Outdoor Wood Burner. Is it WORTH IT? (4 Years later)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 พ.ย. 2024
- We've been using our Outdoor Wood Burner for 4 years now and in today's video we decide if it was worth the investment or not. If you are considering an outdoor woodburner, watch this video! We discuss the pros and cons of our Central Boiler and outdoor wood burners in general.
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Content here is for educational purposes from my personal journey with the Carnivore Diet. It's not medical advice. I’m not a medical professional. Consult with a healthcare provider for diet or health changes. Information is based on my views and for discussion and learning. - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
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FOLLOWUP VIDEO (Why I WONT Replant Trees I Harvest from my Homestead) To this one just went live- th-cam.com/video/-EeEr82kRRs/w-d-xo.html
hi have you ever considered collaring or girdling tree. So it drys standing up without worrying about it rotting. Most people also believe it is faster.
HomeSteadHow where are you guys? We live outside of Philadelphia and have definitely considered moving much further out and living life much more simply
@@ml7049 "living life much more simply" did you watch the video or not? :-)
Just wondering why your not stoking the heater with 4 foot logs instead of all those small pieces? Most folks in my area use full logs.
HomeSteadHow I know people who have the outside wood burner there are ways to get free wood.
Go to your municipal for wood
Call all farmers
Ask landscapers
The larger units or more efficient because you can use half the trunk to burn for almost the whole entire day and you don’t have to cut
I’ve had my central boiler (250,000 BTU) for 26 years and I do not split any of my wood, I cut it all 36” long up to 6”-12” diameter and I only load it every other day, when it’s below zero I might load once a day if we’re using allot of domestic hot water (showers/laundry). I mix hard/soft wood. I also mix in green wood to reduce how much seasoned wood I use. I keep our two story 5 bedroom house about 75 deg for my wife and 4 daughters. Shop stays at 65, more comfortable for working. In 26 years I have not spent a dollar on heat or hot water other than the original cost of buying the furnace. I also sell fire wood and install out door boilers. My best advice is to not buy a new one. All of the new ones are garbage, Intentionally. The new ones recirculate the exhaust gases which has no benefit because there is nothing flammable left to burn, if there was it would have already ignited in the fire box. The recirculated gases plug up the system and cause lots of problems. I have installed several pre emission stoves and 100% of those customers are happy and their investment paid off. I have also installed several newer models with emissions and 100% of those customers without exception are disappointed. These newer units with recirculated gases (Gasification) are a waist of money and only have problems. They are substantially less efficient. I had a customer who bought a brand hew gasifier outdoor boiler for $22,000 because the dealer told them it would be substantially more efficient and that she could cut her current usage from 10 cord down to 5-6 cord per year but the exact opposite was true, now she uses over 15 cord and has had nothing but problems which is not covered under warranty because they told her she had to burn kiln dried wood no bigger than 4” in diameter. Completely defeats the purpose of having an outside boiler in my opinion. There are many pre-owned (used) pre emission boilers on the market if you spend a little time looking. However, I will say this, if you have to buy wood then you might as well just buy gas and not deal with it. These boilers make the most sense for homeowners who have land or at least excess to wood. If you have to purchase wood then it may not make sense. Also, if you’re not a man/women capable of hard work in exchange for financial freedom then you probably wont be happy. This is just my two cents from someone who has had a central boiler for well over 20 years and have installed several. Also, I should mention this, if you talk to a dealer they will most likely lie to you and tell you that you can not install a pre owed, pre-emission stove. That is not True, I have installed many in VT/NH/ME and have had zero issues.
Thank you for your honest review
Can we get in contact with each other I need some answers
Tha k you for your input. I'm looking to get a outdoor stove can you please let me know where I can find an pre emissions one? Tha k you.
As a kid I split 5-10 cords a year for my parents house, and then would go lift weights after swinging that maul in the afternoon. Best shape I was ever in. As soon as I left at 18, my parents put in a propane furnace. Go figure.
Their free labor left home..
At least you know they missed you!
That's it
Nice , it's great excercise
i use to do that but for the last 25 years i have had a wood splitter, i can go for 8 hours non stop and get all my wood split and the only thing why i would want to stop is i get sick of slitting wood
Living with that many women I would probably want to spend large amounts of time cutting and gathering wood too.
Just kidding, enjoy your big happy family. Cheers.
my favorite comment "this... this is why I drink" :)
I thought the same thing but iam glad you said it!:)
That is why a lot of men worked a shit load of overtime, one to pay for everything, two don't want to go home
I'm a single woman who has an outdoor furnace!
Are you a Mormon who is allowed to have many wives? If so then you are the KING AND I STAR IN YOUR COUNTY (YUL BRYNNER)! Many cheers and advance Merry Christmanss and a Happy New Year! JUST JOKING! LOL!
You got my thumbs up just for the Argo move and the camera grab and go
That was my thought. Nice moves!
I came here to say that too! That was the smoothest shit I've ever seen.
😂😂😂 whipping it in the Argo 🤙😎
Great video! I installed a Central Boiler stove 18 years ago when my twin girls were just a tad younger than yours. They are off to college and I handle the all the wood prep myself now. But something for you to look forward to....IF and WHEN you allow your girls to be courted by young gentleman, those guys will haul and stack ALOT of wood to try and impress the girls/or their dad!! The fall wood season is a great test of the young bucks interest/commitment. It always embarrassed my girls, but that was my rule. If you want to date my daughter you had to spend a weekend or three on the wood pile with me! Kinda wish I had more daughters now that they are out of the house..... CHEERS!
Hey Greg, I love your way of thinking. I am way behind you, our triplets will be 13 and I am still in denial of them dating lol. Kerry and I met and started dating at 14, almost 26 years ago. I will tell Kerry this awesome idea! Love it
Teaching teenagers to be men. I salute you sir! You have years invested in your daughters, why would you throw that away and allow them to date, potentially marry some worthless schlepp? If these fellas are really interested in your daughters they won’t mind a little labor for the blessing of dating them. Working hand in hand with older men I was able to “catch” a lot of wisdom from them I might not have otherwise obtained.
