I have no affiliation with SBI, don't even know anybody who does.... if you think the blower being mounted like the attached photo is "inconsequential" in the big picture of static pressure then you are flat out wrong. I was referring to what you said about air leaking from the front of the ash drawer and the furnace seams. You're right, that gap is not inconsequential.
Third, I'm not waging all out war against anyone. Really? Threatening to make sure that your "Tundra/Heatmax furnaces are junk and dangerous" blog (or whatever) comes up in an internet search before any manufacturer info sounds like war drums to me. Just saying...
I've made tons of positive comments in this thread about this furnace. Not lately
It has great potential Yup, still does, sounds like they definitely need to tie up some serious loose ends though...
but as the SBI rep told me, they simply cut too many corners in the development and went too far with reducing cost. And probably shoved'em out the door too soon without enough R n D
Fourth, I've had repeated issues that go weeks without getting a reply. Pitiful.
Their customer service is bad, like really bad. My standards are probably a bit higher than most because I expect a similar type of experience that I provide for my customers. SBI's CS isn't even remotely close. Fifth, I was told that I would get a prototype replacement furnace to test to see if the issues were fully resolved. The "fix" wasn't supposed to be ready until Jan It's not January yet
and I started complaining about these issues and made contact with SBI in September. So you want a hurry up patch to fix their hurry up mistake? I would think it would take a bit of time to get a remedy like this through all the necessary channels, especially in a large corporation.
Their promise became a lie right before Christmas and I was told there was no fix for the ash pan gap and that I could get a bracket to fix the blower gap Maybe ya pizzed 'em off
You guys speak as if you are affiliated with SBI in some way. Yeah, I'm a way deep uncover rep for them, that's why I have a Yukon furnace and a Vogelzang stove.
I have no such affiliation and that gives me the liberty to speak openly about the furnace defects.
I know you said $1500, this one is sub $1500, sorry. 
) and I can't imagine how upset some would be if my dad wasn't so patient and accessible to get things up and running.
see my post above. would have loved to buy your furnace. I did actually check them out. but i just cant spend 3x the amount. I am not saying they are not worth it or that i wont spend that....its that i cant. I know you would loose the family typ feel but i wish there was a way a company like yours could go into high production into some box stores and flood the market with a good product. that would certainly help to lower cost and help those that want a furnace like yours to be within there reach.Seeing these design problems is very unfortunate. Anyone that really knows my dad understands the #1 reason he spent all of these years designing the Kuuma Vapor-Fire the way he did was SAFETY!! Burning wood can be dangerous and nothing is more important than your family's safety. I understand why some would want to save $'s when purchasing a furnace but when you actually think about the value of someone's health and life it doesn't make much sense.
I will tell you that there is currently very little mark up at all on our Kuuma Vapor-Fire furnaces. So if you do the math you can understand the quality difference in materials used. Granted we probably don't receive the best pricing when comparing a few hundred versus thousands annually but it's not probably not enough to justify that gap.
As far as customer service that really a joke and I feel for anyone dealing with it. I like to deal with companies who provide the service I would expect when any questions or issues arise. At this time of the year there isn't a weekend that goes by when my dad isn't talking to a new owner about their set-up and getting everything running correctly. I will say that as we have grown and expanded nationally the past few years there is so many people who don't initially set-up their furnaces correctly (detailed instruction manual is included for a reason
thanks for the link. i will follow up there. I talked to the state fire marshal on the 31st and they are sending a mechanical inspector over.
when i talked to them they told me they are open but the engineering and related departments are off until next week. they had almost 2 weeks off for the holiday and basicly shut down the part of the company that would have a serious responce to this. i guess they will walk in to a mess on monday.
I never said I knew everyone's situation. If a stove fits the budget, buy a stove. If a furnace fits, then buy a furnace. I've actively followed the threads for this furnace both on here and another notable heart site. Everyone kept trying to identify the price difference justification through pictures and brief inspection and decreed for the most part that this new furnace offering was the best choice based on price. What happens when people "assume"? You were right to some extent, with the new one the bell/whistle of letting ashes sit in the ash pan is a difference.
Any wood furnace/stove can kill you if you let CO occur while leaving the coals sit out. For anyone owning this furnace, use the plug for the combustion chamber and empty the ash pan after removing ashes from the firebox. It seems as simple as that. Instead people come on here to complain about how it should have been designed like a Caddy with regards to ash removal and demand that the manufacture redesign the product they already purchased!
I'm implying that most people buy them based on cost. Same reason many good tools have been replaced by junk made overseas. Price is the decision maker over all factors for most. As for the rest, based on my understanding, if you use it as it was designed, it'll be fine. If you try to store ashes in the pan after clean out, you would be putting your family at risk (as you also would if you're not putting those ashes into a metal, sealed container prior to disposal).
