Charmaster Chalet - Anybody running one?

[Chicken Farmer]

Hello all! I'm still new to the site but have been reading a lot, and learned alot!! I grew up with a fireplace insert, and that thing was roaring all the time!! I am new, however, to the wood furnace. I have noticed that there are not many Charmaster furnaces. It seems that the Yukon and Kuuma are much more popular, and the Caddy also. I went with the "furnace" style because it will heat in a power outage and I could not sacrifice floor space for a stove. The power outage issue turned me off of the boiler scene. Maybe it shouldn't have? I'm guess I'm looking for other folks running Charmasters. Do you like them? Discussion about Charmaster vs Kuuma vs Yukon vs Caddy? I am still learning how to run the furnace efficiently and not cook us out of the house. I have a small house (1110 sf) and the furnace is very big capacity wise. Looking forward to discussion....

 

[lampmfg]

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/kuuma-vapor-fire-100-wood-furnace-results.112796/#post-1503611

This is directly from their website and in my opinion is NOT a good Philosophy!! If you're interested in a clean burn and NO creosote...

The Charmaster is the only wood burning furnace which will convert your wood into a GLOWING BED OF CHARCOAL.

With the new EPA regulations on the horizon a few of these companies will need to completely redesign their furnace lines if they want to continue making wood burning furnaces.

 

[laynes69]

I'm from ohio also, and around here, I've never seen a Charmaster. The only units I've seen are those that are sold locally, for a woodfurnace can be expensive to ship. I've seen Firecheifs, Hitzers, Usstove's, Woodchucks and Clayton's. All of those units will heat a home, but lack some modern design elements to make them clean efficient units. I suspect these companies including Charmaster will be forced to change when standards change, otherwise things may not look good for them.

With your current square footage, unless your home is extremely leaky and uninsulated, your furnace is grossly oversized. It may be difficult to burn the furnace hot enough to maintain a clean burn, while keeping heat output in a comfortable zone. I would keep an eye on your chimney and sweep as necessary.

For years we had a 1500 hotblast wood furnace, which was just a basic firebox with a baffle and a fire jacket. Our current furnace is a 1950 hotblast (Caddy) and it contains a full set of secondary burn tubes, preheated air, a fully insulated firebox and baffle, a glass door, a large heat exchanger and a 4 speed direct drive blower. It's been the best decision I've made. We reduced our wood usage a bit, have a cleaner chimney and get longer burns. There's quite a difference between the furnaces from years ago to the modern units.

 

[Chicken Farmer]

With your current square footage, unless your home is extremely leaky and uninsulated, your furnace is grossly oversized. It may be difficult to burn the furnace hot enough to maintain a clean burn, while keeping heat output in a comfortable zone. I would keep an eye on your chimney and sweep as necessary.

This is one of the things I have discovered. I guess the good thing is that we are planning on adding on to the house in the next couple of years to about double the size. Hopefully that will eliminate the overheating issue (or help at least) I have cleaned the chimney once and have the stove shut down currently to check it again.

One of the things that made me choose the Charmaster was the very specific ability to heat while the power is out. I don't have a standby generator and I can't see my wife dragging the 300 lb. diesel generator out of the barn. I have done alot reading about the Kuuma and Caddy, they have fans that made me wonder about their ability to do that without damage to the unit. Maybe lampmfg can shed some light on the subject? I have to say that from the pictures of the Kuuma stove, I am impressed with the build quality.

Edit: I found where Kuuma stove will heat during power outages (In the FAQ section on the their website).


One of the other things I liked about the Charmaster is the very basic simplicity. I'm a simple guy, I like simple things. I bought the bolt together unit instead of the welded unit because of my very small staircase to the basement ( had to disassemble it to get it in the basement), so I've seen the Chalet with it's pants down. In my opinion, the Charmaster is a very heavily built unit that should last for years.

I wish I had found this site before I purchased the furnace. I'm not saying I would have bought something different, I just would have been armed with more information to make my decision.

Thanks again!

