The realistic Shaver Outdoor Furnace FAQ

What is the Shaver outdoor wood furnace?

What kind of heating systems can the Shaver Furnace interface with?

How can the Shaver heat my home and domestic hot water?

What are the advantages of the Shaver Outdoor Wood Furnace?

Why are your prices so low?

Can the installation be completed by the homeowner or does a professional need to be used?

Is the Earth Wood Furnace a subsidiary of yours? They look just like you in every way.

What do the experts say?

What is the BTU rating of your furnace?

What comes with the furnace?

What else will I need to buy?

Do you sell everything I need and can I get them ahead of time?

Do you sell insulated water lines that run to the house?

Can I install the furnace in the middle of winter,
so I can start saving money right away?

Can I get more than the two standard sets of ports in addition to
the hot water heater ports?

What is this new rust treatment that you have, that lasts for 5 years?

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?

How much do I need to pay NOW, to start my  custom furnace?

What kind of payments do you accept?

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?

Why don't you use boiler plate?

Antifreeze as a Rust Inhibitor?

Is this furnace (boiler) pressurized or non-pressurized?

Is there a safety latch or anti-blowback latch?

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?

What would need to be done to interface a Trane I-19 heat pump?

Will my existing furnace take over as a backup?

How do I keep my furnace going in the event of a power failure?

I only have baseboard electric heat, how can I use the Shaver?

I don't have a heating system now. What do I do?

Can I heat my domestic water with the Shaver?

Can I connect the Shaver to a pressurized heating system or boiler?

Should I consider radiant heat?

Can the Shaver heat my pool and/or spa?

Can I heat more than one building?

I have two heat pumps or furnaces. Would I need a pump for both?

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 I extend the chimney of flue pipe?

Can boilers explode?

Does your furnace burn continuously or does it shut off and on
according to if the furnace is operating or some other method?

Does your pump run continuously?

Do these furnaces need to be near the house? 

How far away can the furnace be from the heated building?

Is there an elevation concern for the placement of the furnace? 

Do you offer financing?

Do I have a choice of colors?

Can I get the furnace without siding for use in an outbuilding?

Could make a Shaver Pro Series 250 without metal siding. I want
to install brick.

WHY OUR FURNACE IS THE ABSOLUTE BEST!

We are a family run business (privately held - no big corporations), located in North Arkansas (10 miles from MO) and know all about cold temperatures. We sell many furnaces in Canada, Alaska and Europe. 

One of the reasons our prices are so low is because we are filling a need; for everyone to have an outdoor furnace, that wants one. 

 - Our labor rates are low, here in Arkansas and we pass those savings on to you!

 - Our advertising is only $300 a month - unlike others who spend tens of thousands of dollars on one full-page color ad. You pay for that!

 - We use all off-the-shelf parts. That means that they cost less money. We don't use expensive circuit boards or computerized parts. That means less expense for you (ans simpler too).

 - No one is looking to get rich off of these furnaces. In fact some other manufactures put there furnaces on sale, lowering their prices by MORE than we even make on a furnace!

We have a simpler, nicer looking furnace that's made to stand the test of time. We use our own tried and true SIMPLE 37 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 outdoor wood furnace - and certainly the best price by far. 

Simply look at the shear weight of out furnaces and you will discover that we use the most metal and have the thickest firebox of all.

We heat our manufacturing facility with a Shaver 340 Model. We also heat our own 5,000 sq ft home, hot water and hot tub with a Shaver Outdoor Wood Furnace.

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 or ductwork), 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. In fact a boiler is the easiest system to hook up!

Our systems will work great with virtually any system; Hydronic or radiant floor heat, forced air systems (oil, LP, Natural Gas), gas packs, heat pumps, boilers, water radiators, etc.

We can even help you if you don't have any heating system now!

You can use baseboard Hydronic heaters, old-style cast iron radiators, radiant floor heat (with Pex pipe "stapled" to your floor underneath or easy to install flexible ductwork.

It will also supply potable hot water to the water heater to provide domestic hot water. Every Shaver Furnace comes with a built-in heat exchanger at NO CHARGE. This eliminates the need for you to purchase an external hot water heat exchanger for your hot water heater. You would also have to buy a tempering valve, so you don't end up with scalding water. This will save you $250 - $300! 

