I have a CL5648 dual fuel ready. Probably over 15 years. I heat my house and my brother’s house. I have gone through several impellers but they are easy to change. Also had to change the master power disconnect switch because the terminal loosened and overheated. I added the draft blower to the front several years ago but took it off yesterday because it just seemed like too much heat was going out of the chimney ( on real cold days especially). The local dealer (Topeka Seed and Stove) is great and well stocked with parts. It works well with my whole house generator when the power goes out.

I bought my central boiler almost 15 years ago. Model CL 5648. I heat an old farm house very comfortably. I was spending $700 per month in oil from April through October so this was a huge savings. I burn mostly free scrap wood and some free hardwood when it’s free or cheap. I mix the scrap wood with the hardwood. The furnace cost around $11,000 plus piping for the hot water. It’s certainly paid for itself. Very little maintenance other than removing and disposal of ashes. Door rope and circulating pump cartridges. The disadvantages would be if you went on holidays you’d have to find someone to fill the furnace or revert to your own house furnace. The water pumps continuously at 8 gallons a minute so it wouldn’t freeze. I have no regrets and would buy one again. Stick with the steel boiler plate ones not stainless steel construction.

I love my central boiler. I’ve owned mine for almost 16 years also without any problems. It heats a 2200 square foot house at 70 degrees all winter. I’m a caretaker at a large estate in the Hudson valley New York area and get all the wood I can handle. It has saved me many of thousands of dollars . It does go through a lot of wood but if you have a good supply it definitely beats paying for oil, natural gas, or electric which can fluctuate in price. It’s one of the best investments I’ve made.

Thanks for the interview

I bought a Central Boiler Classic in 2000 and used it 10 years with only one door solenoid fail. Heated 2600 sq ft of house, upper and lower two car garage and a 2000 sq ft pole barn all in floor tubing. Best heat you can ask for. Unfortunately moved to town and can't have one anymore.

We bought the 6048 five years ago and I LOVE it! It heats our home, water and a 12 x40 greenhouse so we can grow fruit trees and veggies all year long (it SUCKS the wood though being uninsulated). We've had a credit it on our propane bill the last 4 years, as much as +$1300. They'll fill it twice a year at $350+ and nothing has come out of our pocket

I would love to have one at my place

Gotta love a no nonsense american farmer. Thank You to ALL OUR FARMERS!!!

I'm on year 5 with my cl6048 central boiler..., 16 years is impressive!

That’s awesome.

I'm SO FAR BEHIND on my wood this year! I hurt my back in May and that put everything behind 6 weeks or more. finally tried out buying a truck load of logs this year. I ended up with forty five 25' logs for $450 ...$10 per tree isn't too bad! Now... the FUN begins... cutting, splitting & stacking!

We put one 6038, ourselves in our new Timberframe (3000sq.st) in 2010 , Basement and 1st floor and it will keep the house in the Low 70's until it gets to single digits. Had to replace a pump, other than that It's a Wood PIG! Only issue is keeping enough wood on hand and/or being able to purchase quantity at reasonable cost! Midwestern Winters avg 6-8 cords. When your 65, that's a hell of a lot of work, too cheap to buy it! So, if you have plenty of access and/or are young and healthy enough to tend Wood, it's a great way to heat and save at some money (not going to the power company) than do it!

15/16 yrs on my 6048, payed for itself in 4 yrs by not burning propane. Love it so much 3500ft house heat and hot water. 30x50 garage with in floor radiant.

I wanted one for our farm in Western Washington when we bought 14 years ago, I just couldn’t afford the initial cost. We have more wood than we cam burn just growing on the farm, all I do is cut the dead and dieting trees to furnish us with traditional wood stove heat.

Been using a5036 for 12 years. Other than 4 pumps I’ve replaced n two flushes it’s flawless. I’ve enjoyed the ample amount of heat provided. I burn less than in the beginning as I’ve found the stove will burn as much as u put in. I just put in enough to get to the next fill which is depending upon the elements. I burn a wheelbarrow amount each day until it goes below o. I burn junk until I need the good stuff. If I lived in the gwn I would do a owb even if I had to buy the wood. Would like to compare ur inside comfort to mine any time but how about when it’s -30 n 25 mph north wind. Let’s go

A week ago at -30*F the vent on our 14 year old CL5036 froze and the tank ruptured when it built up too much pressure . We are currently waiting for a replacement CL5036.

