Wood Furnace!? SO MANY QUESTIONS!

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DSaulnier

New Member
Nov 11, 2013
34
Lehigh Valley, PA
Hey everybody,
My name's Dan and this is the first time I've ventured into this part of hearth.com, I usually spend my time in the wood burning stoves section. However a quick rundown for me...I live in an old Farmhouse built in 1896 that my wife and I just renovated and moved into...I have a Woodstove insert in my family room, and a small KUMA Tamarack woodstove in the basement. The insert is great, however it's location in the house is not ideal it's in an addition on the house and has trouble getting the heat out to the rest of the house. The basement stove is great too....when we're home. Its such a small stove and with these cold snaps we've been having (Eastern PA) temps around 1-5 Degrees F, it burns wood extremely fast even when i have it dampered down and on low...although no matter what I still have trouble getting heat all the way upstairs. I have forced air on a heat pump with an electric coil backup and with it being nearly a 3,000 sq. foot house...and the temps I mentioned earlier I'm still getting some nasty electric bills up in the 500 dollar range even though im burning in my stoves like crazy.

Sooo. Here I am looking at wood furnaces....and now for my questions!

1. Would putting one in my basement and hooking it into my ductwork help? I'm going to be in pattern of cutting my own wood by next year so that will make the fuel cost cheap....but is it going to heat my house well

2. How hard is it to install? Do I have to pipe from the furnace directly into the air handler? Or can i Take it to an existing Return Duct in my living room directly above where the furnace would be placed?

3. Anyone have any ideas on a good model?

4. can I use my existing 6" Flue in the basement for my woodstove now or do I need a bigger flue size?

5. Can I run a few "supply Ducts" if you will off of the ductwork that would go to my air handler or return duct? to heat a few other additions off of the house that don't have ductwork now?

6. Any suggestions from anyone on here currently using a wood furnace that I should be considering? Anyone in my area that could tell me how many cords they go through using a furnace?

Any and all help would be great...If I can start heating my house better and save $$ That would make and my wife happy as CLAMS!

Thanks in advance for any of your help guys. I really Appreciate it.


Dan
 
Thanks guys! As for boiler vs. furnace, my air handler has the electric coil in it and I think I may want to keep that as a just in case kind of thing...if I go away for a few days in the winter time and its too cold for my heat pump , I'd have no heat. I'm thinkin the furnace with blower is my best bet. As for the supply ducts question by hooking to "existing" does that mean I can hook it up to a return duct then? I'd like that more than having to pipe up all the way from my basement to the attic where my air handler is. And when I asked about more supply ducts for me to add I meant off of the piping from the furnace itself so I'd have a supply from the furnace that basically splits off to connect to my air handler and one to my powder room and one more to the kitchen anyone else do this?
 
Tough one there. Likely wont have the right duct size at the first floor to go thru whole system as ductwork tends to get reduced further down the line for static pressure. May have to do alternate duct work in the basement. The Kuuma is a great choice but for that size house you would want the 100.
 
STIHLY DAN said:
Tough one there. Likely wont have the right duct size at the first floor to go thru whole system as ductwork tends to get reduced further down the line for static pressure. May have to do alternate duct work in the basement. The Kuuma is a great choice but for that size house you would want the 100.
Click to expand...
This return I'm thinking of using is a shared return amongst multiple rooms, it actually accounts for 4 out of 6 total returns In the house ...I'm. Not sure why I'd be reducing return ducts for static pressure? My idea is basically to pipe a "supply air" from a wood furnace to my return air on the existing forced air system pulling the hot air and distributing it through the house? Am I way off on this, I really have no experience with these things I just want to get as much info as possible before I start talking to salesmen to buy one, they'll say anything to make a sale
 
No, if you have access to your main return trunk and its large enough for the furnace that should work. But I think you would need your HP fan as well. This could then move to much air thru the furnace. Talk to Kuuma, they don't have salesmen and I can pretty much guaranty they will not push you to make a sale. You will probably be talking to the owner.
 
I also have an air source heat pump, in a new home we built almost 4 years ago. I got sticker shock when we got the first few months electric bills and decided I need to figure out a cheaper way to heat the home. Since the HP is located right in the center of my basement, and I really wanted to locate my wood appliance on an exterior wall, I decided a boiler would be the best way to get the BTU's over to the HP to evenly distribute throughout the house. I didn't have enough clearance in the HP's supply plenum, so I installed two separate coils directly off of each side of the plenum (plenum is T shaped). Those coils always have hot water circulating through them (when I'm using the boiler) and I installed a second thermostat to just activate the HP's blower. I generally set the temp on that thermostat just a degree or two above the HP's thermostat and as long as I keep up with the wood supply, the HP never kicks on :). During most mild weather, the natural convection that I get from the hot water coils is enough to keep the blower from ever kicking on.

I'm not saying that a hot air furnace isn't a good option, but depending on the locations and distance between the two appliances, water may be a more efficient way to transfer heat.
 
Wood burner would be in the basement air handler allll the way up in the attic. Still doable though...however I still have that problem if I go away in the winter time wouldn't I have a situation where pipes could freeze in my attic?. It gets might cold up there
 
Excuse my extreme ignorance on this - but what's up with air handlers in attics anyway? Such a thing is a foreign concept up here, at least to me, and on the surface of it make no sense, especially with a basement under a house. Would the idea of somehow getting airhandlers out of the attic & into the basement be worth considering? I might be out to lunch on that too, having like no experience with forced air heating except living in an apartment with it for a couple years, 20 years ago.
 
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My wife and I actually installed the entire heating system for our house...trust me the basement was my first choice for the air handler but this was a Reno on a 1896 built farmhouse, the basement has its limitations as far as height, and it's not one large space it's broken up with 2 walls and a small doorway in each to get through from the front to the back. Couldn't run ducts through there without some SERIOUS SERIOUS basement "re-adjustments" in which I had no desire to attempt.
 
Many large houses here have one in the attic the other in the basement. Yes most attics suck.
 
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