what Out Door Wood Furnace do you use

[DDW_OR]

each person gets 5 votes, and they can change their own 5 votes.

also post what you like and dislike about your OWF

[DDW_OR]

CB 750 Edge, old style

Pros, it works

Cons, Cleaning the heat exchanger. have to crawl into the firebox, remove 2 metal plates, then scrape the heat exchanger.
removing air channels, without breaking the bolts.

[thecfarm]

I have a Heatmor,the old style.Reason I bought it,it's simple. No switches,no solinodes,no digital readout,nothing. I have the one that will take a 54 inch stick. Small stuff,4 inches and under goes in at whatever lenght,but get up to 6 inches and it's kinda hard to throw a 54 inch stick in. This unit has 2 blowers to drive oxygen into the firebox. It will smother the fire out in an off cycle. I can and do burn dead cedar in it. The smoke goes towards the front of the OWB than into a 4" X 8" tube that goes the full lenght of the firebox and exits out the top. This tube does require cleaning every so often. Ashes can be augered out of the bottom. I have only shut this down maybe 2 weeks in the 11 years that I have owned it. I heat my hot water with it. Not saying that is the thing to do,but I burn a lot of small stuff during the summer months. I did have to repair where I auger the ashes out. I think that is all the trouble I have had with it,beside normal wear parts,like blowers.

[gspren]

  I have a Portage & Main conventional OWB for 13+ years, during the first 6 years I kept it going from early fall till late spring without a shutdown, no antifreeze but now that we are both retired and have a vacation home in another state I changed to antifreeze and shut it down for a week+ at a time nearly every month. Now that I've been through a bunch of cold weather stop/start cycles I have a fast easy system, the house will maintain on oil so I can close a valve and throw a switch for that part, for the stove itself I like to have plenty of coals and charred wood in there when I throw the switch to shut it off and then using a long handled pitch fork I put a metal bucket on the stack, it will smother out. When I get home I remove the bucket and put a diesel soaked corn cob in the front of the charred wood and light it then leaving the door open I walk to the back and throw the switch to turn it back on, when the draft blower starts I close the door. when the water gets to temp turn the house stuff back on. Took longer to type it than to do it.  

[dave_dj1]

Heatmor 200css here and love it.
I put down "other - oil" in the poll as I have an oil fired furnace for back up heat. 
It seems to be very efficient and keeps my house cozy
My only regret is that I need to learn how to not split my wood so fine. 
I've got it on 12 hr cycles .

[J 5]

    Empyre 450 , great furnace... in  my opinion, wish they still made them . So now I keep my eyes open for used ones in stainless, we have picked up 2 in the last year. Both got a face lift and are kept for backups.
                     J 5

[TKehl]

Bryan outdoor furnace that is forced air, not a boiler.  My parents got 25 years from the first one replacing only door gaskets, one blower, and redid the firebrick once.  Only pulled it out as they got a great deal on a much newer used one, so they could use the old one in the garage.

My Bryan was well used when I got it.  I've used it 5 years replacing only door gaskets.  (Need to find better glue.)

Still have 4 votes left...  I guess I could put one on corrosion inhibitor as the shell of the stove is galvanized.  

The first one was $3,800 installed (in 1992), but included installing ducting in the house that originally just had baseboard electric.  Haven't paid over $1k for the other two.    Cheap heat is still available, you just have to feed it in the middle of the night.  

[E Yoder]

Heatmaster GS100
The most efficient unit I've run, and I've burned about 10 different models over the years. It's a basic no frills gasser, but I love it.

[petefrom bearswamp]

2005 central boiler here
Not super efficient but does the job.
one small leak easily fixed by my local welder. 
I put antifreeze that my dealer recommended in back in about 2007 but didnt know it was alcohol based.
It boiled away in a hurry.
I hadnt  paid the guy for it yet so I didnt ever pay him. 
He squawked but I stuck to my guns. 

[LAZERDAN]

Need to add Wood Master !

[DDW_OR]

Need to add Wood Master !

done.
there are MANY brands of OWF out there. i tried to stick with the most popular

[hedgerow]

I have a Garn 2000 just in the tenth year with it. Its been ok. Year nine last Dec it started leaking. Shut it down May thru Aug for repairs. Factory weld had failed. Spent close to $3,000 on it by the time we got up and running again. I run it year around as I heat my domestic water with it. Wouldn't ever buy another one. The factory was no help. 

[Rebarb]

CB 5036 in it's 7th year, have yet to replace a single item, not even a door gasket....it's a very simple unit.

Cons: eats about 8 cords per winter but I have endless supply of Oak.

Mice love getting in it.

[VTwoodworker]

I am on my second year with a Portage and Main EGR 250 and I only have great things to say.  It replaced a Central Boiler that I had for 7 years.  The EGR 250 is much easier to maintain and uses about 30% less wood to heat my buildings.

[Wudman]

I have an Englander Forced Air Furnace.  It is designed to sit in the basement, but I put it in a small building outside and ducted the heat into my basement.

Pros.  It works well.  It is very simple.  The stove itself was under a thousand bucks and it has about a thousand dollars in double wall stainless steel chimney....so it was fairly cost effective on the front end.

Cons.  I wish the fire box was about twice as big.  I am heating an un-insulated basement (poured concrete walls) and you need to fire it every 2-3 hours to maintain 70+ temps.  The house is much more comfortable when the basement is warm.  I'll insulate and finish the basement when time and funds allow.

Overall I am quite happy with it.

Here is a link to my install.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=104380.msg1622870#msg1622870

Wudman

[jerry sundberg]

I like the Garn a lot 10 years we've had it. Saved us 6 cord of wood the first year over the Heatmor we had. A couple of draw backs though, any repair parts are very expensive and we can't get enough air to burn hot while using lesser grade of wood. I have to crack the door open about a 1/4" to burn real hot ( 500* ) stack temp.

[hedgerow]

I like the Garn a lot 10 years we've had it. Saved us 6 cord of wood the first year over the Heatmor we had. A couple of draw backs though, any repair parts are very expensive and we can't get enough air to burn hot while using lesser grade of wood. I have to crack the door open about a 1/4" to burn real hot ( 500* ) stack temp.

Their times when the moisture in the air is just right I have the same problem the first hour of a full load burn even burning hedge or locust. They are proud of there parts and when the factory weld cracked last winter after nine years they were no help even with giving some discounts on parts like gaskets and such. They like to blow off how long they last but are not helpful when you had problems. I had a fair amount of corrosion that never showed up on the water samples and the water always looked good. I had about a foot of weld fail in the front were the burning chamber was welded on. I did add a hot water filter to mine we will see if this helps. The new ones come with it.  

[Logging logginglogging]

CB 750 Edge, old style

Pros, it works

Cons, Cleaning the heat exchanger. have to crawl into the firebox, remove 2 metal plates, then scrape the heat exchanger.
removing air channels, without breaking the bolts.

I only need to remove those plates and channels once a year, do you do it every time u clean it?

[DDW_OR]

once a year, still a pain reaching to the back, and prying the plates loose then sliding up and taking off.
thinking of welding handles onto the plates. handles would be oriented vertical

[armechanic]

Installed a Hardy furnace in 2005, replace draft motor one time, figured out to remove it every year and lube the bushings.  One circulating pump last year.  Fill it with wood two times per day (it is a little small) shovel ashes once a week and enjoy a warm house the rest of the time.