wood furnace/not enough heat

grammy said:

I had a newmac wood oil combo and was continually frustrated with it... Very poor heat output and damper/combustion air blower system was a terrible way to control the fire. An open/closed damper system works much better.

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I heated my home for 32 years with a very similar furnace as the Newmac combo. Mine was called a Powrmatic. I was going to replace it with a Newmac, but was worried that I might me getting to the point where I didn't want to or could not cut, split, haul, and pile 25 face cords in the cellar every year. The only difference was that the Powrmatic was a coal, oil, wood unit. The plenums looked identical, but the Newmac has a draft blower. The Powermatic was gravity draft that opened on the thermostat with a selsen motor. It was either full on or closed. The vent was an 8 inch pipe and most of the heat went up that vent to the outside. I overheated the firebox and warped it. It later cracked and I welded it but the steel became brittle (hardened I think) and I couldn't keep the openings from occurring. Had to run the blower constantly to keep the CO from entering the house. Finally, took it and all the ductwork out replacing it all with a pellet boiler and an oil backup.