We use a direct hookup to the hot water heater.  This allows for normal thermostatic control of temperatures for safe, even, comfortable heat. You won't end up with scalding water with our built-in heat exchanger for your domestic hot water.

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\7 years! 

KEEP IT SIMPLE and efficient, is our motto. No circuit boards, fancy controls and electronic or remote wireless controls here!

The electrical hookup is simple 110V wiring. If you can hook up a light switch and a light socket, you can do this install.. Plumbing hookup is accomplished with easy push-on-by-hand fittings..

You can lay the lines yourself and pour the concrete pad, if you're going to use one

The hardest job is putting the heat exchanger into the duct work. That takes a little skill, to make the new ductwork to house the exchanger. Sometimes it's a slide-in affair!

A local heating and air guy can easily handle it all.

Everything is very simple and easy to do. There is a 49 page manual, with lots of pictures and diagrams, that will help you every step of the way. You can also call me or the factory for assistance.

Is the Earth Furnace a subsidiary of yours? They look just like you in every way.

Earth Wood Furnace, (just like Nature's Comfort awhile back), was a dealer of ours, just one short year ago. 

Like many others who have come and gone, they decided that they can make more money making their own stove.

They look like ours because it is a virtual copy. We did the research and development over 38 years, listened to our customers and improved on the stove.

See the similarities!

EARTH	Earth copied our firebox and chimney design but no grates		SHAVER	Tried and tested design - over 75% efficient!
Firebox door, ash door, fill valve and colors -  just like Shaver	Our grate design		Shaver - The ORIGINAL  Not a Copy-Cat	3/4" thick grates

They copied it - and I guess we should be flattered because "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

It is the customer who needs to beware though. We have weathered this before and will again but it is the customer who is left holding the bag. Where will they be even in a year or two? Other companies failed to even make it to their first anniversary and they were left with furnaces with doors falling off, fires and NO WARRANTY because the company had folded. 

By contrast, we have been here for 38 years. You need to look at that when making your decision because you need to know if they will be there when you need them. We will and we have proven that. 

Companies that have lasted 38 years are far and few between and we are one of them. Don't you want that security?

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."

It is usually best to look at the square footage rating. We rate our 165 at 4,000 square feet. This is for average winter conditions, like in PA and Ohio.

Customers in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota and upstate NY should consider this as a 3500 sq foot model. Folks in TN, NC, Arkansas, etc, can easily heat 5,000 sq. feet.

BE AWARE that many manufacturers will take a furnace similar in size to our 165 model and will tell you that it will heat 7 or 8 thousand feet. What they DON'T tell you, is that you will have to load it more than twice a day. I've heard from quite a few customers that were sold too small a furnace (just so the company could make a sale) and then they ended up loading it every 6-8 hours. This is not fair to you!

Please keep in mind that this is for a house with average insulation. If you have an older or drafty house, you will have to adjust the size.

Your wood source makes a big difference too. While hedge or orange wood HAS 32 Million BTUs per cord, Hickory has almost 28 Million, Red Oak has 24 Million BTUs while Ash and others are in the high teens - so you can see a big difference in the wood you use and load times! You can almost cut your load times in half using hedge. Most any hardwood has more BTUs than all species of softwoods. See out BTU list for wood 

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.

We're also including the Cold Weather Package NOW at NO CHARGE for furnaces sold in states that border Canada, sold In Canada and Sold in Alaska!

Here is a list of the parts you need:

1. Installation kit (includes 3 shut-off valves, a drain and 2 SharkBite fittings) at $68.11 ea

2. Hot water kit (includes a thermostat, pump flange and fittings to attach everything; top and bottom) $79.32

3. Heat exchanger   $175-235 (most applications)

4. Hydrocoil kit (SharkBite fittings for the heat exchanger)  $34.19

5. Pump for the H/W heater  $99

6. Pex pipe @ $3.32 a foot for 4 pipes (To make your own insulated Pex pipe - or purchase locally)

7. Solarguard (insulation for the Pex pipe - Can also be purchased locally) $85/roll 

or

6. You can also purchase pre-made insulated Pex pipe for $7.95 a foot for a 4" pipe with two 1" Pex pipes and two 3/4" Pex pipes BUT it is a lot less expensive to make your own!

7. Included in 6

These prices are plus shipping.