 

[laynes69]

There's a large community of Amish here in ohio that use Caddy's. They don't have electricity, they just heat off of gravity. Just about any furnace will heat during an outage, it's just in order to do so properly the ductwork should be designed for it. We recently had an outage, and I just opened the return side access panel of our furnace and you could feel the air rushing into the ductwork. Like you, I had to disassemble our furnace to take it into our basement. I removed the entire air jacket and down it went, not easy, but it went. Whenever you add on, don't skimp on sealing and insulation. It pays off to do it right the first time. We just put on an addition, which was only around 300 sqft. Even though we gained square footage, our heating demand was reduced quite a bit. It took care of some very leaky locations in our home.

 

[Chicken Farmer]

I wish, I wish I would have found this site. I just cleaned my chimney again (twice now, for this winter), and there was alot of stage 2 creosote (flaky and shiny) and by the looks of it there might have been some puffy stage 3 (yikes!). I am sure that some of it is my own fault because of the size of the furnace compared to the needs of the house. And secondly, the wood I have been burning is only about 1yr CSS oak and hickory, usually not enough for those species. I have gotten ahold of some good seasoned dry stuff now. This old house had a complete boiler system with radiators in it when I bought it, but I tore it out to gain useable space in the living area. I could have thrown a Garn or Tarm or Varm or whatever and hooked right up to the old radiators (kicking self in rear).

Whenever you add on, don't skimp on sealing and insulation. It pays off to do it right the first time. We just put on an addition, which was only around 300 sqft. Even though we gained square footage, our heating demand was reduced quite a bit. It took care of some very leaky locations in our home.

Amen to that! I will be doing a 2 story addition 30'x30' over a basement with bonus room tusses over the top. 2"x6" construction with spray insulation and batting over the top. That should seal up pretty good. The plan is to relocate the furnace and have new ductwork built for the whole project. But it's 2-3 years out. I'm trying to buy all the materials ahead when things go on sale. No debt on this build (hopefully).

I didn't realize the caddy's would gravity heat either (kicking self again)..

I'm not ready to dump the charmaster yet. I still think it is a decent unit, although not the most efficient. I am also willing to acknowledge my own short comings in the purchase/research area.

Thanks for the conversation!

laynes69 - I used to work alot in Cleveland. I always stopped at the Ashland exit off of 71, there is a gas station there that has a Starbucks! Had to get my coffee fix.

 

[lampmfg]

I wish, I wish I would have found this site. I just cleaned my chimney again (twice now, for this winter), and there was alot of stage 2 creosote (flaky and shiny) and by the looks of it there might have been some puffy stage 3 (yikes!). I am sure that some of it is my own fault because of the size of the furnace compared to the needs of the house.

I'm sorry that you are learning the hard way. My dad has told me for years that it's impossible to avoid with their current design. I'm sure it's a durably crafted unit but the design matters a lot. Growing up that's all I remember is the hours my dad spent test burning the Kuuma until he finally got it perfect. Well almost but he's still working on it
Your house is smaller but with the Kuuma you would just use the low setting on the computer and stay warm without blasting the wood and also use less of it in the process.

 

[laynes69]

Lol, I pass that station everyday. Never had coffee there though (I'm too cheap). Sounds like you have a good plan, and like you, we saved enough to put on our addition without adding unnessary debt.

Who knows what the market will bring in a few years. I'm sure there will be a lot less manufacturers of wood furnaces, but those that stick around should have some efficient units. Currently there's a handful at best. At that point, you can upgrade if need be. How much wood have you used with your charmaster?

 

[Chicken Farmer]

I'm sorry that you are learning the hard way.

Do you guys take trade-ins? HaHa!!

How much wood have you used with your charmaster?

Can't say for sure. I have an old flatbed farm wagon that we haul wood in. It was loaded heaping, and is now empty. I guess around 3-4 full cords. I don't run it full time because it cooks us out at anything higher than 25 degrees outside, but I will tell you, I was happy to have it when we had the "Polar Vortex". The house nice and toasty. That makes me think it will be a little better when I have more sq. ft. to heat.

 

[laynes69]

We just hit 3 cords, and that's starting at the end of September. Our lp furnace has been off the entire season, but a couple hours worth during those frigid temps. Our house is a mid 19th century 2500 sqft Victorian.