Looking for your opinion

Need a new furnace at my parents place.
How much more upkeep are there for the gasification boilers vs the old ones?
Does it makes more sense putting a wood stove in there house vs a boiler? I’m around there most of the day. Thanks for your ideas.

 

I believe a wood stove would be more efficient than a boiler.
The new hybrids are a lot like a gasifier.

You say furnace and boiler. which do you have now?

 

There is a furnace in the house now but will need replacing soon.

 

What is their age? Can they handle a wood burner? Nice to turn a knob on the wall for some people.

 

I don't think there is a lot more upkeep...maybe shake the turbulators once a day...if it has them...the better ones make that a 10 second job though. Replace the nozzle once every 5 years or so...overall a lot less work than making 3 times as much wood for an old school boiler.
Is there a good spot in the house for a stove?
How about an indoor wood furnace? (assuming the house has an existing forced air duct system?)

 

It would be myself or my kids taking care of the boiler or stove. Long term one of my kids will end up living there.

 

There isnt a very good spot for a wood stove without some extra work on the house to make a stove work. Long term might be the best option if I wouldn’t have to do a lot of remodeling.
There is existing duct work. I don’t know anything about indoor furnace.
Just was thinking about putting money towards something that doesn’t require a gas truck driving in the yard.

 

Why not replace the old furnace with a new furnace?

 

That makes the most sense in a way. I just have enough wood on the property to make use of burning wood and not lp.

 

How big of a place is it?
Or maybe a better question would be how much LP do they use?

 

I have a 9 year old gasification OWB and absolutely love it. The first year I cleaned it every 2 weeks as suggested. This takes roughly 20-30 minutes depending on how detailed I got. I now clean it 4-5 times the whole winter and it takes me 30-40 minutes. The reason I don’t clean it as much now a days is because I’m not worried about losing a little bit of efficiency. I know in the long run I save a ton of time processing wood in much larger chunks and not having to bring it inside.

 

Have to ask what brand of Owb do you have and any negatives?

 

Drolet makes a wood furnace that looks fairly good.I am building new this summer and was considering one but will opt for a Polar gasser unit and intend to install it in my garage so ether myself or wife can fill it without going into cold & wind

 

Thanks for the input

 

Roughly 1800 to 2000 sq ft and 1500 gallons of lp. They like it warm.

 

Are you happy with the brand of stove? I have an older owb and it’s nice not having to split everything down n smaller splits. How big of a split can you put in a gasification boiler? I know they say you have to split them some.

 

I have had a central boiler owb for 20 years. Anyone know if there gasification boilers are any good?

 

Yeah the Tundra II would heat OPs house fine normally, but the larger Heatpro would maybe be a better choice in light of the HO's love of a warm house...normally 4-5 cords per year will do the trick with one of these furnaces. The only thing is you would have to buy one before the end of May when the new EPA regs take place...Drolet will probably have a new compliant model by then (so I've heard) but you know what they say about buying first year stuff. There is always the Kuuma Vaporfire too... the cadillac of wood furnaces...little more money too.

I don't think CB enjoys the market share that they once did...others have caught up to them and surpassed them...their newer stuff might be fine, but that is not the name that I see people mention much when they are bragging on their new OWB...

 

It’s Portage and Main. It’s the only one I’ve ever owned so I have nothing to compare it to but I absolutely love it! No complaints

 

I’m very happy with it. The only issue was the aqua stat went last year (year 8) so I don’t think that’s bad at all. I throw some big stuff in there. Most of what gets burned are uglies left over from producing 100+ cords of sellable firewood each year. I have thrown in a lot of big ugly knots and crotches and it eats it all. I have also thrown in sweet gum rounds that barely fit in the door and packed small splits around it and they burn up. That’s not ideal but it sure beats splitting that miserable stuff.