Wood Burner Value

Hoping someone can offer some input on the value of the pictured indoor Wood Burner.

I know nothing about them and any help would be appreciated.

I know nothing about wood burners either, but I can tell you was a cord of wood 4x4x8 is going to run you.

I would be interested to hear more about it. For starters what does it say on the door? Is it fire brick lined? Does it appear to be cast iron or is it steel? Cast iron would make the value higher, steel would make the value less because steel has carbon in it which causes the steel to burn through faster. What are the valves on it for? One looks like a pressure valve like what is found on top of a hot water heater. Anyway more information would be helpful.

It says “The Furnace Works” and it was made in Babbitt Minnesota.

I have no idea if it’s cast iron or steel. Not sure how I would tell. The valves are water pressure valves as it’s hooked to a water heat system.

A quick search for it turned up this info. This page goes on to direct you to this PDF file about the stove. The firebox is made of steel and the door is made of cast iron. Since the fire box seems to be encased in water it may last longer. The PDF goes on to say that the boiler has a 5 year warranty. They were made in the late 70s and early 80s. Hopefully with this information someone might be able to make a more educated guess to the value of it.

It is interesting looking. Good luck with it…

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I know nothing about wood burners either, but I can tell you was a cord of wood 4x4x8 is going to run you.

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Thats funny right there!!

Blue, I used to weld and work in the welding/fabricating field. The picture looks like a quality firebox instead of (tinny) or under built. If its a boiler setup and it looks like it is or the water valve and pressure gauge wouldn’t be there, then its a very btu effecient way to heat a house or building and eco friendly way too. Burning wood just replaces the carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere that it took to grow the wood, from what the wood burning internet sites say. If this boiler works or can be made to work again and you can get your hands on it plus the registers and and are thinking of putting it in your house, thats a good decesion btu wise.

A boiler works by heating water and circulaing it throught the registers and then back to the boiler via a water pump. It takes a little longer to heat the water but once the waters warm and is circulated back to the boiler, it takes longer to cool down. The good thing about this boiler is its wood fired and if you have a decent source of wood, trees, pallets, crateing lumber you can save money heating this way. We have a boiler in our house and in talking to the neighbors and comparing heating bills ours is a cheaper way to heat our house. The downside to a boiler is theres no air circulating through the house like on a forced air furnace system that has an air filter, boilers don’t and furnaces do, to keep the dust down in the house. If you also have a forced air furnace and are thinking about putting in this boiler thats a good decesion when it comes to money savings. Even if you just put it in the basement, with the registers to heat just the basement, its a cheaper way to heat it plus the floors. Beings heat rises it will warm the first floor and you’ll use your furnace less, maybe just at night when everyones asleep, then you can put wood in the boiler during the day.

This is what im doing in my house right now. I’m putting in a forced air furnace to use during the night and in summer for central air plus the benifits of filtered air to keep the dust down, then useing the wood burner for dayrime use and when were not sleeping. A wood fired boiler is a very money friendly way to heat.

Why not put a heat exchanger in your current system and use your boiler with your current system?

Wood is cheaper??
Maybe, maybe not.

All depends on what your time is worth to you and what other alternative heat sources cost.

Considering chain saws, splitters, fuel for both the saws and truck if you go get your wood, time to split, time to remove ash, time to de bug the house of critters from the wood, time to load the stove, keep track of it, added cost to humidify the house after the wood heat removes it, etc, wood may not be the cheapest way to go.

We have a older Night Watch stove in the basement and hated with it for maybe 10-12 years, but we haven’t used it for years, for us, it just wasn’t worth it with Nat gas being so cheap.

If I was looking for the wood stove to heat my house I think I’d look for a larger one and maybe a bit more eficency, kinda depends on what you want it to do I guess.

Al

Then there are some that like the nostalgia of a wood stove. Bring back childhood memories and the smells that go along with them.

…and the warm fuzzy feeling of cutting, splitting and drying of your own wood fuel.

I love gas heat.

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Then there are some that like the nostalgia of a wood stove. Bring back childhood memories and the smells that go along with them.

…and the warm fuzzy feeling of cutting, splitting and drying of your own wood fuel.

I love gas heat.

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I thought it was neat at first too…then I got older and realized sitting around drinking beer and watching the queens was more fun…

Al

I would guess $50 to $100 bucks Tom. IF the thing leaks I would bet it would be like trying to repair a leaking water heater. Just not worth it. Average life of a water heater tank is about 12 years. I would bet that boiler takes a greater beating than a water heater.

