home made out door wood burner?

[nightshade]

okay so my Hubby is an hvac guy he does geothermal for a living but since we have an overwhelming amount of fire wood from all the clear cutting we unfortunately had to do at the new farm he has come up with this idea he is going to build a home made wood burner. I have not asked for plans in detail cause frankly it worries me when he comes up with theses ideas that the guys at work egg him on with. HE has a nasty habit of not finishing things when he starts them.... like my chicken coop which lays in huge wall sections on the ground a month after he ensemble them.

But from the bits and pieces I have manage to get out of him he is planning some type of shed with a regular wood burner inside. Piping it to the house. Thermostat in the shed set to a certain temp when it reaches it blower kicks on forcing the hot air to the house duct. Some sort of insulation in the shed and fire proofing, not much detail given there.

Please tell me there is a better way .

Has anyone out there built a working out door wood burner?

I wanted to just use my old cook stove I inherited from my grandmother in the addition we are putting on next summer. But that would not help us this winter and when it was mentioned to the insurance company they weren't very happy about the idea.

 

[SKR8PN]

For the cost of a new one that has a guarantee, I don't think I'd fool with building one if I were your husband.

http://www.adoos.ca/post/5672284/outdoor_wood_burner_use_30_less_wood

 

[miss_thenorth]

My bil built one. It was a terrible eyesore, but his was mobile, so in the summer he carted it out to the back 40. I really didn't pay to much attention to his though, but I do know he was somehow heating water, as he installed old radiators in the house. their house is an old DRAFTY farmhouse, and after he got the thing working--every room in the house was toasty. It did drop their gas heat bill to practically nothing. And their wood was free too.

the only benefit to his ugzilla was that since they are a farm, they spent alot of time outside, and this way you could just go sit in the ug shack to warm up, as opposed to going in the house.

 

[jessejames]

my FIL owned a wood stove solar panel business while i was growing up. the only separate from the house wood burner that have any efficiency use water in one way or another. though i have seen many home made versions using old rads from boiler systems. these stoves furnaces are still not really efficient and produce lots of smoke if not being run properly the basic principal being that the fire box is jacketed in a layer of water that then goes into a pressure tank and to your rads. so if fire is not blazing hot all the time water cools down fire gets smokey and burns poorly wasting much energy.
i gotta say i just dont see how a forced air wood stove/furnace would work with any kind of efficiency.
there are many cheap used woodstove out there that are in great shape. check with wood stove stores for almost every stove they install they take one out and alot of the time they just get sold for srap (right now pennys a #) and a professional instalation should be well under 1000 which will pay itself off in two winters easily especially if you have any sort of supply of free hard wood.
my girlfriend and i burned pallets we collected around victoria BC for 2 winters to heat or apartment with a wood stove i installed.
hope this helps
btw there is no reason that your DH couldnt instal woodstove himself if hes a hvac guy anyway
as always
j

 

[Blackbird]

You burned pallets?!

Well, I suppose if it came down to it..

 

[justusnak]

Pallets!?? Wow, im sure it took quite a few! That pine burns fast. We have been given about 20 ricks of firewood this year...free for the taking...seasoned. Unfortunately..VERY seasoned, and lots of Poplar. It will burn fast...however, we only went through 12 ricks last year, of fairly decent wood...so with this being "well seasoned" and lots of "soft woods" we just might go through it all! Depending on the weather. I saw a wooly worm the other day...it was ALL ORANGE! Figures, we get LOTS of wood, and we will have a warm winter! LOL

 

[jessejames]

only hard wood pallets i was a poor hippie teen
if my GF was pissed at me and wood was low she was sure to put on a piece of PT before she went to work if i was sleepin to give me the msg
WE NEED MORE WOOD

 

[sylvie]

We have an outdoor wood burning water heater. In essence it is a boiler. It is Amish made, cast iron with a gauge, looks like a 55 gallon barrel on it's side. It works great and keeps the heat for quite a bit. We hook a hose to the intake and a hose to the outtake.
It isn't connected permanently to the house, only for outages so we can have hot showers and wash dishes. Got it from Lehman's for Y2K.
I'd like to run radiant heat lines under the floor in one room and connect it to run in winter. Maybe use it for a steam sauna.
Not the same as what you are asking, but it is simple and kinda homemade.

As far as using yours, your insurance company may want to weigh in on the subject.

 

[nightshade]

Yea I am pushing him to just buy one he would only have to buy the actual furnace. He could get all the other parts through work at cost and put it in himself with would still be a large savings $. I hate to say it but I don't think his idea would work ad if it did it would eat though our fire wood supply quickly because it you would have problems with it keep the temp you want. When I tell him my concerns he just gets bitchy and say I don't have any faith in him.

Personally I think I am just gonna put it off and when we get the addition on next spring my grandmother's 100yr wood coal combination cook stove goes out there weather the insurance company likes it or not. That stove is important to me for sentimental reasons and even if I only use it during our common power outages it will be in my home.

I am getting really tired of getting a place to call ours and even hubby is giving me a hard time about me getting anything (right down to the color of the dinning room walls) my way.

 

[dragonlaurel]

okay so my Hubby is an hvac guy he does geothermal for a living but since we have an overwhelming amount of fire wood from all the clear cutting we unfortunately had to do at the new farm he has come up with this idea he is going to build a home made wood burner. I have not asked for plans in detail cause frankly it worries me when he comes up with theses ideas that the guys at work egg him on with. HE has a nasty habit of not finishing things when he starts them.... like my chicken coop which lays in huge wall sections on the ground a month after he ensemble them.

But from the bits and pieces I have manage to get out of him he is planning some type of shed with a regular wood burner inside. Piping it to the house. Thermostat in the shed set to a certain temp when it reaches it blower kicks on forcing the hot air to the house duct. Some sort of insulation in the shed and fire proofing, not much detail given there.

Please tell me there is a better way .

Has anyone out there built a working out door wood burner?

I wanted to just use my old cook stove I inherited from my grandmother in the addition we are putting on next summer. But that would not help us this winter and when it was mentioned to the insurance company they weren't very happy about the idea.

Hello,
I remembered an old Mother Earth article on building an outdoor furnace. It actually sounded really good. It may help keep the peace also by telling your hubby a good way to do it and reassuring you. Check it out at:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yoursef/1977-01-01/Beat-High-Energy-Costs.aspx?page=3
Good luck!