Looking at add-on wood furnaces

[biggenius29]

The problem with the Caddy, is that it everything is optional on it. The blower isn't even even included. By the time you were done with it, it'd be well over $3K I'm sure.

That is true, I got mine from the dealer with the blower as a used furnace. A lady got it for her 900 sq/ft home and it heated her out of it so she returned it and got a small Firechief. So I got mine used.

But I seem to remember $2800 was the price (new) for the furnace and blower.

 

[ericjeeper]

In my opinion. You can never have to big of a firebox. You do not have to fill them plumb full.But let me see you overload a small one.
I prefer some sort of controlled draft.preferably forced air.I have my owb set up this way.If the loading door is not shut tight the boiler will overheat.SO that is basically saying no manual walk away from it setting could ever possibly work. Yes some sort of manual damper would work.But with the fan it instantly rips to life.
These englanders and such with the guessstimate dampers will eat wood when you do not call for it,or not have enough of a fire when you do call for it.

 

[OhioGregg]

Brad, I'll include a pic of the old wood furnace I use. Don't know the age of it, guessing it was installed in the 70's. They aren't made anymore. Its a Glenwood Stoves, model 850, made by Penn Manufacturing Co.

It sits next to our LP gas furnace/with central air. Its forced air duct system.
The wood furnace utilizes the fan in the gas furnace to move air in the house.
Air from the fan is diverted through the wood furnace when heating. There is no blowers on the wood burner at all. It does have a seperate thermostat that is wired to both furnaces to utilize the fan, independantly.

It doesn't have a blower on the draft either, but has electric motor that opens & closes damper, according to preset temps in furnace. When reaches a certain temp, the damper closes. when temp drops below a set point, it opens again. Has a switch so you can run it in manual mode too, if you want.

This all sits in a cellar, in old farm house, not a finished basement like yours.
It keeps it warm down there, just from what radiant heat you get from it. So I don't think you would have much trouble keeping yours warm.

About a year or so ago, I was doing some searching for wood furnaces, thinking if we had to replace this one, what would be a good easy replacement. And my choice came down to the Yukon Big Jack mentioned in some earlier posts. Come to find out after, that there is a fellow on this site that works for, or sells those. LOL, He has a lot of good info he can supply you with. They aren't the cheapest, but look good to me. Just my opinion. I'm sure there are other good ones too.
As with saws, the home owner models will get the job done!, but the Pro models seem to be the better option, especially when your building a fire, inside your home..

One other thing to add. My furnace is vented through 8" SS liner through a brick chimney. About 30 feet, so we have very good draft. I'm guessing maybe that the forced draft models might be needed with a chimney setup that doesn't draft as well on its own. I woul leave that call to someone with more brains than I have on such matters.

Gregg,

 

[blsnelling]

Thanks for all the input guys. I'm actually rather discouraged with this at the moment. It looks like the chimney pipe will run at least $1,000. I wasn't prepared for that. Plus it looks like I really need a $3,000 unit, rather than a $1,500 unit. I'm just not sure I'm ready to commit to it that much to it. I do have to remember that I have some health concerns that might limit my ability to keep enough wood around. On the other hand, the labor might be good for me. Just thinking out loud and trying to make a wise decision.

 

[OhioGregg]

I ran across this, thismorning. Might help you out if, if its not gone by now,,

http://limaohio.craigslist.org/mat/1531003384.html

Gregg,

 

[blsnelling]

I ran across this, thismorning. Might help you out if, if its not gone by now,,

http://limaohio.craigslist.org/mat/1531003384.html

Gregg,

I just talked to him. That was $75/piece He did say I could have all 5 for $200 though. Is SuperPro double wall sufficient for my needs? I can see it's rated 2100 on the label. Should be good stuff I'd think. This might be what TreeCo recommended earlier. I'll have to go back and look.

 

[OhioGregg]

I just talked to him. That was $75/piece He did say I could have all 5 for $200 though. Is SuperPro double wall sufficient for my needs?