I agree. I’m on my 13th winter with my Central boiler. And have no regrets. As a firefighter I will add the benefit of keeping the fire out of your house as one more pro. Thanks
That is true- no fire in the house PLUS the mess of having a fire is all outside as well.
@@Homesteadhow People that have never had an indoor wood stove underestimate the disaster that it will make the inside of your house. Burning wood is a filthy mess, best to keep it outside. Great video, thanks!
Based Bear to be fair if your patient and take your time bringing wood inside along with cleaning your stove area after every use you really don’t notice any mess. I don’t use nearly as much wood as you do though, awesome set up and nice vid! Was fun to watch
@Jake Sangria It's not that big of a deal. We did 5 and lived in a little rambler.
@Jake Sangria used to do 16. 4 weekends. Dropping skidding blocking splitting and stacked. Did it all growing up, probably just got used to it. Switched to coal 2 years ago when my mom got diagnosed with cancer.
Most people: What I have is the greatest thing you could have. it's the best by far, and I am the best.
This guy: Here is what I have, I like it but here is the list of cons..
In conclusion, I like real dudes, and this is the kind of guy who should be your friend. Thumbs up to the video, and props to his sense of reality! Much respect! The world needs more of these guys!
Could pick up used Seek Thermal Compact or Flir for your phone to do energy and electrical audit, to make sure you are not loosing that energy, after you are done with it put it back on the market so you don't lose out.
Personally I would go for other more automated heating method. Like Solar collectors, heat-pump, wood-chip boiler (By doing so also not wasting quality timber) , bio-gas digestor + generator, distributed data center for heating (just like a Dutch company did), Passive solar, Solar PV. Every property is different, there is no single best option.
Outdoor heater effect indoor air quality far less than a stove would, fire hazard is much lower.
Excellent post among a slew of moronic ones. Well done.
@@ArthursHD I bet you don't even own a house or have any kids.
We too have a Central Boiler unit. The 5036. This is it’s 10th year. We have loved the unit. We still tell everyone that it was our “best investment”. Our heating demand is not as diverse as the one in this video so our wood consumption is much less. I’m now 75 and still look forward to my wood gathering and heating season. Bottom line. We love it still.
Here are a few things to onsider:
1) attach to a greenhouse grow fruits and vegetables throughout the year even citrus trees
2) convert 1 wall to function as a oven
3) use the ash as fertilizer
4) create an automated feeder that drops the wood onto a sliding portion of the roof
I'm thinking about building a small one to keep a greenhouse warm. I gotta see if digging the greenhouse in the ground is enough on its own first lol
I have a lot of experience heating with wood and I can confidently tell you that you will cut your wood usage by at least 30% if you can properly dry your firewood. Another thing it’s important to know is there is approximately the same amount of available BTUs per pound of dry wood regardless of what the species is. For anyone interested, there is plenty of supporting data available on the internet to confirm this information.
Overly seasoned wood burns too fast and too hot. Get more mileage out of it when it doesn't burn up so fast. A slower burn is better.
the same amount of available BTUs per pound of dry wood regardless of what the species is......bull
Wood heating is not bad if you have access to cheap wood. In Europe it’s very common to use wood for heating, except it’s almost always an indoor wood burner located in a basement of the building, usually with a place to store your wood too. Only downside is the work associated with it, though still there are things which can help you a bit with it.
Different woods have different densities. This density is directly proportional to the thermal heat you get out. I live in Finland and the 3 primary burning woods are Birch, Scots Pine and Spruce. It's well documented by University and government tests that the Higher the density of the wood the more heat you get out.
@@BigBirdy100 depends on the stove. I have a 2000kg soapstone stove. You want to burn hot and fast with that then shut the damper. Heat is then slowly released over 24hrs.
Fun to see.... I heated with a wood stove years ago when I was young... I still miss it, I remember opening the windows in the bitter cold because it was too hot in the family room! ;-) This was in Maryland where neighbors had heatpumps, we called them cold pumps!... of course, I'd do it on purpose when people were over just to show off.... nothing comes close to the comfort of sitting near a really hot heavy steel black box... if you are slightly tired, you know, from handling all that wood.... you'll be out like a light in a few minutes! ;-) thanks for posting.....
I built my house, 8" thick walls, staggered 2x4 construction, 6" bats of insulation on both sides. All windows on the south side so passive solar. I just burnt wood in northwester Wisconsin. I used only 3 to 3 1/2 cords of wood per winter. Maybe that's your problem, your house is obsolete. Now you can take a 2x4 construction house and add new walls in the inside, adding another 4" of insulation. My brother used to sell Central boilers, he suggested using green wood. I used a 50 gal. water heater core to preheat my water before going into the hot water heater. It sat near my woodstove.
My parents have one and they love it. They have heated floors, so the stove heats the water and the floors
I can tell by the way he hooked the Argo up to the trailer, that this guy likes to work but has fun on the job.
I would love to have a place like this with storybook cottages all around, along with a miniature train to haul the wood
The way he slings those cons I thought the exact opposite.
The way he slings those cons I thought the exact opposite.
The Self Sufficiency aspect is invaluable. That alone is worth all of the effort. The biggest "con" from my perspective is the additional tools, tool maintenance, and fuel that it would cost to process it all. Good video, it was easy to understand what you were saying and you went over the costs very well. thanks.
Agreed- everything we do on our homestead is to become more self sufficient! Thanks
Great video, I’ve purchased one cord of wood in the last 12 years, there is always free wood for the pick up all year. Then you can have a choice of wood at the local landfill, my landfill has it piled up in an area free for the taking, can’t go wrong with free heat. Plus cutting and splitting wood keeps me built like a lumberjack, which comes in handy when my six dogs want to wrestle for my dinner plate.
my neighbor heats his home by harvesting wood nobody wants... there is an endless amount of free wood. We live adjacent to a forest, but we heat with natural gas... the combined heat and hot water is making me consider this more seriously now. combine that with heating outbuildings and it starts to make even more sense.
