Best ourdoor wood furnace for shop?

Im considering an outdoor wood furnace for a new construction of a shop? Looking at the Central Boiler, but don't know much about them. Sounds good, but my question is how often do you have to feed these? What is the best method of heat transfer. I am considering a heat exchanger with a fan behind it hanging from the ceiling. Hydroponic heating sounds neat but just way too involved for me by pouring that in the concrete? Anyone use one and what should I look out for? They look like they have an app that you can connect to your phone when the furnace needs more wood. That sounds neat? Opinions please.

I have a central boiler,heat my house (3 stories 5500sq/ft) and my hot water. I fire once a day unless its real cold then throw a piece or 2 in before work. I also heat my inground pool with it in the spring and fall. For water heating I use small water to water heat exchanger and for heat I have coils in my duct work for my central air and in the basement I have an old cast radiator for looks as well as it heat. My dad has a hardy(got it 25 years ago when I left for collage and he hated to carry wood in the house)to heat his house and shop. In the shop he made an air handler out of an old chilled water coil and a blower. The radiant floor heat would be the way to go if its a new construction.

I have a Hardy that I put in service in 1998. I'd get another Hardy if this one failed, but I know nothing of the other brands. It's like other purchases - you need a good established dealer.

I usually check my Hardy twice a day. It likes me to poke it to settle the fire together. Cold weather it will need wood added night and morning. 40 degree weather, once a day is usually fine, depending on the species of wood of course. Summertime I add wood about once a week.

For a heat exchanger, I have a coil in my furnace plenum. A guy I worked with used an old truck radiator with a fan behind it in his shop.

Floor heating is super nice, but you can't turn the thermostat down at night then quickly bring it back up in the morning. My son has it, and I can't describe how nice it is to work under something with that heat in the floor.

What to look out for? Some of them require chemicals for rust prevention. That's why I chose the Hardy - at that time it was the only boiler from a reputable local dealer that did not need chemicals. I'm not implying the chemicals are bad, I just didn't want to fool with them.

Dad and I have a Woodmaster He has had his for about 18 years and I have had mine since 2004 so about 13 years. Get the next size bigger than you think you need. Easier to keep the heat up in and will require less tending. I have about 1500-2000 Square feet old farm house no insulation and use one that is supposed to heat 10,000 sq feet It has the second set up to mount the pump to heat an alternate building if you wanted. I have forced air heat already in the house so used that with a heat exchanger in above the old oil furnace then use the same fan for this with a separate thermostat for heat. I could just start the oil up if I needed to go away for a few days to keep things from freezing in the house. I have not used it since I put in the wood furnace.
I put in a hoist to lift the big blocks in since I can put up to almost 5 foot long stick in. The door is 27x27 inches. 12 inches by 4 foot is pretty heavy to control without knocking your fire apart. Also works good for the wife to use when I am not there to do it.

The central boiler is a good unit. remote family has a couple and like them. One is a self draft that does not have a fan on it from what my brother tells me. They have had that for several years I guess.
Insulation will be your friend for wood consumption.

I know a guy built a new house in SD that put the in floor lines for heat. I don't know if I would go that route. Have know of problems with leaking lines causing problems. My brother had that in a hose and was always coming home to a leaking copper line. Was an older house with an oil furnace.

Coal stoker water boiler with a set of lines also to the house . Low cost three season heat .

Have used a Hardy for 16 years with excellent results. Have in floor heat in my main shop and wouldn?t have anything else. Some have said that in floor has slow recovery with the big door is opened, but that is not the case. Recovers in a matter of minutes even when I drive my 1-ton truck in. Nice to have a warm and dry floor. Wood shop is heated with two radiators I salvaged from an old school. With good dry oak, I check the boiler every second day. Burning aspen now and it is a twice a day job. Brother has a central and it is a good unit.

What ever you do put in Radiant Floor Heat in your new shop. That is the best way to go bar none. In the winter time when you work on equipment you can just lay on the floor and be warm.

Remember they use a lot of wood and most of them make a lot of smoke. Other than that most aren?t finicky. Keep the water treated in the unpressurized ones.

how much area and how much heat do you plan on using. We have a Central Boiler 6048 (or something close to that)...what ever the biggest model they offered that you didn't need a poured foundation for before emissions regulation took over.

We are at the limit of it(if heating more, we'd the next model up or second unit), heating shop house and a small portion of the greenhouse. We fire ours about twice a day when temps run upper 20's to 40's.can get by with once for over the 40ish degree (F) day. but if it gets much colder or we burn to much fast wood (say 2xs and boards) then we have to 3 or 4 times a day.