Note: SharkBite fittings are simple, push-on-by-hand Pex fittings

In addition to these parts, you will need to buy these parts locally:

- 4" PVC pipe (can be thin wall) for making your own insulated pipe

- 12/3 wire

- cement for the pad (if you choose to have a pad)

- inexpensive 2-wire thermostat ($15)

Also see the installation page.

Some of our customers use solid concrete blocks (pavers) and railroad ties. It is recommended that you thick plastic down before using concrete blocks/pavers or railroad ties.

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!

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!

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 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 30 year-old furnaces are still in operation today - thanks in part to a 4/10th inch firebox.

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 (dis)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!

We also offer financing/

You can pay with credit card, debit card, cash, check by mail, check by phone and PayPal.

The balance is due on or before delivery - certified funds only (NO CASH) id you are paying our driver.

If shipping by freight, the balance must be paid before the furnace is picked up.

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. 

See our pictures of the furnace hanging from the chimney alone.

Our optional firebox is HALF OF AN INCH THICK!

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 4/10 inch or optional 1/2") helps avoid stress cracks as well.

http://www.nextlevelsolutionz.com/Why-Use-Boiler-Plate-Outdoor-furnace.htm

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 cost 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.

See our new Outdoor Furnace Water Treatment! It eliminates annual water testing, water treatments and keeping the Ph balanced through the season!

With our optional Cold Weather Package (free in Canada) you get R22 in the walls and an amazing R50 in the ceiling!

Any system with ductwork and a fan is considered a forced-air system, including heat pumps, geothermal units, water furnaces,

Our heating system is MUCH hotter than heat pumps and geothermal systems!

This type is easy to install; almost as easy as Hydronic units and free-hanging units in a garage or shop.

Most of our customers (80-90%) install the furnace themselves.

The electrical hookup is simple 110V wiring. If you can hook up a light switch and a light socket, you can do this install.. Plumbing hookup is accomplished with easy push-on-by-hand fittings..

You can lay the lines yourself and pour the concrete pad, if you're going to use one.

The hardest job is putting the heat exchanger into the duct work. That takes a little skill, to make the new ductwork to house the exchanger. Sometimes it's a slide-in affair!

A local heating and air guy can easily handle it all.

Everything is very simple and easy to do. There is a 49 page manual that will help you every step of the way. You can also call me or the factory for assistance.

The thermostat for your existing furnace would sense the drop in temperature and automatically turn your furnace on (without relays, switched or circuit boards).

Once you feed the outdoor furnace and restore the fire, it would again take over from your existing furnace.

We sell a battery charger and inverter combo that is easy to install and use!

Utility Power -When stove sentry is used with a 90 A-HR Marine Battery, its highly efficient circuitry can provide up to 8 hours of operation in the absence of electricity.

How it Works:

When electricity is present the Surefire Stove Sentry charges a battery and surveys the power line. At the instant that a power failure occurs, the Surefire Stove Sentry converts the energy stored in the battery to AC power. This assures operation of the wood furnace or pellet stove without interruption during the absence of electricity.

When AC utility power is restored, the Surefire Stove Sentry reinstates AC utility power as the prime energy source to operate the wood furnace or pellet stove. Simultaneously and automatically the Surefire Stove Sentry commences the recharging of the battery, to return it to full capacity in preparation for the next power failure.

You can also install a small solar panel to charge the battery, instead of using line power and use a less expensive inverter.

Bear in mind that you may also need a power supply (backup) for your furnace fan! A small generator will do the trick.

This is how you become self-sufficient with your outdoor wood burning furnace. Have heat when no one else does!

They also make molding that heats your rooms by the hot water running through it and it's virtually invisible.

Others choose the old-timey radiators like they use to use! The also now manufacturer new radiators. It all depends on your decor. 

We have a 50 foot copper water coil in the water jacket which works much better than a sidearm exchanger or brazed plate heat exchanger.

A circulating pump ($99) is mounted on the hot water heater and a thermostat turns it on when the temperature drops in the H/W heater. The cool water is pumped through the built-in heat exchanger (included) and back to the water heater, fully heated.  

Heating your hot water with the built-in hot water coil is very efficient. 

Your hot water heater will stay off all winter while you enjoy a virtually endless supply of free hot water! This saves you $30 - 60 a month depending on what kind of heat you have an how much hot water you use. If you delete the hot water coil we will take $100 off the price.

