Your opinion on a outdoor wood furnace please.

My uncle built his own wood boiler and used an old truck rad and fan to heat his shop.

He simply built a stand for the rad, mounted a shaft with the fan on it behind the rad, mounted a belt pully to the shaft and used a small electric motor to drive the fan via the belt.

Probably not the most efficient set up but it was cheaper than buying a premade unit.

BTW, I laughed when you said "get my wood for free". Is any wood actually free? You probably own a chainsaw plus there's your time to cut and split. But I know what you mean, time is free, oil is not!

Talk to ya later.

I own a Hardy wood burner and was wondering why antifreeze could not be used. I use it all winter long but was under the impression when I bought it I could charge the system in antifreeze instead of water. I love the heat and it is very efficient. The unit has a fan in the fire box that turns on when the house needs heat. When the house doesn"t need heat the fan turns off and the fire just smolders. Thus the Hardy wood burner uses less wood. I had a standard woodburner that use to be in the basement and used much more wood then the Hardy uses. It"s amazing to look out the window and see six inches of snow on top of the Hardy while smoke is pouring out of the smoke stack. They are insulated well and you never have to clean the smoke stack or worry about fires. I love mine and if you have one it"s a great wood burner to have. However, the unit does use an A coil similar to an airconditioner and piping. If you don"t have these items the start up cost will be alittle pricey. The only thing better is a good corn burner. My body is starting to feel the effects of many years of cutting and chopping wood. If you don"t wnat it let someone know and sell it. I"m looking for another one to heat my new shop building.

He'll either need the water-to-air heat exchanger, or some form of water radiation - in floor ($$$), radient tubes, radiators, etc.

--->Paul