Article on High Efficiency Kuuma Wood Furnace

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..can't fight the online dragon and expect to win....do all furnace companies have flawless installation by their customers?
Do their customers read and follow manuals provided ? Is it most often the furnace companies fault for improper installations and operations?

You know Brandon I could burn my furnace much cleaner but I don't. It most certainly does not help to have 1 foot of single wall exposed out of my chimney chase.I do have to brush the flue once or twice a season...maybe if I invested in better insulated pipe I wouldn't have too...however 99% of my heat comes from wood and if it means a brushing every now and then to put the thousands of dollars into my pocket then so be it.

Sorry to have stepped on your foot about posting before you got back to post....Merry Christmas..I hope God blesses your family Brandon.
 
Keith,

I have never blamed you or Alpha American for any creosote in my chimney. Cleaning the chimney 2-3 time per year doesn't bother me at all. The reason this all got started was because you said your furnaces didn't make creosote and I said mine did. Somewhere after that it spiraled out of control.

Aside from anything furnace or chimney related, may God bless you this Christmas season as well.

Brandon
 
You know Brandon...we get returned flue parts from time to time...maybe we can put together a system for you at a much reduced rate...and truly I've never meant to bad mouth you or Curt for that matter...I always liked you guys and thought you were fair minded...sometimes forums are my worst enemy..I can get worked up...face to face we'd have done better.

You are and always will be welcomed here at the shop.
 
the challange the truth

I know its been months, how about Garret and Keith put there names on the line and tell us why theres is better. BBBut only on the facts we care about. #1 how much maintaniance needed per season? #2 how much do you have to fool with it per load? (aka ease of use) #3 how long is the burn time? ( say a 50,000 btu heat lose on a 5 deg day) #4 And lastly temp swing in the house with the conditions stated in previous.

lets here the answers and judge for our selves.

P.S we know the companies have been around close to the same and warrantees are close enough.
 
I know its been months, how about Garret and Keith put there names on the line and tell us why theres is better. BBBut only on the facts we care about. #1 how much maintaniance needed per season? #2 how much do you have to fool with it per load? (aka ease of use) #3 how long is the burn time? ( say a 50,000 btu heat lose on a 5 deg day) #4 And lastly temp swing in the house with the conditions stated in previous.

lets here the answers and judge for our selves.

P.S we know the companies have been around close to the same and warrantees are close enough.

#1 How often do I clean the furnace?
Once a year I use a rake that comes with the furnace to scrape out the heat exchanger. I proceed to vacuum through the clean out cover. Finally, I take the pipes off the back and blow them out outside. I've run this furnace for 28 years and never clean out the chimney as a matter of fact I don't even own a chimney brush
(NO SMOKE=NO CREOSOTE).

#2 Wood burning doesn't get any easier-
It has a two speed blower that is controlled by a remote thermostat. The blower system is activated by the low limit button thermostat that adjusts 90-130 degrees F. for the on temperature. Once it activates, your remote thermostat will determine if it needs high speed (calling for more heat) or low speed (room temp is satisfied.) The high speed is approximately 1500 cfm and the low speed is approximately 500 cfm, depending on the system back pressure. Therefore, the computer setting and the 2 speed blower help you to maintain your desired level of heat.
Does the automatic damper operate by a remote thermostat?
No, the adjustment is right on the computer itself. You just turn the knob to adjust (mild weather=lower and cold weather=higher). It makes it simple to operate.

#3 Burn Time-
It gives you a clean, safe, and automatic front to back burn that delivers very even heat for 10-12 hours per load followed by many hours of coals.

#4 Temp Swings-
Now, heating a home with our VaporFire furnaces is really special because they deliver very even continuous heat hour after hour. They don't smolder the wood and then blast the wood (the two extremes) like other wood furnaces. Instead, its unique automatic draft system avoids these extremes with a continuous front to back burn pattern that allows the user to adjust the burn rate, which in turn varies the BTU output. In mild weather you use a low setting for 15-25,000 BTU's/hr., in moderate weather a medium setting for 25-45,000 BTU's/hr., and in cold weather a high setting for 45-60,000 BTU's / hr. It adjusts simply by turning the knob on the computer from low to high and anywhere in between. Most people never go above the medium setting all winter long.

Proven Test Results (Facts)-
.45 Gr/Hr. Emmission
99.4% Combustion Efficiency
99% Smokeless Burns
>80% Overall Efficiency


May 4th, 2011

Hi - We have burned wood for over 30 years and have gone from the first primitive "barrel" type wood stove to our very new and wonderful Kuuma Vapor Fire.

For the first time ever, we can load our furnace, set the control for the weather conditions, and walk away. We never have to "play" with our fire to get it going. This furnace is so efficient and easy to use, it has brought wood-burning into the 21st century.

Once you have your fire going, you won't see a whisper of smoke coming from your chimney. The computer controlled burn has heated our home with a large reduction in the amount of wood we previously used.

The fear of having a chimney fire or leaving our previous wood-burning furnaces unattended while we went to work is gone. For the first time in over 30 years, we can confidently and with great peace of mind, not worry about creosote accumulating in our chimney. In fact, our chimney is cleaner than ever since burning wood with the VaporFire furnace.

This furnace is worth it's weight in gold just for this peace of mind. This first winter with our new Kuuma has been the best winter we've ever had with a wood-burning furnace.

Thank you for giving us an environmentally efficient and extremely safe wood-burning product.

Sincerely,

B. Mathews
 
Garrets answer seemed to come straight from his website. (although informative) Lets see what Kieth from yukon has to say. ( I'm guessing something aggressive) but appreciated...
We all can learn somthing from this! No winners just good old fashion facts.
 
I do not see how you could have an efficient single burn that lasts 12 hours.

Now if it was pellets or wood chips, yes as they are fed in, but cord wood altogether?
 
Garrets answer seemed to come straight from his website. (although informative) Lets see what Kieth from yukon has to say. ( I'm guessing something aggressive) but appreciated...
We all can learn somthing from this! No winners just good old fashion facts.

I didn't see any need to recreate the wheel. If you need more information just let me know...

Thanks,
 
I have had many burns last more than 12 hours with my Kuuma 100!!!
I am sure wood can burn for days on end.

But this is a gassifying furnace and I do not see how that can happen.
 
I've seen 12 hour burns from our furnace, it's possible. Secondary combustion and controlled intake air make it possible. I've seen 10 hours in the low teens, with a 70* house in the morning. That's with a 3.5 cu ft fire box, something that I never could do with our old furnace. With our furnace, there's little fire on the fuel load itself, but the baffle will be lit up with flames. A regular furnace the heat would come from the load itself, and if anything wasn't burned above it would leave the firebox as wasted fuel and creosote. I was amazed when we upgraded on the differences from a standard woodfurnace to our current furnace.
 
It can not be gassifying for 12 hours.

That's correct. You can't forget about the coal bed, where there's alot of heat still being produced. We get much more heat from our coal bed now than the old furnace. The only thing I contribute that to is the secondary heat exchanger picking up alot of heat that would otherwise leave the unit. Our new furnace holds coals, where the old one wouldn't. Two completely different designs.
 
Coals, like coal, produce useable heat from a grate & air through the grate & coals/coal.
 

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