75" clearance in basement...what furnace?

[jeffaj01]

Hello, i have a 2 story house, roughly 2000 sq ft, i'm currently running lp gas, and is averaging $3000 a winter. The current lp furnace is 1 yr old, and is a 90% efficient. I am looking at putting a wood burning add-on furnace in my basement, but i only have 75" from floor to joist in my partial basement. I was looking at yukon's super jack but in the manual it says it needs 18" between plenum and anything combustible, so i assume it will not work according to my measurements. I then turned to possibly picking up a big jack instead to help with some of the heating costs.

what do you think?

Jeff

 

[begreen]

Check out the Caddy furnaces or the mini-Caddy depending on the btu requirement. http://www.psg-distribution.com/product.aspx?CategoId=16&Id=374&Page=fiche
This is an EPA wood furnace that qualifies for the energy tax credit. It is only 4' tall, and requires 6" clear from the top of the plenum. Or maybe you can find a US Stove Hotblast 1900 or 1950?

 

[70marlin]

Hello, i have a 2 story house, roughly 2000 sq ft, i'm currently running lp gas, and is averaging $3000 a winter. The current lp furnace is 1 yr old, and is a 90% efficient. I am looking at putting a wood burning add-on furnace in my basement, but i only have 75" from floor to joist in my partial basement. I was looking at yukon's super jack but in the manual it says it needs 18" between plenum and anything combustible, so i assume it will not work according to my measurements. I then turned to possibly picking up a big jack instead to help with some of the heating costs.

what do you think?

Jeff

Check this one out http://www.harmanstoves.com/product...ating&prd=forced-air&f=FURSF1500&nav=overview

 

[jeffaj01]

thanks for the quick replies. I took a look at both, but i am not sure which route i want to go yet. I am not looking for this to be my main heating source, although that would be nice. i think i had my heart set on the sj125, but now i realize the size of the furnace is too big, i'm lost. i'll figure something out soon hopefully.

 

[laynes69]

I installed a Caddy last year in our home. I have 76" from the floor to bottom of joists. I was able to place my unit on 3" blocks, and still maintain proper clearances with the ductwork from combustibles. I stepped my ductwork up 3 times so I had clearances to walk in the basement.

 

[begreen]

I suggested the Caddy or the EPA version of the Hotblast because they burn cleaner, are low, and qualify for the tax credit. Is a woodstove on the first floor not an option?

The propane bill is large which indicates there is a fair amount of heat loss happening. Has the house had an energy audit? Fixing the leakage first might provide the greatest returns.

 

[JDC1]

thanks for the quick replies. I took a look at both, but i am not sure which route i want to go yet. I am not looking for this to be my main heating source, although that would be nice. i think i had my heart set on the sj125, but now i realize the size of the furnace is too big, i'm lost. i'll figure something out soon hopefully.

Recently purchased a BJ125 for our home, after reading the manual I was going to have clearance issues with my floor joists and the top of the plenum. Yukon advised me that I could cut the plenum to accomodate the clearances.

I would suggest calling them they have been very helpful.

 

[jeffaj01]

Yes there is ALOT of heat loss which we are currently working on. We are adding blown insulation to the attic, and we are properly insulating our outside walls in our utility room; we also added a few new windows mid-winter last year. Not really interested in a woodstove on the first floor just yet, have thought about it, but it just doesnt seem to make much sense when i have a basement that isnt being used for anything except jet pump and furnace. i never considered asking them if i could cut the plenum; good idea. Is the caddy a good furnace? everyone around here seems to be happy with theirs, so i would assume so. At this point i think i am leaning towards picking up a big jack, are there any pros or cons to this?

thanks, Jeff

 

[JDC1]

Yes there is ALOT of heat loss which we are currently working on. We are adding blown insulation to the attic, and we are properly insulating our outside walls in our utility room; we also added a few new windows mid-winter last year. Not really interested in a woodstove on the first floor just yet, have thought about it, but it just doesnt seem to make much sense when i have a basement that isnt being used for anything except jet pump and furnace. i never considered asking them if i could cut the plenum; good idea. Is the caddy a good furnace? everyone around here seems to be happy with theirs, so i would assume so. At this point i think i am leaning towards picking up a big jack, are there any pros or cons to this?

thanks, Jeff

After wrestling with myself between the Super Jack and the Caddy (I really wanted the glass door) it came down to my conversations with the people at Yukon. They were very knowledgeable and willing to offer a solution. It might not be space age technology but it is very well built. I usually like to put my hands on things before I buy them, but there was no dissappointment upon first inspection.