I have a Central Boiler also. I have found out over the years that if you put a piece of green wood in for every 3 or 4 seasoned pieces the burn time lasts longer between fill ups
Green wood for burn slower and depending on the type it could burn hotter once the box is hot
Having the whole family out there teaches good work ethic.
Very true, good quality time in nature too
Ya, but when kids grow up and move out, you better. Have. A. Helper, because you know. Most knives - wivesdont help. The. Husband,..facts are real,.
Many hands make the work easy. Except, when it's hard.
I can't even get my kid's outside....
@@richardthetroll6758 That is sad. They must be too old for obedience training. So, try incentive training. Turn off the electronics, too.
We bought a place in the NC mountains last summer that has a very unique set up for hot water and heating the house - an indoor water stove. The unit is quite large - about 5’ tall x 7’ long x 4’ deep. Three large solar panels on the roof with a circulating pump serve as the primary source to heat the water. If we have a period of cloudy days where the solar panels can’t keep the water adequately heated, the stove has a built-in home heating oil furnace to heat the water. In the unlikely event both the solar panels and furnace go belly up, no worries - the stove also has a firebox for burning wood. It was made by Blue Ridge Water Stoves and installed when the house was built in 1991. Has kept the house toasty warm throughout the winter with plenty of hot water for showers. Love it!
Hard work
Nice job
Great family time
God bless Us all
Thank you for sharing
Good for you Dad. Your girls are learning a lot of good things about life. It looks like a lot of work but it is worth it as long as you're young and you can do it. God bless you
Thank you for that! God Bless You Too.
I’ve been heating our house with a duel fuel central boiler for at least 10 years now. I used to have 20’ logs delivered and I did all the work. Thanks to my wife suggesting we have it delivered cut and split for a couple more bucks. I now have free time and my back has never felt better and I only burn hardwood and try not to burn black walnut. 🔥
Why don't you burn black walnut? Honest question, not being a smarty pants.
v3124 I don’t burn black walnut because of the acid. It’s bad for your firebox even with ashtrol. I also don’t burn pine. It burns too fast and doesn’t leave many embers. It turns to ash so if you don’t add more wood in time you end up having to restart your fire. That’s my experience at least.
Interesting! I'd never heard that about walnut.
That snow covered wood brings back memories
I like this guy. His entire perspective,,,, brilliant.
-Nathan
Thanks from "this guy" I appreciate your kind comment. Thanks for watching
We have been using an OWB for 11 years on our farm and I have to say you really nailed it. We heat a 1600 sq ft old farm house and a green house and only burn about 4 cords in our milder climate but the one year we didnt use it due to medical issues our heating bill was four fold. The only issue for my wife and I is that we are getting older and wonder what will happen when we are more physically unable to feed the wood monster.
Good information!
Having an outdoor burner would be a bit too much for me, but I do love my wood stove in the den. Cutting, splitting and moving/stacking (multiple times before it gets into the stove) is enough for me. It does keep me somewhat active outside during the cold months when I'd otherwise be watching TV or whatever.
I’ve used my outdoor furnace (it’s a shaver) for 13 years heating about 5000 sq ft. Love it! I live in East Tennessee with relatively mild winters and the biggest problem I have is some times it produces too much heat. I only use it when lows are in the 30s or the highs don’t leave the 40s. When it’s warmer then that the heat pump on the house is efficient to keep the house comfortable. I keep my water jacket at 120 degrees F. In your video you said you kept yours at 180. Wow that’s high. Lowering the water jacket temperature reduces (drastically) the amount of wood you have to burn and allows your furnace to work more efficiently. I can’t imagine an environment outside of the arctic circle where a 150 degree temp would work just fine.
How many chords of wood does it take to heat your house for a year? I know you don’t use it in the summer time but I’m just curious about log consumption
The rewarding feeling you speak of i have never felt during the 20years (im 27) i have processed firewood... But now when i got my own place i at least can appreciate the 0$ heating bill every month.
The zero heating bill is great- Bonus for us is much lower electric bill (because we also heat our water) and the other big bonus is the warmth-- with wood we keep the heat cranked nice and cozy-- with propane we are usually much more conservative/cheap/cold! thanks for watching!
I remember having a wood-burning stove growing up. You're right. It is a literal ton of work. We would often spend one or two months gathering firewood, cutting it, carrying it, stacking it, etc. Then, during the winter it was a lot of work to tend to the fire.
I'm a remote worker and having something like this would force me to go outside and get away from the screen as therapy. Love this setup!
I have a central boiler 5036, 14th year in Southern Minnesota. It is a lot of work! Regarding this video if this helps; Move the wagons/trailers closer to the wood. I have an ATV and I go within 2 or 3 feet of the wood where possible. Saves walking/trips/time (after 10 years, the walking gets old.. lol). Also I let the chain saw do the work of the splitter (I sharpen my own chain every time I do a major cutting, I'm guessing you do too). I cut the pieces smaller with the chain saw instead of splitting (also saves your back if the trunk/branches are larger). In the case of tree trunks of 2.5 feet or larger, I slice them with the chain saw to 6-8 inch and use a maul/axe (one side maul, one side axe) to split them. Usually can split into multiple pieces with one blow. Regarding the sheds, I don't have any. I tarp the wood up (use the wood pieces at key locations to keep them from blowing away) and it works very well keeping it dry and the snow off. I do 50/50 with LP and wood, and the combination is pretty good. I heat the house basically from Oct - March on ~$800 of LP (at ~2.00 a gallon). Thanks for the video.. Lots to learn at the beginning so you don't kill yourself one way or the other (chain saw accident and/or felling trees)!
