new wood furnace

[outdoorsman0490]

I have decided to replace my hotblast 1300 with a larger unit for our new home; we went from 1150 square feet to 2450. My hotblast worked great at the old house, and works pretty good in the new house down to about 30F so far. Unlike most of what I have read about them, by running the hotblast the old fashion way (without utilizing that auto damper in the door), keeping the ash door damper closed, and foil taping off the underside of the main door damper, and using a piece of angle iron as the damper for the top side of the main door damper; I have been able to get 8+ hour burn times of steady heat, and only a handful or two of dry creosote flakes at the end of the year. I only had smoke at time of re-fueling, and averaged about 1 cord of oak a month over the cold winter months.

The two models I am between choosing is the us stove model 30 and the shelter model SF2631. I am looking for some feedback on these two models in particular because searching in the archives and google search has not yielded much. Both are about priced the same, firebox size is a little larger on shelter. Both have draft fan, which I have never used and don't know if is necessary. The shelter has 3 speed blower, all of which are more cfm than us stove 30. Shelter weighs 130lbs more than us stove 30, so I wonder if the shelter is a more heavy duty unit.

Thanks for your feedback.

 

[brenndatomu]

Go with the Shelter, that is a well built (in the USA) unit, (made by, and ~ same as, FireChief BTW) the few Shelter owners that I know like theirs. I have looked at the floor model at the local Menards, looks good!
Oh, and "US" Stove chicom junk

 

[Iaff113]

I'm trying to figure out how you used the damper on the hot blast. Can you explain that again. Where is the angle iron at?


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[ashy larry]

Im gonna ground the little nubs on the inside of the ash door damper knob flush so i can screw it in a couple more times. I have no issues at all with 8 hr burns as it is. I work 12 hr shifts though.

 

[Iaff113]

Im gonna ground the little nubs on the inside of the ash door damper knob flush so i can screw it in a couple more times. I have no issues at all with 8 hr burns as it is. I work 12 hr shifts though.

So you use the main door damper? I've read many posts of people handing problems with that. That's the only reason I ask


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[ashy larry]

I never use the main door damper. Only the ash door. If its not too cold i dont open it any. If its cold ill screw it out .5-1 turn as long as i have a good bed of coals.

 

[ashy larry]

Matter of fact, last night is a case in point.

I was hunting, so at 6pm when fiance got home it was 60 in the house and 55/windy outside. She considers that frigid so she lit the fire i had previously built.

I got home around 8, it was 71 inside and i drafted it all the way down, including the draft on the stove pipe.

Watched the football game and still havent added wood. Layed down about 1030 so i decided to add some wood. At this pt it was 78 inside and i was hoping it would hurry up amd get cold outside. I open the door and there is still a big coal base from the couple pieces of oak that were part of the initial fire at 6pm. I added a big split of bradford pear my landscaper neighbor dropped off, a split of white oak, and a small round of dogwood. This was about 1/3 to 1/2 capacity of the stove.

This morning at 8am i checked it not expecting anything. Enough coals still to just throw another piece of wood in and let it catch. Surprised me. 74 inside and 48 out. 9.5 hr burn

 

[Iaff113]

Ok thanks. That's the way I plan on controlling it


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[blades]

Total block off of feed door intake, grind nubs off spindraft on ash door use that to regulate combustion air. Draft blowers on any of these are for use with coal not wood. Typical set up would be thermostat in living quarters so when it calls for heat blower comes on fanning the coal, after that the plenum temp switch to turn on heat distribution fan.
About the only time, with wood fuel, a draft blower might be useful, is to burn down an excessive coal bed.

