Glad the dump can be used on anything, I'd suggest whatever someone buys they incorporate that.
The secondary air goes in 2 ways, through the door, which is not a straight shot like your furnace, but flows that air throughout the whole door to heat it, before it comes out onto the fire, and also through the forced draft blower - some of that air goes straight to the fire, some goes around the firebox, superheats and dumps onto the smoke above the fire. I do close it down, and it does burn clean. You could of read all this in the manual, but the diagram is not totally clear.
As for BTU's I heat a 4800 sq ft house, ok insulation, 4000 finished, with the living room with 25' ceilings with my furnace in an uninsulated garage. 3 splits on a 35 degree night is good, you could do the same thing with the superjack. As I was shopping for a furnace, I noticed that the BTU's listed may be inflated.
Trying to be neutral, not taking into account I have spent 5000 or so on a furnace and need my ego to defend that (others might try that also) I'd say:
caddy is probably more efficient, those secondary burn tubes supply air in a better manner to the smoke. The window on the door is very cool. But those secondary burn tubes will need replacing at some point, and the smaller firebox is a drawback.
superjack has a much bigger firebox. It also has more steal and a better way to hold onto that heat that is produced, and then transfer to the house. It is less efficient, and could benefit from some sort of secondary burn tubes, but then there would be more maintenance costs.
If I was to buy today, I would be conflicted. I know that smaller firebox will be an issue on really cold nights, but I'd sure like to be able to see my secondary burn through the door. I have 2 friends with usstove furnaces, and the yukon is miles better than theirs, but they don't have the caddy, they have older, lighter, much more inefficient models.
So to answer the original poster - biggenius29 - if I was in your shoes, and my house was under 3000 sq ft and well insulated, I'd go with the caddy, if it was over 3000 sq ft or if it was poorly insulated, I'd go with the superjack. That's just what I would do.
laynes69 said:
The heat dump can be used on anything. They aren't an exclusive on a certain model of furnace. When the electricity goes out, the damper automatically closes and it goes on a low clean burn. The heat in the ducting is why all steel ducting is required and the clearances on the ducting followed. Any furnace can warp burn out due to excessive overfiring. One other thing is the Caddy produces more btus, and has a firebox half the size. Why, its efficiency and doesn't need a 7 cubic foot firebox to heat a home. The video is the exact same furnace, but was rebadged for usstove. On the 30-35 degree nights, I've been using 3 splits with coals in the morning to heat my home. Its a 2400 sq ft victorian with 10' ceilings. It would take double or more with my old furnace. I want to know how the secondary air is put into the Yukon, close that baby down and lets see how clean it burns.
