Charmaster Wood Furnace

[codog]

Am considering buying one of these. Am tired of one end of my house being hot and the other not warm enough. The way my house is set up, I can't put my existing fireplace in a central location.
I have a perfect spot to put an indoor wood furnace. With ductwork and the water heater on these units, I think this would be a good way to go.
I know a lot of people are going with the outdoor units, but I don't want to go that way.
Can you guys tell me what you think?

 

[fastmopar1k]

Do yourself a favor and check out the Yukon Eagle website. Great People. Ask for Keith if you call. Super Nice Furnaces. I am going to get a Big Jack sometime this summer. 1-800-358-0060

 

[CrappieKeith]

There's many wood burners a guy could choose from,but I think if you looked and compared you'd see that line item for line item they do not stand up to what we have.
Since you can get online we could visit the top 4 furnace manufacture's sites and do this comparison.

Most do not have a secondary burn to start,none have a 30 year warranty and as far as tech.service if needed.Well , here I am.
I am proud to say that I have been with Yukon for 11 years.Used 1 of our furnaces for 10 years.
I can't think of heating my home any easier than the way I do with a load in the A.M. and a load in the P.M.
4-5 pieces 8" by 24" is a load.
start it last week of Nov. let it go out 1st week in June.
I burn 6-7 cords to keep my 1400 s/f home 75 even when it's 35 below 0.
No power ,no problem keeping my home warm and toasty with just gravity.

Charmaster which is just up the road does not have a secondary burn in any of their furnaces.
30%-40% of your btu's are made this way.
They do make a pretty solid furnace though.

 

[CrappieKeith]

Do yourself a favor and check out the Yukon Eagle website. Great People. Ask for Keith if you call. Super Nice Furnaces. I am going to get a Big Jack sometime this summer. 1-800-358-0060

Thank you

....and if you have time maybe we could wet a line...you could go home with some walleyes or crappies.

Of coarse going by your handle maybe a hop over to BIR this summer might better suite you.

 

[codog]

Yukon

Thanks for response. Couple questions:
Forgive my ignorance, but what is secondary burn?
I like the water heating setup on the Charmaster. Is that an option on the Yukon?
Thanks.

 

[CrappieKeith]

Let's step back a second then...
To make all of the btu's available you must burn wood on a set of grates.
This is where 60% of the heat is made.
The other 30%-40% available is made by burning the smoke off or reburn/secondary burn.
Smoke is a gas which could and should be burnt to be as efficient as possible.
All Yukon furnaces preheat the air that comes in over the firebox to around 1100 degrees.
Mixing this air with the smoke gives you the secondary burn.
It gets a lot more techy ,but this is a simple way to explain a secondary burn.



We do make a product to make hot water for your domestic use.
It is called a Hot Rod which mounts into your furnace.
It takes water from the well at 54 to 56 degrees and can 80 degrees to that number.
There may be some heat loss in your piping ,but for the most part it will make most all of your hot water during your heating months for 208$ investment into the probe.
Here's the manual...
http://www.yukon-eagle.com/pdfs/HotRodMan.pdf

 

[CrappieKeith]

I got to thinking

There's even more to think about.
Here are a few things that all Yukon's incorprate into the furnaces we make.


Design and Installation
Smoke is generated by incomplete combustion, which can be caused by lack of oxygen, low burning temperature, wet or green wood, and other factors. Generally, any stove design feature that's been proven to promote more complete combustion is desirable. These features include insulated baffles heated primary and secondary air, firebox insulation, and advanced designs that promote secondary combustion.

Baffles
If combustion gases go up your chimney without being fully burned, much of the energy in your firewood is wasted. Baffles increase the efficiency of your stove by increasing turbulence. They hold the gases inside the firebox longer, directing them back into the fire so they will burn more fully and make the fire burn hotter. An insulated baffle keeps the temperature of the gases high to promote this secondary burning.

Air Supply
Inside the stove, pipes or channels allow preheating of the primary and secondary air which can mix with the smoke and ignite to give secondary combustion and ensure that combustion is more complete.

Firebox
Firebox insulation (such as firebrick) stores heat and keeps the combustion temperature high and stable. Heat storage warms your home long after the fire is out. A consistently high firebox temperature promotes more complete combustion.

 

[fastmopar1k]

Would love to hook up with ya and do some fishing. I want to have you show me how to consistantly land some crappies. We race dirt track modifieds in the summer months. I will post some pictures if I can figure it out.

 

[laynes69]

A furnace doesn't have to have a secondary burn chamber to get secondary combustion. I get it in my plain jane usstove 1500 wood/coal furnace. I heat a 2400 square foot victorian with 10 ft ceilings with 6 1/2 cords of wood a year. As far as a warranty, I dunno with my unit. Well I did replace the baffle and the grates after 25 years, guess thats not that bad. I understand that the yukons are a decent unit, but its not the only unit out there. In the future I will look into the 1950 hotblast by usstove, or the caddy by psg. They have been tested and have passed for epa certification. There are lots of options, but I see that the only unit in your eyes is a yukon. Maybe thats because you're an employee for the company. Sure some units are worse than others, but they all do the same thing. These threads make for some damn good advertising.

