I’m planning to purchase a new outdoor wood boiler soon and trying to decide what brand/model. It pretty much boils down to do I want to go new style high efficiency gasified or old school traditional or with a model that seems kinda in between.

I’m going to be heating an approximately 1,700 sq. Ft house and a 3,200 sq ft insulated shop with 12 ft ceiling. It was previously heated with an aqua therm boiler from around 1990-2018 when the boiler shed caught on fire and burned. The aqua therms weren’t known for their efficiency but would burn anything you fed them and it took 15-20 cord to heat a full winter.

And it’s pretty much down to one of the made in MN boilers…..Central Boiler or Crown Royal. I have a. CB dealer 15 mins away and the nearest CR dealer is 2 hrs.

If I go with a CB it’s gonna be the New style gasser, probably the edge 560 model. If I go with a CR it’s going to be either the 7400MP or 7300MP which is not a gasser but has a triple pass exhaust and from what I’ve been told and read is much more efficient than most traditional boilers, not quite to the gasser level, BUT doesn’t require perfectly seasoned dry wood to be happy. (It’s technically a coal burning stove (that happens to burn wood wonderfully).

CB has been around forever and I know some people who have had great luck with their traditionals. Ive also read a lot online about issues in recent years with them and the company being Terrible to work with when you have a major issue.

I’ve read great things online about the CR MPs being amazingly efficient yet not nearly as fussy as the gassersas far as wood.

All things aside, my heart AND BACK tell me go high efficiency, but my common sense tells me keep it simple stupid!

I’ve also heard the newer HE models are much less fussy than the first few styles and that they have been improved.

Does anyone have a CB edge or other gasification model? How about anyone with a Crown Royal of any sort? Trying to do all the research I can before this big purchase I’ll have to live and deal with for hopefully 20+ years! Happy trapping! ScottW

HM

My CB has worked like a champ for many years it heats my house and fur shed they are always improving their products it seems like. I need to enclose mine more with the winds we have here but that’s not on the boiler. Just watch the dealers they try to upsell you with products you don’t need, know what your getting and ask questions if your not sure.

Have the old style CB for 20 winters. A friend has the newer gasification model. Says it will not burn wood that is not fully seasoned.

I’ve got a Wood Doctor. Made in Canada. They are out of business, we’ve had it 15-18 years. It’s been a dang good unit. Had 1 leak inside the we got welded. Knock on wood it last another 15-20 years!

I had 2 central boilers and I thought they were the best until I got a heat mor, and I would never consider buying a central boiler over heat mor. Make sure you look at those, way more efficient how it burns,

Good local service is important. I went with headmaster c 375 c for coal its a traditional old style. It's a stainless and I hoped that will make it last longer? I burn a lot of wood not sure the amount because I bring more in all winter. It burns anything I burnt green pine and cottonwood a lot this year.

If I had to buy again I think I would go with heat more.

I think cb makes stainless models now. But I'm not sure if they are better or not. Carbon steel is thicker but rust easier. The stainless is thinner but may be more prone to crack.

I went with the old style because there seemed like less to go wrong, wood dose not need to be as dry or as small. It's worked well for us but we have only been using it 4 years now. My blower mother went out this year luckily I had bought an extra along with extra water pump when I bought the unit.

I also heat with an older wood doctor ....no problems other than it's uses a lot of wood ...but it will burn anything ...
I often think about upgrading, but then I look at the cost of new ones ! My wood is not always ideally seasoned...
If I got a newer boiler , I'm not sure I would go with the gasification type ..because of my wood choices..

Heatmor is also built in Minnesota.

I had trouble with my vent door sticking in warmer weather during the long periods of not burning hard. CB came up with a spring loaded solenoid that won’t blow fuses like the old ones would I thought that was inventive on their part.

Go with local support if they are decent to work with.

LD, very good point. That's why I'm trying to do my homework and find out as much as I can so I know what to ask and think of things I might not otherwise.

coal, That's the knock on the gassers is that you need fully seasoned wood for it to burn good and to get the efficiency they are capable of. In a perfect world I'd love to always have an excessive amount of wood processed, dry, and ready......but sometimes it's not a perfect world! On the other hand, if a person only has to cut 3/4 the wood as the other boilers that helps the balance.

Jacks and JT, I've seen some Heatmors over the years and will look into them again.

PF, after looking at the literature on your Heatmaster, the Crown Royal I'm looking at is VERY similar. Both of them have the triple pass exhaust system that is supposed to increase efficiency and they both have a shaker grate.

Slowpoke, that's half my dilemna, do I want to commit to needing awesome wood all the time! Plus we sometimes get lots of pallets from local businesses that we cut up and burn which would be a no-go in the gassers because of the nails etc.

run, Having a knowledgeable dealer 15 minutes away is a big draw for me. Both to support them and have them here to support me if needed. Even the Crown Royal dealer being 2 hours away isn't insane, but hard to call it LOCAL.

I'm going to continue to research and hopefully some more folks chime in with good, bad, otherwise. I wish I knew if the triple pass exhaust is truly as great as it's made out to be, cause if I knew I could burn say 20% less than we used to with that compared to 25-30% less if I went full on gasser I would probably go with the triple pass conventional to keep it simple. That's the double edge of the internet.....there's sooooo much info, which means there sooooo much info and that take sooooooooooooo much time to sift through it all! Probably more return on me researching the right wood boiler than trapping spring beaver at least!

Happy trapping! ScottW

I never had a problem with the Heatmor that I could not fix myself. Can get parts from local plumbing supply or Lowes/Home Depot.

I also have Heatmor. Been running it for 15+ years never a serious issue.

I have a big Johnson. Probably 3x what I need. But it gets the job done.

I am sure that I burn more wood than I need to, but, I can burn what ever I want to. I have had it for about 10 years or so. I was burning about 5-6 cords of wood in my 'in the basement' wood burner. I am burning about 2-3 cords more in the Johnson (depending on the year). This year was about 6 cords of wood that was dried for 4 ish months. I should say that I am not very picky on what I put in the outdoor burner, tho seasoned wood does burn better. If it fits in the door it will burn. That means that I do not have to split nearly as much. Loading it once a day is nice too (I could put enough in there for a couple days). I can go out my back door and get firewood. I do try and get wood early and let it dry, but I do most of it when the temp gets cooler.

I was close to getting a heatmore but I got a heck of a deal on the johnson. If I was to do it again I wouldn't go with a gasser. But my closest neighbor is over 200 yards away and it is my Mom.

I also keep anything 1" or bigger. I just cut the smaller stuff to 4' long.

I installed a Heatmaster several years ago, gasification. Very efficient with very little smoke. They send a moisture meter to check your wood with. Wet wood will plug it up quickly so you will need dry wood. I stay a year ahead on wood so that was not an issue for me.

Good to know

I have had a Hardy outdoor boiler for about 15 years and it works very well.
Just make sure you can burn the type of wood you think you will have mostly.
I rarely burn totally dry wood.
Lots of times its just cut down and burned.
Some of the new fangled ones need wood dryed a year or more.

Bumping this thread as I'm curious where the OP landed and I'm likely in the market for one for this winter.

Did some looking at Heatmor’s website.
Is their residential stove a coal burner only?
Their website is not very good information imo.