With our system there is no chance of getting scalding water out of your tap - like with other systems!

Your hot water heater functions as normal in the summer.

In fact, a boiler is the easiest system to hook up to.

A water-to-water heat exchanger is all that is needed to tie the two systems together. It keeps the systems separate and allows your boiler to work exactly as it does now - the way it was designed to. If it's pressurized, it will stay that way and any other systems like auto-fill and anti-flowback will work as they do now.

See the diagram and picture. The heat exchanger is simply plumbed in right before your boiler, in the return line. The return water from your system is reheated, tricking your boiler into thinking there is no heat loss and therefore no reason to come back on. That way you don't need any switches relays are or other devices to control it.

Connecting it directly to the existing system and depressurizing it is a big no-no and will cause you problems with air pockets, etc.

 

 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 noisy and gives you clean and comfortable heat down low, where you are at - where you need it!

See http://www.warmzone.com/radiant_air.asp

joisted floor system

Simple, Easy to Install Radiant Heating Packages for the Do It Yourselfer.

concrete floor installation

We have special kits for hooking up a Shaver with your pool so it will maintain the temperature within 1 degree F! Use must use a titanium heat exchanger in a chlorinated pool.

Remember that smoke output will be greater in the summer due to the smoldering fire and plan accordingly when placing your furnace.

You can add additional sets of ports for only $45 a set!

It is recommended that you use a different pump for each building

A single pump and set of pipes can be used to feed all of the heat exchangers needed.

The biggest heat exchanger (usually the one heating the most square feet) id fed first, with 180F water. The output from that heat exchanger (usually 160F or hotter) is fed and the return then goes back to the outdoor furnace. (The furnace can be set at 160F and that water can be used in the first heat exchanger and then the second heat exchanger will have 140F or better.)

If a third furnace/heat pump is used the output from the second heat exchanger is used. The water temperature should be 140F or hotter. Heat exchangers are rated at 140F and above.

The only difference between the three systems or heat exchangers, is that the fan will have to run longer because of the lower temperatures (and therefore lower BTU output) available.

Of course, separate pumps and lines can be used so that the hottest water is fed into each heat exchanger and the pumps can be wired to only run on demand.

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 within 200 feet.

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.

See the question about regarding BTU output.

When the water temperature drops, the fan comes on and feeds air (oxygen) into the fire, resulting in a raging fire. Once the water heats up to the temperature you set it at, the fan goes off, allowing the fire to just smolder, so that wood isn't burning off unnecessarily.

At all times, you will have a ready supply of hot water, ready to be utilized.

The fan stays off until the water needs to be heated up again and then comes on again when the water needs to be reheated..

You have your choice. If your Shaver furnace is a long distance from your home, you may choose to have the pump run continuously so that there isn't any delay getting heat.

Can I extend the chimney of flue pipe?

The furnace can be 10 feet from the house if you extend the chimney or flue to get above the ridge line of your home.

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. with the 165 model - and he is 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 manufacturers say to put the lines.

Is there an elevation concern for the placement of the furnace?  

As an example, if the hot air furnace was 20 feet above or below the furnace would there be a problem with maintaining the water level in the furnace?

Generally speaking, there is no issue with different elevations, since there is very little water in the lines. The pump tends to stop the water from flowing back and forth and there is a suction effect (like in a siphon) that stop the water from flowing freely when the pump is off.

We even have heat exchangers 30 feet up in the attics of homes, without effect.

If there should ever be an issue, a simple one-way valve will eliminate any issue.

We can finance furnaces through an outside company, that we've worked with for years. They can finance a furnace for up to 48 months, with as little as ZERO DOWN. Typically they like to see 2 month's payments (approx $300) for a down payment but in some cases they can ask for $1000 down. It all depends on your credit. They give fast answers and are real good to work with.

OR

We can offer 6 Months Deferred Payment for only 1.5% total!

0 DOWN, 0 PAYMENTS, 0 INTEREST for 6 Months if loan is paid within the 6 month period.

OR 90 DAYS, NO INTEREST! 0 DOWN, 0 INTEREST! Payments required. Interest starts on the date of the contract if the finance amount is not paid off within the 90 day "NO Interest" period.

We can get an approval within 24 hours max..

