Lil chip wood furnace?

[Razorback65739]

I'm looking at a old furnace that has "lil chip" on the front door. It's about 3'x4'x4' overall width is about 63 inches with blower and looks like it can accept a 3ft or so log.. I tried to Google the stove but no luck.. all of the controls say dayton so I'm assuming it's a dayton brand stove? Flu looks to be 8" I was wondering where I can find specs like clearences, parts etca I will post the photo I have in a few hours I forgot to mention the house was built late 80s or so

 

[begreen]

Dayton is a Grainger parts brand. The hi/low controls probably came from there.

 

[Bad LP]

Looks like asbestos city.

 

[brenndatomu]

Ruuuun Forest, run!

 

[laynes69]

Was the house built in the late 1880's....just joking. The unit would have to follow clearances for an unlisted furnace. At least 18" clearances in all directions from combustibles, and I do believe 18" for the first few feet of ducting, then stepping down in a couple more stages. What are you looking to heat? That will be a wood eater for sure, and a creosote machine. I wouldn't even think about purchasing it without a through inspection.

 

[Razorback65739]

The unit is actually in much better shape than the picture, it has mostly surface rust, grates looked good and didn't look like it got much use. I looked at in person last night. The Lyndale stove manufacturer is local here (about 10 miles from house) and thinking it could be that? It's to heat our house, about 2300sqft upstairs and will be in a 20x28 basement with poured Concrete walls. We have electric that Is outrageous in the winter this will come with everything but the class a pipe. Has intake, plenum thermostat, blower etc.

 

[begreen]

Have you considered getting a new unit as an alternative?

 

[Razorback65739]

I looked at them, liked the daka (liked the water heater option) and a few other brands it's taken me 3 years to talk my wife into even considering one of these and she is the one that told me about this one.. the wood is not much of an issue as I have 90+ acres to get wood from. So it's basically free.. only reason guy is selling is because he is going to build a craft room where it is..and he has propane as supplemental heat

 

[brenndatomu]

You'd have to pay me to take that thing to the dump let alone spend the time, money and labor it'll take to install it in your home. Any furnace that is either so old, or rare (read: unpopular) that a google search has zero hits on it...I'm passing on it.
No setup or operational instructions, no dealer or factory tech support, no parts available other than what you can figure out how to retrofit. IMO you have a very high chance of hearing "I told you a wood burner was a bad idea" from your wife here.
If you have high $ electric heat and 90 acres of woods to cut from, then there is no reason to not buy something worth having. There are lots of good options out there that will serve you well for many years to come, and likely pay for themselves in the first year or two...in other words, this is worth doing right.
The Daka would be a much better choice than this old behemoth, but, just to be clear, the Daka is one of the cheapest wood furnaces out there for a reason...it will cut your heat bill though.
My two cents...

 

[Razorback65739]

I originally showed her a firechief 700 at the same price.. but the side had a black spot that worried her.. it didn't have any ductwork though I'll upload a pic to see if it's normal or something that was overheated..

 

[Fred61]

Cheeping out will only guarantee that you will be doing it twice. If you have electric heat you could install the highest end furnace and still be way ahead in 2 or 3 years.
By the way, wood from your own woodlot isn't free but it beats buying a "cord" of wood and having it stack at two thirds of a cord which is normal around here.

 

[brenndatomu]

I originally showed her a firechief 700 at the same price.. but the side had a black spot that worried her.. it didn't have any ductwork though I'll upload a pic to see if it's normal or something that was overheated..

What is the price by the way? FC700 is supposed to be a decent unit...still old school, but at least its still made, and can find documents and parts for 'em.
Black spot on the side sounds like it was run pretty hard...may be OK still, maybe not. Have a pic of it?

 

[Razorback65739]

Here is the side. They both are asking 600

 

[brenndatomu]

Is the high temp black paint on the front of that FC burnt white too? It does look like its been run hard...would have to do a thorough on-site inspection to tell if its junk or not though.
No way I'd spend that $ for the Lil Chip...FYI, around here you can find a decent condition wood furnace for that price if you keep your eyes peeled for a while...

 

[Razorback65739]

What is the price by the way? FC700 is supposed to be a decent unit...still old school, but at least its still made, and can find documents and parts for 'em.
Black spot on the side sounds like it was run pretty hard...may be OK still, maybe not. Have a pic of it?

I waited to worst time of year to get one..

 

[Razorback65739]

Anyone know anything about a Yukon eagle? 112k btu

 

[brenndatomu]

View attachment 190351

I waited to worst time of year to get one..

Well, yes and no. There will probably be more for sale this time of the year, just because people know to sell one in the summer likely means they will have to "give" it away...but if you can find what you want in the summertime then your buying power will be stronger.

That machine is no pristine queen, it would definitely require a thorough going over, inside and out to make sure it is not rusted out, cracked, etc. Heck, I think I would want to take a screwdriver and remove the sheet metal jacket to be able to spy even the beginnings of any small cracks which could be hard to see from inside the firebox.
Even if it were in usable condition I don't think I'd pay that price for it unless it comes with 20' of class A chimney or something (assuming you need it...or would want to fool around with re-selling it)
The other possibility is that the pictures make it look worse than it is...my Yukon wood/oil furnace was that way, it had very minor surface rust that looked bad in the pics...but turned out to be nothing and it was more than worth the long trip to go get it. But I grilled the guy and his maintenance man about it before deciding to go look at it, and I was 99% sure it was going to be everything I was told it was over the phone once I seen it in person.