Great video! I've had a Central Boiler classic (5036) since 2006. We burn it year round as it heats our hot water as well. I definitely agree with everything you said. They are definitely not for everyone. I sell about 300 cords of wood a year so for me it was a no brainier. I sell the nice stuff and burn the rest myself. Not having a heating bill is nice if you're willing to put in a little effort. We too burn about 10-11 cords a year heating an old farmhouse keeping the 5 ladies in the house warm and keeping the showers hot! I'd buy another in a heartbeat
Is it possible to also get electricity from one if these?
Hitch up a kiln drier to it, we do this in Scotland and it takes about 5 days to dry about 20 tonne so you would only need 2 times in the kiln and wood comes out at 15% and burns great
I've never heard of this- but plan to research more.. thanks for the insightful tip!
I grew up in a house with an outdoor wood furnace. My parents heated with it for 29 years. However, as my parents got older and eventually my father died, it's just too much work the older you get. Not to mention as a kid and all the way up until I moved out of the house I spent every damn weekend/or after school in the fall and winter cutting, splitting with a maul, and transporting wood. It's an amazingly hot heat source but there are several cons. Another con is that if you go away for the holidays or are just out of town for a day or two, you've got to ask a neighbor to fill it for you. So all in all, after 29 years, my mom got propane and kept the wood furnace hooked up as a back up heat source. The best of both worlds I guess.
That's understandable and true. We have propane still so we can use either. Weve left for 10 days in winter and we just put the propane on like 50f and kept the house from freezing and the water in the pipes stayed warm
Its definitely a great feeling to reap the rewards of you're hard work while relaxing in you're warm home, garage, or whatever you are heating!! God bless.. wood burner myself over 40 yrs
Agreed and we keep it much warmer vs using propane!
Your Argo is my compact tractor with a lift bucket, I found out over the years that anytime you don't have to lift up the wood , much work is saved. Also , we used an indoor wood boiler in the basement and ran hydronic piping in the home to distribute heat. Also heated water with a unit called a super store, ( tank within a tank) . Also had a backup propane boiler for those many days where the outside air temp was above 40 degrees F. spent 20+ years doing this, to us the work equated to health for the mind and body. Thanks for posting HomeSteadHow ....
We've had our Central Boiler for over 16 years. We use dry wood, wet wood, split wood, whatever is handy. If it'll fit through the door I'll burn it, 20" around and 4' long it goes in and burns all night.
BTW as a tip to make topping off your water tank a bit easier install a hose between the drain on your water heater and a valve on your return line of your heat exchanger. Then all you gotta do is open both valves and time the flow. The side benefit for us is it's soft water.
BTW I've never drained my boiler, just test the water and add rust inhibitor as needed. In the off season cover the chimney, clean it out and keep the firebox as dry as possible.
Rodney glad to hear another CB user with long term usage! NICE tip on topping it off. That is a great one. The last time I topped it off it was a big chore had I done it your way- I would have saved a bunch of time.
I top mine off in a similar way. My geothermal dealer that also sells Central Boiler and he said don't fill from the bottom of the hot water tank because your putting sediment into your boiler.
24woodchuck
I can see that being an issue but my water is filtered coming into the house so I don't have the rust that is present in my outdoor hydrants.
I've had a 5648 classic for fifteen years and love it. Now that I'm older its a lot harder. I have ran out of wood and just keep the furnace pump going and my propane fired furnace keeps the boiler water from freezing. That's not very efficient but I had some health problems and couldn't cut wood for a time. One hint I found is to split the wood where you cut it, load it on a pallet I have built sides on, and haul it to the furnace and dump it there. Or if you have multiple pallets, leave it on the pallet and fill your spares.This saves from unloading and stacking. But you need a tractor with pallet forks.
Kl
Nice to see someone addressing the power problem with a outdoor wood boiler! that has always been my worry. In short term grid down no big deal but we lost power 3 years ago for 16 days in early January in central Illinois. Thanks for the awesome videos!
And thanks for your nice comment! The solar trailer is doing really well. I worried in winter the sun wouldn't keep up.. but after some heavy use on our dog kennel its still at 13.9 volts this am!
@@Homesteadhow that's awesome! We are running a blazeking wood stove in our smaller 800 square ft cabin right now. Have thought about a boiler for the house and garages but just still on the fence.
Be grateful you are adding years to your life through the exercize!! Hard work cutting wood and free wood heat is a great gift!! 👏👍😃
Agreed, plus there is not much to do here in winter, keeps me busy and outdoors!
Loved the honesty "i'd probably just be watching TV", same here!
right- or i'd be watching TH-cam! Thanks for watching
Gave a thumbs up for that drift. Nice one.
thanks for that. I sometimes dread winter BUT drifting the argo on the snow/ice like a figure skater never gets old. Im pretty graceful with that thing if I do say so myself :)
@@Homesteadhow not that it's any of my business what do those argo rigs start at and about how fast does it go
@@prestonberg9604 cost I'm not sure. But what you saw speed wise, is what you get.
If you remember how high oil(along with natural gas) was back around 2004, it was pretty outrageous. My wife and I just got married and starting out, I couldn't afford to run the heater during winter. My grandpa had a wood burning stove he let me have for the house. It was a small Sears & Roebuck one. I was cutting up about 10 cords a year for my wife and I, my in-laws house and my parents house. I went through a lot of chains for my chainsaw. Bodark will make quick work dulling the chains. I definitely got in shape from it. Don't have the body to do that anymore. Also, congrats on staying sane with 5 females in the house. I don't think I could do it
"You gotta cut the wood, you gotta STACK the wood"
This guy: points at unstacked pile of firewood 😂
point taken :) Ive been stacking wood lately like a madman though. At one time we had so much wood in the shed there wasn't room for more. I planned to feed the first pile into the wood burner- but it rained, snowed and froze. I procrastinated!
Firewood heats you twice, once when you cut & split it. Twice when you burn it. Lol
You got wood gumbo, wood and rice...
