Wood Boiler Maintenance Kits & Tips From Industry Experts

Learn all the maintenance tips and tricks that your outdoor wood boilers need to be in great shape! Find out all about the products, boiler treatments, and scale inhibitors you can use for different types of boilers. Additionally, you'll learn how experts respond to the most frequently asked questions about wood boiler installation and maintenance.

Regular Maintenance - Do It Yourself Tips

Filling with Water:

Connect your domestic water to the furnace return line using a ball valve. This makes it much easier to fill and flush the unit. Start filling the unit and inspect for leaks. Make sure the ball valves on the unit are open to the return and supply. Once the green light on the control panel goes on, you're full. Or if is simple over flows. Don't worry; this is not a problem.

Flushing Your Boiler:

It is critical to drain and flush your boiler each spring. To drain the furnace — open the drain valve and let the stove empty completely. To flush, leave the drain valve open and close the pump valve. Add water to the boiler through the return lines. Let it flush for 4-8 hours for optimal results. Close the drain valve and open the pump valve. Refill the stove and add boiler treatment right away.

Adding Boiler Treatment:

Adding boiler treatment should be done every year! Allow the system to burn for 2 hours, and then add boiler treatment as follows. Before adding boiler treatment, be sure that the water temperature is at least 100 degrees* or higher. Add in the boiler treatment that came with your unit or was purchased from your dealer. Add the treatment to the vent (Small tube) on top of the unit.

*You can add the treatment when the water is cold, however it wont activate till heated up. Many people add the treatment and let it sit, then once they start using the boiler it will activate - So the water doesn't necessary need to be up to temperature

Annual WoodMaster Maintenance:

Protect your burn chamber by placing the chimney cap over the chimney during the off-season, inspect all silicone caulking, and make sure it has a good seal so moisture can't enter the furnace. If you have an ash auger, remove it, clean out all the ashes and scrape excess creosote from the fire chamber surface. If you’re running into issues scraping the excess, use anti-creo-soot to help make it easier. Reinstall the ash auger. Moisture combined with ashes will eat through metal quickly.

Assess Water Levels:

Routinely check the water level light. If the light is not lit, this indicates the water level is low, and the furnace may need to have water added. Add water until it overflows the vent pipe on top of the unit. Not a bad idea to check that the light is working properly. Open the ball valve in the back to see if the light goes out, or check the overflow pipe with a flashlight.

Firing the Unit:

Once you have determined that there are no leaks and all looks good. Paper and kindling should be used for starting the fire. Build a small fire, and add wood as needed. Be sure pumps are circulating when firing the furnace. You might notice some water on the inside walls of the unit. This is normal; the furnace is sweating like a cold drink on a summer day. Once the furnace reaches 180 degrees, it is ready to be filled to capacity. I recommend burning cut, split, seasoned wood. Do not overfill the unit so that hot coals fall out when opening the door. The best is a well-controlled fire, and when the wood gets low, rake the ashes, exposing buried unburned coals. You will be surprised that those coals will heat your home all day and then some.

Ash Removal, Rotation, and Disposal:

When it comes to ash removal, we do it once a season at the end. We recommend taking out 80% of them and but them in a metal wheelbarrow, or the back of a backhoe, etc (anything that wont catch fire). From there, keep them in there for up to a month to cool off - if you keep them in there for less it can cause a fire when you dump it. As for rotation, we recommend every night when you feed the fire, to just rake the coals to the font - so the front blower with blow on them helping burn hotter.

ProTip: Ashes are great for the garden. The hotashes should be placed in a metal container with a tight-fitting lid. The closed container of ashes should be placed on a noncombustible floor or the ground, well away from all combustible materials, pending final disposal. Ashes should be retained in the closed container until all cinders have thoroughly cooled. At least 48 hours. (Coals can live for a week or so) Keep this in mind when disposing of ashes and coals.

Creosote Information and the Need for Removal:

When wood is burned slowly, it produces tar and other organic vapors, which combine with expelled moisture to form creosote. The creosote vapors condense in the relatively cool chimney flue of a slow-burning fire. As a result, creosote residue accumulates on the lining. When ignited, this creosote makes an extremely hot fire. The chimney connector and chimney should be inspected at least every 2-3 months during the heating season to determine if a creosote buildup has occurred. If creosote has accumulated, it should be removed to reduce the risk of a chimney fire. This is another reason why an outdoor Wood Master furnace is the superior solution to heating your home.

