DAKA 521FB plenum setup

[benphanna]

I'm currently looking at possibly replacing my aging wood furnace (Jensen 24A) with a DAKA 521FB next year and was hoping to get some feedback from others here who already have this furnace.

My main question is on the plenum setup. I've noticed it's stated in the manual that when installing the furnace as an add-on they say it's necessary to install a fan control that kicks on your primary furnace's blower to circulate the air being fed into your supply plenum from the DAKA's blower. It clearly says the blower's function in an add-on setup isn't for circulation.

So I'm wondering do any DAKA users actually have their setups configured like this. My current wood furnace circulates air well enough through the house (1500 sqft) using its 600CFM blower. I don't see why the DAKA's blower couldn't circulate the air through the ducts as long as you install a backdraft damper in the main plenum to prevent heat from being blown back into the primary furnace.

 

[RiseUpMan]

Hello, I just finished an install in my house of the 521FB about a month ago. I kind of had the same question and tossed around a few ideas. I ended up purchasing an AC relay switch and wiring it so that when the Daka fan kicked in, the relay would then kick my furnace fan in. I don't have a lot of details on how I wired it if you aren't familiar with electronics but I could try to give you a little more info if you were interested.

I have a high level overview of my install process located at http://www.riseupman.com/homestead/add-on-wood-furnace-install-overview

I have plans to do a more detailed write up in the near future but just need to find the time. Good luck and let me know if you want any more info.

 

[benphanna]

Thanks, that's helpful. How much square footage are you heating with it?

 

[RiseUpMan]

My 2 story house is about 1500 sq feet but with the furnace being in the basement I have about an additional 750 sq feet that gets nice and toasty when it's running. My propane furnace doesn't help the basement at all. Since we have some living space down there, it is very much appreciated bonus heat. Really is just the ambient heat from the furnace itself too, we don't have any vents in the basement but it will get up to 70-72 degrees when burning wood.

 

[runnerxc]

I had a Daka in our previous house. Old house with old duct work. The Daka blower was OK by itself but it really helped when I had my furnace fan help it out. I placed a thermostatic switch in the plenum that would kick on/off the furnace fan at certain temps that worked best (can't recall exactly what they were). The Daka fan ran the whole time. A little testing/tweaking goes a long way. When I got the furnace firing good, the furnace fan would kick on, cool the plenum, kick off, and repeat...really got the heat moving fast.