We have just a single radiator(heat exchanger) with fan in the shop. Doesn't work the best, holds 50(F) most of the time till gets below 30 outside then it has a hard time keeping up.

Saw something on "This Old House" the other week, about radiant(water in floor)system that had snap panels for the vapor barrier, insulation and tube chase all in one. just get everything set and pour the cement right over.
TOH Sea39 Epi 7

I have never heated mine, but I think the Pex and insulation was right at a grand for a 40X60 floor.

First question is do you have a close neighbor? Say, 300 to 500 feet from you, if you do, he will hate you because you will smoke them out. I know, I am one of those neighbors that get smoked out. They started it to early in the fall and keep it burning into May because they heat their water with it to.
He replaced it last year with another one just like he had. I was hoping that he would have got one of those new kind where the stove doesn't hardly smoke at all, but he said they were to expensive. If he would raise the chimney on the stove maybe that would help. I told several times that I was going to come over with a five gallon bucket of water to put it out. It is not a neighbor friendly device. I know one person that bought them new kind because he was smoking his neighbor out.

I have a 3600 square foot house and just built a 40x60 shop and purchased a central boiler forge 3500 it?s 350k btu an hour can run wood or coal in it. House is set at 75 degrees and haven?t used propane or heat pump at all this year burning mostly coal with a few pieces of wood tossed in on it filling it twice a day with cold temps this week. Shop will be set up with radiator and fan set up. From my research unless you are making a living in your shop the radiant is not worth the cost. I?m pretty happy with my purchase neighbor set it up inside for me. We set it up differently then how central recommended we added a control valve and bypass rather then it always running in a loop through the furnace. It also has the fire star controller that u can use on your phone if your WiFi is close enough mine is not due to the fact I haven?t ran internet to barn yet and my boiler is 330 feet from my house. Let me know if you have any questions.

Fred, We bought a used wood boiler and hooked it up and I can tell you,the effort is well worth it!!We heat house and garage. Going to hook up a 20 plate water heater unit tomorrow.The heater heats 14 gal a minute so saves the electric bill and unlimited hot water.Did one on my daughters water heater and going to do another one for my #2 son Bob.Now some will say neighbors get angry with the smoke coming from one ,the thing of it is,his stack is to short.We have no neighbors close by and still our stack is only 6 feet of stainless double wall pipe.I wouldn't trade the boiler for anything.Sure wish we had it years ago.Get all the information you can on different mfg.Look on Craigs list for units close by for used units,go look at them and talk with the owners and examine the unite for leaks and creasoat built up.See how well it's been maintained.Lots of information is required before buying new-used.Best of luck .Regards Lou & Victor.

I've had a central boiler for about 15 years. Like it, but it seems to get some charcoal chunks that don't burn. Found out firing twice a day works best for me.

Fred, I don't have one but I have become aware of many peoples experience with them. First; the problem of bothering neighbors with your smoke is very real. A tall pipe can help, but do your homework on the possibility of your smoke affect on any neighbors. Second; Whenever the topic of shop construction comes up there is a VERY strong consensus of the advisability of installing the tubing in the floor. Don't discard this type of installation without more study. It is virtually always installed with multiple zones so that the whole building need not be heated at once. Third; Many owners build a shelter to shield them and a supply of firewood from the weather. It could be only three sided to facilitate bringing the wood in. Fourth; consider an inner room in one corner where you do most of your work. Keep it at 50 degrees and the escaping heat will keep the rest from heating for most of your heating season.

Yeah, the comments about bothering neighbors are correct. You have to use common sense. I know where there is an outdoor boiler right in the heart of a nearby town, and I'm sure it causes a lot of weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. In fact, I'll bet there was an ordinance drafted at the first town meeting after it was initially fired up, ha.

Some folks burn trash in their furnace - that will not please the neighbors.

I have a neighbor about a half quarter down wind from mine. I've quizzed him about it, and he says it's no problem - he says he likes the smell of a wood fire. Not too long ago he called me to help him unload a Hardy boiler that he'd found on Craig's list. We don't have it installed yet - he doesn't have his shop finished.

I fire the furnace in my shop every day. It has a common brick chimney coming out the peak of the roof. That rascal makes as much smoke as the Hardy, and on low pressure days it hangs in a layer across the countryside.

You need to consider your neighbors.