Yikes!! I thought that sounded like to good of a deal. Obviously, would need some more parts, but thats 15 ft. I would think double wall stainless be fine. But, I'll let someone else with expierence with it answer that.

Good luck with this project Brad!

Gregg,

 

[Zodiac45]

Hey Brad,

Happy New Year B,

You might have a look see at this Ashley wood/coal furnace also. It's a good add-on type appliance and reasonably priced. I was looking at one down to the True Value Hardware in my town and they look decent for the dosh. I like the dual fuel possibility too. Here's a link http://www.idealtruevalue.com/servlet/the-5052/Detail Crappy pix but you get the idea.

PS: the pellet stove you have and the price of the pellets is exactly why I never considered one. I like how they work but I hate someone (like the oil and propane companies) having me by the nads regarding price. The Wood/Coal option is the best way to go since coal is relativley cheap and the wood you can go after yourself.

Cheers,
Zee

 

[blsnelling]

I called him back. One piece was dropped and bent on the end, but should be straightenable. He agreed to let me have all of it for $150. That includes 5 3' sections and one shorter section that appears to be 1'. I don't see how I could go wrong for that price, even if I decided not to get a furnace. Thanks for the tip Gregg. My MIL and FIL will go pick it up for me. It's only 30 miles from their place. I know how Craigslist deals go. Snooze, you loose.

 

[blsnelling]

You might have a look see at this Ashley wood/coal furnace also. It's a good add-on type appliance and reasonably priced. I was looking at one down to the True Value Hardware in my town and they look decent for the dosh. I like the dual fuel possibility too. Here's a link http://www.idealtruevalue.com/servlet/the-5052/Detail Crappy pix but you get the idea.

Cheers,
Zee

I'm afraid that might be a little small for my application. My ranch is nearly 2000 sq ft + a full basement.

 

[CrappieKeith]

Thanks for all the input guys. I'm actually rather discouraged with this at the moment. It looks like the chimney pipe will run at least $1,000. I wasn't prepared for that. Plus it looks like I really need a $3,000 unit, rather than a $1,500 unit. I'm just not sure I'm ready to commit to it that much to it. I do have to remember that I have some health concerns that might limit my ability to keep enough wood around. On the other hand, the labor might be good for me. Just thinking out loud and trying to make a wise decision.

I'm not going to push our furnaces on you but here's something to think about.
Whatever you land on that furnace had better give you all night and all day burn times or the liquid fuel comes on and you loose as in you'll still have a bill that if you had got something that would have heated your entire home there would be no bill.

Paying for liquid fuel is like rent....there's no payback.There's also no work involved although you still have to work to pay for the liquid fuel.
When you burn wood your getting a good workout which will help you live longer and healthier.
Your also paying yourself instead of paying the gas or oil man.
I'm not sure of your bills now but if you have a 2000 s/f home or larger I'd think your investment can be recouped in a few short years.
Also if you get a furnace that falls into the Energy Star credit there's $1500 you can get back from your investment. Spending 4000$ say's you'll get back 1200$ so now your end costs are 2800$....you just got your flue for nothing.
Burning wood is a lifestyle, it's also a home saver....up here in northern Mn. when it's really cold we can loose power.
I can heat my whole home on gravity heats. It can be 30 below ,but it's a toasty 74 in my house.

So what are you gonna get...look for an afterburn,massive heat sink(bricks),tons of heat exchange surface area. Look at the weight of the unit.
The heavier ones typically have these things after all they are made of steel and brick. You'll want to stay away from cheap or I'll guarentee you'll be replacing the unit in short order due to steel warpage and smoke filling your home.

OK I lied....I'm a salesman what can I say...we are all scoundrels right?
Look at the Jack line of furnaces we make. They have all of these attributes and they have a history that shows they do what we say they will do.
the best part is there is no retailer or dealer marking them up like what you'll find when you buy furnaces from other sources.That right there will save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars.
There is no state tax either.
We build them and offer good support.
Just think.....what do you really get in a furnace as an extra for the mark up you'll pay to a retailer?
Nothing!

