Wood furnace suggestions

[karl]

Ok I have a PE Summit and I love it. It heats the house entirely if I work at it but I still wake up to cold mornings sometimes. I'm going to be traveling even more this year than before, so the furnace is going to be used to keep the house around 55 degrees while I'm gone.

My current natual gas furnace is 44 years old. Hey it's rated at 80% efficient. Maybe back then but surely not now. Anyway I had a furnace given to me. It's in good shape and not terribly old. My old furnace was 240,000 btu input and 180,000 btu output. The new one is 100,000 input and 80,000 output. That's quite a downsize, but I think I'll be ok. The Summit is rated at 97,000 max and 46,000 over an 8 hour burn and like I said it did well. Besides in the 60's they really oversized furnaces. I will also be insulated the duct work as well and probably adding insulation to the house.

The new furnace will be vented out through the side of crawl space instead of up through the roof like the old one. The furnace is in the basement. This leaves me with a huge whole from the basement to the roof. I know it would need a proper liner but still it's there and I could use it for a wood add on furnace.


What are some of the furnaces out there? I've seen a few in the 1000 dollar range. Are there EPA requirements on these? Which ones have secondary tubes? Etc

I probably won't buy one this year. I still have another year and half or so to recoup the cost of the Summit. I woud like to have a wood furnace that I could light when I get home along with the Summit to heat this big house up from 55 to 70 quickly.


Thanks for your replies,

Karl

 

[johnsopi]

I have a Big Jack made by Eagle/ Yukon that works real well.

Paul

 

[Hanko]

I had a charmaster, before that a fire chief. after 6 years of wasting wood, as much as 9 cord a year, I decided to go with a good freestanding stove in the living area. (wood furnace was in the garage). best decision I ever made. If I had done this back in 2001 I figure I would have been ahead approx 30 cord and thousands of $ dickin around with a furnace. I will say that my garage location for the furnace was not the best place, but with out a basemant i had no choice. They arent EPA rated, and are on the inefficient side compared to the inserts and freestanding stoves on the market. there a many furnaces on the market. If you want one that will last, go with the yukon, charmaster, stay away from the likes of daka ( menards) or the tractor supply jobs. Although they work, the quality is bad. You get what you pay for, and Im sure most will agree with me, good luck

 

[webbie]

If you have a EPA stove now, you might end up being disappointed with most standard technology hot air wood furnaces........just an FYI.

Most of the designs out there are from the 70's....way before they really had a clue about the secondary burning, etc.

I think there is likely to be some cleaner burning ones in the future, but probably not at the very low price range. So its up to you if you are ready to put up with all the down sides (smoke, creosote, lower eff., etc.).

 

[mtaccone]

I like the looks of the caddy add on for an EPA furnace as it is 1 of 2 out there that I have seen that are epa certified.

 

[karl]

What are the ones that are EPA certified other than the caddy?

 

[mtaccone]

US stove makes one also not sure of the model. www.usstove.com

 

[M1sterM]

Anyone know where I can get a PSG Caddy EPA in upstate NY? The dealer listed on PSG's website says they won't sell to me because I'm not a "contractor."