Kumma 100 Pot Warmer.

[Dennis Darius]

I have had a Vapor fire 100 for three years. My furnace man has done everything he can to make this unit work. Spoke to Dale at Lamppa ETC>
He finally quite and told me i was on my own.
Getting heat out of this unit is impossible. Hot fire box, warm heat exchanger. Somewhere between the fire box and heat exchanger the heat disappears. I think it gets shipped back to the EPA so they can check it for pollutant's.!!
Lamppa has tried to help. No soap. The only thing we have not tried is a forced air blower. Not recommended.
The unit was built to be efficient and clean burning. That was achieved. Someone forget to figure out how to get heat out of it.
Thank you EPA.
As far as suggestions ETC. You know, higher chimney, check draft, no 90 degree bends, clean the unit ever week. (Yeah right).
Yes, the big one. What kind of wood am i burning? Well, lets see. Hard wood, old wood, new wood, dry wood with a couple pieces of green. big wood wood, small wood, and everything in between.
Oh, today you ask. Thirty two outside. Inside Sixty six.. Like i said Overpriced Pot Warmer.

 

[gary38532]

I'm shocked this got no replies. When I called mine the VFcold they called me a drunk. That being said I did get mine working decent. Took 9k worth of spray foam. It does let the heat out just super slow. If your house cant hold on to it so it can build forget about heating the place. Still even after the spray foam I have to help mine with the pellet burner when its gets down past 10. I hope you get it I know how much it sucks siting in a cold house with a 7k furnace that doesn't work! chit I had ice on the inside of my windows one morning. Good Luck!

 

[gary38532]

Oh and get one of these to control the blower speed. The system it comes with is just garbage compared to this.

 

[brenndatomu]

I'm shocked this got no replies.

OP didn't ask any questions...just came on and made a bunch of hostile statements that go against what 99.9% of VF owners know to be true.
If Dale "gave up", it must have been bad...

 

[gary38532]

OP didn't ask any questions...just came on and made a bunch of hostile statements that go against what 99.9% of VF owners know to be true.
If Dale "gave up", it must have been bad...

I'm not sure was he talking about Dale or the furnace man?

 

[gary38532]

I think he was talking about the furnace man I just cant see Dale saying that.

 

[brenndatomu]

I'm not sure was he talking about Dale or the furnace man?

Good point...

 

[brenndatomu]

Oh and get one of these to control the blower speed. The system it comes with is just garbage compared to this.
View attachment 325384

Likin that ICM, eh? 👍

 

[gary38532]

Likin that ICM, eh? 👍

 

[gary38532]

yep the furnace should come with them imo. I understand why they don't because they would have to recertify with the epa.

 

[brenndatomu]

yep the furnace should come with them imo. I understand why they don't because they would have to recertify with the epa.

Dale and I discussed it...I told him that they really NEED to offer a variable speed (DC) blower motor option, but IMO the ICM mod wasn't quite refined enough to be an official Kuuma factory option (although VERY effective!) but I haven't heard where things are with all that lately...he talked of some exciting things that they were working on...possibly coming along soon...hopefully.

 

[gary38532]

Dale and I discussed it...I told him that they really NEED to offer a variable speed (DC) blower motor option, but IMO the ICM mod wasn't quite refined enough to be an official Kuuma factory option (although VERY effective!) but I haven't heard where things are with all that lately...he talked of some exciting things that they were working on...possibly coming along soon...hopefully.

Don't worry I'll be watching to hear about these exciting things!

 

[JRHAWK9]

What people need to realize, there is not a one sized fits all setup that works for everybody for all situations....even if it does work for the majority. Air delivery is a BIG deal, and if your air delivery is not optimized for YOUR house, you will not see optimal results. Seems the majority of people are very happy with the blower speed as shipped, however, it seems there are a few of us who could benefit from a change to the OEM blower setup. I was one of them. When I first installed mine in '14, it was not heating anywhere near as well as it is now. MY solution for MY house? Slow the blower WAY WAY down and increase my return air temp. I'm talking slowing the blower down to very slow speeds. Slow enough that when it's near the cutoff temp I can literally count the rpm's manually when sticking a reflective tag on the blower and hitting it with a laser. THIS house prefers very low volumes of hot air vs high volumes of warm air. The OEM setup I was only seeing plenum temps around 100-105°, this was not doing the job. How did I figure this out? I experimented. No one is going to be able to tell you what will work for YOUR house. I did NOTHING else besides changing how the air is being delivered to the house. I had no idea it would make that big of a difference, but it sure did for me. The BTU's are being produced and are there, you just need to find a way to get them into your house in a manner that works for YOUR house.

