Add-On Furnaces that connect to ductwork?

[Drifthopper]

Newbe to the forum 3rd post.

Add-On Furnaces that connect to existing forced air ductwork.

I'm in the market for an add-on furnace to replace my wood stove that is currently in my basement.

Other then the Englander 28-3500, and the US Stove 1557M,,,

What other makes and models are out there?

House its going in is a 2 story colonial built in 1977, 2050 sq.ft.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

 

[keyman512us]

Just out of curiousity? What locale are you in???

 

[BrotherBart]

I lust for one of these:

(broken link removed to http://www.woodstoves.net/psg/caddy.htm)

 

[Drifthopper]

I'm in Western New York. South of Buffalo.

 

[Drifthopper]

I lust for one of these:

(broken link removed to http://www.woodstoves.net/psg/caddy.htm)

Okay.........for what reason?????

 

[Eric Johnson]

Check out Marathon Heaters in Richford, NY. They make nice boilers and furnaces. There are plenty of brands out there. Royall of Elroy, Wisconsin is another.

 

[BrotherBart]

I lust for one of these:

(broken link removed to http://www.woodstoves.net/psg/caddy.htm)

Okay.........for what reason?????

140,000 BTUs and the only EPA approved clean burning forced air wood furnace out there. And build quality appears to be excellent.

 

[Eric Johnson]

I'm with BB. That looks like a real honey.

A furnace is a much different wood-burning animal than a boiler, and you'd think it would be a lot easier to make them EPA compliant. But this is the first one I've heard of. And the price is pretty good, too.

 

[BrotherBart]

I'm with BB. That looks like a real honey.

A furnace is a much different wood-burning animal than a boiler, and you'd think it would be a lot easier to make them EPA compliant. But this is the first one I've heard of. And the price is pretty good, too.

Hopefully when Corie gets down South of me they will let him tweak the Englander 28-3500 that I have wanted since 1985 to burn cleaner. Putting that pup in my basement would heat my office AND the house. With the added benefit of not having to nurse a stove upstairs while I am acting like I am working.

 

[ernie]

We sell a real nice wood furnace called the Firechief. It comes in three sizes, includes the blower, filter box and upstairs thermostat. Take a look at our website. www.hechlers.com
We can ship them too.

Ernie

 

[Corie]

I'm with BB. That looks like a real honey.

A furnace is a much different wood-burning animal than a boiler, and you'd think it would be a lot easier to make them EPA compliant. But this is the first one I've heard of. And the price is pretty good, too.

Hopefully when Corie gets down South of me they will let him tweak the Englander 28-3500 that I have wanted since 1985 to burn cleaner. Putting that pup in my basement would heat my office AND the house. With the added benefit of not having to nurse a stove upstairs while I am acting like I am working.

Its funny because I was actually thinking about that yesterday and today. It would be easy to make it a traditional clean burner, but I was thinking it would be great to turn it into a budget forced draft gasifier.

Whadya think between the two choices?

 

[BrotherBart]

I'm with BB. That looks like a real honey.

A furnace is a much different wood-burning animal than a boiler, and you'd think it would be a lot easier to make them EPA compliant. But this is the first one I've heard of. And the price is pretty good, too.

Hopefully when Corie gets down South of me they will let him tweak the Englander 28-3500 that I have wanted since 1985 to burn cleaner. Putting that pup in my basement would heat my office AND the house. With the added benefit of not having to nurse a stove upstairs while I am acting like I am working.

Its funny because I was actually thinking about that yesterday and today. It would be easy to make it a traditional clean burner, but I was thinking it would be great to turn it into a budget forced draft gasifier.

Whadya think between the two choices?

Methinks Ron and Carroll will be teaching the young stove engineer a few things about cost of production for that gasifier. ;-)

 

[titan]

I'm only familiar with natural draft wood furnaces but the buzz i'm hearing about forced draft tells me they're worth the extra money.

 

[Eric Johnson]

I'd go with a clean-burning furnace, first. They're basically just woodstoves with a fancy way of dissipating the heat.

But you got me thinking, Corie. Maybe a conventional gasifier would produce too much heat for a furnace. No place to store it, unless you had a boatload of refractory or other thermal mass, and then it becomes rather impractical for most potential customers, I would think.

 

[Corie]

Interesting Eric, really hadn't thought of it that way. I'd have to do A TON more research before even thinking about truly designing a gasifier. What I mentioned above was just a glancing though. I'm sure they will let me turn it into a clean burner though, that would add relatively little to the cost and I think would make it a really sweet little furnace!

 

[Drifthopper]

I'd go with a clean-burning furnace, first. They're basically just woodstoves with a fancy way of dissipating the heat.

But you got me thinking, Corie. Maybe a conventional gasifier would produce too much heat for a furnace. No place to store it, unless you had a boatload of refractory or other thermal mass, and then it becomes rather impractical for most potential customers, I would think.

What makes a furnace "Clean burning" ? is a 28-3500 Englander "clean burning" ?

 

[Corie]

No, it doesn't have any provisions for secondary combustion. It is essentially an older non-epa style stove furnace equivalent, except with a glass door. Furnaces are outside regulation as of now, so that's how they are able to continue selling this unit.

 

[Drifthopper]

So the 28-3500 is just not a "top of the line" stove as the other one linked.,,i do like the glass on the door, even if it is going into the basement.....

and the US Stoves at Tractor Supply,,,,how do the rate?

 

[laynes69]

I have one that was bought at tractor supply about 20 years ago. It works well, but I installed mine is series instead of paraellel. They are alright, but the quality and the support for them isn't the greatest. I rebuilt mine this year and beefed up the inside. But even then after 19 years it wasn't too bad. They can burn clean, if you burn them properly. I also drool over the Caddy EPA Wood furnace. I have eyed these for over a year. Now USSTOVE is making them, I seen them in the Ads this year. Maybe they got the patents for it to produce them. There are many types, The Woodchuck, the FireCheif, The Hotblast, Clayton, Harmon, and even Hitzer makes one. They all pretty much operate the same, and some have a forced draft. They hit a certain temp, and kick on a blower, or a series of blowers and push the heat through the home. We heat 2400 square feet with our USSTOVE Hotblast. At -20 we were able to keep the whole home at 70 degrees. If you burn hard coal, then get a unit designed to burn coal. One nice thing about a wood furnace is the whole home can be an even temp. Where woodstoves can tend to have warm and cool rooms. I wouldn't have it anyother way here. I would recommend that if one gets a forced air wood furnace, to get one that can be tied in series. This way you don't have to worry about a ton of dampers in the system. Also follow the duct clearances.