Hi there. I’m a Canadian newbie here. We bought a home-made wood burning furnace (outdoor) from a neighbor last December. It was expensive ($5000. altogether), but I absolutely LOVE it! Yes, it’s a lot of work to keep the fire going, and not much fun to load up when it’s -50, but it has been worth every penny. We initially thought it would take 3 years to pay for itself as we had been using propane, but with natural gas prices skyrocketing, this unit will be paid for by next spring.
It is about 7 feet in length, which allows for 6ft logs. The inner barrel is where the fire goes, and there is an outer barrel for the water and glycol. Water temps are kept at 150 degrees. This provides a wonderful to-the-bone warmth similar to wood stove heat. The water is piped in with pvc pipe, then goes through a coil register attached to the existing furnace, then throughout the home (mobile). We are going to hook up the water heater to it this fall so that we will be off propane altogether. I can hardly wait!
I hope this helps. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask them :). We are still learning about this method of heating too, but it sure has been worth it.
Judy