You can easily drive by the little store on Route 1 in Gouldsboro. I did. Doubling back, you park in front of the unprepossessing building with the sign proclaiming: Anderson Marine and Hardware. Only when you walk through the front door do you realize exactly what you have stumbled upon. Absent chairs next to the wood stove in the center of the store, groceries, a molasses barrel – you have walked into your grandfather’s general store.

Don’t count on the wide, brightly lit isles of the big-box stores. Here it’s an adventure as you carefully maneuver your way around a boat anchor and oars, toilet flush valves and bilge pumps. Along the far wall are tarps, brushes and strap hinges. You won’t find nails and screws in the ubiquitous plastic pouches either. That stuff is all weighed out by the pound or sold by the number you need, not the number some far-off merchandiser thinks you should buy.

Without a doubt, the biggest asset of the store is not its inventory, but the owner, Dave Seward. Tall, thin and blessed with an active mind and twinkling eye, he can listen sympathetically one moment to a lobsterman colorfully venting about having to be towed back in yesterday, and then wait on a refined woman who needed help with a small special order. He has been behind the counter for 34 years.

One of his many jobs is to warm the place by feeding the Shenandoah wood heater. There’s a huge pile of firewood behind the building. Seward spends 15 minutes every morning splitting the day’s supply, and he credits this activity for curing a back problem he suffered years ago.

The conversation easily switches from wood heaters to more modern appliances, such as his new outdoor wood boiler. As outdoor temperatures steadily drop, and the price of home heating oil has been hanging steady around $2.50 per gallon, boilers have been the hot topic as a money saver at hardware stores like Anderson and other gathering spots around Maine.

Seward and I soon find ourselves standing next to his attractive two-story home overlooking Frenchman Bay. He gazes lovingly at his Central Boiler Classic 4436. “I lit a match about a year ago now and it’s still going.”

Across the driveway is an impressive woodpile stacked neatly in the shape of a U. Seward heats his entire house and his domestic hot water, so the boiler is running all year. It takes him about ten minutes twice a day to load up a wheelbarrow with wood and stoke the furnace. He doesn’t bother to split wood less than 8 inches in diameter. Although his furnace will handle sticks up to three feet long, he cuts most of his wood two feet in length. At home, he uses a mechanical splitter on the larger sticks. He dug through dense blue clay soil using a pick and shovel to create the 20-foot trench that carries water pipes between the boiler and the house.

Blessed with his own woodlot, as well as friends that give him unwanted wood, Seward has found that he can burn just about any kind of wood, green or seasoned, wet or dry. In fact, last winter, he didn’t bother to cover his woodpile. Just knocking the snow and ice off before throwing into the fire was sufficient.

Ernie Wallace of Winterport is another happy man. For a month, he has been using his new Taylor model 450 boiler. Like Seward’s, his boiler is connected by an underground line to an existing furnace. If Wallace happens to be away and the temperature in the boiler drops below a preset temperature, the furnace in the house kicks in and assumes the heating load. Unlike Seward, who has no close neighbors, Wallace lives in close proximity to several other houses. He has chosen to add two lengths of stovepipe to the unit’s metal chimney. There is another, ready to add if necessary. This, he hopes, will dispel the smoke high enough so that it dissipates without bothering the neighbors.

There are also makes of boilers that have a dual fuel capacity. If you choose the oil option, for instance, when the boiler runs out of wood, an oil burner in the boiler will take over heating the water. Attachments are also available that will allow an owner to attach the boiler to an existing hot air system.

With the price of oil and natural gas skyrocketing, outdoor wood furnaces have become a popular item. Everyone knows that with every stick of firewood carried into the house for a conventional wood stove, a measure of dirt, sawdust, leaves, insects and needles is certain to come as well. That, coupled with the fact that ashes need to be carried out and safely disposed of, sends chills up the spines of many homeowners.

With outdoor boilers, there are not the safety concerns that exist with a wood stove in the house. The fire is outside. There are no chimney flue considerations. With all the positive factors of outdoor wood boilers, what’s not to love? A phone call to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection quickly answers that question.

It seems that the DEP is adding its voice to that of several other states in petitioning the federal Environmental Protection Agency to establish standards of performance with regards to the particulate emissions released by these kinds of boilers. The EPA established standards several years ago for wood stoves. According to DEP, the “old noncertified wood stoves are four times dirtier than the EPA certified catalytic stoves, and outdoor wood boilers are 12 times dirtier.”

Many of the problems can be traced back to the method of operation, which is also one of the boiler’s strengths. You load it and forget about for a period of time, depending upon the weather and the wood you are burning. Unfortunately that means that a significant part of the time, the fire is operating at less than optimal efficiency. In other words, the fire is damped and the wood is smoldering, waiting for the thermostat to open and admit air for a more aggressive burn. During these slow times, creosote builds up that needs to be burned off later, throwing more smoke into the air.

Several towns in New York state have regulated or banned boilers. According to Louis Fontaine of the Maine Bureau of Air Quality, Vermont recently passed a regulation designating a minimum distance of 200 feet between a boiler and a neighbor’s house.

With all of the differing opinions about boilers, we consulted Rick Thibodeau, owner of Independent Power in Greene. Along with managing his alternative energy business, Thibodeau has been selling products of Central Boiler for five years. “There are a lot of people out there selling wood boilers part time. It is an excellent piece of equipment, but it needs to be installed and run properly.” Thibodeau prefers not to sell a boiler to someone who has neighbors within 400-500 feet.

He also feels that some dealers and new owners overly stress the notion that the boiler will burn any type of wood and still have an extended burn time. Thibodeau confirms what the wood stove owner has known for decades: The longest burn times are attained from burning seasoned hardwood.

There is hope for those concerned about air pollution, however. According to Fontaine, several European and Scandinavian countries have established emission standards for wood boilers. He stated that the boilers produced to meet those standards are much cleaner burning than those manufactured here. “Manufacturers in the U.S. can meet those standards. It’s just a matter of will.” One wonders how long it will be before some smart manufacturer buys a piece of that technology and markets cleaner boilers here.

Meanwhile, back in Gouldsboro, Dave Seward is enjoying a warm house and plenty of hot water. The wind coming off the bay rapidly dissipates the smoke, and he has no close neighbors to bother. His mind is already turning to his next project, solar panels on the house roof that will generate electricity. With a reverse flow system, the extra power generated during sunny times goes into a ‘bank’ at the electric company that can be drawn on during cloudy periods. Seward loves innovation.

Outdoor wood boiler manufacturers

Aqua-Therm

1-800-325-2760

www.aqua-therm.com

Residential and commercial size boilers

Central Boiler, Inc.

1-800-248-4681

www.centralboiler.com

Residential and commercial size boilers

Heatmor

1-800-834-7552

www.heatmor.com

Residential and commercial size boilers

Taylor Manufacturing

1-800-545-2293

www.taylormfg.com

Residential and commercial size boilers