Anyways, tell us more about your situation. Size, age and style of your house, insulation level, and is there an existing chimney worthy of being used for a wood burner? If so, flue size and height, interior or exterior, masonry or manufactured? You have existing ductwork to tie into?
Is it possible that a regular ole wood stove would do the job? Lots of people are able to comfortably heat or at least supplement their heat with just a well placed wood stove.
Also, what's your budget on this?
Ever heat with wood before?

Anyone know anything about a Yukon eagle? 112k btu

Take a close look at my avatar and sig line...

 

[Razorback65739]

The house is 1979ish I did another r19 blow in this summer, so it should be around r38-40. It's a ranch style single story 2300sqft finished 500 basement/garage which is where I will put furnace have central heat/air with ductwork in attic. Put in new 4years ago when the hvac was done. 2x4 walls, and every wall looks like they were insulated with r13 . The summer bill for ac is about a quarter what the winter electric bill is, so I wanted to supplement to each room. The wood stove inside house is a no go, wife has asthma and she said it bothers her. No mason chimney, will have to use class a basement is about 9ft tall bedroom I planned on piping it through is 8 and probably 3ft to top of roof. Tight budget due to baby coming in February, my grandmother had wood and I've always liked it.

I found a new hotblast 1557 I think is the model for 750 about 3 hours away. There is a Yukon eagle used about 3 hrs away for 1k with a half-assed shed but that's 8" flu (same as Lil chip) I think and nobody stocks it here. I've seen a Gemini and a few others that are very scary looks like they are 50 years old

 

[S.Whiplash]

Other than the Kuuma wood furnaces you can get a brand new wood furnace for $2,000-$4,000. Why mess around with an old piece of junk built by a company that no longer exists?

 

[brenndatomu]

The house is 1979ish I did another r19 blow in this summer, so it should be around r38-40. It's a ranch style single story 2300sqft finished 500 basement/garage which is where I will put furnace have central heat/air with ductwork in attic. Put in new 4years ago when the hvac was done. 2x4 walls, and every wall looks like they were insulated with r13 . The summer bill for ac is about a quarter what the winter electric bill is, so I wanted to supplement to each room. The wood stove inside house is a no go, wife has asthma and she said it bothers her. No mason chimney, will have to use class a basement is about 9ft tall bedroom I planned on piping it through is 8 and probably 3ft to top of roof. Tight budget due to baby coming in February, my grandmother had wood and I've always liked it.

I found a new hotblast 1557 I think is the model for 750 about 3 hours away. There is a Yukon eagle used about 3 hrs away for 1k with a half-assed shed but that's 8" flu (same as Lil chip) I think and nobody stocks it here. I've seen a Gemini and a few others that are very scary looks like they are 50 years old

The first thing that sticks out to me here is the duct work in the attic. It very likely will not meet code/standards for heating with wood as far as clearance to combustibles...especially with one of these old furnaces...they tend to run hot! Some of the newer more efficient wood furnaces run with cooler duct temps, but still have the same clearance requirements. Those Hot Blast furnaces are considered by most to be big box store crap...they will make some heat, but you will need LOTS of wood! The factory blowers were junk and the dampers often don't work reliably.
That Yukon is a much better machine for sure...they have a 30 year warranty! Still old school technology more or less, but they were way ahead of their time until recently. You can find pretty decent Yukon Huskys around here for $1K if you look around a bit...I actually paid much less for mine.
If you want to stay in the $700 range, I'd wait for Menards (you have those there, no?) to put the Daka on sale and then get that before I'd spend that much on a used Hot Blast.
FYI, if you need to install a class A chimney, again, go to Menards. They have the best prices on that, by a mile!
Still need to check on those duct clearances first though...

 

[Razorback65739]

My next question is ducting.. I can duct it into the bottom of my hvac unit, filter box is on bottom and I can access from below.. would that work? And would the hvac blow help pull heat? Or would I be better off bypassing that and going into the main distrubition box and having it do that way?

The daka is on sale for 755. With tax and another 100 off for a rebate.. is that a good deal?

 

[brenndatomu]

Its hard to understand exactly what you are dealing with there...a drawing or pics would help.
Bottom line is that the shortest/simplest duct run is the best. It may be easier/better to run new ducts separately just for the wood furnace...maybe one or two to each end of the house...that's how I did it at my sisters house, two runs upstairs with their own registers and two to basement bedrooms. Its best to have the duct runs always running uphill so they will gravity flow if the power fails. That's very hard to do with attic HVAC

 

[brenndatomu]

The daka is on sale for 755. With tax and another 100 off for a rebate.. is that a good deal?

I would have said yes...until I looked at our local store. Maybe your store would price match...or maybe this deal will be coming your way soon too. Here it is.

The Daka is nothing fancy but I would buy this way before spending money on that lil chip heater

 

[Razorback65739]

I will draw a diagram in a bit of how I planned to. The Yukon sold yesterday

The daka is the same price here, 699 then the 100$ rebate. Down here I have not seen stove pipe be that much cheaper at menards.. I see their prices daily and we are both very close if not cheaper.

 

[Razorback65739]

I just bought a new daka...