I’m pretty convinced the Vapor Fire 100 is the right route for me to go but want some input from other users and users with similar conditions.
I live in a 2 story 1400 sft turn of the century (1900) farmhouse in Cadillac, Michigan. The house is not tight construction and never will be sealed like new construction. The walls are 4” studs with 1” thick boards on both sides. There is old blown in insulation between studs. The attic is not yet reinsulated but that I planned on doing 2 layers of fiberglass batts. (Long story short, we had a bat infestation and had to remove all old insulation and clean attic). There are almost all newer double pane windows. 8’ ceilings on first floor, 6’ 8” ceiling on 2nd floor. The basement is a stone and mortar wall, concrete floor, exposed joists unfinished basement for half of footprint and crawl space type in other half.
I heat with a quadrafire wood stove in the living space. It is definitely not a whole house heat when the temps dip below freezing. It can heat downstairs 800 sft fine. But being a wood stove it really does not distribute heat well.
We have duct work that is currently connected to a propane furnace. This is our backup if we go on vacation. In the short time I run the furnace, the ducts seem adequate. There are return ducts on 1st floor in center of house and supplys on exterior walls. The second floor has only 2 supplys and no returns. Are there any red flags i should look for in suct
I don’t plan on having a backup propane furnace right away for 2 reasons. I would need to create a new chimney for this old one or get a new high efficiency furnace with PVC stack. Also duct work is new for me so it seems challenging enough just to get the VF100 hooked up stand alone.
First question is the chimney. I know I won’t know 100% til it is set up but here it goes. We have an outside brick chimney, about 25-30 ft tall from where stove pipe would enter it. It is currently lined for our old propane furnace so I will be relining for wood furnace. I plan to use an insulated flexible liner. Does it seem likely that draft will be sufficient with the good height and using insulated pipe? The chimney extends 2 ft past peak of the house and no obstruction/trees anywhere near it.
Since we live by the Great Lakes we don’t get the Arctic blasts to the extremes that they seem to get in places like North Dakota and Minnesota. But it occasionally gets brutal and I’d like to be sure it’s going to give me some decent burn times and be able to kick out enough heat when needed. I hear slow steady, even heat output and I wonder if it can run a little harder when needed? I don’t want to be in the situation I am now of really struggling to heat when it goes below 0.
My wife is home most of the time so she keeps fire going when I’m at work. She doesn’t like messing with air controls on our stove so the automatic draft control on VF100 is very exciting. Also with longer burn times she shouldn’t have to load it as much.
Last question. I feel that I will miss the wood stove in the fall and spring since that takes the chill off quickly and with very little wood. Is VF100 straight up not good to run for short burns on shoulder seasons? I planned on putting a wood stove back some day but that’s another story.
I feel like I’m overthinking this but it’s a big commitment and I want to spend money wisely. Also I’m sold on kuuma’s customer service already. You don’t see that much anymore.
Thanks for any input!
I live in a 2 story 1400 sft turn of the century (1900) farmhouse in Cadillac, Michigan. The house is not tight construction and never will be sealed like new construction. The walls are 4” studs with 1” thick boards on both sides. There is old blown in insulation between studs. The attic is not yet reinsulated but that I planned on doing 2 layers of fiberglass batts. (Long story short, we had a bat infestation and had to remove all old insulation and clean attic). There are almost all newer double pane windows. 8’ ceilings on first floor, 6’ 8” ceiling on 2nd floor. The basement is a stone and mortar wall, concrete floor, exposed joists unfinished basement for half of footprint and crawl space type in other half.
I heat with a quadrafire wood stove in the living space. It is definitely not a whole house heat when the temps dip below freezing. It can heat downstairs 800 sft fine. But being a wood stove it really does not distribute heat well.
We have duct work that is currently connected to a propane furnace. This is our backup if we go on vacation. In the short time I run the furnace, the ducts seem adequate. There are return ducts on 1st floor in center of house and supplys on exterior walls. The second floor has only 2 supplys and no returns. Are there any red flags i should look for in suct
I don’t plan on having a backup propane furnace right away for 2 reasons. I would need to create a new chimney for this old one or get a new high efficiency furnace with PVC stack. Also duct work is new for me so it seems challenging enough just to get the VF100 hooked up stand alone.
First question is the chimney. I know I won’t know 100% til it is set up but here it goes. We have an outside brick chimney, about 25-30 ft tall from where stove pipe would enter it. It is currently lined for our old propane furnace so I will be relining for wood furnace. I plan to use an insulated flexible liner. Does it seem likely that draft will be sufficient with the good height and using insulated pipe? The chimney extends 2 ft past peak of the house and no obstruction/trees anywhere near it.
Since we live by the Great Lakes we don’t get the Arctic blasts to the extremes that they seem to get in places like North Dakota and Minnesota. But it occasionally gets brutal and I’d like to be sure it’s going to give me some decent burn times and be able to kick out enough heat when needed. I hear slow steady, even heat output and I wonder if it can run a little harder when needed? I don’t want to be in the situation I am now of really struggling to heat when it goes below 0.
My wife is home most of the time so she keeps fire going when I’m at work. She doesn’t like messing with air controls on our stove so the automatic draft control on VF100 is very exciting. Also with longer burn times she shouldn’t have to load it as much.
Last question. I feel that I will miss the wood stove in the fall and spring since that takes the chill off quickly and with very little wood. Is VF100 straight up not good to run for short burns on shoulder seasons? I planned on putting a wood stove back some day but that’s another story.
I feel like I’m overthinking this but it’s a big commitment and I want to spend money wisely. Also I’m sold on kuuma’s customer service already. You don’t see that much anymore.
Thanks for any input!
