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The realistic Shaver Outdoor Furnace
FAQ
What is the
Shaver outdoor wood furnace?
How can the Shaver
heat my home and water?
What are the advantages of the
Shaver Outdoor Wood Furnace?
What do the experts say?
What is the BTU rating of your furnace?
Is burning
wood bad for the environment?
How long will the furnace last?
What
about Stainless Steel Wood Furnaces?
How long is the
warranty?
What can I expect to pay for an outdoor wood furnace?
Why is the water jacket so
big? 170 gallons is a lot more than others!
How heavy is your
furnace?
Won't the firebox burn out eventually?
Antifreeze as a Rust Inhibitor
Is this furnace (boiler) pressurized or non-pressurized?
Is there a lot of heat loss when the unit is outside and it's below
32° F?
Can I connect the
Shaver to a forced air heating system?
I only have baseboard electric heat, how can I use the
Shaver?
Can I heat my domestic water with the
Shaver?
Can I connect the
Shaver to a pressurized heating system?
Should I consider radiant heat?
Can the
Shaver heat my pool and/or spa?
Can I heat more than one building?
Can I use an outdoor wood furnace if I live in town?
How often do I have to fill it up?
Does the furnace come fully assembled?
Can boilers explode?
Do these furnaces need to be near the house?
Do I have a choice of colors?
WHY OUR
FURNACE IS THE ABSOLUTE BEST!
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| Shaver Outdoor Wood Burning Furnace is one of the leading and
the oldest manufacturer of
outdoor wood furnaces in Northern America. We have been building quality
wood furnaces since 1972 - 36 years!
We have a simpler, nicer
looking furnace that's made to stand the test of time. We use our own tried and true
SIMPLE
36 year old
design. This is the same furnace we were building in 1985 without changing
our prices by using cheaper materials or giving sloppy craftsmanship.
We HAVE made improvements to the furnaces over time - and STILL have
the lowest prices!
We believe we have the best - and certainly
the best price by far.
We are located in North Arkansas (10 miles from MO) and know all about
cold temperatures. We sell many furnaces in Canada and Europe. We heat our own 5,000 sq ft home, hot water and hot tub
with a Shaver Outdoor
Wood Furnace.
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| What is the Shaver
Outdoor Wood Fired Furnace? |
| It is a safe and efficient way to heat your home with wood. The Shaver furnace is designed to look like an attractive storage building and is
installed outside, away from the home or building being heated.
Having an
outdoor furnace eliminates smoke, pollution and wood debris within
the house. A water jacket surrounds the huge furnace firebox and the heat
is transferred from the wood fire to the water. The water is then piped at
130 F to 180 F (adjustable), to the house. It then goes through a heat exchanger,
which is a lot like a radiator. Air blows over the heat exchanger (in your
furnace's plenum), extracting heat for your home.
Heating systems other than forced air (such as boilers or radiant
floor heating systems) can be hooked up very simply.
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| How can the Shaver Wood
Furnace heat my home and water? |
| The heated water is pumped to the home or building through insulated
underground pipes (Pex pipe). A water-to-air heat exchanger or
water-to-water heat exchanger,
conveys the heat into the home's forced-air furnace, boiler, or radiant
floor heating system.
It can also supply potable hot water to the water heater to provide
domestic hot water. We use a direct hookup to the hot water heater, saving
about $200 in the process, for a side-arm heat exchanger. This allows for normal thermostatic control of
temperatures for safe, even, comfortable heat. You won't end up with
scalding water with out built-in heat exchanger for your domestic hot
water.
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| What are the advantages of the Shaver
outdoor wood boiler? |
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The
chance of carbon monoxide build-up in your home is eliminated.
The
chance of a gas explosion from your furnace in your home is
eliminated.
Indoor
pollutants of harmful gases and fumes are eliminated.Asthma
and other breathing difficulties are greatly helped by eliminating the
dry air, fumes and gases.
Eliminates
the chance of chimney and flu fires from your furnace.
The Shaver furnace removes the fire hazard from your home or building because all
of the burning and stoking takes place outside. Insurance companies
love these furnaces. Often lower rates or higher coverage can be had by
changing from a fireplace or indoor wood stove to an outside wood furnace.
An outdoor wood furnace also helps your indoor air quality and can alleviate respiratory and allergy problems
caused by burning wood indoors . No more dark sooty walls and bugs either!
Thermostatic control provides your home with even, steady heat.
The house will be less drafty as well, when heating with the outside boiler, because there is no combustion device operating inside drawing in cold outside air to replace that used in combustion.