 

[OhioGregg]

I called him back. One piece was dropped and bent on the end, but should be straightenable. He agreed to let me have all of it for $150. That includes 5 3' sections and one shorter section that appears to be 1'. I don't see how I could go wrong for that price, even if I decided not to get a furnace. Thanks for the tip Gregg. My MIL and FIL will go pick it up for me. It's only 30 miles from their place. I know how Craigslist deals go. Snooze, you loose.

Good deal !!! I suspect something like that woudn't be hard to sell, if you end up not using it. I been thinking of getting an old wood burner going in my shop building. But, thats off in the future, need new roof on it first anyway.

Gregg,

 

[blsnelling]

Keith, in addition to your cost saving points, I also automatically quit spending $800/year in pellets. I'm sure I'm spending more than $100/month for gas too. It would take very few years for a furnace to pay for itself.

 

[CrappieKeith]

I've followed the cost of oil and propane over the last 13 years which is how long I've been burning wood.
I have paid myself to load my furnace,dump my ashes every 2 weeks and brush my flue every year a total of 30,000$...I love my part time job.

I should add that we sell Simpson's Duravent flues and we give you 30% off of what list pricing is.As a manufacturer we negotiated a great pricing structure then we pass along a good share of the discount we get.
The reason is simple...it helps us sell more furnaces so you win being able to buy the furnace you really want with a good safe long lasting flue and we win earning your business.
I saw too many stove shops raking the customer for this flue.They still needed the flue ,but we lost the business as the cutomer cut corners with a lesser grade furnace.
By giving away so much of the profit margin on the flue we can gain the furnace sale.
In the end it turned out to be a nice little profit center as we sell a mountain of pipe....it's a lot easier to get 3 nickles than 1 dime.

 

[woodbooga]

Keith, in addition to your cost saving points, I also automatically quit spending $800/year in pellets. I'm sure I'm spending more than $100/month for gas too. It would take very few years for a furnace to pay for itself.

Also, if you already own a chainsaw, you're ahead of the game since many folks new to burning (or returning after a hiatus) need to invest on a saw to cut wood.

You do own a chainsaw suitable for cutting firewood I assume, Brad? :greenchainsaw:

 

[blsnelling]

Where's the best deal on a through-the-wall kit? It'll have to connect to my SuperPro 2100 pipe. The SuperVent kit from Lowes is $295.

 

[ericjeeper]

You do own a chainsaw suitable for cutting firewood I assume, Brad? :greenchainsaw:

That right there is some funny stuff.. I tried to rep you but i am out of rep for you..Will somebody rep wb for me?

 

[GPETER]

The problem with the Caddy, is that it everything is optional on it. The blower isn't even even included. By the time you were done with it, it'd be well over $3K I'm sure.

I thought the Caddy used your existing blower from the furnace?

I have not read all the replies yet but if is hasn’t been mentioned; check into your ducting clearance requirements from joists if installing an add on, it was the deal breaker for me.

 

[OhioGregg]

That right there is some funny stuff.. I tried to rep you but i am out of rep for you..Will somebody rep wb for me?

I got him for ya ericjeeper, That was classic to be sure.

The only thing I could add to that, would be to say if while at the Home building supply places checking out the Flue parts, is that Brad could ck out the saw line ups also.! If he doesn't allready have suitable for the job!:hmm3grin2orange:


Gregg,

 

[blsnelling]

You do own a chainsaw suitable for cutting firewood I assume, Brad? :greenchainsaw:

That right there is some funny stuff.. I tried to rep you but i am out of rep for you..Will somebody rep wb for me?

The only thing I could add to that, would be to say if while at the Home building supply places checking out the Flue parts, is that Brad could ck out the saw line ups also.! If he doesn't allready have suitable for the job!:hmm3grin2orange:


Gregg,

I've got one that I think might be able to handle it. I've got an old piece of junk Poulan 4000