Considering a used Caddy Furnace

[CYOUNG]

I found a used green PSG Caddy Furnace in really good condition (serial # 20729) for less than $1k. The current owner had it set up to run off of a blower of his main heat source. Its simply the furnace and a plenum for sale. We just build a home and the plan is to add a wood add on furnace this month. I really wanted a separate blower system for a separate add on wood furnace. Would it be best to try to find a aftermarket blower assembly to run as its own add on system? I really want to make this work but it may cost more to get it set up as a separate add on unit than the furnace cost itself. Is there any aftermarket blower assemblies that would work? If i just keep in manually controlled that would be fine with me. My original plan was to look for a slightly used Englander 28-4000 as this is not a main source of heat and it seems to be solid for the price point. Any opinions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated on the best way to make this furnace work for my situation.

 

[homemade]

Look into a parallel system. I found it easier then a series system (like the way the stove was installed) to control primary heat and back up heat. The downside is two thermostats but it’s truly the easiest.

 

[CYOUNG]

Im totally new to a furnace like this is there any bolt on system the can be added to achieve this? I had a standard wood burner in my game room at the old house but is was basic

 

[homemade]

Look for a local pro to help. Sometimes you can find one that will work with wood burners. The guy doing my instal on my new house but he never touched them and didn’t want to either. I found a new guy to that part.

 

[Ryan'smilling]

I'm assuming that you will need to add a blower, as well as some sort of housing for it that will A: have a way to accept "return air" from your house and B: hold a filter. Unfortunately, I think your options are pretty much to call the original manufacturer and get the parts from them to complete it, or to buy a blower (shouldn't be expensive or difficult to find) and do some custom sheet metal work. In addition to the electrical hocus pocus of limit switches, relays, controllers, etc. I would strongly caution you though that you may want to discuss the matter with your insurance agent. It'd really suck to buy this thing and do the work to get it hooked up only to find yourself in an uninsurable situation.

 

[babybart]

You can get the blower assembly, filter rack, fan relay and fan stat online. Would not be a big investment as long as you do it yourself, pretty basic. If you can put your own breaker in you should be able to figure this out.

 

[CYOUNG]

I called Caddy for everything I need to make this unit operate properly on its own it would run me about $1200

 

[Ryan'smilling]

I called Caddy for everything I need to make this unit operate properly on its own it would run me about $1200

So you'd be into a newish Caddy furnace for about $2000. Plus some ductwork for the install I imagine. Seems like a pretty good deal to me. A new one with a blower is around $6k isn't it?

 

[babybart]

Better investment than $1500ish for an Englander in my opinion.

 

[aokpops]

I have a cheaper Drolet and been more than happy with it . The caddy is the caddy

 

[Yarz]

It looks like your intake draft, etc is manual? If that's the case I don't think it would be too difficult to adapt for your needs.

• At a minimum, you'd need a blower fan and a switch to manually turn on the blower.. The catch is that then you have to know the temperature of the furnace so you can make sure the blower comes on when necessary to provide you with heat AND not overheat the unit.
• A better hookup would be to add a fan controller (like this) that would automate the fan. Find the right on/off temperature and length of probe to fit your furnace
  
• The best (and safest for occupants) would be to do as Ryan'smilling mentioned above, with the added sheet metal enclosure to keep fingers/etc. out of the fan, hold a filter, and depending on your house, accept return air.
  • I don't have any people/pets to worry about, so I never got around to building some sort of fan enclosure/filter mount yet.
    
  • My house is a cape cod style with staircases in the center of the house that I consider the "return". I never close the doors that could potentially block this air path.

Then just duct the plenum into your current ducts - make sure you have enough square inches of output to properly cool the stove as the blower runs. My woodchuck furnace had this number in the manual. I'd recommend finding the manual for that one if possible. It should answer a lot of setup and wiring questions.

 

[alleyyooper]

While not trying to change your mind I will let you know about my experince with a England 28 3500 furnace I installed in 2015. I bought it from Home Depot because they delivered to the house for free and I got a 10% veterens discount. I don't see it on there web site now but lowe's carries the same furnace only call it the summer heat.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Summers-Heat-3000-sq-ft-Wood-Burning-Furnace/1000241907

I had a 30 year old Southern Aire furnace I removed and put the England in so easy. It alread has its own blower but we rarely turn the power to the blower on since the furnace is central locatated in our base ment and the hose stays at 74F in the coldest room of the house NW corner.

I cut my wood usage in half from about 25 face coiard a year to 12 to 14 and that is with the winters with the polar vortex.

I didn't buy the furnace from Lowe's even though I perfer Lowes to home depot because they would only deliver to the store for free.

I see the price has went up about 300.00 since we bought ours but think a brand new complete furnace except the pipes needed for $1300.00 isn't to bad.
If you get the england do a burn out side first.

I would have hated to have this burn off inside the house.




Al