FAQS

It is a safe and efficient way to heat your home with wood or/and coal. The outdoor wood furnace is designed to look like an attractive outside storage building and is normally installed outside, away from the home or building being heated.

Having an outdoor furnace totally eliminates smoke, pollution, bugs and wood debris within the house. A water jacket surrounds the huge furnace firebox and the heat is transferred from the wood fire to the water.

The outdoor wood furnace removes fire hazards from your home or building because the fire is outside!

An outdoor wood furnace also helps your indoor air quality and can alleviate respiratory and allergy problems caused by burning wood indoors. No more dark sooty walls and bugs either!

Thermostatic control provides your home with even, steady heat.

The house will be less drafty when heating with the outside wood furnace, because there is no combustion taking place inside, drawing in cold outside air to replace that used in combustion.

A water jacket surrounds the furnace firebox and heat exchanger, and heated water is circulated to the home or building through insulated underground pipes -- an efficient way to move heat over distances. Most outdoor wood furnaces are designed to work with any existing heating system. Water-to-air or water-to-water heat exchangers or direct circulation conveys the heat into the structure's forced-air furnace, boiler or radiant floor heating system. This allows you normal thermostatic control.

The heated water is pumped to the home or building through insulated underground pipes (Pex pipe). A water-to-air heat exchanger (like a small radiator) or a water-to-water heat exchanger conveys the heat into the home's forced-air furnace, boiler, or radiant floor heating system.

Your thermostat controls the temperature just like in a conventional system. You get safe, even, comfortable heat.

It can also supply potable hot water to your hot water heater to provide domestic hot water. This allows for normal thermostatic control so you don't get scalding water.

Yes, more than 80% of all of our installations are connected to existing forced air heating systems.

A heat exchanger (much like a heater core in a car) is mounted in the ductwork. When the fan blows air through the heat exchanger, you get heat!

Yes!!! Depending on which system you choose, the water will either circulate potable hot water in a closed system, between the outside furnace and the hot water heater or an additional heat exchanger is installed at your hot water tank. This keeps the hot water refreshed, hot and ready to go at all times.

Yes, many outdoor wood furnace customers heat their pool and/or spa. You can put wood in the furnace every 3 days or more in the summer. I guess this is where many manufacturers get the outlandish claims of 72 - 96 hours burn time!

Remember that smoke output will be greater in the summer due to the smoldering fire, so plan accordingly.

One of the many advantages of the outdoor wood furnace is the ability to heat multiple buildings from one location. Simply add a pump and Pex line to your location and you will have an additional heated area or building. Most outdoor wood furnaces have additional heat zones. Plus, you can special order a furnace with additional heat zones!

Many people with electric baseboard heat elect to install radiant floor heat between the floor joists or Hydronic baseboard heaters on the wall.

Radiant heat installed under new or existing floors can be a great way to heat your home because there are no drafts and the floors (and your feet) are toasty warm! Radiant floor heat is the most efficient way to transfer heat, however, it is important that you design the system correctly. This is also expensive but pays for itself with warm tootsies!

Many people with electric baseboard heaters opt for this method.

Our outdoor wood furnaces are non-pressurized. They are atmospheric vented, which means they are totally safe and never build up pressure.

Our outdoor wood furnaces are non-pressurized systems which totally eliminates the possibility of an explosion.

Yes, in one of two ways. It's best to use a water-to-water heat exchanger so that the heat can be transferred from the water in one system other.

You can connect it directly to the existing system by depressurizing it but we don't advise it.

We put wood in our furnace before 7 AM and again around 10 PM. So 2 times a day. Don't believe exaggerated claims of 72-96 hours! This just isn't possible - except in the summer, heating only water and a pool, hot tub or spa.

The size of your house, outdoor temperatures and the size of the house will determine how much wood you use and how often you fill the furnace along with whether you heat hot water.

A BTU is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit.

That means that if the normal water temperature is 60 degrees F and it needs to be raised to 180 degrees, that it will take 163,200 BTU to do this. Remember that a pound of water is about 16 ounces. A gallon of water is approx 8 lb.

Yes, it is delivered to you ready to install.

