My most recent eBay purchase...

[SteelHorseHD]

OKay... So I have been changing my mind a lot on how I should heat my 1600 sq ft shop. I have a Mr. Heater 75k out there right now and it is sucking down the propane and most likely wont keep up once it gets really cold here in Illinois. I got a free wood stove to put inside of it but didn't feel like paying $350 for the exhaust pipe. While I was looking around on eBay I came across this... It's a two year old Hardy H2 outdoor wood burner. Apparently the wood pile next to the unit caught on fire and melted all of the electrical components on the back of the burner. The water pump still works and the firebox and tank aren't damaged. I priced most of the parts online like the aquastat, blower, solenoids etc. and I beleive I can get this thing up and running again for about $300. I'll probaly hook it up to the house and would like to hook it up to the garage too if it would handle it. Does anyone else have a stove like this? The house is 1500 sq ft. and the shop is 1600. A lot of the other units would be able to heat both but the website says that this one is only 120,000 BTU's. If it won't heat both than I would be fine with just heating the house with it. Here are some pics. Oh, and I only paid $420 for it!

 

[930dreamer]

I don't know anything about outdoor wood burner, so keep us informed with you progress. Hope you come out ok on the parts.

 

[SteelHorseHD]

I don't know anything about outdoor wood burner, so keep us informed with you progress. Hope you come out ok on the parts.

Will do! I am driving to Indiana tomorrow to pick it up (about a 3 hour drive) and then I'm busy all weekend. I'll hopefully get to start working on it next week and get it hooked up soon so I won't have to buy any more propane this year!

 

[SteelHorseHD]

Well I went an picked up the stove on Friday. I ended up buying 83 ft of pipe for $130. I went through and looked at all of the parts that will need replaced and for everything it will only be about $300 so I'm pretty happy about that. I have 40% left in my propane tank so I hope to have this thing hooked up by the first of next month. I will post more pics of the install, etc. when I start that process. Here are some better pics.

 

[chickenhauler]

I used a h2 to heat my old house that was around 2400 sq ft. It had no problems. When it got real cold, I'd add a little coal to it to extend my burn times.

 

[SteelHorseHD]

I used a h2 to heat my old house that was around 2400 sq ft. It had no problems. When it got real cold, I'd add a little coal to it to extend my burn times.

I have heard of people doing that before. I hope I can get decent burn times by just adding larger logs.

 

[Bigrhamr]

If you don't already know it here's a great resource for anything that burns wood:

http://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewforum/21/

So what are you hooking it to? Infloor heat, heat exchangers, radiators?

 

[SteelHorseHD]

If you don't already know it here's a great resource for anything that burns wood:

http://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewforum/21/

So what are you hooking it to? Infloor heat, heat exchangers, radiators?

Thanks! I am on a forum called www.outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com that usally has a lot of info on it but I will definately check that out! I will be hooking it up to a heat exchanger in the house. I will have to put it in the cold air return because of space limitations in my plenum. When I had the electric heat pump installed it took up all of the room. I think it will still work pretty good.

 

[SteelHorseHD]

Got everything hooked up last weekend!! Built a fire in it and it's been doing great so far! I have been collecting wood for a few years now because I have wanted one of these for about 3 years. I am not sure if what I have will get me through the winter but I'm going to start adding to the pile this weekend. I haven't burried the pipe yet but I think I will wait until spring. Here are a few pictures of the set up. All together I only have about $1200 in the entire system. It will probably pay for itself this winter.

 

[Skyline]

Do you run antifreeze in the heat exchanger? I think this outdoor furnace is a very cool idea.

 

[SteelHorseHD]

Do you run antifreeze in the heat exchanger? I think this outdoor furnace is a very cool idea.

No I don't. From what I have read it is very expensive to add and actually decreases the heat tranfer effeciancy of the water by up to 13%. I'm not worried about the pipes freezing either as if will always have a fire in it and if I'm not home the heat off of my propane furnace will keep the water above the freezing point. Once the pipe is burried and I insulate the pipe inside of the house it will be much more efficient but as of now I have had 12 hour burn times by just throwing in 8 pieces of wood about the size of what is sitting next to the stove. They claim that this unit can heat 4000 sq ft. My house is 1500 and my shop is 1600 but the shop won't be hooked up to it until next year. It is sure doing a good job of heating my house though

 

[Bigrhamr]

Looking good!

It's my understanding that the buried lines can be a major source of heat loss and many of the insulated pipes have a lot of problems such as getting moisture inside the insulation and becoming ineffective. That hearth.com site has a good writeup on that too.

 

[Skyline]

No I don't. From what I have read it is very expensive to add and actually decreases the heat tranfer effeciancy of the water by up to 13%. I'm not worried about the pipes freezing either as if will always have a fire in it and if I'm not home the heat off of my propane furnace will keep the water above the freezing point. Once the pipe is burried and I insulate the pipe inside of the house it will be much more efficient but as of now I have had 12 hour burn times by just throwing in 8 pieces of wood about the size of what is sitting next to the stove. They claim that this unit can heat 4000 sq ft. My house is 1500 and my shop is 1600 but the shop won't be hooked up to it until next year. It is sure doing a good job of heating my house though

So your propane furnace is plumbed through the same heat exchanger? And that same water flows outside to the outdoor furnace??? I guess the outdoor circulation pump would have to run 24/7???

 

[SteelHorseHD]

I installed the heat exchanger in the picture above in the cold air return on my furnace. The thermostat is set up to only turn on the blower. Yes, my pump runs 24/7. You can hook them up to only come on when the house calls for heat but the wiring was simplified by just plugging it in. I have heard that pumps like that do not like the continuos on/off operation. Some people say they have had the same pump for 10+ years and it runs constantly. The entire unit only pulls 2.5 amps so it's not really costing much to operate 24/7. I am very pleased so far with how well it performs. I think if I wanted to keep my house at 80 it would be able to keep up. Im
Not really sure yet what my wood consumption will be yet. I might need to start adding a few more pieces because the fire was out tonight when I got home. It will be a lot of work but will definatly be worth it when the propane guy drives by and I can smile at wave!

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Looks like you will be spending the summer building a wood shed and a shed for the boiler (I would want it covered up somewhat).

Charles

 

[SteelHorseHD]

Looks like you will be spending the summer building a wood shed and a shed for the boiler (I would want it covered up somewhat).

Charles

Yes, that is the plan. The tarps are a pain to deal with. I'm not sure if I will cover the stove up or not.