I guarantee it's all in air delivery and has nothing to do with how the wood is burning or the combustion process.

Heck, it could also simply be the heat load is too large for the furnace too.

 

[brenndatomu]

Heck, it could also simply be the heat load is too large for the furnace too.

That happens sometimes too...that's how I got mine, the guy bought it to heat a big ole leaky cabin out in the middle of a cornfield (read: wind tunnel) and it was just not enough firepower for the house,...they weren't willing to fix the leaky (or even slow it down), so they just went back to fossil fuel heating $$$...their loss, my gain.
But most of the time, when a new owner comes on here complaining of poor performance from their VF, the basic setup is just not right...and just because your 1975 Woodgobbler XL would do it (using 10 cords of wood) doesn't mean that a modern EPA certified unit will (without fine tuning the setup)...but the vast majority of the time, if you cross your T's and dot your I's on your setup, you will be very happy with a VF!
Keep in mind, 98% of VF owners are happy, and never post anything online about it anywhere, they just kick back n enjoy the heck outta it...

 

[docsj125]

Not sure what his setup is but this furnace is so boring to own.
Install mine 4 years ago.Just clean it twice a year and feed it wood .
My house stays at 72 deg most days unless its extremely cold out(single digit) then its around 68-69 deg.

 

[brenndatomu]

Not sure what his setup is but this furnace is so boring to own.
Install mine 4 years ago.Just clean it twice a year and feed it wood .
My house stays at 72 deg most days unless its extremely cold out(single digit) then its around 68-69 deg.

Well said, I agree...especially with no window, just load n go...

 

[Birdsell36]

Would anyone be willing to help me with the ICM blower speed mod? I think I may also benefit from a lower volume of hotter air over a larger volume of warm air. I did the install myself and can follow directions but struggle coming up with it on my own. I got my VF in March 2023 and Lamppa made the 1/2 hp blower standard over the 1/3 hp. The new furnaces may need it even more so compared to the older ones.

 

[sloeffle]

I think a variable speed motor should be standard fair on any new wood burning furnaces that haven't cheated on the EPA emissions test. It was a night and day difference on my Caddy. Definitely the best mod that I did to that furnace.

The blower motor on my Caddy "liked" the Totaline speed controller better than the ICM controller. The motor would make some weird noises when it really slowed down with the ICM controller. Yes, I was using the sleeve bearing settings. It didn't do that with the Totaline. The downside of the Totaline controller is that you need a secondary source of 24V.

 

[brenndatomu]

It was a night and day difference on my Caddy. Definitely the best mod that I did to that furnace.

For me, when I was still running the ole Tundra, the best mod (by maybe a 51/49 margin) or at least the mod that made the most difference, was the temp controller mod...the ICM (or "speed controller") was a very close second though!
Like I have said here before, if it wasn't but for an ill timed cold snap, I'd have ripped the Tundra out n moved on...then came along the temp controller mod, which made the Tundra tolerable, which cooled my jets for tearing it out, a lil bit later the speed controller was tried, and that made it halfway respectable...would have probably been fine running that for a while, but then that 1st used VF200 popped up and tempted me down the VF path (which was a good move)

 

[lampmfg]

I had my dad look over the images you had sent previously. He gave me some feedback on optimizing your set-up (attached). We want to help you make this work. If you make the changes and it doesn't work, we would be willing to purchase the furnace from you. You might need a manometer to test the draft because we want to see how it's doing throughout the burn cycle.

When installed correctly, these work fantastic! Some real knowledgeable owners on this forum will attest.

 

[brenndatomu]

Yup, another case of poor setup...and "it's the furnaces fault"
That's about like buying a dragster, putting trailer tires on it, then complain that it won't hook up...

 

[JRHAWK9]

After seeing those install pics, I'll take back what I said above.

 

[docsj125]

I had my dad look over the images you had sent previously. He gave me some feedback on optimizing your set-up (attached). We want to help you make this work. If you make the changes and it doesn't work, we would be willing to purchase the furnace from you. You might need a manometer to test the draft because we want to see how it's doing throughout the burn cycle.

When installed correctly, these work fantastic! Some real knowledgeable owners on this forum will attest.

This is a good reason to buy a VF. They know their product works.