Wood furnace help!

[Gatsby174]

I'm looking for some help picking out a wood furnace. I would like a long burn time and for the unit to be as easy to use as possible. It seems that lots of people here like the yukon jacks and the caddy's. From what I can find online, the caddy is a little more money, and doesn't have the fan that automatically fuels the fire like the yukon does. I also noticed that the caddy needs the draft set to pull more than the yukon (the yukon gets set at .03 and the caddy at .04-.06) and people seem to have a little more trouble dialing them in. This leads me leaning towards a Yukon. Any insight? Any other comparably priced units that will work really well and be easy to operate?

 

[laynes69]

They are 2 completely different units. The Caddy uses natural draft instead of forced draft like the Yukon. There is a wall thermostat that energizes a servo motor that opens the draft when there is a call for heat. Draft wise once again they are both different in the way they operate. There are many places where air enters the firebox on the Caddy. You need a good draft for the unit to operate properly. Even though draft requirements are higher, it does not mean that the unit will burn up the wood faster. Whats important is knowing how much heat will be needed during the winter. If theres always a need for heat then your burn times will be reduced. The Caddy requires well seasoned wood. As far as dialing in draft if thats whats meant, its done with a manometer. I add wood, open the damper for 10-20 minutes then set the thermostat. Its as easy as that. Refuel as needed from there. Whats the square footage of the home and how is it built?

 

[Gatsby174]

The house is 1800 sq. ft. and there are some windows that are the originals from the 1950's. I'm guessing that insulation is sub-par too.

 

[CrappieKeith]

Faster drafts means more air to the fire which cause the wood to burn faster/hotter. Caddy's need to burn hotter with the way their gassiers are designed.

There's more to think about...heat exchanger surface area. Weight of thermal mass/fire brick.
Of course they both cycle burn rates with stats.

Knowing that they burn hotter and seeing only a 5 year warranty tells me the steel fire walls get hotter and are more apt to warp due to the higher heats.
Hence a 5 year warranty.

Now with Yukon you'll get 30 years.

I own a Jack...have for 15 years. It has never failed me and it always is running...never goes out unless I leave for more than 15-20 hrs. Yes I do throttle it down but my home stays at 65 when it's zero out.
Normally I keep my home to 74-76 and I get 10-12 hours at zero outside.
Some bigger homes say 2500 s/f and up to 4000 would need the Super Jack.

I know a few guys that have them locally and they get the same burn times as I do in those bigger houses and their homes are just as warm as mine is.


I'd point out that we are made right here where I sit...Palisade,Mn.
USA.
There will be no mark up from a retailer,no broker fee either when you buy from us like with the Caddy. Plus there's no state tax...unless you live in Mn.
I also happen to think that our free tech service is worth something not that Jacks need all that much of it. They are pretty well built straight forward designs. Gaskets for the doors ,bricks and grates are all a guy needs to replace over the decades of dependable operation.

You might be able to get away with the BJ90 doing the job...I'm thinking replacing windows would be a big help.
If you wanted to go bigger due to the fact that the heat load is going to be heavier due to the lack of insulation a Super Jack could work. One of the nice things in that SJ125 is that there is a secondary heat exchanger that you can use when you really need the heat and when it gets milder outside you can elect to open the flap and not use it. It will drop up to 40,000 btu's. This enables you to burn them a bit hotter keeping your flue cleaner.
Having too big of a furnace is a detriment.
If a stat is staying satisfied for too long of a period the fire can drop too low causing to cool of flue gasses which could creosote to an excessive level.
Hence having the ability to dump some heat is great.
Keep in mind a small hot fire is way more efficient than a large smoldering cooler fire.

 

[laynes69]

With our old wood furnace, If I would hear the forced draft running in the morning, the fire was completely out. I ended up not using the forced draft for the simple reason that it burnt up everything and anything in the firebox. Now with the new furnace, I have never woke to no coals. Even with the damper open for a few hours there still was a coal bed. On a note with firebox temperatures in any unit whether stove or furnace, if the gasses aren't hot enough in the firebox you will get incomplete combustion. That results in wasted fuel, more wood, and more maintenance in the chimney (Creosote).

