Hey Guys, I'm new this this Hearth.com forum so I apologize if this is not the right place. My 1995 Englander 28-3500 has finally bit the dust. Firebox has cracked and the fan has given out. This was used as a primary source of heat during Michigan winters, I do have a standard natural gas furnace so I am not freezing, but it is just not the same as the warmth from wood. I have been looking at, what I think, is the main line of wood furnaces: Kumma Vapor, Drolet, Caddy, US Stoves and Fire Chief. From what I have found the 2020 EPA regulations have really changed the market and design of these things (for the worse, but don't get me going). In all honest the Vapor 100 is just too big for my application. Wish the Vapor 200 was available. The Drolet Heat Commander looks great but I also fear that it is too big. Maybe I just get that due to all the pictures having 6 or 8 ducts coming out of it. My main question here is about the Fire Chief FC1000E. All the reviews I find are from years ago. I have spent countless hours looking for more 'modern' reviews and am not finding any. Does anyone have any feedback, comments good or bad, from the last 3 years about these furnaces? Most of the reviews I read are about bad drafting. In my setup, my flue is a 6" SS flue which is inside of a masonry chimney. It sticks a good 6 - 8 foot above any roof lines. I never had any sort of draft problems with the old Englander, but that did not have all this fancy draft blowers and auto this and auto that junk on it, it was simple you had manual knobs to control the draft!
Any guidance is greatly appreciated.
Any guidance is greatly appreciated.
