Indoor wood furnace

[timbrjackrussel]

If it were me I would buy a caddy , as far as heat output burn time and square footage rating it'll do anything a kumma can do at half the price and its a quality proven unit throughout. If you opt for the big max caddy it'll heat a bigger area yet (3000 sq ft )and burn even longer . 12 + hour clean burns are child's play with a max caddy even a caveman can do it

even a caveman can do it
A caveman probably has many times more experience with fire than most people heating with wood!

 

[flotek]

even a caveman can do it
A caveman probably has many times more experience with fire than most people heating with wood!

Okay bad analogy lol even a toothless redneck hillbilly such as myself can do it !

 

[muddstopper]

Did a little looking and it seems I have a Caddy dealer only 3 or 4 miles from my house. Who would have thought. I am going to give them a little visit next week and and see what one of those stoves looks like.

 

[flotek]

In the mean time use the search function and look up past threads on the caddy line up I think you'll find they are a great option and are higher end quality than the tundras

 

[brenndatomu]

Did a little looking and it seems I have a Caddy dealer only 3 or 4 miles from my house. Who would have thought. I am going to give them a little visit next week and and see what one of those stoves looks like.

Might shop around a bit...Caddy prices seem to fluctuate a lot from dealer to dealer...at least around here they do

 

[brenndatomu]

Damn dude...you just went from Chevette to Corvette!

Or Tempo to Shelby 'Stang

 

[brenndatomu]

Read up on the Drolet Tundra- a little bit better unit - their Caddy unit is much better- but more importantly is the after sale service from that company vs USSC ( dang near non exsistant)

And contrary to their name, USSC makes most of their stuff in china...
As far as customer service goes, Kuuma is unparalleled from what I read and have experienced doing research on their stuff. They searched and found owners near me that were willing to speak to me about and show me their furnace. (try to get the owner/designer of another wood furnace Mfgr to do that) Plus they are sponsors of and semi regular contributors to this site...

 

[laynes69]

I wouldn't own a woodfurnace that didn't have a heat exchanger. While some may find it a nusciense to worry about cleaning, it takes us about a minute to remove a wingnut, scrape everything forward, remove and close the access door. I can do this without letting the fire go out. Quite a bit of heat that otherwise would exit the flue is put into the home.

 

[stihly dan]

I only clean the HE once a year in the fall and probably only need to do it every few years.

 

[Whitespider]

Now whitey don't go off 1/2 cocked , I was only making reference that for many years now forced air heating ducts as commonly installed do not conform to national code for solid fuel appliances ie clearances.

But that ain't what you posted, you stated that his ducting did not match code, "...be aware that your current ducting is not going to match code for a solid fuel appliance."
Maybe his house is 80 years old and the ducting was originally installed for a coal (solid fuel) furnace... such as the ducting in my house. The forced air ducts in my house exceed the current "code" for solid fuel... both in gauge and clearances.

I ain't ½ cocked... I'm just sayin'.
*

 

[muddstopper]

Well, I dont know what the code is, but house was built in 1984. The main trunk line is galvanized metal and the branch lines are flexible insulated duct.

 

[brenndatomu]

That flex duct will need to go, at the least. Duct needs 1" to combustibles. (6" at the furnace and also for the first 6' of supply side duct. 1" thereafter)

 

[blades]

If those flexible lines are plastic types ( not sure about the alum. types) that's a difficulty to over come just boils down to the higher peak heat( from plenum) output of a solid fuel unit vs the oil or gas types. ( I am trying to be very generic here ) Heck, installation manuals are on line and viewable for most units- a couple #'s first 10 ft from plenum 2" clearance to combustables, there after 1" . In my current place 196o construction the main trunk is less than 1" from the floor joists from the plenum out NG furnace. All of my duct work is galvanized sheet metal rectangular or round. the cold return is a separate complete duct, although I have seen in some places where it is just a sheet nailed up the floor joists ( doesn't matter either works) for those runs that could be done that way.
I know that there are still places that have the old , as we always called them octopus type furnaces still operating on one type of fuel or another. I had one for many years started out as coal had to go down and feed every so often then got one of fancy self feeding rigs- that was great when it worked, then converted to oil, then converted NG. We will not discuss the inefficiency of said unit but at least we didn't freeze ( well there were a couple times where things got dicy) but we had a fire place as well ( not much difference efficiency wise between the two ).

 

[Whitespider]

That flex duct will need to go, at the least.

I agree...

If those flexible lines are plastic types ( not sure about the alum. types) that's a difficulty to over come...

If they're insulated as he says... I'd be willing to bet they're plastic... pretty sure they will need to go.
The aluminum ones are OK to use down stream coming off the main trunk.
*

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

I bought one of those for my shop, basically an add on wood furnace. Makes quick heat and that is what I wanted at the time as I didn't have my Central boiler at that time.

One thing I will mention. I was going to switch insurance companies and when the agent took pics of everything their corporate rep wanted to see the UL listing for the stove. It had none and this was bought new at Farm an Fleet. They still sell the same stove at TSC. Company wouldn't give any help so insurance quote was taken away. Won't insure unless I remove it. The new ones may have the label now but you better check that before going any further.

Someday I will run another line from the boiler to an overhead radiator with a fan. Its just running the line through the boiler house floor is pretty involves as some IDIOT(me) forgot to do that one when building!

 

[brenndatomu]

One thing I will mention. I was going to switch insurance companies and when the agent took pics of everything their corporate rep wanted to see the UL listing for the stove. It had none and this was bought new at Farm an Fleet. They still sell the same stove at TSC. Company wouldn't give any help so insurance quote was taken away. Won't insure unless I remove it. The new ones may have the label now but you better check that before going any further.

Many (most? all?) wood furnaces purchased at big box and farm stores have no UL listing.
That is one thing that Yukon always brags about...they are one of the few wood furnace MFGRs that actually have their stuff UL certified

 

[muddstopper]

I had already talked to My HVAC guy. He is familar with my duct work as he is the one that replaced my heat pump 2 year ago. He didnt like the flex duct at that time either. Anyways, Most likely he will be the one doing the install of the wood furnace when the time comes. I know I wont be changing anything until at least spring.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Many (most? all?) wood furnaces purchased at big box and farm stores have no UL listing.
That is one thing that Yukon always brags about...they are one of the few wood furnace MFGRs that actually have their stuff UL certified

The agent was pretty mad that the wouldn't pass it as they were claiming it was a barn. It a fully finished shop with drywall on the sidewalls.

You can see the "dangerous" offender in the background.

 

[brenndatomu]

You can see the "dangerous" offender in the background.

Yup, sticks out like a sore thumb...pretty scary lookin! That and its side kicks mr torch and mr welder...surprised the place is still standin!
I live out in the country but only a mile from town...my ins co wont give me the "preferred rate" because I dont have a hydrant within 1000'. Even though there is a farm pond 995' away (yeah, I measured) they want the township to put a dry hydrant in that pond before it counts for discount...township wants a "fire district" levy passed...that would cost more than the insurance co discount! Bunch a thieves...and in cahoots they are

 

[Iaff113]

I have a 1557m but it's outside and piped into my house. After a ton of reading and asking questions. I'm happy with it for the price I paid If I want my house at 100 it will do it. I have a never ending supply of wood and I deffeniatly keep it fed. I sealed off the door draft and grounded the spin draft down. It seems like it burns more wood then my last indoor stove, but I don't really care about that. It's all in how much you want to spend in total


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