Woochuck Furnace with Goodman heat pump Pics

[ccwhite]

Howdy All! I been promising pictures of the new "engine room" once finished so here they are. This is a Woodchuck 2900 furnace and a Goodman 3 1/2 ton heat pump with electric backup. Letting the heat pump do it's thing on warmer days (above 30 or so) and firing up the Woodchuck if its going to get cold. Running the Woodchuck right now. It went down to zero last night and it's up to 10 outside now and holding 74 inside. Let me know what ya think. It took a lot to figure out how to make the damper work right. Now that I have that one figured out I'm thinking of trying to find a bigger one to replace the manual damper on the wood burner.

 

[ccwhite]

More pics.

 

[ccwhite]

Couple more pics.

 

[smokinj]

Very sweet set up

 

[raybonz]

Looks great! Now you have best of both worlds with your automatic heat sources..

Ray

 

[Redox]

It looks like the Woodchuck is sharing the return with the air handler. Yes? I would hate to give up the air cleaner and humidifier for a wood furnace.

Chris

 

[ccwhite]

Yes the cold air return comes down through a 5" thick Air Bear filter and then splits off to the wood burner and air handler below that point. I don't use a humidifier I've heard some stories about them causing duct work to rust so I'm pretty gun shy of them. I was really considering installing one til I heard that. But anyway yes the air filter is shared by both units.

 

[Redox]

Most of the add-on furnaces I've seen seem to have rather wimpy blowers and no provision for a real air filter. Guess I need to look at the Woodchuck.

There are various types of humidifiers out there and the better ones don't rust the ductwork An Aprilaire style evaporative humidifier makes sure the water is fully absorbed by the air. As long as the airstream doesn't cool off, you won't get condensation and rust. Atomization humidifiers force moisture into the airstream whether it can absorb it or not. That's when you get rust. I've seen some ugly messes made out of the "mister" type humidifiers. They are basically an oil burner nozzle firing into the airstream and not recommended.

Good choice on using a heat pump. Many people don't like them, but they are great when it isn't that cold out. It should really cut down on wood use (and smoke) in the shoulder seasons.

Chris

 

[ccwhite]

Thank you for the humidifier info.
The Woodchuck does have a excellent 3 speed blower. 850/1350/1850 CFM There is a selector on the right side of the furnace where you can adjust the speed to your liking.
The box around the blower (you can see in the pics on the back the same color as the rest of the Woodchuck) has a slot on both sides that will fit a 1" thick filter and has a door to cover which ever side you are not using. I just made some ductwork to tie the blower box of the wood burner to the bottom of the air handler (it is and updraft unit) then put the air bear filter on top of that box and built the transition to tie it to the return air trunk.
The heat pump is working out great so far. As long as it's gonna be above 30 deg I let it do the job ... Below 30, fire up the Woodchuck. And I can finally get rid of all those window air conditioners.