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I had a Taylor outdoor wood furnace for about 8 years, connected by underground pipes to forced air heat exchangers under the house. It had a 750 gallon water jacket and took 36" logs. It heated our 2800 s/f house very nicely, and required only that the creosote be cleaned out once a month, and an additive put in the water once a year. I did have to replace water from time to time, due to evaporation, but a sight glass let me know what it needed. Age (mine), plus a decreasing amount of easily available wood around the house led me to start having a logger deliver a tri-axel load once a year, and eventually (again, because of my habit of cutting the wood but not splitting it if I could lift it) led me to hire someone to do the cutting and splitting. Eventually that got old, too, and I replaced the stove with an oil stove (high efficiency), hooked up to the same water lines, and fitted it and a 500 gallon tank into an isulated 6x10 building. Works well, but I miss the woodburner. Sold it for half what I paid (about $3200 delivered). And then the latest fuel crisis and I'm wishing I had kept it and set it up as the main source, with the oil burner as back-up. It is good technology, Taylor or Hicks are the makers of choice around here (Virginia mountains), and they do need to be sized to your heating area. Expect to to routine maintenance, and remember that they still need electricity to operate (as well as a water source and the wood). I would not recommend a dual fuel type, based on experience of others I know who have tried them. The burner for a gas or oil will get fouled unless it is completely separate from the wood buring firebox. Hope this helps. By the way, it has gotten as low as -36 degrees here in winter, and the stove still only needed wood twice a day. Usually once a day below 20 degrees, once every other day up to about 36, and so on.
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