Current owners of the Shaver Furnace are also using
up to 25 to 50 percent less
wood compared to other heating alternatives. Since the Shaver can burn
larger pieces of wood it will dramatically reduce time spent preparing the
wood. Costs for large round timbers are also dramatically less than for
smaller split wood. You can get this type of wood for $90 a cord compared
to $120-140 a cord.
The Shaver Wood Furnace means easy maintenance and few parts requiring
service. You don't need costly electrical gadgets and features to cause
problems down the road. This is a proven design of over 36 years!
KEEP IT
SIMPLE and efficient, is our motto. No circuit
boards, fancy controls and electronic or remote wireless controls here!
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| What do the experts say?
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| According to the University of Nebraska,
"Wood burning stoves may not only save people money on their heating
bills this winter, but also are a clean alternative to electric or gas
furnaces," Adams said.
Scott Josiah, state forester with the
Nebraska Forest Service at UNL, said "There also are environmental
benefits to using wood heat. Wood heat produces little pollution and is
environmentally friendly, especially when wood is used in a
high-efficiency wood burning stove and where firewood is a readily
available resource."
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| What is the BTU rating of your furnace? |
| The Shaver 165 is rated at 163,200
BTU storage capacity. The actual output can be greater, for a short period
of time (which is the rating OTHER manufacturers give you). Don't believe the outlandish claims of 300,000 BTU from a
100 or 120 gallon furnace! They simply aren't true. I just read about one
that said it was 400,000 BTU with a 95 gallon tank. Preposterous!
Where did these people go to school?
The water would have to be well over 500 degrees to do this. And at
what temperature does water boil? 212º F of course. And we don't want the
water boiling! This is just a cheap sales tactic.
A BTU is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 pound
of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit.
That means that if the normal water temperature is 60 degrees F and it
needs to be raised to 180 degrees, that it will take 163,200 BTU to do
this. Remember that a pound of water is about 16 ounces. A gallon of water
is approx 8 lb.
(170 gal. x 8) = 1360 lb.
Temperature change = 120 degrees
1360 x 120 = approx. 163,200 BTU
Find out how many BTUs you need HERE
or check the label on your current furnace.
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| Is wood burning bad for the environment? |
| A wood heating system is the right choice for the increasing number of
consumers who are concerned about our environment. Wood is a totally
renewable resource, which, when burned, results in no net carbon dioxide
increase. Carbon dioxide is a part of the natural plant-growth cycle and
occurs naturally when trees are allowed to rot on the forest floor.
Burning wood gives of no more carbon than a rotting tree!
On the other hand, fossil fuels release carbon dioxide when burned
which otherwise would stay trapped in the earth. This causes a net
increase in carbon dioxide, which is believed to be responsible for the
heat-trapping "greenhouse effect." So when heating with wood
versus fossil fuels, you actually achieve a net reduction in greenhouse
gas emissions.
In addition, harvesting firewood has a pruning effect on forests, which
allows net growth to flourish. The wood you burn likely comes from your
local area -- it's not imported and not subject to price increases due to
events outside your control, as is the case with oil.
Many times the owners have land with fallen trees spread throughout
abundantly - which means FREE WOOD!
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| How long will the furnace last? |
| We have a 20-YEAR WARRANTY with an
exclusive 5-year ON-SITE parts AND labor warranty on the furnace. Electrical
components are guaranteed for one year.
The life of your furnace depends upon proper maintenance. With proper
maintenance your furnace will give you many years of dependable service.
We have Shaver Furnaces in service that are over 25 years old+, with wood
siding - the way we used to make them!
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| What about
Stainless Steel Wood Furnaces?
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| Stainless steel may
not last longer than mild steel in
an outdoor furnace, because all stainless is a “forever” product.
There are many grades and some of them are subject to rusting and
corrosion. Automobile exhaust systems are made from one of the lower
grades; they resist high temperatures but totally corrode.
Stainless is expensive so the fireboxes are made very thin. Stainless
gets stress cracks in it which get bigger and bigger until you have a BIG
leak!
We have replaced leaking stainless steel
furnaces only 5 and 6 years old!
Most outdoor
furnace manufacturers went to stainless steel to get in on the stainless
quality image, but since it’s expensive many of them went to a low-cost,
cheap-grade stainless - which is still subject to rust and corrosion!
During the manufacturing and welding process for stainless steel, IF
the
proper quantity and blend of corrosion-resistant and stabilizing elements
are used, then it does indeed become a “forever” product. This is not
normally done and post-weld annealing is needed to
restore ductility, formability, toughness and corrosion resistance.