 

[Whitespider]

I'd definitely go with the Shelter unit. I've looked at them a couple of times at Menards... very well built. Heck, just the larger, three-speed, bearing sleeve motor and filter box make it a way better deal than the US model. I use the draft induction blower with wood on my DAKA furnace... it works real well to keep the house temperature steady as demand changes (never burned coal in it). The truth is the draft blower is the only combustion air intake on mine, but it only runs when the thermostat calls for more heat... when the thermostat ain't calling for heat air just flows naturally through the bower wheel like any other combustion air intake. Basically it's a automatic draft control adjusted by heat demand rather than firebox temperature. I was skeptical about the draft blower at first, but once I made it through the learning curve on loading the box and such... no friggin' way I'd go back to manual draft adjustment. And like I said... I burn wood only, no coal.

I put the thermostat circuit on a firebox temp sensor snap switch so when/if the fire goes out it can't turn the blower on and then wired my draft blower on a bypass timer... which makes startin' the fire slick-as-hell. I throw full-size splits in the box of whatever quantity I believe is needed, poke some dryer lint between a couple, give it a squirt, flick the Bic, and slam the loading door. Then I turn the timer to about 30 minutes and walk away... the blower gets the fire crankin' nicely and when the timer runs out the thermostat takes over as needed. With my draft blower and thermostat setup the furnace runs itself... every 8-15 hours (depending on demand) we just open the door, throw wood in, and slam the door... done‼
*

 

[alleyyooper]

When I was shopping (2013) for a new furnace I looked at the shelter and like it real well. Seemed well built and had a shaker grate to make removing ashes easy. I just had a problem with paying shipping to the nearest menards store then I would have to get it home on my own crook.
I ended up getting a England 28 3500 from Home Depot.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Englander-3-000-sq-ft-Wood-Burning-Add-On-Furnace-28-3500/100185844
Was shipped to my home and I got a 10% veterans discount to boot.
I am on my 3d season with it now and very happy with it.
Lowes sells the same furnace called summer heat. Same 10% veterans discount but had the same ship to store policy as Menards.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Englander-3-000-sq-ft-Wood-Burning-Add-On-Furnace-28-3500/100185844

I would still recommend the shelter for some one who didn't care for the England 28 3500.

Al

 

[outdoorsman0490]

sounds good, I was leaning towards the shelter. with the extra weight, I have to figure it is put together to last longer.

I looks to me like that Englander is about the same size as the furnace I use now, and only 1 8" outlet; that cant really heat as much as they say, at least not in the middle of winter...how many square feet is your area?

I never use the damper on the ash door, I have found that when there are no ashes on the grate, the fire blazes, but as the fire burns down and the ashes sit on the grate, it greatly reduces the air flow to the fire. I use the fire door damper in my fashion because no matter what the fire is doing, the same amount of air I want in there is getting in there.

LAFF- my furnace is the red one, not the green one ( not sure if they are same model) I foil tape the underside of the fire door damper, the whole double row of squares. That internal damper that is supposed to adjust based on the fire, I have unhooked, that area for the air to go through is open all the time. The top of the fire door has the double row of open squares for the air to in through that internal damper area I have wide open. I use a piece of angle iron long enough to cover all the holes, because that was what I had laying around. When I start a fire, all the squares are open. When I have the fire going and I want to heat the house up, I leave like 3 pairs of squares open and cover the rest. when I want the house to stay about where it is, I leave 1/2 a pair or 1 pair of squares open. Before bed or going to work, when I load the firebox full, I pretty much cover all the squares; there is enough air getting in through the furnace naturally that it is not choked out. This also makes it easy when the wife is home for the day when I leave 3 pieces of wood next to the door and tell her to put it in a 1:00 and leave 2 squares open.

 

[blades]

Thats a fancier version than the hotblast I have which was bottom of line

 

[Iaff113]

Thanks for the reply I have the green 1557 so I'm not sure if mine is the same as your red one? I am going to try to control the draft from the ash pan. Whenever I get burning this year and see how that goes.


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[ashy larry]

I have the 1557 as well.

 

[alleyyooper]

I heat just over 2100 sq ft. I would not sell the England short, read the reviews. I rarely even turn on the fan to blow the air thru my ducts. My furnace sets almost dead center in the basement and the radiant heat rises they the floor to provide enough heat for us up stairs.

Al