If you've ever asked yourself how a boiler system works, try looking at it like this: An open-system wood boiler is like your engine, and the radiant heating system attached to the boiler is like the cooling system in your engine.

So you've heard good things about wood boilers, but maybe you've only ever dealt with gas heat or a woodstove and you're just not sure where or how to start. That's ok! We all started somewhere with our heating experiences, and Obadiah's is here to help you get set up.

Picture this: You have a gallon of fuel, a generator, and you need to produce electricity to power your home. You could run your generator at an idle all day long, but your gallon of fuel won't go very far doing that. However, if you run the generator at a more efficient speed and use that power to charge a battery bank, later you can draw power as needed and the generator only needs to run to charge the battery bank again. How frugal you are with your stored energy will determine how long you can go on a charge.

I have been in the Fire/Hearth/HVAC/Building industries for over 32 years, and the one thing I know for sure is that I don’t know everything. We just try to tell the truth and give honest advice based on our experience, what works and what may not meet the customer’s expectations. In talking with customers, I’m always learning new things; it’s one of the reasons I love doing what I do. That being said, I’d like to offer some advice based on my experiences in the heating industry: Over the last few years many folks have called me because they suddenly have an outdoor boiler sitting around their property with a “Condemned: Do No Use” sticker attached to it, despite the unit being only a few years old. Why, you ask?