@@Homesteadhow my neighbor stacks his wood. but he stacks it on pallets probably 5-5.5’ high. then just moves them as needed with his tractor.
@@8.21productions9 I like this idea!
I just learned more about outdoor wood stoves in the past 10 minutes than in in my whole life up to now. Thank you. That was really well done. My big takeaway in 5 words: They’re a lot of work. I burn 2+ cords per year in my wood stove, and that’s plenty of work. 10 cords is a LOT of wood. I’m envious of your lifestyle.
Thank you, weve been running our indoor stove only for 2 weeks now and we love it. So warm and cozy...It's just not enough for when we get really cold here.
@@Homesteadhow Southeastern PA here. Just been starting to burn regularly. I have a Jotül stove. Love it. Nothing like real wood heat. Burn on, brother!
I am 70 years old and have been burning wood for the last 9 years with my classic boiler, and before that with a wood stove inside my house, and I will never do that again bugs ,dirt ,and chimney fire, I check it twice a day at temperatures below freezing . And my wife and I love it.
Good for you Gary! I agree
I’m 3 seasons in on my Portage & Main boiler , I heat 3 buildings + domestic hot water and one hot tub .... I love it .
20 cords a year for sure but, I burn junk hardwood and I dont split anything under 16 inch .
I gotta admit the exercise is great for me 👍
Good for you. Is the hot tub heat exchanged similar to an indoor water heater, heat exchanger?
To help with heating your long ranch style house, I want to share with you what I did. Above or near the stove, I put 2-- 14"x14" returns.from each independant return, I ran an 8" insulated duct flex pipe to each back bedroom on either end of my house. Anywhere in that 8" insulated duct pipe, I placed 2 separate 600cfm vent fans, not the cheap low cfm duct booster types. But an inline duct exhaust type.. I ran a 14-2 wire from a electric thermostat for each bedroom on either side of the house to the fan and tapped into a 15amp line along the way. I set each one to around 70 degrees and when each bedroom drops below 70 the fan kicks on. They aren't very loud and I kept the fans closer to the stove room anyway. Not even thinking about it but after the fans sucked the hot air over to the other end of the house, the stove room returns ended up pulling the heat down the hallways, through the kitchen and livingroom, dining room back to the stove room where returns were. Voila, my whole house in the 70's and the stove room is no longer in the high 80's. I dont have that much land and live on the north shore of long island on 1.5 acres. I do my own log splitting with a 33 ton and give local tree removal guys a nice big area to drop loads of oak, locust and maple mostly for free. In a 2700 square foot house total, I run about 5 cords a winter. Haven't got the hot water deal going yet but you gave me the inspiration.
Great video. I can see that it will take some time to recover the cost. But I do like the family togetherness and the health. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for watching!
I'm seriously addicted to this channel. I've been watching all day and I don't even plan on HOMESTEADING Hahahaha Maybe someday, but seriously brother you are blessed!! Best regards to you and your beautiful family!
Awesome, thanks! TH-cam is hard work. We've done hundreds of videos. Really apreciate nice comments like this! Please share our videos with your friends! Thx!!!
i love hearing stories like this, back to basics living and not relying on the system for essentials of survival. thanks for the vid! take care
Thanks!
Going on 10 plus years with an outdoor wood burner and the best wood saver was switching the pumps to on-demand. We use low voltage relays hooked to the thermostats to cycle the pumps on when they call for heat. You have a lot let heat loss through the ground. Cut out wood consumption in half. The only issue is the hot water leg doesn’t get constant heat depending on how much you are calling for heat. Still worth saving 7 extra cords of wood a year to me.
That is very interesting! I was going to say "but those pumps pull very little wattage" but your point on heat loss on the ground is really interesting- I can see that for sure. We have thermostatic valves in the furnace room to stop the water if < the 170 degrees and send it back BUT it still passes through the cold ground. I have to research this more! Thanks for the insight!
@@Homesteadhow my house has propane backup so if the fire does go out, the circulation of the water when calling for heat will keep it from freezing. But the heat loss through the ground is huge. We have the mylar wrapped pipes in the black tubes buried 4 ft deep but the snow would melt when above 0. Think how much heat loss that is. My home is very energy efficient and doesnt call for heat most days. My shop I only keep at 40 degrees unless I am working in it. My low voltage relays use 12VDC to actuate the 110VDC for the pumps. Should have that power right at your thermostat already.
@@68spc nice- I am looking into this more. I have the same issue- pex is in insulated pipes deep in the ground- but the snow melts above the pipe path.. so you are right a lot of heat loss that way
@@Homesteadhow yep, sales person lied. If I was going to reinstall one, I would seriously wrap the pipe in thermal blankets to stop the heat loss. Only other thing to watch for is the expansion and contraction of the PEX piping with the heat cycling. You already know how much they grow in length from cool to operating temp. With the on demand pumping, the pipes will move more depending on how much your pumps run. It's just something to keep an eye on so they dont chafe on something where it enters your home.
@@Homesteadhow not sure how long the pipe run is, but what if you justify the heat loss by putting a green house over top of it. Warm soil and grow all year?
If you could make yourself some "cordwood trailers" like a wood rack on wheels, you could haul them out and stack them full then park until wood dries then move next to the furnace
I like You’re concept. I see that u have no insulation on your pipes or if u do now but if u do it will save money/wood I have done it on my pipes and it Really works.
i agree
I just got the same setup as you and it’s definitely been worth the work
the boiler is a hungry beast, fun when Im younger now, wood pellet stove for less messing with eventually. Next up will be spray foam to keep heat in and in floor hydronic heating from the boiler, no more scorched air heat.
firewood processing machines are a blessing
Some of the hardest cutting trees are the oaks that were standing dead but are now on the ground. Petrified shit throws sparks from the chain.
Cutting your oak shouldn’t be a problem ....