Maybe you can find out the wall thickness Tom and see how thick it was new online. Take a 2 pound pallpeen hammer and pound on the inside steel wall and see if its thick enough. A dozen good solid hits will tell you how thick the walls are, if it dosen’t leave much of a dent or none then the steels ok. Hit it good and in diffrent spots, if theres not much left the hammer will tell you. Not a problem here guys when it comes to wood. A friend of mine used to own the biggest tree sevice here in town. He now rents his building to guy who owns the next biggest tree service and has 20 semi’s of wood on the ground from last year. All I have to do is pull up, split it, load it and make a trip across town to unload it. In two weekends I can split enough for the whole winter and spend about 25$ on gas for the saw 15$ for a new chain if I need it and maybe that amount for my 1 ton for gas.

Its a good alternative if you even use it off and on to suppliment the gas bill. Last year I heated my house with wood and my gas bill for the waterheater, gas stove and drier was $35 a month, all winter. I do like splitting wood and loading the stove all winter and theres nothing like coming in from the cold outside and standing by the woodstove to get warm quick, its upstairs and I cook on it too. If I had to really search for wood and it was hard to get, that would be a pain and I”d probably burn gas. I’ve been burning wood for about 5 years now and I like it, it keeps my body active and halfway in decent shape for a 59 year old guy, its a good place to dry my gloves and whatevers wet too. I know its not for everybody but I like working the splitter too, the wife likes it too, especially the wheelbarrow with no front wheel.

I’m getting ready to rebuild my splitter and I’m going to put a lift on the side to lift those 300 pounders instead of quartering them first so I can get those on the splitting rail. All I’ll have to do is roll the pieces on, pull the hyd. valve and it raises then rolls it onto the bed. I’m putting two off tables to hold the halves and quarters so I don’t have to bend over and pick them up off the ground as I split. I’ve got my eye on a 12′ elevator that I can lean up against the racks on my bed by the splitter and as I split I can just drop them on the elevator bed and it loads them into the truck, it ways about 60 pounds so thats not going to be hard to handle and its powered by a weed trimmer motor with a 50 to 1 gearbox. When I get that a friend and I can split and load my truck with about 3 cords in about 4 hrs. I use about 8 cords all winter, hell I like making stovewood and with the right setup its going to be even more fun and enjoyable. I know its not for everybody but if a guys got a decent supply of wood to me its worth it to put some money aside for something else plus I figure the works good for me, at my age it keeps my joints from freezing up.

mossydan, I liked your take on wood and the work. I also like to heat with wood and if you have a supply like you have it saves alot of money

I have a nice supply of Oak here on my 6 acres in the Walker area by Leech. I heat my garage with wood and Im thinking of putting a wood burner in my home to supplement my in floor heat.

My wood is free just my labor and I also like working outdoors. Now I just need to get the stove in the house more work.

Tom, Im not sure of the value of that stove I have infloor heat but its electric, and I do like it an outside wood boiler would be nice.

I think if you can get it to work for you and you can buy it right and have free wood would be a good deal.

Make an offer and see if he likes it, maybe a lower offer

Blue:

Are you trying to buy it or get rid of it???

Based on the info that 56 was able to garner, the first thing I would not consider it if you’re thinking about buying it or junk it if you are trying to get rid of it. All appliances of that type need to be UL tested for clearances to combustibles and the like. another item would be insurance… no testing , it has to adhere to stricter guidelines for installation, etc. After 1990, you may be able to get something for it or have to pay a little bit more for it. Any specific questions, I would be happy to help you with a pm…

The above points made by Mossy and Bob are great points in favor of wood, I heat with wood and my gas bills are very similar to Mossy’s and I own a fireplace store and just want to make sure you are not putting yourself into liability position without knowing that side of the discussion.

Mark

Right Mark. I reread what you first said Blue about the valve. The valve behind the temperature gauge is a standard blow off pressure valve like they have on a water heater and is on the feed side of the water pipe. In other words the hot water coming from the boiler goes through the valve and the pipe that its attached too, then to the registers. The temperature gauge is also a standard temp. Gauge. Water heaters run at below the boiling point so the blowoff valve dosen’t dicharge hot steam. Theres no need for a temperature gauge tha shows as high as 400 degrees when water blows off through the valve at 212. It may read higher and if it does this temp. gauge is a standard all application gauge used in alot of diffrent applications, its not a big deal because all your concerned about is the boiling point. Its up to you to find that common medium of the amount of wood to put in and set the damper at so steam isn’t produced, all you want it to do is make hot water below the boiling point. Its not hard to do just get in and try it just like any wood stove, just watch what the water temp is and if its getting close to the boiling point just close the damper down. If your asking about the whole water boiler setup in General is why I answered the way I did. Here in town the building dept. is willing to work with a guy so he can set up what he wants. The fireplace issue having to do with insurance here in town is; if the building dept. passes it the insurance will cover it. They will work with you and tell you what design will work and what won’t, they help people with these questions everyday. If you can get that boiler and registers and install it yourself for under $500 on the high side, buy it. Too me any alternative heat source besides Natural or propane gas is worth it. The way I feel I’m getting reemed by all the utility companies anyway so what the hel-, if I lived closer I’d help ya Blue.