some reason, the other thermostat will kick on the propane and keep the house warm still.
Just curious - why aren't the hot and cold lines insulated individually? I imagine you'd lose a lot of energy heating up the return line going back to the boiler.
A question I had myself. It's a matter of cost, and diminishing returns. The heat transferring from the hot line to the cold line isn't really lost, as it just goes back to the boiler. With the water moving at 5GPM, the amount of time it takes for it to get to the house is less than a minute. It comes down to only a few degrees lost, and buying pipe with the lines insulated separately was very expensive.
How frequently do you have to load it?
Once or twice a day, depending on the temperature.
Would you vise pex A because it’s a bit more expandable or does it really matter? I’m assuming you used pex B?
Wholesome.
You burn THAT much wood every 1-2 weeks? Wow, that seams like ALOT of work! Not just in loading, but also in cutting down the wood and transporting it into the shed... Also how do you still have any trees around you? :D
So, I'm from the south, why a boiler vs a hot water heater and central heat/furnace?
He burns free fuel. I'm also from the south but I did learn economics.
Chucking that wood in there, made me think of a dumpster fire!
Loved this vid thanx!
Am I gonna be the only one to point out that the hot is coming out of the BOTTOM? and the RETURN is returning to the TOP?!
This is backwards.. Heat rises. It's gonna be hotter water at the top of the boiler. I own a boiler and this is how I assumed it was explained to me by the manufacturer (Dodds Brothers) It's an Econo 500. OLDIE but a GOODIE!
It's not backwards. Pulling from the bottom and returning to the top causes the tank to mix hot/cold. This keeps the tank at a more uniform temperature and prevents boiling and excessive water loss through steam, while maximizing heat transfer.
Soooo I am kinda confused a bit ....what does this heat ? Like your water or like the house
It heats both the hot water and the house, as well as my shop.
Like both
Have you thought about using the hot exhaust to help dry out the wood shed supply?
that's how you burn down a woodshed
What would be the issues with installing a SMALL one of those in an all-concrete room in a sub-basement of a house and vented up through an otherwise unused flue in a chimney through the top of the roof three-4 stories above ground level? With the insulated fire box in a metal box in an insulated concrete box, there would be no meaningful risk of fire to the structure, and the wood/water furnace would be inside the house that it's servicing. Much easier to service it and reload it. Only issue I see is installation and the utter lack of any meaningful way of replacing it if it failed completely. Even torching a defunct one apart to remove it just leaves an empty space with no way to hoist a new one down into its place.
Mine has no way to exhaust the smoke while you are loading it. It just rolls out the door. I wouldn't want to do that inside of a structure. If you open it when it has recently burned, it can flame up quite a lot out of that door. But there are certainly units that are made to be installed indoors. They don't tend to be as big.
@@FarmCraft101 You have any suggestions on a make/model for one of those indoor units?
I wouldn't know. Never researched or owned one of those. Make sure you have an easy way to carry wood in without too much work.
@@FarmCraft101 I was thinking an elevator and a handtruck.
My outdoor wood stove/boiler has a flu handle on it right above the door so when you open it, the smoke and any flames goes straight up out the chimney on the boiler and it doesnt all come rushing out the door. Now if you dont open the flu before you open the door, it will all come rushing out the door. But, even with it open, you still get smoke and sometimes some pretty big flames come out the door if the fire is really going. I have had flames shooting out my chimney a good 1-2 feet plenty of times. A lot of the small indoor wood stoves usually have a flu on them to open before loading so all the smoke doesnt come back in the house. As for the wood boilers like these, I cant say I have ever see one for indoor use.
super
when i was start this project may be you can help me
This is not currently in your wood boiler playlist.
Build 1 yourself?
Pocket door??? Yeah it really is a gate valve, but pocket door?
Awesome video as always... I'd still be wary of sneaky embers making their way out of the boiler into the wood shed if it was windy when you're loading it up and disturbing the wood already in the furnace. I saw a few bits come out of the furnace and make their way sideways towards the shed! Eeeek! I guess you'll be a LOT more wary of anything like that happening again. Good going, John... take it easy! Jeez, I wish I had a back-hoe! 🙂
Your dog is a lion killer with a “squeaky toy”?
That he is!
a gate valve
Cable joins underground 🤦♂️
The one person that disliked is pathetic
That's an awful large pellet stove