Boiler Maintenance Kits - Description and Costs

MolyArmor - WoodMaster

The MolyArmor product from WoodMaster is an excellent nitrate-based product. It works very well for what it does; it is an anti-rust and scale-inhibitor and good for those with an active warranty on their WoodMaster. We recommend using the ProTech treatment that can treat up to 200 gallons.

ProTech & AmTech 300

We also make our own products, which are less expensive and nitrate-based. They’re called the ProTech 300 and AmTech 300. Both products treat 300 gallons and are at a better price point than the competitors who only treat 200 gallons.

Boiler Maintenance Test Kits

We also sell the ProTech 300 Test Kit. This gives you about 15 to 20 tests, and it allows you to keep it for about three to four years. Tthe test kits are the only solid way to really make sure your nitrates are where they need to be. If you don't want to bother with testing, another option is to just use the ProTech and replace it every year. The shelf life of the ProTech is about five years in the unit, but it starts to degrade, and also, with the evaporation of these units, it'll also start to drop off.

If you buy extra ProTech, you can leave it on your shelf for up to five years.

Maintenance Products for Different Types of Boiler

These two units, boiler treatments, and scale inhibitors are designed to work with stainless steel, or mild steel and titanium, whichever your product's made of. Boilerplate or any other products—this is what all the boilers need.

Wood Boilers Q & A

Is Stainless Steel better?

Here at Alternative Heating & Supplies, we offer titanium-stainless steel. Well, you hear a lot of good points from both sides but titanium-stainless steel lasts a very long time.

Is Dual Fuel Important?

Your outdoor wood furnace is designed to be incorporated into an existing indoor heating system, such as a hot water boiler, radiant heat, domestic hot water, and forced air furnace. If your wood furnace is hooked up correctly, your existing indoor furnace will act as your backup to your wood furnace. Don't worry, your indoor furnace will also prevent the wood furnace from freezing while you are on vacation.

How Far Away Can the Outdoor Wood Boiler Be Installed?

The outdoor wood boiler can be located 3 to 300 feet from your home. A couple of things to keep in mind. You will need to visit your wood furnace once a day. You will need to have easy access to this location, a truck or tractor to replenish the wood when needed.

How Much Wood Will I Use?

Well, that depends on your home, insulation, and the quality of wood you're burning. This might help! A 2,500 sq home well insulated with good wood will go through 5 to 7 cords in a cold session (6 months). That is heating the home and a domestic hot water 60-gallon tank.

Outdoor Wood Boiler Maintenance on Vacation

What happens with my wood boiler when I go away for a couple of days?

This is one of the most common questions that I get. You have several options depending on your situation.

If your wood furnace is hooked up correctly, your existing indoor furnace will backheat the wood furnace, preventing it from freezing! The cost of your indoor furnace backing up your outdoor heating is very minimal; everything is very well insulated.

A couple more options for you:

• You can let the fire die down and drain the furnace. This is what we do becasue it takes only about 10 minutes to drain the unit. After returning, refill the unit and relight the fire.

• You can set up your unit with a bypass to not heat the home and circulate within itself; the burn time will be much, much longer—4 to 5 days.

• If the weather isn't freezing, the circulation pump is moving the water rapidly. Moving water is difficult to freeze.

• Maybe a friend or family member could help and feed the unit while you're away.

You could look into anti-freeze. Keep in mind that most antifreeze is harmful to the environment. Please dispose of properly!

What If the Electricity Goes Out?

This is another commonly asked question. The outdoor wood furnace uses very little electricity, which can be supplied by a small generator. Run a regular, inexpensive extension cord to the unit, and that is how it can be wired. All you would need to do is unplug from the wall and plug into a small generator. Problem solved.

Some people ask, “Well if you don't have a generator, you have no heat.” That is correct! Most homes lose electricity; they have no heat either. Either way, you will need something to back up your existing home and the wood furnace. These wood furnaces use very little electricity.

How long will a wood furnace last?

These units should last 20 to 25 years or longer if used and maintained properly. The oldest outdoor wood furnace our team has seen is 25+ years old with no visual wear on it and running strong. WoodMaster wood furnaces should last longer than most units simply because they have superior construction and, more importantly, a superior design.

The design is the most important issue here. If you ask a plumber, they will tell you that what kills boilers is sediment build-up, which rots the boiler inside out. With our design, we use a round drum where sediment cannot build up, and we have a drain at the bottom to flush the unit out yearly.

