Bruce Blackston - United States
I love the outdoor forced air Hyprotherm 2000 wood burner. It’s the best investment I have made in a while. It holds our house at 72 degrees for 14 to 22 hours on a load of wood. It uses less wood than our old Bronco wood furnace we had for 20 years. There’s no mess and no noise. It’s so quiet, and the only time you get any smoke in your house is when you have the windows open, ha ha. Easy set up – we ran our 12-inch insulated duct through a 14-inch galvanized duct for a nice clean look. Place your orders early; they can get a little backed up. For a quality product, though, it’s worth it.
Nate - Pennsylvania
Purchased this way back when the oil shortage was looming its nasty head. Since I live in the woods of Northeast Pennsylvania and have unlimited access to my own supply I decided to get an outdoor wood boiler. I will admit the slick advertising and lower price shifted me to the Hyprotherm. I simply couldn’t afford a Central Boiler. If you don’t have farmer’s smarts you probably should stay away for all outdoor wood boilers. I personally wouldn’t buy one if I had to buy the wood. The payback for me would have been just too long. Mine paid for itself the by the end of its 4th year. It will work adequately in its stock form but much better with a few inexpensive tweeks. I insulated the door, chimney and inside the top of the boiler. Don’t forget the underneath. Some reflective 3/8 or 1/2 in insulation can be slid in easily. While dry hardwood obviously will work best this is one of the few units that will not only tolerate but burn quite nicely and clean with dry softwood. Wetter wood will burn but expect a lot of smoke just like with any fire. Lots of other mods but here’s the bottom line: I got it to work quite nicely with a minimum amount of money. Expect a learning curve. Its not rocket science but does require common sense. I do like the simplicity with few electronic components to fail. And if they do fail they can be replaced easily. There is nothing complicated about its operation. That said, in 8 years I’ve replaced one thermostat (a 10 minute job) and a blower motor (1/2 hour). Total price around $65. Would I buy one again? I would check around first since there are many more choices nowadays. If they were still 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of a Central Boiler, yes, but it also would depend on what the others offered and at what price. It’s very satisfying to know that I can pretty much determine what I want to spend for heating in a given year.
cape girardeau, mo
JoAnne Arnold - Aurora, WV
Englewood, Fl
Bob Dodd - Martinsburg, WV
Gary Harris - Afton, VA
I have had my 165 since 2008, heating an old two-story farm house. The thermostat is the only thing that has failed, and it happened in the first month or 2. I emailed Shaver and they sent a new one. In the meantime, I used a hot water heater thermostat I had saved from a water heater replacement. I have had no pump failure or leaks. I do perform the water treatment as recommended. It provides good heat. To me, the biggest drawback is the manually adjusted air control on the blower. When the blower turns off the air can still draft through, based upon where it is adjusted to, sometimes causing the water to boil when the house is using less heat.
Susie McClintock - Jerseyville, IL
We bought our wood stove furnace around 2011 and we love our stove. We use our stove all year round; we keep it going for the water. Our service man is the greatest. He is always there to answer any questions we may have and he ensures we get the best use out of our furnace. We were on propane, and we have already saved our money back, plus more. I would recommend this furnace to anyone who would want wood heat. We absolutely love ours and wouldn’t go without one.
Steve W. - Marion, NY
I have used my Shaver wood furnace for 3 seasons now and it has performed faultlessly. I use this furnace to heat my 1500+ sq ft ranch in upstate New York and never worry about the cold and get unlimited domestic hot water during the heating season as well. I have to load the furnace only 2x a day just as advertized. Installation was easy and straight forward and maintanance is a snap. These units are not fancy and don’t have a lot of bells and whistles but that’s why they keep on working.
Chapel Hill, NC
I’ve owned my wood furnace for about one year. I like that it has proved to be very durable. I dislike though that sometimes it messes up when it raines. Not too bad though. I haven’t had to replace it yet. Hopefully I won’t have to. I would definitely recommend my furnace to my friends. In fact, my buddy just moved into a new house and he asked me what kind of wood furnace he should purchase. I told him to get the wood furnace I had because it was very durable and user friendly. He ended up getting another one, and now it is very clear to both of us that my wood furnace is quite a bit better than his.
Ruth - Asheville, NC
I have owned a 250 model for one year now. It has been nothing short of excellent! My furnace is slightly oversized for my home (recommended) and so I only load it once a day and it keeps my home toasty warm. I use radiant heat, to heat my home. I have the water temperature set at only 90°! This means that the furnace is very efficient; not heating up a lot of hot water and having to keep it hot 24 hours a day. One of the best things is that I only have to clean the ashes out every two weeks at the most. There is also extremely little ash that you to clean out. I can do so without opening the firebox door, which is a lot safer than other models. Most other manufacturers claim that I could open their firebox door and push the burning wood aside, HA! I would like to see them do that! My firebox is so hot that I cannot go anywhere near there without getting burned, let alone clean out the ashes. I like the fact that of I need a part, I can get it at my local Granger store or plumbing supply. I installed the furnace myself and it was a piece of cake. I had it heating my home the same day. There are manual is very comprehensive and even a novice can do it, using your handy dandy Pex pipe fittings that you push on by hand. The price was much lower than competitors and they even have an on-site warranty. A lot of other companies want you to ship the furnace back to them to be repaired! Can you believe that?