Outdoor Wood Furnace

[stormy]

Am thinking of buying an outdoor burner.Any advice on the best way to go? I have forced air heat now,would it heat a old drafty farm house? I have plenty of free hard wood. thanks Stormy

[Pat]

Points to ponder:

1. Any heat source that can satisfy your heat losses at the delta T desired and ambient temp experienced will do the job.

2. A sufficient supply of FREE hardwood is a definite reason to consider wood heat.

3. A reason to consider hydronic heat follows:

Heat loss is from the following sources: Conduction, radiation, and convection. In useful terms as regards residential comfort heating you must consider the R-value of your walls, U-value of your windows, infiltration (leaky...draftiness.)

You have stated that the subject residence is drafty. You will reduce the size/cost of the mechanical equipment required if you can reduce the infiltration. Caulk, chink, or otherwise seal it up. This will reduce your heating requirement. Even with free fuel, the more heat required the bigger and costlier the heating equipment. Increased insulation is the same story. Insulation priorities are: 1. Ceililng, 2. walls, and 3. floors (or slab edges if slab on grade.

Radiant heat heats the objects (like the furniture and YOU) rather than heating the air. If you have enough radiant heat you can be comfortable outdoors on a frigid day.

Radiant heat is more efficient in a drafty situation. Radiant heat doesn't try to rise up to the ceiling leaving your feet and legs cold. Radiant heat is not all carried away by air leaks.

There are radiant heating systems that use remote wood burning furnaces. They aren't free but would make good use of your free fuel. Some have backup fuel capability like oil or gas which can be convenient under some circumstances. You'd get your domestic hot water heated by the same system so you would get free fuel for water heating in the heating season.

For sound advice you might want to chat with some of the experts hanging out on the web site for the Radiant Panel Association. http://www.radiantpanelassociation.org

With free fuel to help amortize the mechanical system cost I think wood fired hydronic heat is a match for your situation.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[stormy]

Pat Thank You For the sound advice -Stormy