Combination furnace - 2 flues?

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DanK

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Nov 21, 2005
1
I would like to purchase a combination wood/oil furnace. I only have 1 chimney with an 8x13 tile flue. According to yukon/eagle I only need 1 flu for their furnace where as others state that I need two? Why would I only need one for the yukon/eagle but two for other brands of furnaces? Is there a risk of venting through 1 flu? Also, I like the yukon/eagle furnace but have not found any reviews outside of their website? Are they a reliable company? Do you know where I can find reviews about them? Do you know of other combination wood/oil furnace manufacturers that are reputable?
 
dk166 said:
I would like to purchase a combination wood/oil furnace. I only have 1 chimney with an 8x13 tile flue. According to yukon/eagle I only need 1 flu for their furnace where as others state that I need two? Why would I only need one for the yukon/eagle but two for other brands of furnaces? Is there a risk of venting through 1 flu? Also, I like the yukon/eagle furnace but have not found any reviews outside of their website? Are they a reliable company? Do you know where I can find reviews about them? Do you know of other combination wood/oil furnace manufacturers that are reputable?

This company has been around since 1978 and always did well by me!
I sold their furnaces for many years and the customers were always happyl

The unit is UL listing for one flue. That trumps any other codes in this case. It was tested that way and it works fine and is safe. In fact, the test labs told me that the two fuels burning in one flue actually kept the flue CLEANER than just wood.

So rest easy, it is an OK unit.
They don't have clean burn technology, but it has some nice combustion features that put it way above just being a "box" (ceramic lined firebox, secondary air, large heat exchangers, etc.)
 
Back in the days before I knew much about such things, I used to vent a wood furnace into the same clay-lined flue as an oil-burning furnace. For some reason, when you burn oil for a couple of days, it cleans the creosote out of the chimney. Of course, all of it winds up in the cleanout, but it was a good way to clean a chimney. Other people who have done the same thing have had a similar experience.

The only caveat I would have to what Craig said is that you should be sure to clean the chimney when you switch from burning wood to oil, because of the danger of the creosote falling down (or "popcorning" up) and blocking the chimney when the oil burner is working. You may think that you'll run the oil burner and the wood at the same time, but I bet you'll find, like most people, that it's an "either-or" situation. Usually it boils down to wood in the winter and oil in the spring and fall. I owned and heated with a Marathon oil/wood boiler combo vented into one ss liner for many years, and was very happy with the way it worked.
 
Hey Craig,

Does the Yukon have a separate combustion chamber for oil (like the multi-fuel Tarm), or is it just an oil gun that blows into the wood firebox? My Marathon oil gun just poked into the firebox and I found it best to remove it when burning wood. Otherwise the nozzle would eventually get clogged up. That could have potentially tragic consequences if, like me, you wait until the last minute to hook up the oil before going on vacation in the winter.
 
Eric Johnson said:
Hey Craig,

Does the Yukon have a separate combustion chamber for oil (like the multi-fuel Tarm), or is it just an oil gun that blows into the wood firebox? My Marathon oil gun just poked into the firebox and I found it best to remove it when burning wood. Otherwise the nozzle would eventually get clogged up. That could have potentially tragic consequences if, like me, you wait until the last minute to hook up the oil before going on vacation in the winter.

It fires the oil into a ceramic POT, BUT unlike Tarm, there are no separate heat exchanger - the oil enters into the top of the wood firebox after that and uses the same path.

Never had problems with gumming, etc. -probably because it is upstream from the wood.
 
I installed a napoleon hybrid 150 wood/oil/electric furnace at my fathers house. As per installation manual, (1) 7" Liner was all that was required. So depending on manufacture as to whether you can use one flue.
 
I know the wood oil Caddy furnaces we install locally are also listed for use on one flue. It sounds like your in good shape. Yukon have been a great company for decades. Enjoy it.
 
5 year old thread, #72. One of the first here on hearth.com.
 
I have an Yukon Polar and I'm hardly impressed.
The whole thing is made out of sheet metal, door, door frame, flue pipe and on.
My flue pipe is rusted out and it was in a dry basement.
I think they want like $2500 - $3000 for the part, (heat exchanger)
 
Yes, I am going to close it down. Feel free to open a new thread on the topic.
 
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