Hello to everyone. I am in the market for an OWB, the more I look the more I get confused. Lol. I live in north central WV and have been researching CB, Heatmor, Portage and Main, and Heatmaster. There is a local CB dealer but I have left numerous messages for them to call me back with no replies. The other brands there aren't any dealers close (3 hours). Of the brands I listed above what are your thoughts and recommendations?
Not bashing any particular brand, but I personally refuse to do business with any dealer that can't take the time to respond to my inquiries.
What type and quality of wood do you plan to burn? It makes a big difference in what OWB will make you happy. The new gassifier boilers use less wood but need a better quality, meaning drier, while the older style conventionals use more but are less picky about quality. I like my older P&M for what I burn but I think to buy a similar one now it would need to be a coal model that will still burn wood.
I myself have the old style OWB, Heatmor. I have looked at the gassers,but never have been around one. I have had my since '07. I have only called him twice with a question,I have only got 4-5 blowers from him. I need to get some of that flat gaskets from him. Not bad in more than 10 years. :( Like I say dealer support is important,but there again,you should not need it too often either.
I have not priced them things lately. Last time I did I was shocked. I don't know if I could afford another one.
I will be burning 95% hardwood, mostly ash, I have 10 acres that has a lot of dead standing ash trees from the bug. I quit counting at 100. I understand gassers need less than 20% moisture which shouldn't be a problem except for maybe this winter, I may have to scrounge around to find enough for this year.
That dead ash will be a lot drier than you would think. Be DanG careful laying those down, they like to rain limbs and throw whole tops out.
Yes I know. I use an excavator and dig them out. It has a pretty long reach so not to awfully bad. Just shove gently.
Good - like you said - long reach, stay clear of the cab. I won't touch a dead ash without my buncher. Has FOPS / ROPS cab on it and now and then she has been struck - sitting inside a 48,000 lb machine that gets tossed like a Tonka toy sure will wake you up.
I've found that many CB dealers do it as a side business, and mixed with a busy time of the year now, it may take a day or two to get back. Also don't forget, maybe they are having some type of emergency etc. they're human too. Installation is key with any owb. The dealer not so much
W8AT
I can't speak for the brand's your asking about. Your in my age group. I installed a Garn 10 years ago now. Last winter it cracked and started leaking. Long story short by the time I got it back up and running this summer { I run year around for domestic water} I had spent another $3500 on the system. That money would buy a lot of propane. I burn between 15-20 cord a year that's a lot of work and time spent. When I installed mine and I did all the work other than the spray foam I spent $30,000 it was a big investment. I have got a pasture cleaned up by running the Garn but if I was doing it all over again I wouldn't as I get older doing that much wood is a pain and then you got to feed it. Just make sure before you buy anything your ready for the long haul. Buying the stove is the easy part. I do heat my house and shop with it.
I can understand a day or two and have no problems with that. But several weeks and 5 or 6 messages left I'm moving on.
Quote from: W8AT on October 06, 2019, 10:41:22 AM
I can understand a day or two and have no problems with that. But several weeks and 5 or 6 messages left I'm moving on.
I agree with you completely, first impressions are often correct.
Oh I didn't realize it was that much time. Yep time to move on. It seems that at different price points you would want to consider certain brands. Like closer to 10k is heatmor and central boiler whereas 5k there are different brands. Hedgerow is right, look at the long haul. Really think about how it will fit in your current-future lifestyle.
Oh and 3500 doesn't buy more than a years worth of propane in my neck of the woods. My price this year is 2.25 a gallon, and if not using wood, I would be good for almost 1600 gallons.
Quote from: woody_88 on October 06, 2019, 07:02:26 PM
Oh and 3500 doesn't buy more than a years worth of propane in my neck of the woods. My price this year is 2.25 a gallon, and if not using wood, I would be good for almost 1600 gallons.
I hadn't bought any propane in ten years until this year. My boil was down for three months this spring for repairs and my 500 gallon propane tank was getting a little low so I figured I better fill it. Price around here this spring was 80 cents a gallon cash price. Was very happy at that. I hope my boiler problems are behind me and I don't need any more propane for the next ten years.
80 cents a gallon is very affordable indeed, if not knowing the "warm" benefits of wood heating and be able to guarantee that price I would not even bother with wood. Yep I said it. My folks a few years back (probably more like 10 now) paid almost 4$ a gallon!!
Having it as a backup heat source is the cats meow.
OP- any luck on prospective boilers? I'm sure by now you have narrowed it down to a couple options.
At some point a responsive dealer 3 hours away is better than a local one who couldn't care less if you called.
I googled and found a Heatmor dealer in W.Va. ab856 Washingotn Pike. Wellsburg, WV 26070out a 100 miles from you. 856 Washingotn Pike. Wellsburg, WV 26070.
