Pretty simple. Good logs get milled. Twisted logs with rot, knots, tree tops, etc, get burned.

It's not backwards. Pulling from the bottom and returning to the top causes the tank to mix hot/cold. This keeps the tank at a more uniform temperature and prevents boiling and excessive water loss through steam, while maximizing heat transfer.

It stays cool enough to touch, so no chance of fire from that.

It does matter.

Once it has developed a coal bed, it will stay lit for a very long time between burns. Many days. I've never had it go out when I didn't want it to. I imagine after a week or more without burning you might have a problem with ignition, but I've never tested it. I plan to do a more in depth video of my system in the future.

He is correct. I have been heating with an outdoor wood stove/boiler for about 15 years. On mine my damper/fan is on the front of the door and has a damper flap that is on the blower fan. When the water temp gets down to 170 degrees (Thats what mine is set at) the flap on the fan will open and the fan will turn on and the fan will really get the fire going. When it reaches temp, the fan shuts off and the damper flap closes and allows the fire to slowly go out in a round about way so not to cause the water to get too hot and boil. The hot bed of coals take a long time to go out and are very easily reignited once you blow a good amount of air on them. Plus, it also slows down the burning process. If you just left thge damper open and had a constant supply of air the fire would burn out very fast. The damper pretty much is your on and off switch for your fire.

Pex actually goes to air handlers for a forced air system. My farm is 450 acres with lots of woods, so no, I will never run out of firewood. Mostly I just burn deadfall. It's very rare that I cut a tree just to burn it. I keep my eyes open for dead/dying trees and burn those. Or I burn the tree tops of trees that I harvest for lumber.

Depends on the temperature. If it's not colder than the 20's at night, I can get away with once a day. Otherwise twice daily.

A question I had myself. It's a matter of cost, and diminishing returns. The heat transferring from the hot line to the cold line isn't really lost, as it just goes back to the boiler. With the water moving at 5GPM, the amount of time it takes for it to get to the house is less than a minute. It comes down to only a few degrees lost, and buying pipe with the lines insulated separately was very expensive.

I have been heating with an outdoor wood stove/boiler for about 15 years and would never go without again being way out in the country. I dont know how his is but mine has a heat exchanger that goes in the furnace trunk right at the base of the furnace and then we run two thermostats. One is just to kick the furnace fan on in the furnace and then blows the air trough the heat exchanger and in turn blows warm air out your vents in the house. Our second thermostat is set about 6 (F) degrees cooler so if the wood stove should happen to go out or stop working for some reason, the other thermostat will kick on the propane and keep the house warm still.

Once or twice a day, depending on the temperature.

Yep

He burns free fuel. I'm also from the south but I did learn economics.

that's how you burn down a woodshed

It heats both the hot water and the house, as well as my shop.

Like both

Mine has no way to exhaust the smoke while you are loading it. It just rolls out the door. I wouldn't want to do that inside of a structure. If you open it when it has recently burned, it can flame up quite a lot out of that door. But there are certainly units that are made to be installed indoors. They don't tend to be as big.

@@FarmCraft101 You have any suggestions on a make/model for one of those indoor units?

I wouldn't know. Never researched or owned one of those. Make sure you have an easy way to carry wood in without too much work.

@@FarmCraft101 I was thinking an elevator and a handtruck.

My outdoor wood stove/boiler has a flu handle on it right above the door so when you open it, the smoke and any flames goes straight up out the chimney on the boiler and it doesnt all come rushing out the door. Now if you dont open the flu before you open the door, it will all come rushing out the door. But, even with it open, you still get smoke and sometimes some pretty big flames come out the door if the fire is really going. I have had flames shooting out my chimney a good 1-2 feet plenty of times. A lot of the small indoor wood stoves usually have a flu on them to open before loading so all the smoke doesnt come back in the house. As for the wood boilers like these, I cant say I have ever see one for indoor use.

That he is!