Energy saving - A pellet stove heats my modest home & with that I save $300 to $400/month versus heating with the forced hot water natural gas system. But wood heat like this awesome boiler is a bit labor intensive.

I think we got about 15 years on ours up here in Alaska. We're sawing constantly haha.

I have had mine for about the same amount of time and would absolutely do it again. It uses a little more than an inside unit or woodstove but you can burn about anything in it and takes big wood so more than makes up for the extra consumption. Add the fact that your mess and fire danger is outside. Not sure how they have got 16 years out of a circulator though. I am on about my 6th one.

Found quite a few free wood boliers around here. Everyone tells me the same thing. You better like hauling wood and ashes.

My own 19 - 20 year experience for a 900 to 1000 sqr ft home. I have two brothers with inside stoves and I am with a CB 5648 dual fuel which i never used duel fuel and bigger then I need for a 900- 1000 sqr foot home forced air High efficiency LP furnace). My system back then cost $6000 for stove and $1800 forall the hookup parts and accessories. I was paying 300.00 for a fill-up and 4 or 5 fills a year back then in 2001 2002. Going on 19- 20 yrs now. I burn a little more then them. I burn year round with heating my water. I do not have a water heater at all. I use a flat Plate ( on demand )system, which you HAVE to have GOOD water as to not clog the plates, which I still have to pull out and clean and or replace at $160.00. I replaced once but cleaned every 5 yrs. One brother will tell you straight up in door fireplace is nice but can be a pain with bugs and spiders in the wood, mildew, then ash clean out can get dusty. Also some times the smoke is bad. And we're getting old and worn out. Other brother is a salesman kind of B-Ser Its great he says. He had a tiny house an had an electric water heater, cold bedrooms wake up in middle of night building fires. plus what other brothers issues are. He also would leave town and his Natural Gas space heater would go on. And his house is always cold , around 55F to 60F. We're getting too old for cold nights and mornings now. My 19-20 yr system is not perfect either. But In my opinion its better , specially for my family and needs. I have bought a semi of oak, at about 10 crd ( 8ft long) for 700.00 a load and that can last me three years. But I burn junk wood in the summer. If I load mine full it will last 2 to 4 days. But I dont, I want to keep an eye on things and burn only whats needed for my house. I go out twice a day because I want to. Rake it, ashtroll it, just a simple check every day. I had to replace all my in-ground water lines ( 80ft) two years ago cause of leaks. $1200 for the best Iine CB offers. two solenoids $30.00 each numerous door ropes. 1 draft door lid, one back chimney slide lid. My chimney is Steel at base not the SS double wall like now. Also at the bottom of where door is.. is thin and will prolly need some welding. Due to early on I use to burn wetter wood like I was told I could do. Like maple is suppose to have two burns because of the sugars. But I dont anymore. I also put an adjustable thermostat on (55.00) so I could turn it down in summer to 168F -178F . If power goes out no water gets pumped so NO heat I have a back up gas log space heater like a wood stove. I just topped my LP tank off last year because of the low price, it was at 40% then. Before that it was 6 or 7 years ago and for the same reason low price and only a little bit 20 to 30%. Overall I like it and would do it all over again. I like it but the CENTRAL BOILERS 25 YEAR LIMITED LIFE TIME AND CENTRAL BOILERS LIFE TIME DOOR WARRANTY expired just because they dont want to stand behind there name. Even for a guy like me ... That takes care of it and has had it for almost 20 yrs of use and like the local CB dealer I been using. They are one of the best out door stoves out there in my opinion. Specially when I was looking. I dont and never did like the TACO pumps, you have to buy two because one will go out idea. So I went with Grundfos and dont regret it. Knock on wood. Hopefully the stove will outlast my wife and I or its a good selling point for a young family if we move. Folks with rust or pin holes scare me.

I’d be curious to know how much electric power it requires to run and IF a generator could supply it if the grid went down or if a solar panel would be able to?

