I own a 12 year old Woodmaster 434 modified to run on a newer 4400 control system. I used to work at Woodmaster building them and got this one second hand and rebuilt it.
http://www.boomspeed.com/bofh1968/stove/index.html
It's odd that you say the outdoor stoves burned a house down as quite the opposite was one of the points that I liked about them. All high heat producing items are kept well away from the house. Also all the home owner's insurance companies around here give a DISCOUNT if you use them due to the safety factors. :confused:
All the fuel, the flames, everything that can get hot enough to ignite a house is kept out and away. If a Woodmaster caused a house fire, it's because it was installed wrong and put too close to the house, that's the only way it could happen.
If a Woodmaster has a runaway fire, the water will flash to steam at 212 degrees F. The water pump will not pump steam, so the hottest anything from the stove going to the house will get is 210 degrees (and that's with VERY good insulation on the piping), which is FAR below the 451 degrees F required to ignite wood or paper. I don't think even gasoline or alcohol will spontaneously combust at 210.
So being an open system (the fill pipe is right behind the chimney at the top of the stove), the steam will just vent to the atmosphere and the stove itself will go into meltdown, but the required distance from the house takes this into effect. So again, the only way one could have burned a house down is due to improper (and illegal) installation. Mine is improperly installed (by me) only because it's too close to my wood shed. But since the shed's not insured and is only used to house my firewood, it's no big deal.
I am with Old F. I have a poorly insulated 520 square foot modified A frame house and I go through a LOT of wood with this thing. In the neighborhood of a full pickup truck load of split oak a week at times. But the piece of mind knowing that my autistic son or any of my cats can't burn the house down by knocking something flammable (curtain, homework, etc) items onto an indoor wood fire heating system is beyond measure. Also knowing that any and all critters living in the wood pile are not getting inside my house is a little reassuring as well. Plus there's no chance of smoke, soot, carbon monoxide. Also a chimney fire is irrelevant as it's only 3 feet long and is out on the boiler.
So yes, they go through one hell of a lot of wood. They are TERRIBLY inefficient. But the safety factors and the reliability far outweigh the troubles of acquiring the wood and loading it twice a day.