The life of your furnace depends upon proper maintenance. With proper maintenance your furnace will give you many years of dependable service.

Unscrupulous dealers will tell you that the sole purpose of antifreeze is to keep the furnace from freezing up. Not true; the main reason is rust prevention. Rust is the enemy in the outdoor furnace business.

Antifreeze is generally not needed as it takes a very long time to freeze 170+ gallons of water and there is plenty of expansion room in the top of the tanks anyway.

There are several other alternatives to prevent freezing and at a far less cost. An in-line electric heater can be installed on the return line and set at just above the freezing mark as an extra safeguard.

Even better, you can also simply leave the pump running if you go on vacation and it will extract heat from the furnace keeping the water warm. The pump only uses 110W, about the same as a light bulb.

Antifreeze is an excellent rust inhibitor but it does have a disadvantage. It is designed to keep engines cooler. When used in an outdoor furnace, it has been stated that it takes 18 percent more firewood to heat the water/antifreeze mixture than to heat plain water.

It is not recommended to use the antifreeze in your systems. Each outdoor furnace has guidelines for proper chemical balances and explains the water testing procedures.

The units are very well insulated to avoid heat loss. In fact icicles could form on the outside of the siding in the winter due to the insulation in the roof. That means that the heat is being kept inside!

We recommend that the outdoor wood furnace be within 75 feet and no more than 150 feet of the house. If you plan to go further, the pump should be upgraded and you may need additional insulation for the PEX lines.

The furnace can be 10 feet from the house according to most insurance companies but the chimney must go to the ridgeline of the home.

Installing your outdoor wood furnace is easier than you might think. Many customers choose to install their own furnace because the installation can be easily completed using the installation manual. We have all the supplies and accessories you need for installation and maintenance.

We carry a full line of parts needed for your installation. We are able to supply you with water to air heat exchangers, water to water heat exchangers, pumps, pre-made PEX line with and without electric lines, PEX pipe to build your own line and much more.

Total prices will vary depending on the shipping location but our prices start at $4,477 picked up at our facility.

According to the University of Nebraska, "Wood burning stoves may not only save people money on their heating bills this winter, but also are a clean alternative to electric or gas furnaces," Adams said.

Scott Josiah, state forester with the Nebraska Forest Service at UNL, said "There also are environmental benefits to using wood heat. Wood heat produces little pollution and is environmentally friendly, especially when wood is used in a high-efficiency wood burning stove and where firewood is a readily available resource."

Stainless steel may last longer than mild steel in an outdoor furnace, but not all stainless is a "forever" product. There are many grades and some of them are subject to rusting and corrosion. Automobile exhaust systems are made from one of the lower grades; they resist high temperatures but totally corrode.

Most outdoor furnace manufacturers went to stainless steel to get in on the stainless quality image, but since it's expensive many of them went to a low-cost, cheap-grade stainless - which is still subject to rust and corrosion! During the manufacturing and welding process for stainless steel, if the proper quantity and blend of corrosion-resistant and stabilizing elements are used, then it does indeed become a "forever" product. These elements optimize weldability without the need for post-weld annealing to restore ductility, formability, toughness and corrosion resistance.

If you do purchase one of the lower grade stainless steel furnaces, be sure that the same model made in steel has a proven track record of corrosion resistance. The furnace design is every bit as important as the material that it's made from.

A wood heating system is the right choice for the increasing number of consumers who are concerned about our environment. Wood is a totally renewable resource, which, when burned, results in no net carbon dioxide increase. Carbon dioxide is a part of the natural plant-growth cycle and occurs naturally when trees are allowed to rot on the forest floor.

On the other hand, fossil fuels release carbon dioxide when burned which otherwise would stay trapped in the earth. This causes a net increase in carbon dioxide, which is believed to be responsible for the heat-trapping "greenhouse effect." So when heating with wood versus fossil fuels, you actually achieve a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

In addition, harvesting firewood has a pruning effect on forests, which allows net growth to flourish. The wood you burn likely comes from your local area -- it's not imported and not subject to price increases due to events outside your control, as is the case with oil.

Many times the owners have land with fallen trees spread throughout abundantly.