Wood burning furnace installation.

[kallaste]

I purchased a wood burning furnace with 2 blowers on it. The owners manual says not to hook the furnace outlets to the return air duct of my main propane furnace, but to hook them to the main trunk of the propane furnace. Wouldn't the blowers from each furnace fight each other and be inefficient. wouldn't it be better in the return air duct so the propane furnace draws and the wood furnace pushes. Is it not legal to do it this way or am I missing something.
Also I live in a ranch home,the wood furnace is going in the garage and the vents are being installed thrue the band board across the finished basement 16' to the furnace. The question is. Do you think the heat duct will get hot enough to pose a fire hazard to the basement rafters,or band board or do you think that by the time the wood heated are reaches the propane furnace that it will be cold and therefore not heat the home? This stuff is so frustrating and confusing, could someone help or give any advise so I don't have to learn the hard way. Thanks Steve

 

[computeruser]

This is the probably not the best place to get an answer on a question like yours. You should submit the question to the woodheat yahoo group, those guys will be able to answer your question or at least point you in the right direction.

groups.yahoo.com/group/woodheat

 

[whatsnext]

I purchased a wood burning furnace with 2 blowers on it. The owners manual says not to hook the furnace outlets to the return air duct of my main propane furnace, but to hook them to the main trunk of the propane furnace. Wouldn't the blowers from each furnace fight each other and be inefficient. wouldn't it be better in the return air duct so the propane furnace draws and the wood furnace pushes. Is it not legal to do it this way or am I missing something.
Also I live in a ranch home,the wood furnace is going in the garage and the vents are being installed thrue the band board across the finished basement 16' to the furnace. The question is. Do you think the heat duct will get hot enough to pose a fire hazard to the basement rafters,or band board or do you think that by the time the wood heated are reaches the propane furnace that it will be cold and therefore not heat the home? This stuff is so frustrating and confusing, could someone help or give any advise so I don't have to learn the hard way. Thanks Steve

My advice would be to hire someone who knows what they are doing. I would assume the manufacturer of your stove knows more than you so I would not disregard their written installation advice. If you really want to DIY I'd spend some time boning up on your HVAC kind of stuff.
John....

 

[retoocs555]

I purchased a wood burning furnace with 2 blowers on it. The owners manual says not to hook the furnace outlets to the return air duct of my main propane furnace, but to hook them to the main trunk of the propane furnace. Wouldn't the blowers from each furnace fight each other and be inefficient. wouldn't it be better in the return air duct so the propane furnace draws and the wood furnace pushes. Is it not legal to do it this way or am I missing something.
Also I live in a ranch home,the wood furnace is going in the garage and the vents are being installed thrue the band board across the finished basement 16' to the furnace. The question is. Do you think the heat duct will get hot enough to pose a fire hazard to the basement rafters,or band board or do you think that by the time the wood heated are reaches the propane furnace that it will be cold and therefore not heat the home? This stuff is so frustrating and confusing, could someone help or give any advise so I don't have to learn the hard way. Thanks Steve

I've done a lot of HVAC work, intalling furnaces, air handlers and so forth. My advice is this, especially with furnaces. Get a pro to do it the first time, one who is willing and happy to let you 'help' him and learn how to do it yourself. A lot of guys get PO'ed if you're constantly looking over their shoulder asking questions and it can cost you a lot of $$$$ and frustration, make sure you hire the right guy.

This is one of the few systems in the home where if you get it wrong, you and your family could die. Not to mention liablity these days. Even though I'm perfectly capable and qualified to do the gas, oil or heating work in my investment properties I ALWAYS hire a licensed pro to do it and limit my libility. Even in my own home I have somebody come to make the final connections and check my work.

 

[DeanBrown3D]

I purchased a wood burning furnace with 2 blowers on it.

Is this a typo? Do you not mean you have 2 furnaces, and each has one blower?

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

The HVAC guys that did my furnace hooked into the cold air return. I questioned this and they told me that is how it is done. That way all the warm air is filtered.
Before I got a new furnace/ac it was hooked into the warm air duct.
I would say follow mfg instructions. Mine worked fine both ways, but cleaner in the cold air.

 

[whatsnext]

The HVAC guys that did my furnace hooked into the cold air return. I questioned this and they told me that is how it is done. That way all the warm air is filtered.
Before I got a new furnace/ac it was hooked into the warm air duct.
I would say follow mfg instructions. Mine worked fine both ways, but cleaner in the cold air.

This guy says that he is mounting the stove in the garage so he is going to need another cold air return for the woodburner to prevent a downdraft in his woodburner's flue. Because of this seperate air handlers are probably in order if he wants to do it right. I wouldn't hook it into the furnace ducts at all and if he reads his furnace installation booklet it will say the same thing. The filtering of the air is not really relevent because if he needs filtering he could just put one on the woodburner. He needs to do this right the first time and it doesn't sound like he has much experiance.
John..

 

[kallaste]

Thanks to all of you!!

I got alot of good info thanks to all who posted. I just picked the furnace up this evening and from what the owners manual says, the hot air output lines have to have 6" clearance to any combustibles. This effectively shoots down the garage installation. I figured if it was in the garage It would have been cleaner and easier to maintain and to keep wood to. Now to figure out how to get it to the basement!! Thanks again Steve.

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

LOL as you can probably tell, i dont have any ex. either. Didnt catch the garage part...been a long day. Sorry

 

[whatsnext]

I got alot of good info thanks to all who posted. I just picked the furnace up this evening and from what the owners manual says, the hot air output lines have to have 6" clearance to any combustibles. This effectively shoots down the garage installation. I figured if it was in the garage It would have been cleaner and easier to maintain and to keep wood to. Now to figure out how to get it to the basement!! Thanks again Steve.

Installing the stove in your garage may, in fact, be the best idea for exactly the reasons you've stated. Six inches of clearance is nothing and wall thimbles will take care of that. You just need to make sure that all static presures are balanced and that you minimise down draft probabilities. I still suggest that you talk to a knowagable pro but I also realise that you may not be the best person to pick one so at some point you'll have to follow your gut. Once it's installed you'll have more than enough chances to learn it's quirks. Go slow until then.

 

[DeanBrown3D]

NO. Furnaces and garages don't mix. It may even be illegal in your state. I think its because garages usually contain tanks of gasoline, flammable liquids, paints, windscreen washer fluids, carb cleaner, brush cleaner, paint thinner, meths. What if your car tank sprung a leak or was leaking slowly, all that vapor building up in there?

Put it in the basement, in series with your other furnace, take out the blower of your wood furnace, and wire the fan contols to work with your other furnace's blower. Make SURE, and I mean absolutely SURE, that you get it installed by a pro, and whoever you get has already specifically done past wood furnaces in conjunction with other fuel furnaces. Your house insurance will be interested in seeing code compliance if there is ever a house fire.

Dean

 

[ghitch75]

if you hook it to you propane furnace(supply & return) you need to remove you air filter in your propane furnace and put a sheet of metal in it's place so it won't draw from it's self