[RedMonqey]

One of the outside lines goes to my water heater and heats the water, and another to a separate building we have and heats it.

Thank you for your response, I've never heard of that kind of furnace, at least an outdoor one.

Since it, is in essence an water heater, would it be possible to tap into it for a a small amout of water for bathing purposes? .

Not a bathtub of course but enough for miminal needs in case of power failure..

Back in '73 and again in '77 our power was out for about a week b/c of ice storms and during the day we cooked our meals upon the stand alone wood store we had then and put big pots of water to heat overnight and use it to wash, just enough to keep the stink down a bit.

Our insert stove(with blowers) we have now does a good job of heating the house but it's top doesn't have the space to put a good sized pot upon. Just a few smaller pots to heat the frank and beans and an old coffee percolator...

Just wondering, always open to a better option.

[Farmer Dean]

Check Ebay for outdoor wood boilers/furnaces.Some of them are really capable units,can heat a home,a shop,provide hot water and even heat a swimming pool.We bought a forced air unit 4 years ago,no water used-the hot air is ducted into the house.

[xzins]

The water for the furnace is treated with anti-freeze and corrosion resistance. I did not need to add to it this year, so I’m running on the same water from last year. It cycles through the system, and it is in the range of 185 degrees when it leaves the furnace. It travels underground no more than a hundred feet via the pumping action, so I imagine it stays in the 165 to 185 range very easily with the constant recycling through the furnace.

The line going to the water heater is so hot that it heats the water in the heater beyond our ability to touch it when it comes out the faucet. Since you can have your hot water in the water heater continue even in a power outage, by means of a small amount of generator juice to your furnace, you can have a constant supply of hot water from your own water heater throughout any blackout.