Your situation is a little different than mine as I have a larger sq. footage to heat and was not confident that the caddy would keep up. The Max caddy was out of my price range.

Good Luck.

 

[jeffaj01]

My g/f's uncle has the superjack, and loves it. I took a look at it and was very satisfied with the 'quality' in which it was built. Before seeing what he had i was looking at a daka at menards, and the difference between the two was night and day, the sj was just so much more rugged and was just an all around better looking furnace. This is why i really want to stick with something yukon makes, but nothing is out of question. I am currently doing a little bit of research on the caddy but i still dont have a clue as to which furnace i want. I dont want to buy something too small, i'd rather go too large.

 

[laynes69]

Going too large on a furnace wouldn't be the right thing to do. I did some research and talked to other owners of the Caddy before I bought what I did. The old furnace worked great, but I wanted something that was cleaner and burned less wood. Don't be talked out that a Caddy isn't well built. Those who haven't seen them haven't a clue, and base weight on quality. They are built of 7 gauge steel like the other furnaces out there, and have a fully lined firebrick box. I think they still have a stainless baffle with an insulation blanket along with stainless burn tubes. They have a small firebox for a furnace, but for an EPA unit the firebox is good sized at 3.5 cu ft. They are a well built furnace, we cut 1.5 cords from our annual usage with colder weather and less than seasoned wood. Now we have seasoned wood, a liner and a better understanding on how it burns it will drop alot. You will hear burntimes, and the longest wins. Well not in my standards, I would rather see an 8 hour clean burn with nothing accumulating in the chimney and more heat from the wood thats there than a 12 hour burn that produces smoke. I don't have to worry about a chimney fire, and I fill our furnace with half the wood I use to fill the old one with and get longer burns. What was important to me was that the units do burn clean. I know I am getting the most from the wood that goes into the furnace. There is an easy access secondary heat exchanger above the firebox that will give more heat so less goes up the chimney. I reasearched for 3 years before I bought what I did. You hear of stove owners being happy when they upgrade for there are alot of benefits with an EPA stove, same goes with a furnace. I forgot to add, any furnace thats burning a good fire to heat isn't going to produce alot of smoke, or shouldn't. It when the demand for heat is met and the damper closes with a standard furnace your fire will smolder and your flue temps will drop where creosote will built in the flue. I don't worry about that, because I know when the damper closes, the fire continues to burn without producing creosote. And we are on the high side for our home size for the Caddy, but it does the job for us. Our house is a 2400 sq. ft. 2 story victorian with 10' ceilings. But where the difference is its insulated and fairly well sealed.

 

[begreen]

Thanks for posting about the sizing. I would recommend checking the propane furnace btu output and not exceeding it by a large margin.

Given the cleaner burning and tax credit, I would also give the EPA models serious consideration.

 

[jeffaj01]

after doing a little bit of research on the caddy, it looks like a great furnace. It also looks like an easy install. I guess i'll have to make my choice at some point, right? Too many to choose from, and just not enough knowledge...hehe..thanks for all the replies and info. This is a great site, and i'm slowly learning alot.

 

[laynes69]

Also if your wood isn't seasoned properly you will have to burn more wood for more heat. They require well seasoned wood like any other EPA units. Very important.

 

[jeffaj01]

wouldn't any wood furnace require well seasoned wood? Or does the caddy require it more so then others?

Jeff

 

[begreen]

Any stove or furnace will burn better with dry wood, butEPA stoves burn at their best when the wood is well seasoned. Damp wood cools the fire down to the point where secondary combustion can be poor the overall effect of which is lower heat output.