Suggestions on a wood furnace?

[gink595]

Come Janurary I will be moving to a new house that we are going to buy, it has an OLD wood and coal furnace in the basement, It's a big old beast that I can only imagine is very inefficent So before I move in there I would like to put in a new wood furnace, the house I would guess is around 1200 to 1500 sq.ft. Any suggestions on affordable quality wood furnaces? Maybe some do and dont's or heads up. It sucks because I just bought a free standing wood stove last year for our current place but it will not work in the new house due to space and location. So I will try either selling it or putting it in the shop, kinda nice for a shop stove but....

 

[AOD]

I would say stick with the old one, especially if it's an old Holland furnace. Those heat very evenly and will give you a nice, warm steady heat even in a power outage. The difference in efficiency is not that great with old and new solid fuel furnaces compared to gas furnaces, so the payback of putting a new one in will take a very long time, and wood is abundant enough that even if it is inefficient it will still heat your hopuse muich cheaper than any comventional fuel.

 

[jetskiman]

I put in a new us stove model 1950 and it uses about 20% less wood than my old jonson and it burns longer cost about 2400 two years ago. it is automatic with thermostat control

 

[ken45]

The house here had a Hotblast 1400 (US Stove) when we bought the house six years ago. It does a very good job of keeping the house (1800 sq ft) warm in cold weather. With just a single duct straight up, it has enough draft to keep the house warm in 25-30 degree weather with the blower only coming on infrequently. Tractor Supply carries the furnaces.

We are replacing it this year with a EPA woodstove for better efficiency and ambience. Well, not "replacing" it. The Hotblast is in the basement, the new stove goes upstairs where we can enjoy it better.

Ken

 

[dwinch53]

check er out

gink595...If you decide to keep and operate the old furnace please make sure that the chimney pipe is replaced for safety and have your chimney cleaned and inspected...I just installed my self a brand new FIRE CHIEF wood/coal furnace...made in the USA. it has a good warranty and it is built heavy duty..I have it lite tonite with a very small fire and the house is almost to warm...42 degrees out side this evening...I am curious, what is the brand name of your furnace? check this website out http://www.firechiefwoodfurnace.com/fc500.aspx

Enjoy the wood heat...Dan.....p.s. I have the 500 model and my home is apx 1400 up and 1400 sf in the basement

 

[woodknocker]

Our house had a Jensen woodburning boiler already installed by the previous owner and it worked great but it had a smallish firebox which had short burn times (4-6 hours) but it was all I could do at the time. Later purchased an outdoor boiler from Central Boiler and it was one of my best investments. All of the pros listed on their website are true. They also have a large selection of parts to integrate the units to your system. And it was self installed.

 

[reaperman]

gink595...If you decide to keep and operate the old furnace please make sure that the chimney pipe is replaced for safety and have your chimney cleaned and inspected...I just installed my self a brand new FIRE CHIEF wood/coal furnace...made in the USA. it has a good warranty and it is built heavy duty..I have it lite tonite with a very small fire and the house is almost to warm...42 degrees out side this evening...I am curious, what is the brand name of your furnace? check this website out http://www.firechiefwoodfurnace.com/fc500.aspx

Enjoy the wood heat...Dan.....p.s. I have the 500 model and my home is apx 1400 up and 1400 sf in the basement

Sorry to hijack the thread. But a question for dwinch53. Are you able to find the return air "furnace" filter in its proper size in any stores in your part of the world?? I cant find them in anywhere around here. Including Home Depot, Menards, etc,etc. I end up getting a larger size and bending it to fit. It must not be a very common size.

 

[gink595]

gink595...If you decide to keep and operate the old furnace please make sure that the chimney pipe is replaced for safety and have your chimney cleaned and inspected...I just installed my self a brand new FIRE CHIEF wood/coal furnace...made in the USA. it has a good warranty and it is built heavy duty..I have it lite tonite with a very small fire and the house is almost to warm...42 degrees out side this evening...I am curious, what is the brand name of your furnace? check this website out http://www.firechiefwoodfurnace.com/fc500.aspx

Enjoy the wood heat...Dan.....p.s. I have the 500 model and my home is apx 1400 up and 1400 sf in the basement

I agree about the chimney, I have a terrilble fear of getting burned up I was planning on having that inspected before the sale went through. I was looking at the FireCheif yesterday on the net. They sounded like a great unit, what kind of burn times are you getting? I'm going to check out a local Amish dealer this weekend and see what kind of a deal I can get, they were really good to me last time I bought a wood stove. I'm curious as to what the price differences are going to be between the OWB and the forced air indoor units, if they are close I will probably steer towards the OWB. But for short term ease I'd like to go with the Indooor unit.