[Lovely-Day-For-A-Guinness]

The new boilers have a much smaller firebox that's lined with ceramics. The amount of wood they hold is considerably less than what ours use during a burn cycle.

They produce very little ash and emissions and also burn less wood. They also cost a great amount more - the model we'd need to heat our place is now over 15k, nearly three times the cost we paid for our old smoke belcher.

Wood selection is critical. With ours, we can burn any wood that can burn - green, dry, rotten, pine, etc. That can't be done (with ease) on the new models.

I think if I lived in an area with nearby neighbors and limited access to wood, I'd give one of the new models consideration, but with a jar of Vaseline in hand to help ease the pain in the arse price!

[xzins]

15K would take 4-5 years to break even if formerly using propane or oil. That is way too expensive for most.

Are the ceramics supposed to hold heat? Less wood, even if dry, would also mean more frequent filling. Even in our -13 weather this winter, I was filling at about 9-10 pm, and not again until about 6-7 the following morning. I used my best locust, oak, walnut, or cherry during the nights, but I always had a big stack of coals for the morning feeding. Worked like a charm.