I have a Heatmor 400, and also a 200 on our farms. They were installed in 2002 and the only repairs have been blower motor (bought on internet) some door seals from the company (by mail) and an upgrade for firebox to burn more efficiently. I heat huge farmhouse and my shop (heated portion of the 48 by 88 is 32 by 48 with 16 ft ceiling. Winter temperature is at 75 degrees with in floor water heat. I burn lots of wood and use the dead ash, tree tops from timber stand s that were harvested and cleaning fence rows. The Heatmor works fine (no bottom to rust out and an auger cleanout and water cooled door. I am about 3 hours north and west of u in N. Central Ohio. Hollar if u have any questions.
I have a Heatmor 200 that has around 10 seasons on it. It is a very simple and trouble free unit. I don't ever see myself having the patience for a gasifier type unit. I'm not the perfect woodpile type. I burn a lot of junk wood. I sell my nice firewood and burn the scraps. My maintenance has consisted of turning the breaker on and off according to the season. I'm not suggesting anyone else do things the way I do, only making the point that the Heatmor doesn't require much attention to keep functioning as it should.
Quote from: barbender on October 26, 2019, 08:15:40 PM
I'm not suggesting anyone else do things the way I do, only making the point that the Heatmor doesn't require much attention to keep functioning as it should.
I run mine just about the same way.
Cleaning ::) ??? I have no idea what that is. I have had mine since 2007. Mine might have been down 2 weeks since I have owned it. One week we went on vacation,7-8 days. Than 2 days when I had to fix the clean out tube. So maybe really 10 days? I run mine for the hot water too. I burn alot of junk during the summer. Well I burn junk wood really all winter too. ;D
I may be wrong, but from my understanding the newer gasification burners will burn "junk" wood as long as its DRY junk wood. On the same hand, they like any DRY wood.
So yes you need be disciplined to maintain a dry pile. Otherwise it'll clog up fast with creosote
Quote from: W8AT on October 05, 2019, 11:37:38 AM
......There is a local CB dealer but I have left numerous messages for them to call me back with no replies.......
call CB, not the dealer. then mention that the dealer is not answering your calls. maybe CB will recommend a different dealer.
Thanks to everyone for the replies. I think I have decided to pull the trigger on a G200 Heatmaster. I like the gassers, keeping dry wood won't be a problem for me, I have down enough trees right now to last me for 7 or 8 years, and a bunch of Ash trees dead standing that will be easy picking after I burn up what I have down now.
Awesome, post some pictures when you get a chance.
X2 on the pics.
Heat master was next on my list if Central boiler didn't work out. Looks like a solid built unit and I had a hard time finding complaints online.
@woody_88 (http://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=44137) by junk wood I mean dead rotten wood. Some standing dead wood.Which can be on the wet side. Than if I find something on the ground,if I can haul it out of the woods,I burn it. I just found a few fir,some more than a foot, across on the ground. That was junk wood. ;D On the rotten side,but was in the way. I only have a 40 hp tractor and driving across something a foot across is not a great idea. Before I got the OWB I would push these fallen trees out of the way. Sometimes I would push them out of the way 2-3 times. :o That is one reason why I got the OWB. No more pushing the wood out of the way. I did have alot of dead white pine on my land. Been after it since 2007 and there is still more. I burn alot of dead fir in my OWB. I had my land logged and I am still picking up wood that they left behind.
I have a OWB that will take a 54 inch stick. Plenty of room to burn any wood that is crooked or no reason to cut the dead stubs off either.
...crystal clear on the definition of junk wood there cfarm. The old style boilers def work best for you. There is a level of "carefree" that I find attractive with those, as opposed to the newer gassers
Quote from: E Yoder on October 29, 2019, 05:13:31 AMAwesome, post some pictures when you get a chance.
Will do Eldon, been controlled chaos here for the past week, I'll try to take some and post em tomorrow.
Late to this thread but I have been the (mostly) happy owner of a Heatmaster G200 for the past three years. I just fired it up for the season a couple weeks ago. There have been some minor issues, notably I've had to replace two blower fans and the heat shield and insulation in the lower (gasification chamber) door. Fans are off the shelf parts, the OEM was Fasco but they were garbage so I upgraded to a Dayton at half the cost. It required very minor modifications to fit the boiler but it's pretty bulletproof. The heat shield was either 12- or 14-gauge stainless, and it warped so bad I couldn't seal the door. I had a local shop bend me a new shield out of 1/8" 304SS sheet, and it should hold up.
So, sorry about the bad stuff, but the good stuff is that I had owned a Central Boiler 5648 for about ten years, and it ate anything I could get through the door, but it ate a LOT. I installed the G200 and dropped my wood consumption in half. I'd also been burning 24/7/365 for twelve years, with both units, for heat and hot water. This spring (2019) I put in a Bradford-White AeroTherm hybrid heat-pump water heater, and was able to let my boiler be idle since May. I've since plumbed in a flat-plate exchanger and a flow switch into the old zone, so anytime there's a call for DHW, the circulator pump kicks on. As long as the G200 is running, I have nearly unlimited 100°F water coming into the tank. I could literally take a shower for days if someone were to keep feeding the boiler.
I will say you made a very good choice and you should be happy with your new OWB. If I had to do it again, I would be considering the G200 again, and also the Crown Royal line of boilers.