Some units have a square water chamber, “water baffles,” and zigzag tops to improve heat transfer and catch all the sediment. These units have no way to flush the system as well. They try to solve the problem with chemicals and in-line filters, which you can add to your bill.

What Makes WoodMaster the Best Heating Solution?

1.) The zig-zag feature helps heat more water; good idea except that is where all the sediment will build up and start to rot the furnace out from the inside, and not forget the additional welding (as discussed in ow Long Will a Wood Furnace Last?). There is no way to clean the inside of these units.

2.) If you look at the door location and the heat collection area, this air is 1500 degrees; another good idea until you have to open the door. The heat baffle is lower than the top of the door. That is where you are standing, and when you have to put a big log in, and you are displacing several cubic feet of 1500 degree air, where is that going? You got it in your face.

3.) Natural draft is a bad idea: These units are known to smoke a lot due to their natural draft. To give you an idea, it is like throwing a match onto a leaf pile. How much will it smoke? A lot! Now, if you do the same thing and then blow on it, what happens then? The fire starts and gets hot faster, and produces considerably less smoke. As you can see, this is not rocket science; these ideas were good ideas but not practical.

4.) With a WoodMaster furnace, we use a round drum, which will not collect sediment and can be easily flushed to prevent rotting from the inside out.

5.) We use a fan on the front of our unit to burn hotter to reduce smoke and increase efficiency.

6.) Using a round drum, you have 50% fewer welds.

7.) We have a smoke release area, so you are not eating smoke or hot 1500 degree air while filling the unit with wood. This is an eyebrow saver!!!

8.) Did I mention we cost about $1,800 less than the equal-size competitive unit? Heads up, they will say their smaller is equal to ours to try to price closer. The truth is straightforward and very to figure out. How many cubic feet in a fire barrel will tell you which goes with which? Don't listen to BTU ratings!  What kind of wood are you burning? Green, seasoned, wet, rotten oak,pine? Fossil fuels can do this because there is a constant fuel source. Example: Oil burns at about 2000 degrees, and propane around 1400 degrees. We can provide a BTU rating for this: NOT WOOD!

9.) Our wood furnaces are on legs and don't use a full skirt for a couple of reasons..

10.) Did I mention that our furnace is $1800 less!

Final Note! Very Important! Ask to read their 25-year warranty!! You might feel like a deer in headlights! There is a 10-year prorated warranty on the fire barrel and only 1 year on the electronics. ARE YOU READY FOR THIS? The 25-year warranty is on manufacturer's defects! If you know what this covers, please let us know.

Can You Put Antifreeze in Your Unit?

Yes, you can; however, it might get pricey. There are a couple of alternatives that might help you with this topic.

1.) If you're going away, just empty your unit and lines; this is very simple. Refill and restart your fire it takes about 4 to 6 hours to get back up to temperature.

2.) If you have a boiler in your house and are using a plate exchanger to heat your boiler, this will also back-heat. What that means is if your unit temperature drops, the existing boiler will kick on to provide heat to your home; it will also heat the water in the boiler and prevent freeze-up. Yes, you will be using more fuel to heat your home and the outside wood furnace.

3.) You can also set up a bypass. What we mean here is you set up a bypass from the outdoor furnace to heat the house and send the water right back to the unit. So the unit is only heating itself, which will last for days, maybe weeks, depending on temperature and weather conditions.

Where Do You Get the Wood From?

Try phrasing it like this: where can't you get wood! Wood can be found easily. For example, tree companies have to pay to dump wood in landfills and other locations. They most likely drop off the better hardwoods, but we don't care; we can burn all wood. Most tree guys can't sell certain types of wood (soft wood like pine, hemlock), so they have to pay to get rid of it or drop it off to you free of charge. Once you build a relationship with a couple of tree guys, you will be home free.

You can also call tree companies and ask them to cut the wood into 26-inch lengths and don't have to split it-what will the cost be? Also mention to them to bring the wood they can't sell to other customers, such as V's of the tree, big knots, and all those  off-shaped pieces. They should deliver it to you with a smile at half the cost.

Can you burn coal?

No, we don't suggest it. The whole reason for buying an outdoor wood furnace is not to buy a fossil fuel and or burn fossil fuel. Your home already has the capability of burning fossil fuel.

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