Wood, pellets even corn - you can burn them all in an
outdoor furnace and use the heat to save you money on electricity, gas
or oil.
Money to burn? If so, you won't need an outdoor wood burning furnace!
Got Trees? An Outdoor Wood Furnace Will Cut Your Energy Bills
Down To Size by :
Sam Streubel
If you live in a suburban or rural area near a source of cheap wood,
you could heat your home for the entire season for the cost of one
month’s electric heat bill. An outdoor furnace requires less tending,
eliminates respiratory problems caused by burning wood indoors, and
keeps the wood burning mess outside.
There are a surprising number of outdoor furnace manufacturers with a
wide range of styles and designs to accommodate different heating
capacities and fuel sources. Some of these furnaces have the capacity
(500k Btu) for commercial applications.
Burns Best makes a corn or wood pellet version. Taylor Waterstoves has a
multi-fuel model that burns coal or wood. Hardy Manufacturing makes an
all stainless steel furnace with a built in hot water exchanger.
One of the selling points of an outdoor furnace is the convenience of
locating it near the wood fuel source. Since the water heated by the
furnace is pumped to your home through insulated, underground piping,
the furnace can be set up as close as 2 feet, or as much as 500 feet
from your house.
All outdoor furnaces are designed to work with any existing heating
system and can be thermostatically controlled. If you have a forced air
system, you can use the existing duct work but you will need to install
a water-to-air heat exchanger in your furnace. Your furnace is still
available as a back up.
If you already have radiant floor heating, you would connect the
underground feed from the outdoor furnace to the existing circulating
pump.
For radiant baseboard heat, you can connect the piping directly to an
existing boiler or install a water-to-water heat exchanger. By adding
the water-to-water exchanger, you receive the added benefit of free hot
water while the existing furnace functions as back up.
An outdoor boiler can even be used to heat your swimming pool, driveway,
work shop, greenhouse, or multiple buildings.
The firebox designs vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, but all are
constructed from stainless or carbon steel. Although each manufacturer
claims to be using a grade of stainless steel superior to the
competition, they all agree that heat transfer efficiency is almost 3
times better with 16 gauge stainless steel than with 3/8" carbon steel.
An all stainless steel firebox also resists rusting and burnout that
occur in standard carbon steel.
Some fire boxes are large enough to accommodate a 30” diameter by 72”
log. The problem I would have is getting a log that size into the
firebox. Normally, outdoor furnaces are loaded twice a day. Burn times
per load vary from 12 to 96 hours depending on what you’re heating, the
outside temperature and how well your house is insulated.
One trait all outdoor furnaces have in common is versatility. What ever
your heating needs are or the type of fuel you burn, it’s possible to
design a system for any heating scheme you can imagine.
About the author
Alternative-Heating-Info.com offers a
unique look into geothermal heating and cooling, radiant heating, solar
heating systems and pellet burning stoves.
Source: www.articlecube.com