I was wondering if anyone has some info on Kuuma Vapor-fire forced hot air furnace. It is the only gasification forced hot air unit i can find out there. Thanks
I need some help! Forced hot and and gasification
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I know nothing about the unit you mention, but I tend to think that a forced-air furnace will fail to achieve a lot of the benefits of gasification.
Forced air heat depends on a heat source that you can turn on and off in a relatively efficient way. Gasifiers are by far most efficient and effective when they're run full throttle for as long as the fuel lasts, with the heat stored for later use.
My home has an existing warm air ducted system, and I am going to install a gasifier boiler and heat storage tank, with a coil in the ductwork above my existing oil burner warm air furnace. That way I can use the existing ducts, etc., but get the extreme efficiency that the gasifier + storage offers
good luck
Trevor
Forced air heat depends on a heat source that you can turn on and off in a relatively efficient way. Gasifiers are by far most efficient and effective when they're run full throttle for as long as the fuel lasts, with the heat stored for later use.
My home has an existing warm air ducted system, and I am going to install a gasifier boiler and heat storage tank, with a coil in the ductwork above my existing oil burner warm air furnace. That way I can use the existing ducts, etc., but get the extreme efficiency that the gasifier + storage offers
good luck
Trevor
I gave them a call and spoke with the owner, Frank Lamppa. Very nice fellow and proud of his product. As far as I can tell, it's a gasifier in the same sense that my PE or Jotul is a gasifier. You heat up wood, you get gas, which is then reburned. This is not a gasifier like the Eko, EconBurn, Tarm boilers.
He's claiming 95% efficiency but has no data to confirm that other than getting 200 deg stack temps. (If the fire is at 1000-1200 degrees, then that is somewhere around 80-84% efficiency). When pushed a little more, the only proof offered was a clean stack in his house after full season burning. The lab testing was to meet safety certification only. What I did like was that they use a computer controlled 2 stage burn and this is coupled with a 2 stage air handler. The computer regulates the primary and secondary air at two levels, full burn and 30% burn. The firebox is super-insulated to maintain the coal bed. Theoretically (Frank assured me that in use it works great) this should make the furnace work better in milder weather and quieter once the house is warmed up. It seems like a pretty simple design which should help reliability. Note that current lead time is 75-100 days.
My take is that this is a small family outfit that has been doing this for about 25 years. They seem to take pride in their work and use mostly off the shelf components which should make it easy to get parts. The price is pretty good, so all in all this may be a fine furnace. But I'm a little skeptical that it would burn a quantum leap cleaner than other good units.
He's claiming 95% efficiency but has no data to confirm that other than getting 200 deg stack temps. (If the fire is at 1000-1200 degrees, then that is somewhere around 80-84% efficiency). When pushed a little more, the only proof offered was a clean stack in his house after full season burning. The lab testing was to meet safety certification only. What I did like was that they use a computer controlled 2 stage burn and this is coupled with a 2 stage air handler. The computer regulates the primary and secondary air at two levels, full burn and 30% burn. The firebox is super-insulated to maintain the coal bed. Theoretically (Frank assured me that in use it works great) this should make the furnace work better in milder weather and quieter once the house is warmed up. It seems like a pretty simple design which should help reliability. Note that current lead time is 75-100 days.
My take is that this is a small family outfit that has been doing this for about 25 years. They seem to take pride in their work and use mostly off the shelf components which should make it easy to get parts. The price is pretty good, so all in all this may be a fine furnace. But I'm a little skeptical that it would burn a quantum leap cleaner than other good units.
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