PSG Max Caddy Shout-out

[salmon]

I replaced my old wood furnace (70's Energy King) with a PSG Max Caddy this past December. I operate it as a wood burning furnace only in my 2500+ sq. foot log home that was built in the early 1900's with plenty of windows. I live in the Upper Peninsula of MI where we have experienced an extremely cold winter.

This furnace is a pleasure to own and operate and has provided plenty of heat with long burn times. I burn seasoned hard maple, yellow birch and red oak. I haven't had to start a fire in almost two months - every morning I have a nice bed of coals to work with. I use it with a programmable thermostat and keep the house at about 68-70 deg F during the day and 62 at night.

I was also considering a highly regarded competing brand built in the USA, but the lack of a dealer network and it's size/configuration options just didn't work for my application. I highly recommend this product as a well designed, efficient wood burning appliance especially if you have a forced air heating system.

 

[M1sterM]

Awesome. I hope to replace my old fuel oil furnace with a Max Caddy this next summer/fall. Any pics of your installation? Any extras, like central air or hot water?

 

[laynes69]

How's it compare to your old furnace as far as wood usage? We are at 2500 sqft and if it would fit in our basement, I would have the Max Caddy. We have a Caddy and it does well for us. I'm going on 4 years I believe with ours and I wouldn't go back to a standard furnace again.

 

[STIHLY DAN]

Isn't it amazing how much easier it is to heat with wood on the new QUALITY units. Makes heating with wood almost fun.

 

[salmon]

Awesome. I hope to replace my old fuel oil furnace with a Max Caddy this next summer/fall. Any pics of your installation? Any extras, like central air or hot water?

Here are three pictures of the Max Caddy for my installation. We had to reduce the bonnet size to fit my existing duct work - seems to work fine even though it is less than what PSG recommends. My back up LP furnace is immediately to the right of the Max Caddy and has it's own fan/thermostat. As you can see with the hot air out (top of furnace) the tolerances were tight! It took some bit of adjusting to get everything to fit. I purchased the fan assembly and box also rather than use my old one. I run the electronics on Auto - the control board selects the fan speed based on the temperature of the bonnet.

I don't intend on using it for central AC since I live in an area where I would use it about one week of the summer. PSG wants too much for their SS domestic hot water loop IMO so I may make my own in the future. My dealer, who owns and operates a Max Caddy in his home, experimented with one and felt it wasn't worth it. Their loop is designed to be in the secondary combustion loop area rather than the firebox itself so it just can't recover as much heat. I have an outside entrance to my basement, but it was still a chore to get it in the basement - we slightly damaged the air control plate in the process.

My dealer says I will probably burn 1/3 less wood with the Max Caddy than my old, inefficient wood furnace. Based on two months of burning in the cold winter we've been having, I would say he is about right. One big difference with this furnace than my old one - it radiates much less heat so the basement stays cooler. Most of the radiation on the Max Caddy comes from the front of the furnace in the glass area. He also says I will not have to clean my chimney as often and will not see much (if any) creosote buildup. With the price of LP this year I'm already going a long way in paying off this furnace!

 

[M1sterM]

Here are three pictures of the Max Caddy for my installation. ...

Thanks!

 

[guygers]

I have just got a new max caddy installed and on the cpu board connected to the furnace is reads ovrt every now and then, was just wondering what this msg means?

Thanks.