Biggest Mistakes You Can Make With Your Outdoor Furnace

Biggest Mistakes You Can Make With Your Outdoor Furnace

Summer Maintenance

We want your outdoor boiler to last 40 years or more. And it can - as long as you do proper maintenance. During the part of the year when you are not using your boiler, you must do the "Summer Shutdown Checklist" (click HERE for the complete checklist)

While all the items on this list are important, we have filtered out the most important items. These items are as follows:

1. Remove the ash

2. Fill your boiler completely full of properly treated water, and send a water sample to be tested by the OutdoorBoiler.com Lab.

3. Perform a sediment flush

ASH - If you don't remove the ash from all steel surfaces of your outdoor wood boiler, the summer humidity will get absorbed by the ash and it becomes a caustic paste that will eat your steel. Remove it from the boiler burn pot, and all other surfaces. Click HERE for more information on how important ASH REMOVAL is.

Do NOT forget to remove the chimney cap. You are required to remove it every year and clean out the chimney area with a wire brush. If you have not removed your chimney cap before, it can be hard to do it but you really have to.

Then use a shop vac to take out everything you can. Steel surfaces MUST NOT be covered with ash during the humid summer months. Click HERE for more information about this item.

WATER TREATMENT - If your outdoor wood boiler water is not properly treated, it will start to look like the inside of the Titanic, but much quicker. Remember the scenes of the Titanic when they discovered it with robotic submarines? We have seen the inside of your untreated boilers and it is NOT pretty! Click HERE to see the inside of your water jacket if your water is not properly treated.

Add the proper amount of Liquid Armor water treatment, and SEND IN a water sample to the OutdoorBoiler.com Lab! You can ALWAYS call us with any questions you may have, or check out our website for the FREE Water Testing Section FAQ HERE

SEDIMENT FLUSH - Sediment is the "Secret Killer" of outdoor wood-burning boilers. You must flush it out of the bottom of your outdoor wood furnace at least each year by simply opening the drain valve for 5 seconds or until it runs clear.

Then, every four years, you must drain the boiler completely, and flush it out. Follow our complete FLUSH Instructions at this link HERE.

Again, the entire Summer Shutdown Checklist is a very important set of maintenance standards that must be kept if you want to get the most savings out of your outdoor wood burner, but these TOP 3 items are the most critical. If you stay on top of these critical items, you will Keep Your Family Toasty Warm and Comfortable for Decades!

Contact OutdoorBoiler.com for other technical questions or browse for more outdoor wood furnace parts!