Outdoor wood boiler

Looking into installing an outdoor boiler for our tenant. We both burn wood anyway, with electric backup and our wood all comes from the same source.
I have had three salesmen/professional installers look at our site and they ALL say to put it in the same spot. My wife happened to speak with the building inspector who gave her a checklist which will eliminate the preferred spot.....for the same reasons we chose it in the first place.
We want it sheltered from the wind and rain with a covered wood supply close by. The inspector wants it out in the open with no wood within ten feet..and thirty feet from ANY buildings, including woodsheds. Looking at my neighbours it's kinda obvious none of them got a building permit..:rolleyes:

Didn't realize you need a building permit to install a outdoor boiler. My building inspector has been at my place at least 4 times since I installed mine and he has walked by it every time and never once said anything about it. I actually just took ownership of a new one 2 weeks ago that will heat the house and my new shop. It's going between the two structures with it being closer to the shop and next to the wood shed.

What did you do with your old one?

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Originally Posted by gooseman

Didn't realize you need a building permit to install a outdoor boiler. My building inspector has been at my place at least 4 times since I installed mine and he has walked by it every time and never once said anything about it. I actually just took ownership of a new one 2 weeks ago that will heat the house and my new shop. It's going between the two structures with it being closer to the shop and next to the wood shed.

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They want to know what to tax you on, if you add then they will up your taxes, if you remove things they will probably up your taxes.

You need to permit to replace deck boards in some municipalities.

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Originally Posted by Fox

They want to know what to tax you on, if you add then they will up your taxes, if you remove things they will probably up your taxes.

You need to permit to replace deck boards in some municipalities.

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ya you are probably right. I just never thought you would need a permit for an outside wood stove with no structure around it and not really a permanent structure in itself.
As for the old one I will probly be putting it on kijiji soon. It's made by heiss heaters in Michigan. Gave me plenty of heat for last 5 yrs just not big enough for a 2000 sq shop and 2000sq house upstairs and basement. House and basement was plenty but shop probly not enough but' to maintain temps. If your interested Google heiss heaters and pm me

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Originally Posted by patvetzal

Looking into installing an outdoor boiler for our tenant. We both burn wood anyway, with electric backup and our wood all comes from the same source.
I have had three salesmen/professional installers look at our site and they ALL say to put it in the same spot. My wife happened to speak with the building inspector who gave her a checklist which will eliminate the preferred spot.....for the same reasons we chose it in the first place.
We want it sheltered from the wind and rain with a covered wood supply close by. The inspector wants it out in the open with no wood within ten feet..and thirty feet from ANY buildings, including woodsheds. Looking at my neighbours it's kinda obvious none of them got a building permit..:rolleyes:

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I think the Province allowed municipalities to develop and impose their own regulations and by-laws for installation of outdoor wood boilers. Anything in writing from your by-law office? My building inspector didn't mention it any permit required, but I haven't installed it yet either.

I would also call your insurance company, as they may have a required setback from dwellings. I think I was told 30ft for that when I asked my broker. Chimney height was also a consideration based on how close your neighbours house is.

Funny you mention insurance, my agent when he came out to see my new shop asked about heating it. I explained the outdoor boiler and he is from town and couldn't understand how it worked. He was insisting I needed to get it certified and inspected and my rates were going up and on and on. I took him by the hand and showed him the only thing that connects the house and boiler is hot water. Then he went on about what if the water line blows, I will be flooded. Couldn't understand it was a closed system 300 gals of water at the most if the pump spills everything into the basement. Finally he said "oh I see" and he finally relaxed and wrote it in the policy as an external boiler system used as a backup with no mention of it being wood fired since my main furnace is propane he put that down as our primary heat.
Dont have to worry about stack height here as the nearest neighbour is about 5000ft away and he has a boiler too.

They are becoming more popular down here in the rural areas - but one thing I see happening is where someone puts in a furnace and it smokes a neighbor out - sometimes it ends up in court - their is a guy with one down the road from me - I'm too far away so it doesn't affect me but sometimes I look down at his place when he is burning it and I can't see his house or barn from all the smoke surrounding them - but yes they would sure cut your heating bill -

The new gasification ones can be as efficient as a similar wood stove. The older ones burnt a lot more wood because they could not get the firebox hot enough to burn the smoke.
Either way, they are only as cheap as the cost of your fuel...we have 80 acres of bush.

In many places now, you are required to install an boiler that meets the newer EPA standard for maximum particulate matter:

0.32 lb/MMBtu heatoutput for outdoor HH in2013 (NSPS)3 0.15 lb/mmBTU heatoutput for both indoor and outdoorHydronic Heating in 2016 (NSPS)

The CSA requirements are more stringent CSA B415.10 with 0.4 g/MJ for indoor boilers and furnaces, and 0.13 g/MJ for outdoor boilers and furnaces. There is no requirement to meet the CSA standard, unless your municipality or province has made it mandatory.

Several states have gone to the EPA standard, but grandfather older units.

You pretty much cannot reach any of those numbers without a gasification unit.

If there's a lot of smoke, they are definitely pumping out a lot of particulate matter. Those court cases happen here too. There was one in here in Ontario a few years back. I don't know if it was resolved, as the last I read the homeowner was told by the judge to stop using the unit until the situation was resolved, but I did not see the followup documents. The OWB owner had already spent about $3000 trying to move and retrofit the installation to improve the smoke issue.