 

[twincam]

I had a charmaster in my ols house, it worked just fine, heavy duty built,, and pre heat hot water was a plus. My buddy has a Yukon, and i allways felt the charmaster was a better built furnace. the ykon is like the clayton, firechief average run of the mill furnace. Us Stove which makes the clayton has come out with an EPA rated furnace. Thats what I would be checking out

 

[CrappieKeith]

A furnace doesn't have to have a secondary burn chamber to get secondary combustion. I get it in my plain jane usstove 1500 wood/coal furnace. I heat a 2400 square foot victorian with 10 ft ceilings with 6 1/2 cords of wood a year. As far as a warranty, I dunno with my unit. Well I did replace the baffle and the grates after 25 years, guess thats not that bad. I understand that the yukons are a decent unit, but its not the only unit out there. In the future I will look into the 1950 hotblast by usstove, or the caddy by psg. They have been tested and have passed for epa certification. There are lots of options, but I see that the only unit in your eyes is a yukon. Maybe thats because you're an employee for the company. Sure some units are worse than others, but they all do the same thing. These threads make for some damn good advertising.

I can understand your positition.
I talk to people every day about what their units used to do...good and bad.
Ergo ....I've developed an opinion which is just that an opinion.
If your old Hot Blast has a reburn great...I was talking about all of those that don't.

As an employee I have been educated to a lot of things.
EPA 40/60 AAA is talking about stoves.
Furnaces are exempted from the standard.
The funny thing is if you talk to the testers they will all agree that there is no standard by which you test a furnace that really holds water.
There are too many varibles to get a baseline that all furnaces and stoves can fall into to get the same testing.

Elevation,flue quality,wood moisture content,length of flue just to name a few varibles.There are more. So really the testing is all over the board from 1 facillity to the next.
I agree something needs to be done about inefficient stove belching tons of smoke out into the air.
The state of Washington knows full well what a smokey stove can do multiplied out in many homes. This is why they pushed for this standard by EPA.

I did make mention of several attributes a good efficient furnace should have.
If other that you are looking at has these great,then your in the right ballpark.
Oh,Yukons are built with thicker steels and we have added 304 grade stainless where corrosion was happening.
Our multi fuels are built in a modular fashion so when the do fail you can rebuild them instead of buying a whole brand new one with a 30 year prorated warranty that we do stand behind.

Say what you want ...it's your opinion.
Do you have any responsibility to the customer....I do.
Just my 2 cents

 

[laynes69]

Mine doesn't have a reburn in it. Its a basic baffle, but has an opening in the rear of the firebox that allows oxygen. When burned hot enough, it does produce a nice clean burn. All that I am saying is unfortunately not everyone can afford a Yukon. I don't doubt that they are good quality, but if someone has a budget, they stick to that. As far as the 1950 goes, that furnace isn't exempt. I believe PSG made the 1950 for Usstove. The Caddy and the 1950 produces 6.6 g/hr with an efficiency rating of 63%. Its also fully auto and comparable in price with the Yukon. There are choices out there, and there are budgets. There are base models, and models with all the bells and whistles. There are many different types of wood furnaces for one to look into. Us stove, Meyers Woodchuck, Harman, Psg, Yukon, Firecheif. Its better to help someone on these boards, then to try to sell a product. I'm not bashing Yukon, There are other options based on different budgets. I understand your responsibility to try to make a sale. There are many people out there with a 1000 dollar woodfurnace that keeps their home nice and warm, in return making them happy. You can go on the EPA website if you would like and look up the Caddy made by PSG. Your the salesman, I'm the customer.

 

[CrappieKeith]

I agree with what your saying....
did you miss what I was saying..
"I did make mention of several attributes a good efficient furnace should have.
If others that you are looking at has these great,then your in the
right ballpark".


All I'm trying to do is point out what makes a better furnace.

 

[reaperman]

One thing to consider when buying a wood furnace for an existing home is just how it will be installed in conjunction with a heating system that is already in place. Its safe to say that there are no two HVAC systems are the same Each home has its own unique set-up, and now all of a sudden we must "make room" for a wood furnace. I'd recommend talking to someone who installs these units for a living and go over your installation plan before hand so when it is complete, you have piece of mind it was done correctly, and functions like it should. I've read too many posts over the years where people have installed these beasts in the basement only to complain about no heat output, poor draft, etc, etc, regardless of brand. If installed correctly, any furnace will heat, so now it comes down to brand prefernce. Good luck