Outdoor/Outside Wood Boiler/Stove/Furnace Review

Many new companies are jumping on the bandwagon and are failing, leaving customers stranded without a warranty. Right now, we see several new manufacturers every year, usually copying a current brand, often without their own manufacturing facility, no research and development and zero track record, in most cases. Many companies farm out manufacturing and that is not good as there is no control or oversight and quite often they are made in 4 or 5 different locations.

Nature's Comfort Boilers is the latest to fall (November 2019), leaving their customers without parts or a factory warranty!

Natures Comfort CLOSED

See this smaller chart to see a better overview of the red and green marks by reducing the page size to 70%, by using the control key in combination with the scroll button/wheel on your mouse.

ALWAYS under construction and improving as manufacturers come and go! Updated 1/6/2020

Why is the metal & design important?	A round firebox requires only 3 welds to build, compared to 12 welds with the less efficient square box. Leaks often happen at welds. Mild steel is better than stainless steel. Several companies don't make stainless steel furnaces any more because of all the warranty claims. Stainless steel is expensive, so it's made thin - real thin - 1/16" (picture half the thickness of a 1/8" drill bit - pretty thin!). Some fireboxes are up to 6 times thicker at 3/8". Steel boilers have been around for 100 years and have proven themselves - unlike stainless steel. Stainless steel gets stress cracks that spread into large unrepairable cracks. "Boiler Plate" is not better than mild steel and in fact is is virtually the same. See next box.
Why is the firebox thickness important?	Obviously the thicker the better, for shear strength and longevity. Heat transfer through either steel or mild steel is virtually the same. Some people think that the thicker the steel, the harder it is to heat and takes longer to heat up. That is not true except for the very first time you heat it up assuming you have an ash pan so that you don't lose your heat every time you open the firebox door to clean out the ashes.. It Once the metal gets hot, it stays hot. "Boiler Plate" is simply a sales tools and only refers to the tensile strength of the point at which steel with tears, which only makes a difference in an actual pressurized boiler.
Why is water capacity important?	When a furnace has too small a water capacity, you have no reserve (of BTUs), the furnace has to work non-stop most of the time to keep enough hot water ready to heat your home. On those really cold days, you could be caught short. On the flip-side, too big a furnace wastes heat and wood just like a hot-water heater wastes so much energy keeping all that how water hot, that you never use!
Qualifies for Tax Rebate?	No longer offered
WEIGHT	The heavier it is, the more steel there is.
Ash Pan	If you don't have grates and an ash pan, then you have to kill the fire, clean out the ashes and then restart a fire, in the dead of winter. A separate door allows you to open the ash "pan" or receptacle area and clean out the ashes without losing all of you precious heat and having to mess with the fire, Avoid augers which tend to be cheap and will jam. Many forums talk about how bad they are,
Fan?	Without a fan, you have to depend on a natural draft. That's like trying to get a fire going without blowing on it. You will end up with un-burnt pieces of wood, according to folks We have talked to. A fan induced flame is always better. Having the fan in back is better again because it blows air up through the grates, just like a blacksmith's forge - resulting in better burning, less ash and less total wood consumption. Having a fan on the front door usually results in burning a hole through the pile of wood (incomplete).
Is a pump included?	Needless to say, if a pump is not included, then you have to purchase one in order to pump the water to your home, at a cost of over $200 in some cases.

Outdoor Outside Wood Boiler Stove Furnace Reviews - Comparison Chart

Outdoor wood burning furnace reviews - manufacturers listed here; reviews

What is the best outdoor wood furnace for the money?