If you do purchase one of the lower grade stainless steel furnaces, be
sure that exact model has has a proven track record of
corrosion resistance. The furnace design is every bit as important as
the material that it’s made from.
Our original 35 year old furnaces are
still in operation today - thanks in part to a .400 inch firebox.
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| How long is the warranty? |
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| We have a 20-YEAR limited
warranty. There is also a 5 year unconditional ON-SITE warranty including parts and labor
on the entire structure. The electrical parts such as the pump have a one
year manufacturer's warranty.
We don't have you ship the furnace back, like some companies. What good
is a warranty if it's going to cost you a thousand dollars for shipping?
We also don't send you a roll of 26 gauge metal, like one owner told
me, along with a list of local welders! Can you believe that's how some
people honor their warranty?
We send a man out, to your furnace and it's repaired on the spot in the
rare case that a leak should ever develop!
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| What can I expect to pay for an outdoor wood furnace? |
| Total prices will vary depending on the shipping location but our prices start
at a low, low $4,477.
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| Why is the water jacket so
big? 170 gallons is a lot more than others! |
| Many stoves do not have enough water capacity and tend to cycle too
often. You load the stove with wood and fire it. With a small water
capacity, the water reaches set point temperature and the stove shuts
down. The Hardy™ just has 100 gallons in their base
model and 130 in the next model up! Some others only have 60-70 gallons!
You still have a good load of wood in the firebox that sits there and
smolders and then cycles over and over. On cold days the heat is quickly
drained from the water an now you have cold water trying to heat your house
- until it warms up again.
More water also means more capacity (available BTUs) but at the same
time the water
doesn't have to be heated as much, over and over again, either. The Shaver Outdoor Furnace has a large water tank capacity, so you can
burn the total load of wood with good draft, burn and efficiency.
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| How heavy is your furnace? |
| Our furnaces weigh in at a hefty 1600 lb dry, which is a testimony as to
how much steel is really in the furnace. The Hardy H2 furnace only weighs
650 lb. The Hardy H4 is only 850. Hmmm...
See our pictures of
the furnace hanging from the chimney alone.
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| Won't the firebox burn out eventually? |
| The Shaver Outdoor Furnaces are made with heavy gauge steel and will
never rust out, to be sure. Can you imagine a piece of metal almost .400" thick
(that's over 3/8") ever rusting though? Many boilers out there are only 1/5"
thick! There are many Shaver Furnaces over 30 years old in service, still going
strong.
What about stress cracks? Since water surrounds the firebox, the metal can only get so hot since
it's being continually cooled by the water. The extreme thickness of the
metal we use (almost .400 inch) helps avoid stress cracks as well.
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| Antifreeze
as a Rust Inhibitor
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Unscrupulous dealers will
tell you that the sole purpose of antifreeze is to keep the furnace from
freezing up. Not true; the main reason is rust prevention. Rust is the
no/no word in the outdoor furnace business.
Antifreeze is generally not needed as it
takes a long time to freeze 170 gallons of water and there is
plenty of expansion room in the top of the tank anyway.
There are several other alternatives to prevent
freezing and at far less cost. An in-line electric heater can be installed
on the return line and set at just above the freezing mark as an extra
safeguard.
Even better, you can also simply leave the
pump running if you go on vacation and it will extract heat from the
furnace keeping the water warm. The pump uses about the same power as a
80W light bulb.
Antifreeze is an excellent rust inhibitor
but it does have a disadvantage. It is designed to keep engines cooler.
When used in an outdoor furnace, it has been stated that it takes 18
percent more firewood to heat the system water/antifreeze mixture than to
just heat water.
Do not use regular automobile antifreeze.
The best glycol additive is Dowfrost from the Dow Chemical company. It is
environmentally friendly, allows higher operating temperatures, has
excellent anti-corrosion features and has a longer life expectancy than
other glycols.
We have also heard that Beet Juice is an
excellent and inexpensive antifreeze! Beet Juice has a neutral Ph just
like water.
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| Is this furnace (boiler) pressurized or non-pressurized? |
| The Shaver Outdoor Furnaces are
safer, non-pressurized units. Technically they are
atmospheric vented, which means they are totally safe and never build
pressure.
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| Is there a lot of heat loss when the unit is outside and it's below
32° F? |
| The units are highly insulated to avoid heat loss. In fact icicles form
on the outside in the winter. That means that heat is being kept inside.
