Fire Chief FC1000

[Junkfxr]

Does anyone here have any experience with the Fire Chief FC1000 furnace? I was thinking about getting one to replace our old US Stove 1500 but after looking around on another forum, it seems to have a lot of problems. Wanted to see if anyone else here has had the same experiences. TIA.

 

[aokpops]

I think its the same as a Shelter . Seen a lot of bad reviews for them . What I notice I think is right the blower just blows on the secoundary tube only seen one tube .Not sure how it makes heat ? I bought a Drolet tundra in 2015 just about brunt half the wood I use to . It will flame when the damper is closed . Just burning smoke . There are some furnaces I would like to try the Caddy or Kumma Blaze King . The smoke dragons an pipe plugging over wood eaters . I will be done at my age . When there's stuff out there a lot better . I not sure fire chief will get what you want .

 

[brenndatomu]

I'd by a cracked Tundra 1 over a FC1000...seriously...buy something used unless you can swing a Kuuma. SBI (Drolet) is supposed to be releasing their new 2020 line of furnaces in the next month or two also...

 

[aokpops]

I'd by a cracked Tundra 1 over a FC1000...seriously...buy something used unless you can swing a Kuuma. SBI (Drolet) is supposed to be releasing their new 2020 line of furnaces in the next month or two also...

Would like to see what SBI is coming out with . There is about no one selling tundra right now . A Kuuma I would buy if I could justify it . The glass door on the tundra would be hard to give up .

 

[aokpops]

Was looking on the SBI site the new furnace was called a commander. Not available to the end of September. About order one by accident. That was scary a 3000 dollar mistake almost made .

 

[Gobtool02]

Anytime a stove, furnace, fireplace, or any Wood-Fired appliance shows smoke coming out of around the door or an intake or back puffs as it's been called, it's always a draft problem on the flu, period. If a stove operates for an hour or two hours or a day or day and a half and then has a back puffing problem it's always a change in the wind or with the pressure in the room it's operated in caused by a dryer or range hood, open window on the wrong side etc. If you have a poor or negative draft to start with that requires a warm stove or chimney to draw at the beginning it can stop drawing when the fire gets low or cooler. Unless the stove is warm enough or you force the air into it NO stove can make a chimney draw in a negative pressure situation. it wouldn't wait a day or two or a week to decide to puff back unless something had changed outside of the stove. I had a problem with my old stove smoking back into the basement when the fire went down to smoldering and the wind got high. I don't have that problem with my new SF 1000e.

 

[Gobtool02]

I should have said as long as my draft induction fan is on, thermostat calling for heat. Thinking of adding an AD-1 draft inducer next fall.

 

[brenndatomu]

I don't have that problem with my new SF 1000e.

I should have said as long as my draft induction fan is on, thermostat calling for heat. Thinking of adding an AD-1 draft inducer next fall.

If you have a proper chimney, and had a half decent furnace, you wouldn't need an AD-1.
I know of exactly 1 person that is 100% happy with his SF1000E...I guess that falls under even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. That, and we'll see how it shakes out for him after running it 3-5 years...only one season in so far...

 

[Gobtool02]

There is a whole lot of people with chimneys that are supposed to draw, right heighth, size, Inside the house etc, that just don't work due to either location in a valley or trees, other buildings close by, etc. A lot have solved their problem with a vacu stack chimney Cap or Tjernlund draft inducer. You can have a flu that works one day but the next when the winds blowing 40 to 50 miles an hour it just don't work. The sy-c 1000e furnaces need some help with a start and reload system but they're not going to solve a draft problem.

 

[cumminstinkerer]

Listen to the reviews on here, the one good I believe got flamed on the site, that unit to me is flawed, no different than a lemon car except it's all of them, I would not want that in my house for sure, I run an Econburn 100 boiler that is in my garage, it has some smoke spill issues at times but some of that is due to my chimney, I wouldn't want it in my house even with a better chimney. I grew up with freestanding stoves, then a Johnson energy wood furnace, first rented house had an old stove in it, all heated ok but made a mess, I built a furnace and a boiler, both worked well but none of the above ever had the issues that members on the other site talk about. I personally would not want something that somewhat randomly "backpuffs" as its being called, more like blows up like a pro stock diesel tractor does out the exhaust, anywhere in a house my family or I was living in.

 

[Gobtool02]

Was there more than one instance of this so-called explosion? How many have they sold and how many people were unhappy?

 

[Gobtool02]

Listen to the reviews on here, the one good I believe got flamed on the site, that unit to me is flawed, no different than a lemon car except it's all of them, I would not want that in my house for sure, I run an Econburn 100 boiler that is in my garage, it has some smoke spill issues at times but some of that is due to my chimney, I wouldn't want it in my house even with a better chimney. I grew up with freestanding stoves, then a Johnson energy wood furnace, first rented house had an old stove in it, all heated ok but made a mess, I built a furnace and a boiler, both worked well but none of the above ever had the issues that members on the other site talk about. I personally would not want something that somewhat randomly "backpuffs" as its being called, more like blows up like a pro stock diesel tractor does out the exhaust, anywhere in a house my family or I was living in.

 

[Gobtool02]

How is your boiler smoking different from the 1000 e smoking what's the difference? Both are a draft problem.

 

[Gobtool02]

I don't see how they get these stoves to burn at the low burn rate they have to, to pass the test with a fire box full of cordwood without smoking and being inefficient. Even the best most expensive one is only about 35% efficient at the low rate. In the older test (2017) the 1000 was 63 percent efficient at the low rate. It's much easier with a pellet stove.

 

[cumminstinkerer]

@Gobtool02 as I stated in my post the smoke back is my issue caused by my chimney, I am not faulting the boiler there, its the other crap that goes along, sparks flying out at loading, dust from loading and cleaning, I would not ever have another in my house personally, you seem to be very pro Shelter/Fire Chief on both sites and after reading battles of some others that are members on both sites I am skeptical, I am not going to argue, I have said my piece and I am out!

 

[Gobtool02]

If you have a proper chimney, and had a half decent furnace, you wouldn't need an AD-1.
I know of exactly 1 person that is 100% happy with his SF1000E...I guess that falls under even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. That, and we'll see how it shakes out for him after running it 3-5 years...only one season in so far...

If you have a proper chimney, and had a half decent furnace, you wouldn't need an AD-1.
I know of exactly 1 person that is 100% happy with his SF1000E...I guess that falls under even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. That, and we'll see how it shakes out for him after running it 3-5 years...only one season in so far...

I thought I had a "proper" chimney, but it doesn't work. I'm not going to spend thousands of dollars making it taller hoping it will improve it. What do you think people did in the city when they had a 5-story building surrounded by 10 or 15 story buildings, do you think they added 50 or 100 foot to their chimney to get their oil, gas, or coal burning boiler to draw properly? No, they use a draft inducer with barometric dampers to insure the proper draft.