Please can apply online,  fax it in or you can call the toll-free number on the app with your info. 

You can also apply online at

http://www.accessequipmentfinancing.com/consumer.php?referredBy=WeldRite,Inc.

If using the paper app (available for download on this website), please put Weld-Rite (the manufacturer) as the dealer and 828-683-0025 for the phone Toll-Free at 1-866-892-0315.

Their Fax number is: 937-552-9484

Special programs available for the following states:

AZ, CA, FL, GA, IA, IN, KY, ME, MI, MN, MO,

MS, NC, OH, OR, PA, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI, WV

$150 doc fee on all financing.

First and foremost the firebox thickness is the most important factor. We have the thickest optional firebox in the industry at just shy of 1/2" -  compared to 1/4" from our nearest competitor. That's 100% thicker and that's important because the firebox is always the first thing to fail. Most furnaces are only .125 to .1875" thick, with only 2 others that are .250" thick.

We have a 20 year parts AND labor warranty. Most others just cover parts or their warranty is much shorter - read the fine print!!

There is a forced-air blower in back that feeds air into the firebox, below the grate, to feed oxygen into the bottom of the fire. Feeding the fire from the bottom (just like a blacksmith would) is the best way to get complete combustion from the wood. This is infinitely better than a fan on the front door blowing air into the side of the fire - or a manual draft. The fan is thermostatically controlled to keep the water at a set temperature and is adjustable.

The grate is made out of 3/4 inch bar stock. We have NEVER had one burn through! Most furnaces don't even have grates, forcing you to kill the fire, open the firebox door (letting out all of your precious heat), clean out the ashes and then restart a fire in the dead of winter!

The ash pan is approx. 16" wide x 34" long and is 8" high. Many furnaces don't even have one, requiring you to let the fire die down in order to clean it.

We also have a 50 foot POTABLE water coil (for your water heater) made out of 50 feet of coiled 5/8" OD copper tubing!

With our built-in heat exchanger for your domestic hot water, you don't need a separate heat exchanger for the hot water heater, often called a side-arm exchanger or plate exchanger.. We have 3 water outputs. One is potable water using a sealed copper tube and lines to your water heater. The other outputs give you the whole 170 gallon tank of water that is circulated with a pump to the inside heat exchanger.

The firebox is round and is 36" wide x 26" high (due to the grate and ash pan in the bottom) x 34" deep. It is made from almost 4/10th of an inch of solid steel. We've never had one rust through! Square fireboxes take 12 or more welds to put it together. Every weld is a potential leak. A round firebox only takes two continuous weld on each end for the end plates! A tube is MUCH stronger than flab slabs of steel that can bend and warp.

We have a 170 gallon water tank! Many manufacturers only use 90-125 gallon tanks! The size is critical when heating a larger home. DON'T BELIEVE IT when they say they can heat 4,000 sq. ft. and have 300,000 BTU from 100 gallons. That's impossible without heating the water to over 300 degrees! Science is science!

It is totally surrounded by that 170 gallons of water (or more with larger models), so that it absorbs the maximum amount of heat possible! The water jacket surrounding the firebox is rectangular and is made from 1/8 inch thick metal - the standard in the industry for water tanks - as opposed to auto body thickness sheet metal on others. We are two times thicker; 11 gauge vs. 16 gauge.

The chimney is made out of 5 inch schedule 40 pipe (1/4" thick) and is surrounded by water as well. It tops out at about 90" above ground. You can EASILY add extensions with standard 6" stovepipe. Smaller flues mean much less heat loss.

The chimney is low in the firebox and exits about 1 foot from the bottom shelf, so that the smoke - or more importantly, the heat - is trapped so that it doesn't quickly escape out the flue. That would be a big loss of efficiency. This is also a better idea since you don't have baffles creating a lot of smoke and getting a creosote buildup on them that's hard to clean.

This also creates a huge secondary burn chamber, to more completely burn the gases and wood! When wood starts to burn it's the escaping gas that burns first, then the wood!

The water surrounds the ash "pan" (receptacle) as well. As anyone with a woodstove or furnace knows, ashes put out a lot of heat!

There is a full-size rear door approx 40 x 48 inches. This makes it VERY easy to make connections and to service it. There is no need to pull the whole shell off as with other furnaces!