Use a “Tungsten Carbide” chain !! You’ll find that’s much more suitable that the one you have and there’ll be no sparks.
Find out who sells these in your area beforehand, and make sure they have the sharpening equipment for Tungsten Chain Saw blades.
Best...
One solution to your wood storage and considering your easy access to standing trees is to girdle them in place to kill them, and then leave them standing there for a year or more. Saves a ton room.
You mean girdle? Curdle is what happens to milk when it turns into cottage cheese.
Crowley Large Curd. With Pineapple.
stan goodrich
Correct, my brain obviously was curdled while typing
My dad loved wood burning stoves. He had a pot belly wood burning stove in our cellar.
There is nothing like a great wood stove and cozy fire
@@Homesteadhow
Without a doubt.
Thanks for the effort to film this. It was beautiful to watch.
Thanks for saying that!
I let your adds play through to the end because I know the value of adds to a homsteader on TH-cam such as myself. Got some vacation time so I get to check out those channels i have been subbed to for quite some time, yours is one. I love your content and videography. I have been looking into one of these wood burners for my homestead and this info your providing is great. Thank you.
I really appreciate that comment! The video and editing work is a hobby for me- I love doing it- but it is a lot of work and it means a lot when someone appreciates it. Not to toot my own horn- but if you haven't seen our Green House Video-- consider checking it out. I think that was our best work /video/editing by far.. We also spent a ton of time on our latest video, A Day in the Life of a Homesteader. Thanks for your kind support!
My plumber built his home with a pizza oven centrally located in the home, it keeps his home warm, Smith River Northern Calif, a milder climate on the ocean.
That sounds wonderful! We love pizza here
Nice video man. I am glad to hear your perspective on this. I admit though, 10 cord a year for heat is nothing, especially for the square footage and water your heating. Up here (Northern Ontario) people would use 2-3 times that much, but hardwood is much more available and probably less expensive. I can buy a transport load of hardwood logs for around 2000 dollars and get around 40 cord. Al those other variables are similar, chainsaw, splitter, etc. Having the wood on your own property makes that cost much less, just costs the time! And wood heat is a trade off for time.
Interesting, thanks for sharing your perspective.
As a teen (50+ years ago) I split wood for a neighbor who heated a 3 story 5 bedroom house from a pot belly stove on bottom floor with less than 1 cord of wood a year.
NOT a hope in hell up here in Canada !
And he was cold all winter
We have been heating with an outdoor wood burner since 1992. At our first house we had a Taylor. When we moved we purchased a Central Boiler 6048. In WV, we feed it once a day but I picked up a splitter that will do up to 36" lengths. We cut ours 30". We avoid soft woods such as pine, poplar, aspen, buckeye, etc. I will sometimes use poplar though. Our house is a 2300 sq ft , two story house. After deer season I heat our 36x54 garage that has floor heat. For the first couple of days, you almost can't keep wood in the stove but once the garage gets up to temp, it doesn't take much to keep it up. We burn about 12 cords/year. The first year we lived where we do, we had a fairly cold winter and used over $2500 in propane, so we save that much on the house and heat the garage for free.
Nice , so you have the same unit as me! Have you had any issues /problems at all with it? For us, its a great solution and we are really enjoying the super warm heat this thing puts out
My boiler has been running for about 15 years, zero problems.
Keep all your wood big as possible to use less. Keep it dry!!!
Most I've used per year has been 5 cord. It was a sub 0 year. I start burning by October and stop 1st part of March.
I've never regretted the purchase!
I have a BlazeKing woodstove inside the house. Its a catalyst stove and is extremely efficient. Yeah I have to bring wood inside the house and it doesn't heat the water or anything like that, but it goes 24/7 from the first of November until about the first two weeks of April and the most I've used was 4 cords in one season. I usually go through about 3 - 3 1/2 cords. It wasn't our intent to make it our primary means of heat, but it does so well heating the house, it actually overrides the gas furnace. In my experience, I think these outdoor burners are more work than they are worth.
Nice!
I have a neighbor who had one installed about 4 years ago also. He has grown to HATE the thing. 10 cords is nothing for him to burn Oct thru April. He has gone thru 20 cords when the winter is especially bad. On the good side, he has become quite the sawyer, winch operator and log splitter. His wife on the other hand gives him constant grief over the possible one accident in cutting wood and it is then Game Over.
Sounds like your neighbor needs to remind his wife about the one possible grease fire in the kitchen!
Consider building a shed/shop to enclose your heater..... warm work shop along with dry wood. When you leave the house to fire the stove, you’ll be headed to a warm place to refuel.
That would be wonderful...on my wishlist
Around my area there are a lot of them but basically they are a roof that extends way out and only 3 walls and an open front. All the wood is stacked inside. If it rains or snows loading the wood is better under a roof.
Good video I've had a wood burner and part of me misses the fun of cutting wood, and the other part of me doesn't miss all of the headaches! Thanks man and good luck
Nice video
My name is Tim and I purchased my Central boiler in 2005 and I haven’t regretted it since. I have learned a few things through trial and error with my unit that has helped me burn less wood !
First of all the biggest saver is unplugging the blower in the door and just using the damper to bring the temp back up to set point. Another thing that I do is regulate the water temp in the furnace to correlate with the outside temp if we have a warmer day outside I lower the water temp Set point on the furnace even 10 degrees makes a big difference !
And like you never having to buy wood is a win win I have not regretted buying my unit not once and it has paid for itself I don’t know how many times over. I hope these tips help you a little with your wood consumption.
You sound like a power-user! Great tips. I want to explore these more especially correlating with outside temp- really smart! thx
You have a lot of cool toys. I'm jealous man lol. I burned wood for a few years in my last house. You don't realize how much time you waste until you don't have to do it anymore. Wood heat is the best heat but it requires much more work. It's a trade off
very true..
Owning one of those is like being a small dairy farmer. You have to tend to it morning and evening 🤷🏻♂️
I'm getting to old to be working that hard.
