Outdoor Wood Furnaces

Years ago when all this fun PEX became the "g...

2012-02-22T14:56:57.041-08:00

Years ago when all this fun PEX became the "greatest thing since beer goggles" for the masses, it was debunked or unheard of that this piping was oblivious to these problems.

Well, truth be told, this product does have issues with this sort of rodent issue along with guys who pull this stuff through holes or graze upon nails or HVAC sharp ductwork edges and cold air return panning.

That causes the outside of the piping to get skinned or gouged during installation that can possibly lead to other issues over time.

And on top of that, having to hide this piping from the sun, covering up the piping in basements where indirect UV rays can slowly break the piping down.

Sure is a lot of conditioning for something that proves to be new age process....doncha think?

great suggestion, I am looking for the infor of Ou...

2012-01-31T17:32:49.902-08:00

great suggestion, I am looking for the infor of Outdoor Wood Furnace, thanks for your advice.

by chimney pipe.

Finding the right place to install your outdoor wood furnace can be a real hassle at first, but it's an important step to getting your home prepared for your new alternative heating setup. This is a great article to help get you started.

Thanks for the great post. A lot of people don'...

2011-11-16T07:05:53.174-08:00

Thanks for the great post. A lot of people don't even realize they need a certain quality of piping for their outdoor wood furnace needs. When installing a wood boiler, it's important to plan ahead of time. Of course it's worth the effort. :)

Thank you for the helpful post. When I bought my <...

2011-11-16T06:57:46.817-08:00

Thank you for the helpful post. When I bought my outdoor wood furnace last year, it took me a bit of practice to get things down pat. Now that I have, everything runs perfectly. I've been saving so much money year after year.

2011-08-17T06:56:59.911-07:00

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2011-08-08T03:56:22.538-07:00

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When we go away for more than a weekend, we rely o...

2011-04-01T08:20:45.289-07:00

When we go away for more than a weekend, we rely on propane as a "backup" and keep the house heated to 50 degrees. With the pump circulating the water through the house, we haven't had any problem with the water freezing!

Thanks Don, for the link, it was helpful. I'm...

2011-02-09T17:22:24.108-08:00

Thanks Don, for the link, it was helpful. I'm sure we'll be able to spread the ash on our 13 acres!

http://blog.hawkenenergy.com/2010/04/best-manageme...

2011-02-08T08:29:21.221-08:00

http://blog.hawkenenergy.com/2010/04/best-management-practices-for-wood-ash.html

Patti, Thanks for your comment. The article titled Best Management Practices for Wood Ash gives great advice for using the ash (I tried to paste the link above, copy and paste it into your browser address bar if the link isn't active). If you don't have a garden or someplace to spread it on your property can could maybe haul it to a dump.

This was a very helpful post. I'm following B...

2011-02-06T08:30:47.951-08:00

This was a very helpful post. I'm following Bob's procedures and find the wood burns longer and I don't feel like I'm "fighting" the loading process (I'm a 50-something, 5'2" woman). Question: what about ash disposal? Once it is cool what to do with it? Thanks!

First Year Learning Curve with the HE-2100 We had ...

2010-12-02T08:55:26.081-08:00

First Year Learning Curve with the HE-2100
We had a cold winter last year by our northern Pennsylvania standards, so I felt lucky having installed the HE-2100 just prior to the heating season. Although I did have a few problems which took until the beginning of this year’s heating season to rectify. Admittedly, the 2100 always heated my 4,200 sq/ft house and I never ran out of domestic hot water, but I was filling it four times a day and shoveling out the ashes with charcoal briquette sized unburnt wood twice a week. It was extremely frustrating to have to fill it at 11:00PM and get out by 5:00 AM to keep the house warm. This year it’s a different story. I easily get 12-hour burns using less wood and only two shovels of ash a day. I also went through 11-cords on a well-insulated house.
The process I’ve been using this heating season works very well--so here’s a few tips.
Problem 1
. Before I got the HE-2100, everybody was telling me how great they worked and that “those boilers” would burn logs no matter the size and/or type. So I cut all my logs 24” in length (the max for the hydraulic splitter) and split 18”-24” diameter logs only in half. (I use only seasoned Red & White Oak and Hickory for burning.) While indeed, there’s no problem with the Hawken burning these logs, there IS a problem with getting enough of them stacked toward the rear of the burn box. This year, I cut about half my wood very short (about 12”-16” split small) and split most of the long pieces into a narrower width. This allows for much easier loading and more wood due to it being lighter and thus easier stacking —even my wife can do it. With the short pieces, I can get two rows of wood in the firebox for those extra cold nights. The long narrow split pieces are easy to load onto the top and the sides of the burn pile—as you should load as much as possible at 12-hour intervals. Resist loading wood between your load times as this only makes things harder at load time. I used to do this when working outside figuring it would help. It doesn’t. I’ll explain why below.

Problem 2
Another thing I didn’t do my first year was to rake the burning coals forward when refilling. Not pulling the hot coals forward is what caused the briquette-sized unburnt wood of the first year. Admittedly, had I followed the Owner’s Manual a little more closely regarding the ash pull, I may not even be writing this. Still, it’s so important I would like to see an ash-pulling tool be included with the initial purchase and a little more instruction from the dealer. Right now I use a narrow steel rake. A six-foot long metal pull rake with an an arc-shaped edge would be super.
“The refill process” – When I open the door after 12-hours, all that’s left burning are the red hot coals. I first shovel out the front 12-inches as this has mostly turned to ash by now. The coals closest to the fan burn very hot and turn to dust—thus raking forward on each load gives you more heat efficiency by leaving no unburnt wood. I then rake to the front all the coals from the rear of the firebox, leaving at least 18-inches of the firebox floor exposed. By giving yourself this added space, it ensures a fully-loaded firebox using the various-sized wood process as explained above. Maybe I did things totally wrong last year and was my own worst enemy, but I’m happy I finally have this down to a science.

I agree. I even priced one of these bobcat attach...

2010-06-18T11:25:00.549-07:00

I agree. I even priced one of these bobcat attachments. I don't even own a bobcat, I was just that impressed. I think the steel wheel video above is sarcastic.

Pretty fast, but rather slow compared to this: htt...

2010-06-18T10:56:21.260-07:00

Pretty fast, but rather slow compared to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te3FBhdqgK8&feature=related