 

[Gatsby174]

What are your burn times like for anyone with an indoor wood furnace?

 

[laynes69]

Burn time will vary based on home size and climate. When it's below zero we see 5-6 hours between loads. When it's in the mid 20's to 30's we can go 8-10 hours and when warmer over 12. Someone is always home so we dont load the furnace full every time. Those are on a full load, which is around 3 cu.ft of wood. Our old furnace we were lucky to see 8 and that was stuffed with almost twice the wood. Also we keep our thermostat set for 72. Sometimes it's warmer but for the most part it will stay close to that temp. Our home is 2400 sq.ft with 42 windows. It has 10' ceilings and although it's well insulated it had some air loss issues that need addressed.

 

[iowa]

Someone posted a while back about Kuuma furnaces. They look really nice.

I have an old 70s model longwood furnace. I get 12hr burn times with it. But winters here are more mild. Usually in 20-30s. My house is 3000 sq ft. We do see single digits and during those days when I cone home at night house is around 68-70. I keep thermostat set at 75 though. But alwAys plenty of hot coals left. Sometimes in wArmer weather coals still in there after 24 hrs!

 

[lampmfg]

Kuuma Furnaces

When considering which furnace to buy and if you're looking at any other furnaces than the Kuuma Vapor Fire, it's like comparing apples and oranges. All other indoor wood furnaces produce smoke and have much lower overall and combustion efficiencies, and all others pollute the environment with smoke. The VaporFire's tremendously high efficiencies and lowest emissions of all indoor wood furnaces, including pellet catalytic stoves, mean more heat per piece of wood and a clean chimney. No other furnace guarantees 99% smokeless burns and has less than 1 gr. of emissions. This really makes woodburning safe and gives you piece of mind.

I may be bias but the our test results from Intertek speak for themselves.

 

[iowa]

When considering which furnace to buy and if you're looking at any other furnaces than the Kuuma Vapor Fire, it's like comparing apples and oranges. All other indoor wood furnaces produce smoke and have much lower overall and combustion efficiencies, and all others pollute the environment with smoke. The VaporFire's tremendously high efficiencies and lowest emissions of all indoor wood furnaces, including pellet catalytic stoves, mean more heat per piece of wood and a clean chimney. No other furnace guarantees 99% smokeless burns and has less than 1 gr. of emissions. This really makes woodburning safe and gives you piece of mind.

I may be bias but the our test results from Intertek speak for themselves.

How much for one delivered to Springfield mo to heat a 3000 sq ft house?

 

[lampmfg]

Please send us an e-mail at [email protected] with a zip code and we can get you an exact quote.

Thank you,

 

[laynes69]

The kumma line of furnaces may be the cleanest burning furnaces, but there are others that are very efficient. The market for cleaner burning furnaces is growing.

 

[ericjeeper]

The house is 1800 sq. ft. and there are some windows that are the originals from the 1950's. I'm guessing that insulation is sub-par too.

Another typical American looking for a cheaper way to heat the outdoors. Tighten up the envelope of your home first..

 

[woodwizard]

Someone posted a while back about Kuuma furnaces. They look really nice.

I have an old 70s model longwood furnace. I get 12hr burn times with it. But winters here are more mild. Usually in 20-30s. My house is 3000 sq ft. We do see single digits and during those days when I cone home at night house is around 68-70. I keep thermostat set at 75 though. But alwAys plenty of hot coals left. Sometimes in wArmer weather coals still in there after 24 hrs!

I too own Longwood trying to convert its forced air chamber to heat water in tubes or tank any ideas have 1800 ft of pex in concret slab that used hot water heater last winter Want to heat in longwood then go threw 80 gallon hwh then in floor. thanks