We have a Wilkening whole house wood burning fireplace in a two story house. Wilkening is out of Walker, MN. I agree, you're heating a lot of areas and its worthwile, but where you might improve is having a tractor and grapple to bring the logs close to the stove and cut/split them there and stack. Stacking might be a bummer, but it helps being organized. Only cut them as long as you can fit into the stove. I put Ironwood into the fireplace over night, it burns very slow, and still is full of embers in the morning.
Great comment I would love a tractor with a grapple. Plus I imagine it would be nice to grapple a long log- and then easily cut it (off the ground) and feed it into the stove. We haven't been able to process enough wood to have 10 cords drying out while we use this seasons plus we have mostly just pine here. We've considered getting some hardwood full trunks/rounds delivered to help us catchup. If we do that I plan to drop them as close to the stove as possible-- But a grapple would also be great for that purpose. Ill have to keep an eye out at the upcoming farm auctions.
@@HomesteadhowCheckout "Outdoors with the Morgans" vlog....they are really on the game with regards to firewood etc. Good luck.
Pine is all i burn in mine that is what works best but you have to have it dry just because you had that tree off the ground they still hold a lot of moisture
Wow!! I just saw your channel for the first time and the video I saw was on your carnivore diet, this is the second video I’ve seen and WOW!! You must feel so much better these days! I’m starting the carnivore diet soon bc I’m tired of feeling the way I do!
Good for you for being self sufficient. We heat with wood too and it is absolutely the best heat.
"Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice " said Henry Ford .
Quite a few years ago my family owned business was heated by a central boiler . 6000 sq ft for about 7-8 months of the year . Auto repair shop so the large doors were opened and closed a lot. The worst year we had as far as heating goes ( we have cold damp winters on the east coast of Canada) we went through 88 cord of wood and I cut, blocked and stacked every one of those cords. It was a full time job literally for 1 person just to keep the heat on ( I was in the best shape of my life) But an average year would use roughly 40-45 cord.and that trend continues to this day, however I have retired from the business to go on to other ventures . Oddly enough I really do miss the effort put into heating that place.
You sir are an animal th cut all of that! Well done.
We had one and went through would like crazy. We found that mixing dry wood and green would together made the pile last longer and heated just as good as all dry.
I don't understand why alot of people like burning dry wood or stacking it up to "season". Only time I see it mattering is during the lukewarm months where it's not really burning much and the green wood goes out. Other than I don't see a difference, I just cut it and burn it, does just fine for me. Lol.
@@nolankirkwood9655 Until you get a chimney fire. Yes, it burns, but is producing much less heat, and you're a fool to think otherwise.
@@barlow2976 I use a Hardy boiler and the chimney is a 3ft piece of stainless so no real threat of losing it to a fire. I've been burning wood for 15 years and haven't frozen to death yet so green wood is good enough.
I burn wood here in Canada too. One thing that I like about cutting my own wood is that I am preventing forest fires by cutting the dead wood around my house and and releasing that heat in a safe and controlled way to heat my house and make maple syrup too.
Forest fire management is no joke. As a bonous I save the logs that are nice and build with them
Very important and overlooked point. Thank you
That was very well explained.I also heat with wood and agree that it is a lot of work but it is a nice heat and you don't have to worry about going to a gym. It makes you strong and you spend a lot of time outside in winter. Sometimes I curse it but mostly I love it for all the reasons you pointed out.
Thank you for taking the time to share this useful information!
Ring your trees, they will die and dry while standing, you will be able to burn them.as soon as you cut them
JayUppercase why cut the poor trees
As long as you're selective. You're gonna want some solid wood too. Oak and beech and hold the heat and make the fire last.
@@KamranHaider Because you can't burn snow.
michmvp You are right, man 👍🙏
Cutting down dead standing trees is much more dangerous. Called widow makers for a reason.
You might want to place an additional layer of insulation on the outside of your water water. That way you prevent heat loss, water stays hotter longer. I would think it would have an effect on how much wood you burn in the long run.
the snow does not even melt for days on the stove
A backhoe with a thumb in the digging end makes handling wood much easier.
It sure would, but that's one of the cons of having this setup: the cost/maintenance/etc of other equipment used to process wood before it's burned. Yes, I'd love to have some of that equipment, though.
Have had mine for almost 20 years now - no regrets. I have cut wood all my life and as for finding the time if it's worth doing you find the time. There is a certain amount of pride I get when I'm done prepping my wood for the year and look over the pile. I only go thru about 6 cords a year but I only burn hardwood so that makes a big difference too.
Is it worth it? YES!! I installed my wood furnace right after 9/11. My kids were little (4 years old and 6 months old) and my concern was that a terrorist attack would next be on a refinery. My military friends said to me over an over again that it is not if something like 9/11 happens but when. I put my stove in to be proactive and have saved thousands of dollars in my energy bills. Now, my kids are grown and moved out, I am selling my house and the new owners can disconnect the unit or use it. Their choice. It served the purpose for my family during the time I had it. Keep up the great work you are doing here.
We used to get charged for under usage from our propane supplier because of burning wood lol, hard to beat wood when it’s -20 out and the house is 75
Very true=in fact that is my situation now! The heat is cranked-- not quite -20 but getting close
10 cords is a wild amount of wood, that alone is a no go for me. I'm on 80 acres of timberland and I still wouldn't be willing to run through ten cords. I have a water box setup for my stove, which doesnt really supply "on demand" hot water BUT if the power is out I do have it plumbed into the shower and sink as a backup. Works well enough for me.
Understandable- 10 cords isn't a lot for us-- our trees are growing like weeds here. I agree though it is a lot (and a lot of work) but I was shocked how many commented here saying 10 cords is NOTHING and they do 2-3x that!
@@Homesteadhow if someone is burning 30 cords of wood my suggestion to them would be to either put on a sweater or start burning your billfold.