It would be nice if you could just toss in furniture, pianos, mattresses, plywood, pallets, logs, and all kinds of big stuff in one piece.

I bought my central boiler in 1993 a CL 17 it ran pretty much trouble free until 2017. It started leaking here and there I welded up pin holes 4-5 times.In 2019 I had to give up on it there were holes I coundn't reach to weld. Stainless steel would be the only way I'd buy again.But now we buy propane by the semi loads for the grain dryers ussaully less then .50 a gallon my home is hooked into the big tanks,not worth buy a new wood stove.

Is there a reason why they put boilers outside in the US? Seems like a massive heatloss to me.

what about the nails from the pallets you use? do they cause any issues?

I love the idea of central boilers. But how much time, equipment, maintenance and fuel do you need to “waste” to gather enough wood for a winter? I wish people would talk about that a lot more because from what I can see this would be an extreme adjustment to someone’s lifestyle just to save some money on heating.... thoughts?

Does it get hot enough to burn all of the nails from the pallets?

Can antifreeze e be used in the boilers?

Not much information if the c.boiler is more effective gasifier type or just lets the gasses out in chimney and air?

What did the wood boiler cost him 16 years ago?

I got Hardly wood stove I got 2003 it’s still going make heat yet to?

16 years ago I think he was around that $20,000.

You have to feed them things every few hours people. Not bad if your a farmer and and your own supply of wood however.

Anyone burned tires in these?

Most pallets burn up like matches , then your ashes are full of nails ... cutting them you destroy your chainsaw, you’d have to Man the stove all day to burn a lot of pallets

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13 years for me. My $10k investment has returned well over 10x that n the comfort is unremarkable. No brokerage firm can even match that !!

Not just you folks but everybody talking about Central Boiler drives me crazy with the interchange of the terms furnace and boiler. The Central Boiler unites are NOT furnaces!!! A furnace is hot air and a boiler is hot water!

I gave mine away after the first year... No way in hell I'd ever make the mistake of that again... 46 pick-up truck loads of wood in 1 winter... I burn 15 on the bad winters with a wood burner inside heating the same area

We do not share the same experience as you. We've been using our OWB for going on 8 yrs. now and here's my thoughts: There's a poll on one of the OWB forums asking "how long did your boiler last" and generally, most brands tend to fail around the 7 to 10 year mark. By "fail" this typically means that they start to leak in one spot or another, regardless of the cleaning, maintenance, and water treatment that you do. This means that the cost of your boiler unit itself works out to $1,000/yr. A few other costs that haven't been mentioned - electricity usage. First, air blowing past 160-180 degree water in your furnace heat exchanger for the house/shop/etc. is 'warm' - not hot like a natural gas/propane furnace. This means that your furnace blower motor will stay on an INCREBIBLY longer than heating with gas. Depending on your forced air blower motor power draw, this can mean a large electrical expense. A similar size motor is also on the OWB draft fan - and lets not forget about the 1 or 2 water pumps that are continuously running as well. As mentioned in the video, the largest component to heating with an OWB is the time investment. They eat far more wood than an indoor stove which means you're blowing through 20-30 face cords a winter if you live in a cold climate. If you're harvesting and processing your own wood, this is weeks of time investment every year (and a good investment in processing equipment and tools). If you purchase a tandem load, you're still spending nearly a week to cut/split/stack ... and lets not forget about the 1-2 yrs. required to dry the wood. Now you have to devote time to feed the boiler twice a day, clean out the ash doors/trays every other day, and clean out the fire box every 3-4 weeks. Let me be clear, this feeding and cleaning consumes over 50 hrs. for our 5 month heating season. Now lets move on to the smell .... there's no smell inside your house BUT that poor person that has to load the firebox is going to immediately smell like a wood fire. Let's hope you're not working in an office with a suit on every day! Your property will also have an intense 'wood fire' smell while the boiler draft is on. The "Pros" are certainly valid - the fuel source is inexpensive, heat is nearly endless, you can be mostly self reliant,.. but the cons that we've experienced over 8 years of ownership, unfortunately, far outweigh the pro's. So NO, an Outdoor Wood Boiler is NOT worth it, for us.

A lot of work feeding that thing. What happens when there are no more trees to feed that thing.