Add on furnace question

[Tjcole50]

Just a quick question for you guys with add on wood furnaces. My utility room is on the small size about the size of an average spare bedroom i guess. I was wondering how hot the bedroom above may gget. The ceiling of utility room is not finished or insulated just floor joists then floors above. Im concerned because this will be our future kids room above the wood furnace. Thanks
Edit what im after is.. does it make the bedroom above a couple degrees warmer or does it make 100 degrees. Does the furnace itself put off alot of heat or does the air jacket leading to the plenum contain it?

 

[sawjunky23]

When I was running a furnace in my shop, it didn't seem to put much heat off of the unit itself, the majority of the heat came out the plenum. But mine was wired to run constant and didn't run off a thermostat so it ran WFO all the time.

 

[flotek]

It depends heavily on what furnace . Some offer a lot of radiant heat while other models seem to put it all in the air jackets. .older low tech furnaces tended to throw a lot of radiant heat off the unit making the furnace room warm . Modern design EPA units tend to push the heat up into the plenum into your ductwork resulting in a cooler furnace room ..depends on the room too .. I have a similar setup as you .the room directly above is a bathroom , it gets no warmer than any other room . The whole idea behind such a furnace is to heat evenly ..If the furnace is doing it's job and it's ducted properly all rooms should be about the same temperature. Btw You gotta watch your clearance to the wall and your floor joists

 

[longbowch]

My kids room is right above my furnace too. I had to disconnect the duct going to their room to run the flue pipe and never hooked it back up. They think their room is comfortable even below zero outside. Not any warmer than anywhere else. The basement stays around 75* now.

 

[Tjcole50]

Nice. Been looking at multiple options. I have a 2nd chimney hookup in the middle of the finushed part of the basement. An add on furnace would require a new chimney out the foundation and up. Also looking at owb. Cant really decide. I do have large basement windows that pop out easily and would make an easy wood chute. Cant decide. Good part is i dont have the money to do any right now so the research continues

 

[NSMaple1]

You would burn quite a bit more wood with an OWB, and spend quite a bit more money putting it in too.

 

[Tjcole50]

Once added up an owb really isnt much more. Atleast thr ridgwood im looking at getting. A 1500$ add on furnace plus class A supplies seem expensive. It is cheaper but not by much unless im looking in the wrong places for class a through wall and up 16 ft

 

[NSMaple1]

Good underground piping is over $10/ft., and I don't know anything about ridgewood but can't see a $1500 OWB being too ruggedly built or well designed. Just make sure you factor all the factors in, including 2x wood consumption.

 

[flotek]

Owb are double the cost and use double the wood . But hey they keep the mess outdoors ( keep a lot of heat out there too!) let's face it even the dog doesn't want to go out and dredge through a foot of snow in a frigid January blizzard . With an owb you will play Boy Scout and load up the beast in arctic weather . I know of some guys who burn one full a cord a week to heat their house With an owb . That's a lot of work youd have to love to cut wood and have plenty of time and resources to do it too

 

[NSMaple1]

I'm only going by what I saw on their website last night - but that boiler design (no heat exchanger section) together with using 3 wrap pipe underground will cost you a lot of wood. Some are OK with putting up & burning extra wood to make up for extra heat loss - so it's still your call, of course.

 

[alleyyooper]

My add on is in the center of my base ment I rarely run the fan to get the upstairs comfotable. Have to have a wind chill in the area of 40 below and I sure would not be wanting to go out side to load a OSB up. Most guys I now in the UP where it will easy get to 30 below have a shed for their OSB and wood. If you have a chimeny thru the center of the basement why do you need to do any thing else.
My furnace room May get 5F hotter than the room above it does but I don't think so.

Al

 

[Tjcole50]

Center of exterior wall. You have to go outside to get firewood anyway? Atleast i do for my stove. Move to the basement and thats an extra step? I would use logstor or thermopex not the 3 wrap stuff

 

[alleyyooper]

I can stock my furnace room with a week and a half's worth of wood for those nasty days, so it will last a long time really.

Al

 

[NSMaple1]

I keep my whole winters wood in my basement.

It might be an extra step getting it there - but having nice dry warm wood all winter is a bonus, and being able to tend it in my underwear & slippers if I wanted is an extra bonus. Well worth it. Plus with the appliance in the basement, all stand-by heat loss goes to the house = less wood used/needed. One extra step but half the wood needed more or less.

Would depend on your basement setup though - I bring mine in thru a walk out entry with a pallet jack, but a wood chute thru a window works good too. I have done that in the past, when I got low on wood before the winter ended - didn't bother stacking it all, left most of it heaped with stacks around the edges to make the space around it I needed.

 

[alleyyooper]

My basement is all finished except the furnace room. Nice carpeted floor, I cover with some old carpet, I carry mine in by the arm load or a carrier thru a walk out basement door.

Al

 

[aokpops]

Bring it by the wagon load