anybody have any experience with a outdoor wood furnace?

[warren]

I'm looking into building an outdoor wood burner that I will use to heat water, then pump the water into my garage to heat the building With a heat exchanger.

I'm just wondering if anyone on here has any experience with outdoor wood furnaces? If so how do you like it? Could you give me any advice?

[Crank]

Yeah My neighbor has one and I hate the damn thing, I think he used to live in the freaking Sahara Desert because if it's below 75 he has it burning and the wind brings it right through my windows.
I grew up with wood heat and I cant stand the smell of it anymore.

[jmz6]

We have been using them for over 20yrs. and just had to buy a replacement last fall before heat season. I would suggest doing some homework, there is a lot to know before you bite the bullet and purchase one. I will say this, don't cheap out and buy the least expensive. We bought the first one for the family farm in 1991 and it is still in use, the second we bought 5 yrs later for the other house we went cheaper and that is the one we replaced last fall. The firebox is an issue for some stoves.

Keep it as close to the house as you feel comfortable with, feeding the stove when there is snow on the ground and it is cold as S*** is not fun even with a 12-16hr "claimed" burn. Be courteous, outdoor furnaces can blow some serious smoke and tend to annoy close neighbors. Look up your state/county regulations they can vary and we had to buy a stove that fit the regulations and also allowed us to "upgrade" if we had to.