I have a structurally insulated panel house which retains heat very well. The house is two story, each story being basically a large room measuring about 27 x 27. I currently have two small wall furnaces which direct vent out the wall, one on each floor, and . in terms of heat output - are rally more than I need. In fact the one furnace on the first floor is sufficient to heat the whole house. The problem is that we sometimes get wind gusts here of as much as 75 miles per hour. Often, the gusts are in the 40 to 50 mph range. These gusts blow out the pilot, or even the flame if the gust is really strong. Also, they sometimes blow products of combustion back into the house - at least I'm pretty sure that is what the stink is that we get when the wind is blowing hard right at the vent. I put a baffle around the vent, and even wrapped metal
window screen mesh around the vent. That helps, but doesn't totally solve the problem. The flame can still blow out sometimes and the stink still blows back in. I am assuming that these furnaces, made by Cozy, do not have sealed combustion chambers. Can that be right? And if so, I was wondering if getting sealed combustion chamber units would solve the wind problem.
I thought I could replace these two with the smallest propane stoves, the freestanding ones that look like wood stoves, and assumed I would not have the same problems. But I figured I'd better ask around, hence this post. Could I , for example, put in a couple of Hearthstone propane stoves, the smallest ones, and have enough heat and no blow out problems? I think I need about 15,000 BTUs per floor.
Any and all opinions would be most gratefully received.
Thank you for any input.
Kavade
window screen mesh around the vent. That helps, but doesn't totally solve the problem. The flame can still blow out sometimes and the stink still blows back in. I am assuming that these furnaces, made by Cozy, do not have sealed combustion chambers. Can that be right? And if so, I was wondering if getting sealed combustion chamber units would solve the wind problem.
I thought I could replace these two with the smallest propane stoves, the freestanding ones that look like wood stoves, and assumed I would not have the same problems. But I figured I'd better ask around, hence this post. Could I , for example, put in a couple of Hearthstone propane stoves, the smallest ones, and have enough heat and no blow out problems? I think I need about 15,000 BTUs per floor.
Any and all opinions would be most gratefully received.
Thank you for any input.
Kavade