We have an extra large, waist-high loading door - 18" x 18" suitable for putting BIG pieces of wood in! Thinks it's too small? Remember, a 30" piece 15" in diameter will weigh 115 lb! Also, the door is where most of the heat loss will occur, so smaller is better.

The door material is made with a 1/2 inch frame and a 1/4 inch outside steel plate plus a 1/4 inch thick inside steel plate separated by the air gap between the steel plates. This door will never burn through! The insulating ability is the air gap plus the reflective factor. The inside plate only 4 bolts attach it to the door so there is very little heat transfer. We fill the air gap with easily replaceable Fiberglas insulation.

These furnaces now come with a double flood light on the front for safety and ease of loading the wood. Not only that, it's a MOTION LIGHT! No switches. No forgetting to turn it off. If it's dark outside and you go near the furnace, it turns on!

There are legs on the bottom with a skirt surrounding the bottom to ground level to keep it warm and dry.

The exterior is made of  Heavy Duty Siding - 29 gauge with 10 coatings and it has a Lifetime film integrity warranty and 30 years against fade and chalk

We can build just about anything. Billy did one recently with FIVE outlets!

READ WHY OUR FURNACE IS THE ABSOLUTE BEST!  

You can also add other types of siding or concrete board and lathe to the frame in order to add brick, stone, etc.

We have a simpler, nicer looking furnace that's made to stand the test of time. We use our own tried and true 36-year old design. We believe we have the best - and certainly the best price by far. 

We are located in north Arkansas but we ship to the extreme north in Canada, so we know all about cold temperatures. We heat our own 5000 sq. ft. home with a Shaver Outdoor Furnace.

A lot of our furnaces are installed in garages, barns or other outbuildings.

Having an outdoor furnace totally eliminates smoke,  pollution, bugs 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.

Your thermostat controls the temperature just like in a conventional system. You get safe, even, comfortable heat.

It can also supply potable hot water to your hot water heater to provide domestic hot water. This allows for normal thermostatic control so you don't get scalding water.

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.

Current owners of the Shaver 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+.

The Shaver Furnace means easy maintenance and few parts requiring service. We don't have any circuit boards to burn out. 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. 

All of our parts are off-the-shelf parts that are available anywhere. There are no proprietary parts that have to be purchased from the factory!

The house will be less drafty when heating with the outside boiler, because there is no combustion taking place inside, drawing in cold outside air to replace that used in combustion.

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."

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 = 163,200 BTU

You'd have to heat 100 gallons of water to 435 F to extract 300,000 BTU - simply not possible.

Find out how many BTUs you need HERE.

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.

There is a 30-year warranty on the siding.

Electrical components such as pumps, thermostat and fans are warranted for 1 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 30 years old, with the old style wood siding!

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. These elements optimize weldability without the need for post-weld annealing to restore ductility, formability, toughness and corrosion resistance.

If you do purchase one of the lower grade stainless steel furnaces, be sure that the same model made in steel has a proven track record of corrosion resistance. The furnace design is every bit as important as the material that it’s made from.

There is a 30-year warranty on the siding.

Electrical components such as pumps and fans are warranted for 1 year.

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. 

More water also means more capacity (available BTUs) but at the same time the water doesn't have to be heated as much either.

Many of the competition's fireboxes are only as thick as a trailer fender!!

What about stress cracks? The extreme thickness of the metal we use helps avoid stress cracks as well. We simply don't have the problems other folks have.

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 enemy in the outdoor furnace business.

Antifreeze is generally not needed as it takes a very 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 a 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 only uses  110W, about the same as a 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 water/antifreeze mixture than to heat plain 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 plus it 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.

A heat exchanger (much like a heater core in a car) is mounted in the ductwork. When the fan blows air through the heat exchanger, you get heat!

You can connect it directly to the existing system by depressurizing it but we don't advise it.

Many people with electric baseboard heaters opt for this method.

Remember that smoke output will be greater in the summer due to the smoldering fire and plan accordingly.

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 if within 100 feet..

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.

The furnace can be 10 feet from the house according to most insurance companies but the chimney must go to the ridgeline of the home.

20 colors for your siding!

A total of over 8000 color combinations - sides, corners and roof

Plus Galvazume which lasts 6 times longer than Galvanized metal!

 

Also introducing RealTree™ Camouflage!