Looking for opinions on a future wood furnace add-on...

[ADK_XJ]

Got my Regency insert this fall. It's doing decently with the pile of wood that came with the place when we bought it (August) but I'm starting to think and my wife is starting to necessitate the idea of a more "round the clock" wood burning heating source as I've been basically cutting non-stop of down oak and maple trees off our old farm acreage.

Anyway, I know y'-all got 'em, so please give me your opinions and personal experiences on putting in wood-burning furnaces or basement stove installs to take advantage of existing forced air ducting. I've read time and again on here that stoves in basements don't do enough with uninsulated duct work due to heat loss but what about a wood burning furnace add on like an Englande?

Also, because it's relevant, I have an old farmhouse with a stone basement that is below only the original house (about 25 x 25) and it houses a relatively new (5-10 years old) fuel oil furnace with ducting that runs completely inside the house and vents out of the original center chimney. This chimney is in "excellent condition" according ing to our inspector and has an existing pipe hole from what (according to my neighbors) the original owners used to vent their old wood burning furnace (now gone).

See the photos attached for some detail. My big questions would be, would I boil myself out of the house (1600 sq ft) with a wood burning furnace? What kind of stand-off requirements are there - this would be a few feet at least from stairway, oil tank, water boiler and furnace itself. Am I better off buying a cheaper, smaller freestanding stove and just cycling the forced air fans?

 

[newyorker]

furnaces heat houses stoves heat rooms in my opinion i would get a epa furnace big budget kuuma vaporfire med psg caddy small drolet tundra or heatmax all will do fine in a house that size and be efficient

 

[newyorker]

many ppl love the englander and i think im going to buy one for my shop if i ever build it but i like the high efficiency of a epa furnace less wood means less work

 

[ADK_XJ]

Thanks! Funny enough, I was just reading about the PSG mini caddy. I agree, I don't mind doing the work of tinkering with burns on the insert upstairs but I'd like whatever I put in the basement to be relatively set it and forget it for the day.

 

[BrotherBart]

Yeah get a EPA re-burner or gassifirer. If ESW had gotten off of their butts and put secondary burn in their wood furnace I would have had one a long time ago.

 

[newyorker]

no controls automatic load and forget and if you have a drafty farm house a mini might be too small

 

[maple1]

furnaces heat houses stoves heat rooms in my opinion i would get a epa furnace big budget kuuma vaporfire med psg caddy small drolet tundra or heatmax all will do fine in a house that size and be efficient

THIS.

 

[Tyler]

We run a Brunco Add-On Furnace and we have had it 8 years now..We heat a 55x75ft Shop with 14ft ceilings. Ours is the 190btu version. They make two smaller versions also. Nice quality, well built, and easy to get parts. A friend of mine has one in his basement hooked up the way you are talking and he loves it. It has a thermostat and everything.

 

[jeff_t]

I heated with a Hotblast from TSC for a couple of years. It is capable of making a lot of heat, at the expense of a lot of wood. My house is a 1600 sq ft ranch, marginal 70s insulation, plenty drafty, and in the middle of some wide open farm fields. No problem maintaining 70s in subzero windy weather, but I would have to set the alarm for 3am if I didn't want to wake up to a cold house. If I did it over, I would definitely go with an EPA unit.

Shoulder season was a lot like burning a non cat stove-lots of small fires.

Do you have easy access for getting wood to the basement?

 

[ADK_XJ]

Ok, so EPA burner is a much. I'm now looking closely at the PSG and Brunco options mentioned. Most likely this is a 1-3 year from now purchase but, hey, I like to know my options.

I have a huge bandwidth for wood procurement in my immediate surrounding (easily a dozen large maples or oaks down and off the ground on my acreage currently) and then pretty much infinite supply of lumber from the combination of father, father-in-law and good friend's properties all within an hour drive.

Getting wood into the basement? Original owners apparently put it in through one of the ground level windows (hinged) with a little ramp thing. I'd probably do the same every week or two.

 

[begreen]

I'm going to move this over to the boiler room. Will leave a link here.

 

[ADK_XJ]

Ah, gotcha. Thanks!

 

[brenndatomu]

furnaces heat houses stoves heat rooms in my opinion i would get a epa furnace big budget kuuma vaporfire med psg caddy small drolet tundra or heatmax all will do fine in a house that size and be efficient

X3 on this ^^^

 

[JustWood]

I have a Woodchuck 526 that heats 1650 sq ft perfectly. Had I known about Yukon at time of purchase I prolly wood have their unit now.
Agree with whats been said regarding furnaces. Id stay away from box store brands if you want a furnace that will last a long time.
Youre fairly close to coal country . May want to consider a wood/coal unit. Make sure its rated for Anthracite coal. Some are only rated for Bituminous .

 

[ADK_XJ]

Ooh, I like the sound of that Woodchuck 526. Regarding coal, there are sources in my area and especially North but I just have so much hardwood to burn from my own property I can't imagine doing anything but direct sourcing. I also consider cutting, splitting, stacking wood to be my new #1 hobby and I've managed to draft my FIL into service almost every weekend to lend a hand.

JustWood, could you possibly post some photos of your Woodchuck setup? How often are you filling it to maintain indoor temperatures in this recent cold snap? Does it have a tendency to provide (gasp) too much heat?

As I said above, I plan to use the Regency insert for a couple of seasons and do some performance enhancing measures like block-off and insulation but I am bit by the wood bug now and really would like to go all out wood heat.

 

[JustWood]

Regarding coal, there are sources in my area and especially North but I just have so much hardwood to burn from my own property I can't imagine doing anything but direct sourcing.

I woodn't dismiss wood/coal units. It gives you another option as a fuel source.
Some units cost $0 extra for a wood/coal combo unit. Some are minimal extra $ for heavier grates , etc.

 

[Chicken Farmer]

If you have the budget, just buy the Kuuma. It's proven. It works. It's top shelf. Period. I have a Charmaster for sale at fraction of the cost of anything new. It's not as efficient as the Kuuma but built like a tank. Would last for years. And that baby will pour out the heat. It was way too big for my house (1000 sq ft Cape cod style). I had trouble keeping it throttled back enough. I could cook bacon on my coffee table if I let it run.

 

[newyorker]

kuuma is top shelf when i bought my caddy i just looked at cost vs payback thats what wood heat is about