wood furnace add on....which one?

[treesrgreat]

I recently found this site due to the thinking of putting in a add-on wood furnace. I don't need the best one made nor do I want the least expensive ones that will not last or be user friendly. (Don't we all) Looking for anyone who has installed a add-on wood furnace and is happy with it. Our home is 30x30 with a full basement 1.5 story. It is currently heated with a 75,000 btu LP forced air furnace. The brick chimney is located in the center of the house and is over 30' in length and has a tile liner in it. I would like to connect the wood furnace to the duct work to circulate the heat.
I haven't researched furnaces to much. Daka & Vogelzang are available close to me thru a major store but don't know much about. Also read here that the "woodchuck." Any help would be great!
Thank you!

 

[wdchuck]

The Daka in our basement has been doing well for 4winters now, in your size of home, it may be overkill, but you can't beat the price($500), or simplicity of it. If the power goes out, and you are home, just pop off the sheetmetal side/top, and it will heat the house just fine if you leave the basement door open, and not damage any of the components.

We haven't had any other wood-furnaces so experience is limited to this model.

I'd recommend the stainless lined smoke pipe between the woodfurnace and the chimney, for the reduced external surface temps, and proximity to other combustible surfaces. It's more expensive, but after having the cheap stuff, it's the better way to go in my opinion.

 

[stihl 180c]

I don't know much about these, but my father has one so I can tell you from that experience in his house and that's about it.

He has a Brunco, not sure which model, but it can use coal as well as wood. The home is 4,000 sq ft ranch / split level home and well insulated, but it does an outstanding job of heating the entire house. He has only burned wood in the unit and not coal. It is a unit as you described connected to the existing furnace and duct work. His existing primary heat source if oil that you can switch between

 

[laynes69]

Since you have a centrally located chimney, I would look into a epa woodstove. Most definetly will an indoor wood furnace be overkill. Ours is overkill at times and our home is 2400 square feet wiith 10ft ceilings both up and down. I do know that psg manufacturing has introduced a mini caddy furnace. Its an add-on with the trunk and some ducting that comes with it. Its a very nice looking furnace, and it produces around 75000 btus. I would also recommend a stainless steel liner for the chimney. An epa woodfurnace or stove can produce inside temps over 2000 degrees so that all combustion products are cleaned. You also get a nice viewing window for the mini caddy.
Here is a link.

http://www.psg-distribution.com/product.aspx?CategoId=16&Id=374

If you could do it, I would go for a stove. Take advantage of todays technology. You will use less wood and stay very warm. More details of your home would be helpful.

 

[havenodog]

Englander 28-3500

I have this model and have been using it for about 4 years. It has a 850cfm blower that comes with it and just plugs right into your existing ductwork. I have hot water baseboard and had to run my own ducts but in a rancher with an unfinished basement it was a piece of cake. I'm sure it would work fine for your application and would give you plenty of air volume. In a pinch it will burn coal but you would need a grate. I've never had any problems with it and it is very low maintenance. If you have a home-depot in your area that carries them at the right time of year you can get them for half price.
I love my unit and it keeps my house at 70 to 72 degrees even on the coldest days. My house is approx. 1300 to 1500 sq. feet and it even heats my basement. It's a great deal if your looking for a good quality wood furnace at a good price.
Good success.

 

[aandabooks]

This post is also in another thread started by Treesrgreat. Just let that thread die. I believe it is "trying to contact member aandabooks".

Treesrgreat,

I've got mine connected to the plenum of the furnace with 2 8" pipes and they both have a damper at the bottom near the Daka. This is so that the air conditioning doesn't back up into the woodburner in the summer. The exhaust is on a 6" single wall pipe. Bought at Menards, cheapest price for pipe that I have found. Cleaned every year and this is its third year. I don't have a damper in the exhaust and the single wall radiates heat nicely. I wouldn't recommend the single wall if there is anything flammable that it runs through or near though. Mine is in a seperate furnace room that is not finished and has concrete floor and walls.

The chimney is 33 ft. clay liner in a cinder block chimney. No need for a liner. I usually clean out the chimney once during the burning season and again in the spring. Between 4-5 gallons of creosote per year. That will depend on heat of fire and kind of wood you burn. You will probably need to redirect the exhaust on furnace. Don't want the possiblility of having the carbon monoxide backing up into the woodburner. Does that run up the chimney or just into the chimney? If up the chimney in a pipe, that would also create a cleaning issue.

Used to have a secondary fan control on the plenum of the furnace to kick on blower when the plenum reached certain temp. Disconnected that this year and it seems to keep the house more even with just turning it on at the thermostat in livingroom when more heat is needed. Found I was pushing too much cool air up into the house when the fire was starting to die down. Most the Daka blower will keep and steady stream of heat moving up into the house.

If a power outage were to occur, the Daka is made so that you can take the sheet metal off in a couple of minutes and have a radiant heat unit. I haven't had this happen but the family could be in the basement during a power outage and have heat.

Now a couple of words on the quality of the Daka:

Pretty good unit especially considering the price. Heats my 2000 sq.ft with very little kick in by the natural gas furnace. All together I have about $800 in mine and it paid itself off in about 4-6 months. I used to have $300-$400 power bills (gas & electric), the bill was $112 last month. I still gas running the dryer, stove and hot water.

There is definately a learning curve to any stove operation. I can get 12-14 hour burn times with the damper closed and good wood in. The damper all the way open will give me 3-4 hour burn times. I work overnight and feed it around 9 before going to work and get home at 7 and there will still be coals if the damper is 1/2 open. If the temp is above 40 degrees during the day, I have to run it with the damper close or the house will be close to 80.

I hope this helps and if you have any further questions just post them here. That way other people with more suggestion and tips can help you out too. There is a ton of knowledge on this site.

Matt

 

[David Wayne]

Brunco

I have been heating big old farm house with model 120 (rated 120000 btu) since early 80's. original hookup was hot air to furnace hot & return to return.Doesn't work well that way, Currently running as a stand alone unit, took the plenum off propane furnace & put on wood furnace. Its been my only source of heat for 2 years now.
There's a lot of good information hear for hooking in series with furnace probably will change next spring. When it dies I will buy another one- model 190 next time

 

[Lovin Locust]

I am considering the Englander 28-3500 for my home. My dilemma is that I have 2 ductwork systems, with 2 smaller gas furnaces rather than 1 big 1. Both units are in my basement I want to install the add on furnace into both of my duct work systems. The Englander only has 1 warm air outlet. Could I use a tee for the warm air outlet and tie into both of my ductwork systems?? Also I was wondering about adding a barometric damper to the flue since my chimney is about 25' or so.. Ideas needed.. thanks

 

[KindredSpiritzz]

my advice is spend a bit more and get something with secondary burn and a glass door. I'd stay away from Vogelzang and Daka.

 

[blades]

Stay away from USS products as well particularly the Hotblast 1300. Box store model around $1100 when not on sale- for that price the Tundra or the Mini Caddy would be much better choices.
Note if the unit has a shaker great in the bottom - it is more of a coal unit than a wood unit, the two are completely different in their burning characteristics. Using a unit designed for coal and substituting wood as the fuel generally results in high fuel usage and short burn cycles.

 

[flotek]

Take it from someone who owned a 28-3500 Englander for years .. It was a decent heater for the money but old design that's inefficient by today's standards . Wood heat has come along way in the last ten years for a few hundred more you'd be much better off buying a high tech EPA unit .I would buy a drolet tundra or possibly a mini caddy ..much less wood and longer burn times. If it doesn't have secondary reburn technology don't buy it