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| Can I connect the
Shaver to a forced air heating system? |
| Yes, more than 90% of all installations are connected to existing forced
air heating systems. This is one of the easiest to install; almost
as easy as Hydronic units and
free-hanging units in a garage or shop.
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| I only have baseboard electric heat, how can I use the
Shaver? |
| Many people with electric baseboards elect to install
non-drafty, even-heating and comfortable radiant floor heat
between the floor joists or water baseboard heaters.
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| Can I heat my domestic water with the
Shaver? |
| Yes, our system circulates potable hot water in a closed system, between
the boiler and the hot water heater. This keeps the hot water refreshed,
hot and ready to go at all times. No outside heat exchanger is needed,
saving $100 - 200 on a side-arm heat exchanger.
Most people find they also save between $30 and $60 a month (OR MORE!) heating their water
with a wood outdoor furnace - boiler.
With our system there is no change of getting scalding water out of your
tap - like with other systems!
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| Can I connect the
Shaver to a pressurized heating system? |
| Yes,
by the use of a water-to-water heat exchanger the heat can be
transferred from one system to the other.
Connecting it directly to the existing system and depressurizing it is a
big no-no and will cause you problems with air pockets, etc.
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| Should I consider radiant heat? |
| Radiant heat installed under new or existing floors can be a great way
to heat your home. Radiant floor heat is the most efficient way to
transfer heat, however, it is important that you design the system
correctly. Many people with electric baseboard heaters opt for this
method.
It isn't drafty or noise and gives you clean and comfortable heat down
low, where you need it!
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| Can the Shaver heat my pool and/or spa? |
| Yes, many Shaver Outdoor Furnace customers heat their pool and/or spa.
You can put wood in the furnace every 3 days or more in the summer. I
guess this is where many manufacturers get the outlandish claims of 72 -
96 hours burn time!
Remember that smoke output will be greater in the summer due to
the smoldering fire and plan
accordingly.
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| Can I heat more than one building? |
| One of the many advantages of the Shaver Outdoor Furnace is the ability
to heat multiple buildings from one location. Simply add a pump and Pex
lines to your location and you will have an additional heated area or
building.
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| Can I use an outdoor wood furnace if I live in town? |
| Wood may not be the best fuel choice in densely populated urban areas
where automobile exhaust and other pollution already puts excessive
strains on air quality. Smoke can also overwhelm your neighbors if the
wind blows the wrong way.
However, in suburban, small town, and rural areas,
wood makes good sense. If you choose to install your Shaver furnace in a
densely populated area the stack height should exceed the rooflines of
existing homes.
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| How often do I have to fill it up? |
| We put wood in our furnace at 8 AM and 8
PM in the dead of winter, with plenty of wood still left over. So 2 times a
day max. Some people do it just once a day. Don't
believe exaggerated claims of 72-96 hours! This just isn't possible
- except in the summer, heating only water and a pool, hot tub or spa.
The size of your house, outdoor temperatures and the size of the house
will determine how much wood you use and how often you fill the furnace
along with whether you heat hot water.
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| Does the furnace come fully assembled? |
| Yes. Like most major appliances the unit is delivered to you ready to
install.
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| Can boilers explode? |
| The Shaver Outdoor Furnace is a non-pressurized systems which totally
eliminates this possibility.
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| Do these furnaces need to be near the house? |
We recommend that the Shaver Outdoor Furnace be within
2-300 feet of the
house - but no less than 30 feet, to avoid downdraft problems.
Claims in product brochures and manufacturer's
websites that these units can be 500 ft from the house are hard to believe
without ridiculous amounts of heat loss and wasted wood. We do have a customer that is 325 feet from his home,
heating 4880 sq. ft. and he's real happy!
It is hard to see much heat energy being left after a run of
500 ft. even with underground temperatures of 50-60 degrees below the
frost line - let alone at 12-18" in frozen ground, where most people say
to put the lines..
The furnace can be 10 feet from the house. 2 feet? Don't
believe it unless you don't have windows or you have a 20-30 foot smoke
stack.
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| Do I have a choice of colors? |
| The Shaver Furnace is available in
TWENTY different colors, to be sure it
will compliment the exterior of your home or match other buildings..
Currently available colors are shown below:
20 NEW colors for your siding!
A total of over 5800 color combinations -
sides, corners and roof
 Click
HERE or on the image above for a larger picture!
Plus
Galvalume which lasts 6 times longer than Galvanized metal!
Also introducing Camouflage!
Click on images for a LARGER PICTURE
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