Wood furnace on Porch

[04HemiRam2500]

I had someone come over and give me ideas of where I can put my wood furnace. I can not put it in my basement which is a garage due to insurance not covering a furnace in the garage.

One option that was considered was to finish and enclose my back porch which is cemented and bricked like the house. I was considering putting the englander furnace on my back porch and running ductwork through the wall into my house.

I wanted to get a couple opinions about this on the hearth thought before a do it. With the porch closed and sealed and insulated will this be a place for heat loss. Also, as long as clearances are met are there any issues that I need to be considered with by having this out on a sealed porch. My concern is that the ductwork going int the house on the porch is exposed and it might look weird. Maybe I will go with that spiral ductwork to look cleaner.


I wish that there was a way that I could build a wall or enclosure in my garage to put the furnace there. That would be the nice install for me.

 

[ispinwool]

Well, our Hearthstone Heritage is on our back porch; cement floor, brick walls on the inside walls and insulated studs on the outside walls. Not ideal but there wasn't much of an alternative. Our house was built in 1830 and thru the years previous owners hacked away on any and all chimneys; the only one left is in use by our gas furnace. So we put the Heritage on the porch--we keep the house door open and the windows on either side. The cold air 'falls' out the door (gusts!) into the porch and pushes the hot air in thru the windows. It's not perfect but it helps a lot. This year I have a doorway fan to hang to see if it helps any.
You will lose some heat on a porch--but the brick and concrete will absorb quite a bit and will release it slowly keeping you warmer longer. Instead of duct work, why not plain vents in the upper part of the walls. I don't believe you can connect the duct work to the woodburner anyway...vents would allow the movement of heat very easily, and up near the ceiling they would be almost invisible. An open door into the house would crank up the airflow....unless your porch is huge, a woodburner will produce too much heat to have all the doors and windows shut anyway.
...just my 2 cents....