Clayton wood furnace - Any reviews?

Hi everyone,

This is my first time posting on this forum. My husband and I are looking to replace our very old and inefficient wood/oil combination furnace with a stand-alone wood furnace.

We saw a few wood and pellet stoves and furnaces available at our local Tractor Supply Co., and were particularly impressed with the Clayton made by US Stove; construction quality seems pretty good for the price and we like the fact that you can get an add-on to heat your domestic hot water. It also seems like a pretty efficient furnace from what I've been reading online, even though it isn't EPA certified.

I also noticed several people on this forum recommending the Caddy EPA certified furnace which seems to go for almost double the price of the Clayton; it also doesn't offer the hot water add-on option, but you do apparently get a tax credit when you get an EPA certified appliance.

I guess what I'm wondering is if it is worth the added expense to get the EPA certified furnace. Does anyone here use the Clayton furnace? I figure if its efficiency is at least close to EPA standards, that it will be worth the savings in the hot water bills, since we use our furnace nearly 6 months out of the year.

Any feedback from users of the Clayton would be really appreciated. Thanks!

Julie

With the Clayton furnace, you can get a kit that connects the furnace to your hot water heater:
http://www.usstove.com/proddetail.php?prod=1124

I also did notice the Englander when we were at our local Home Depot recently, but it doesn't seem to be as efficient. It's hard to argue with the price tag, though.