new outside wood furnace. what to do with old fuel

dlabrie · Jul 26, 2005

I installed a Central Boiler outdoor wood furnace about 6 weeks ago. It is piped to my existing FHW oil furnace and I am using a Boilermate ( as a separate zone) for my domestic HW. In 6 weeks my oil furnace has not come on once! All I have been burning is old blow down wood and I have 9 cord of good dry wood put by for this winter. So, I am wondering, will the 300 gallons of #2 fuel oil in the tank in my cellar go bad if I don't use it? Should I put a bottle of fuel additive in it?
Thanks,
David

LMTC · Jul 26, 2005

Try PRI-D. I use it in diesel all the time, and the PRI-G in gasoline. Amazing stuff, LONG storage life. This is where I buy it....you can find it elsewhere on line. If it's going to be years, I would suggest a microbicide/algaecide as well. Various companies make such an additive, including the PRI-D folks.
PRI-D

thatguy · Jul 26, 2005

I think you may want to add an additive to keep it fresh and one to keep algea from forming (could be one in the same as well).. A farm supply store or a local oil company should have what you need..

arthr31 · Jul 26, 2005

David,
Have you contacted your oil supplier to ask them if they'd buy back a portion of what you currently have? It's worth checking... Keep 50 gallons or so and treat it with the product LMTC is recommending...

On a side note, heating oil (#2, right?) is getting really expensive here in the NE. We ran out two weeks ago and had a delivery of about 250 gallons at 2.22/ gallon. Needless to say I was shocked... But, this should last me until mid-winter since I try and primarily heat with wood (about 6 cords per year).

David, did you do the install of our outside wood furnace? Was it difficult? I'm seriously thinking about installing one myself... Thanks.! -art

Junkman · Jul 26, 2005

This is a no brainer....... use it in your tractor. Give it a shot of diesel fuel conditioner and you are good to go. I have been using home heating oil in my Kubota since it is new and have never had any problems. I am certain that you will like the new outside burner. The only down side to them is the cost, however if you have a plentiful wood supply, then the cost will be made up quickly in the savings. With the current price of oil so high, it isn't going to be long before the price of cord wood starts to go up proportionately....

arthr31 · Jul 26, 2005

Your right-on about the price of wood going up-- read a few ads today for firewood that pointed out oil is expensive, buy your wood now!!! In another month or two, I suspect wood prices will start to go up-- Last time I bought a cord (2 years ago now) the best price I could find was 185/cord... The wood was OK, definitely not seasoned... ah, nice cold winter for me that winter!!!

Junkman · Jul 27, 2005

Last summer I gave away over 15 cords of wood in the form of tree trunks to a fellow with a logging truck just to get them out of the way. I still have more in the form of brush that needs to be cut. Problem is that many people that burn wood are lazy for the most part and don't want to do the work required to take the wood. It is easier to write a check than to cut, split, and load. One person told me that if I were to cut, split, and deliver it, they would take it for free. I told them that it could rot before I would do that. Some of the wood is already starting to rot as a result. I tried to get people that cut cord wood to take it, but they said that it is too much work for too little wood. Seems that they follow the tree cutters around and cut the tops as the trees are felled. Then they have conveyor belts to load the wood into dump trucks and take it back to a central location. From there, after it dries, they load it on smaller trucks and deliver it to the user for lots of $$$$$.

arthr31 · Jul 27, 2005

i burn anything and everything- from the trunk to the tip top tree branches. And you're right, it's a lot of work to get the most outta a tree- my wife jokes its the never ending wood project which keeps me from doing other useful things... but, i got a wood splitter last week so that is going to save me some time... it was taking awhile to process 6+ cords each year...

but, junkman, if you need to get rid of some wood, cord wood or whatever, let me know, I'm starting to get ready for winter 2006-07, i'm not far from CT, probably like 1 hr. !!! -art

PhilNH5 · Jul 27, 2005

Junk,
Don't understand that mentality. Like Arthr31 I'll burn anything. I collect pinecones and branch blow downs for use in the wood cookstove. After a session of wood splitting we pick up all the bark and small bits ot use for kindling. Any BTU is a good BTU in my book.

If I lived closer I would volunteer to bring my "crew" (wife and daughter /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif) over to collect your wood. I do have to buy wood sometimes - up here it is already being advertised for $235 - $265 a cord - but I never pass up the oppurtunity for free wood.

Phil

dlabrie · Jul 27, 2005

( David, did you do the install of our outside wood furnace? Was it difficult? I'm seriously thinking about installing one myself... Thanks.! -art
) I worked with the dealer to install it. He is a former oil service man so he knew what he was doing. I had the trench dug and pad set when he came. It took us about 18 hours to get the Wood furnace hooked up to the oil furnace and boilermate. We also put a line to my garage so in the furtur, I can install a heater there as well.
Everything was connected with PEX tubing. 7" of insulation for the outside run and 1" inside. If you know about heating systems, It isn't too hard to do.

( This is a no brainer....... use it in your tractor. Give it a shot of diesel fuel conditioner and you are good to go.) I would love to but, how do I get it out? There is no way I can get it from inside. My better half would kill me if she had to smell that in the house!

( Any BTU is a good BTU in my book. )
I agree! Everything I have burned so far has just been lying on the ground. I even saved all of the scrap from splitting up 9 cord and burned that as well. I have my own wood so there is no cost other than maintaining the saw and splitter. As for the work involved, It is great exercise and I enjoy doing it.

David