outdoor boilers and heating barn

[RockyToggRanch]

I'm contimplating getting an outdoor wood furnace. I know nothing about them, but have been told that I could use my exsisting hot water baseboard radiator system, which currently has 3 zones. It's fuel oil. I was also told that I could run a line to the garage and another to the barn.

Does anyone have any input on these setups? Any experience (good or bad) that I should be aware of? Any companies better than others?

I have 60 acres of forest, so wood is plentiful.

What about heating a barn? Where would I start? I wouldn't want it on all the time. I like to leave the stall doors open to the paddock so the horses come and go as they please. Would I have to worry about pipes freezing?

I'm in upstate NY. Who do you reccomend?

 

[cparian]

We recently moved into to a home that is a total rehab situation. We had to replace the entire heating system. At our last home we had an indoor unit attached to the furnace. We purchased a outdoor unit for the new house from a dealer/friend that was going out of business at a huge discount (Yay) Our unit is from Central Boiler & is the Classic 5648. Their website is Centralboiler.com . Just this summer we ran the lines from the house to the unit which sits about 100 ft away. (I believe you can place the unit up to 300 ft away. ) The water lines in the crawl space were ran this fall. Our heating system is forced air/Propane but my BF also ran a pipe for baseboard heating in the garage for the dogs. We have been using it for 2 months now & are loving it. We have 3 furnaces & it only sends the hot water to the unit that needs it when it is called for by the thermostat. We got our propane tank filled last winter & have only used 30% of the tank. Our highest electric bill was $200 to heat a 4,000 sq ft house. You can also attach this to your hot water heater, radiant in floor heat, & swimming pool! My BF did most of the installation himself without any expirience & help from a friend in the HVAC industry.

Luckily he owns a towing company & could lift it to attach the pipes in the bottom. After watching all the things he had to do & listening to all the cursing, I would suggest professional installation if you don't have the professional guidance/equiptment he had.

 

[RockyToggRanch]

Cool! Thanks for the pictures and info. Yeah..I'd need a pro install. We are definately not capable of that. I'll have to check out that website.

How often do you need to fill the woodstove? How long does it burn? Are there different sizes? Wow..4000 sf home? mines 2700 and I thought that was big! (especially dusting it.)

I have a woodstove in the house, but hate the hourly feeding all night long. But it's too expensive to run the boiler all the time.

Did you have to run the lines below freeze level?

 

[cparian]

We only fill once a day as compared to our woodstove furnace add on in our old house which we filled 2-4 times a day. This one burns all day but we have the temp set at 180 degrees. We have a friend with a larger unit who burns it all year (to heat his pool water) & in the summer he sets the temp gage way down & only fills once a week & it still has hot coals in it at the end of the week. There are I believe 5 different sizes of the type we bought. The initial price of the unit & accessories is made up in saving on heating expense within the first two years. We ran the water lines from the unit to the house 15 inches below the surface but have an uncle with one & he chose to run below the freeze line. My advise is to really think about everything you currently want to do with it & what you might want in the future. We don't currently have it attached to our hot water heater or pool but ran lines anyway to have if we do eventually decide to use it. It is easier to intially install the pipes for what you want than to go back & have to add things. He also ran a special valve for draining the system directly into a drain in the crawl space making it easier to do if ever needed. He thought about everything he wanted for about 6 months before he ever started the plumbing part.
I agree, dusting is a chore along with everything else regarding cleaning a house this big, but we lucked out finding this place & the price we got it for so whenever I get worn out I realize how lucky I am & turn up the radio & just do it.