I think you missed a "PRO" the ash mess stays outside. I know of 2 others that use those outside burners they use about 3+ times more wood than inside burning. I use between 1 and 2 128 sqf true cords here in North Carolina, using indoor cast iron boxwood vogelzang. About $500 for stove, 6' of stove pipe with two 90 degree angles, through the roof kit, 6' of double wall insulated stainless steel pipe. Today about $1k at least, for this barebones setup. Pays for itself the first year when you process the wood yourself, buying firewood would not be very cost effective. burning wood saves me about $1K every year, and the house is much warmer than 68 in fact most mornings the temp is in the mid 60's from hours of cold stove. As long as the doors are open all rooms warm up nicely "thermal siphon" is the process that occurs during heating using any unit that is well placed. That is why furnaces are located under the building and forced air will assist the thermal siphon process.
After year 4 I considered myself a master wood burner, rounds burn the slowest never split anything smaller than a coffee can. This year I am trying something new, I got a large load of wood chips to augment the firewood. The chips will smother the fire if too many at once are put in. When the right amount is used it slows the fire down while burning away sort of slowly... Best of all "PRO" with my indoor cast iron stove is I can "cook" on it.
I know nothing about this subject and just stumbled across this video. However, I found your presentation to be succinct and extremely informative. Great job.
Thank you for your kind words!
Thanks for sharing this, that set up will keep you in shape and on your feet!
Outdoor wood boiler for family of 5 = keeps only dude in house sane by allowing time to decompress!
Lol right
Get with a tree service. If you’re nice to them and they like you then they will drop off a crane truck full of hardwood upper logs and thick branches right next to your sheds. If you really like the logs slip ‘em a handful of tens to divvy up - I guarantee they’ll keep you in mind when good hardwood comes around.
And wear saw chaps. I learned the hard way. 🍖
Just subscribed.
good call. We are really considering this. The person who sold me the OWB had full hardwood logs dropped off and burned those all season.
Localcrew has the Best piece of advice you can get! Get a load of nice Ash or oak. Ash here in Western NY, where I live, is all dying from the ash boarer beetle. So the land owners are cutting it down and selling off to the Amish cabinet makers, and the rest to wood stoves. Better than letting it stand dead.
localcrew my buddy has this set up and he just uses Craig’s list to get wood. He has it set for people looking to have downed trees removed from their property. He has to have about 30 cords of wood at his house and hasn’t paid a dime for it. Granted we live in a pretty populated area so there is no end to people looking for tree removal.
I know of two companies here in RI all they do w as th the tress they take down is throw out the wood they are not in to spitting fire wood and always looking for a place to drop the wood
Google chip drop. It’s a service that connects tree companies with people looking for wood products, from logs to chips. You can select what you will accept and leave directions on where to dump.
Just a friendly tip: insulate the exposed copper pipes. That way you'll retain more heat and save on wood over time. Residual heat is a massive aide. It's, for example, the reason for why houses with a lot of furniture keep warm for longer; residual heat stored in the materials radiate slowly over time.
Another tip I have is that it may be worth installing a battery bank and get a thermoelectric generator so you can generate free electricity for LED lights off the free wood you're already using to heat your house. Perhaps for the Abnb?
everything needs to be well isolated! but i have also never seen people use fresh wood straight from the forest! normally you cut down the threes in the winter and make it to wood in the spring and let it dry over summer and use it next winter! that way it makes much better heat
@@Kungin456 i was thinking the same , burning fresh wood is super ineffective, the way he colets the wood as well is super ineffective , pulling the howl logs home for pressing is way faster then carrying one and one log to a trailer.
@@mareli82 exactly! he would save hours on taking home whole logs or maybe even days and much easier work when you can have a workstation made where you make the wood so you don’t have to work on the ground but have a crane or some rope thing made so you can lift the log on a table made of logs to cut it on! there is a lot of stuff he does wrong that he could improve
History lesson, everybody mocked Noah for building a boat. A wise man sees trouble far off and prepares for it. Even Boy Scouts preach "Be prepared". I wish life was smooth sailing with no storms. We ain't seen nothing yet, either. I heat with wood but it's dirty and carrying wood in the house, big hastle. I have been curious about outdoor wood furnaces for years and leaned in that direction for my house build. Really appreciated your vid. I'm convinced. Looks like you can load 4' lengths in that stove. Is your house on a slab with pex running thru it or???
I first seen these in British Columbia Canada and then in southern Illinois.
1. What I like about him is the large fire cavity..
2. The wood stays outside away from the house so there's no chance for bugs crawling in on warm days.
3. No smell of smoke or dust from the fire burner.
The pine burns fast might explain using 10 cords. But its lighter, easier splitting, and plentiful..
Very true...id burn only hardwood if I had it...instead I have almost all pine
no it will burn 10 cords even if it is nice oak wood, those stoves like it green and it still takes 10 cords of oak
I disagree, I burn all hard wood in my 6048 and my neighbor with his 6048 burns pine an soft wood (he gets it dropped off for free) I go through at least a 1/3rd less wood.
Tony D those stoves use a third more burning green. No fire likes green.
These last 2 comments are spot on about hardwood. Wet wood uses a third more wood. However, by not achieving thermal oxidation you never get the advantage of the latent heat of this process. Put a masonry heater in your home and you will be able to save time and money.
Just remember burning wood heats you 3 times, felling , splitting and carrying, finally burning!
If you girdle the tree, it stands on its root after it dies, so it stays out of the dirt. Then you can cut it down during the winter, with it already being DRY WOOD and no dirt, and no snow on top...
Well. It takes a couple of years to dry like that, but it’s the best wood ever.
There is a useful advice from my side on efficiently burning the wood in boiler is, use of forced air method i.e. narrowing the mouth of your chimney and using a fan or blower to push air into the combustion chamber to increase the pressure of air above the atmospheric pressure, this way you would get more heat by burning less wood and even wet wood will also burn in minutes.