# New Kuuma Vapor Fire Install



## KVFOhio (Dec 1, 2019)

I have been reading posts on here about the Kuuma Vapor Fire for a little while.  I pulled the trigger and bought one earlier this year.

I was going back and forth with purchasing an OWB or the Vapor Fire (VF).  The phase 2 OWB are pretty pricy compared to the Vapor Fire. There are plenty of pros and cons between the two.   Everybody who has a VF says good things about them, so I went with VF.

I made several calls and sent emails to Dale at Lamppa Mfg.  He took the time to answer all my annoying questions about the furnace and install.  It is true they do care about the customer.

My house is 3,772 sqft. This includes the unfinished walkout basement.  It is a newer build with 2x6 walls.  The basement will eventually be finished.
















I fired it up for the first time this past Friday.  I was a little disappointed when the blower never kicked on.  It eventually did turn on when the high limit sensor kicked it on.  I believe my issue is with the low limit thermocouple.  I think it is bad.  I did bypass it and the blower came on. 

I didn't weigh the wood but here is a picture of the load I put in.  I got a 8 hour burn from it. It is mostly cherry and two pieces of ash.  It wasn't too cold out when I ran it.  It was in the 30 - 40s.  The house was 72 - 75  degrees.  It was almost too hot.  In the basement, I have only one vent, but I keep it closed.  The radiant heat from the VF kept it comfortable.






I have 25ft class A chimney running through the house.  I have deluxe rain cap on it.  The manometer is reading .03 - .04 wc.  I cannot get any higher than that.  I placed tin foil over the barometric damper to see if it was pulling in air, but it only got to .04.  I think the deluxe rain cap is restricting it.  I am within the recommended draft settings for the VF.

Something that I noticed was a little puddle of water where the flue pipe connects to the stove collar.  The puddle was about the size of a quarter.  My wood moisture content is 19%.  This happened after a load.  I saw it twice.  Thoughts?  

For those who have a VF, does your paint flake off easily?  I look at mine and it flakes off.

I have only ran it for two days.  We will see how it runs once it gets colder.  I have it turned off today due to it projected to be in the 50s.


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## brenndatomu (Dec 1, 2019)

Welcome to the family KVF. Whereabouts are you in Ohio?
Your draft will get stronger with colder weather.
As for the puddle...was it right under the pipe, laying on the blower box top? That seems to be a common issue with new fireboxes of any brand...some claim the moisture has to be baked out of the firebrick. Plus you say the wood is 19% MC...If you think about it, that's a lot of water! 19% of the woods weight is water. I doubt you see this issue again unless you get into wet wood.
As for the low limit switch, mine was bad too...intermittent. Dale sent me a new one out, said they almost never see a bad one...but my second one was just the same. I replaced it with a Honeywell fan control/limit switch, problem solved.
I have messed with 4 Kuumas now, 2 from 2008, 1 from 2012, and mine was made in 2015...I've not been impressed by the paint on any of them...pre paint prep seems poor. 
As you can see in my avatar pic I repainted mine before I installed it...partially because I didn't care for the color, partially because the paint was flaking off...and there was a few scrapes from the previous install and removal too. There was plenty of paint that was loose, but as I scuffed it up with a fine Scotchbrite pad, there was too much paint that looked fine, but came right off...was not adhered to the underlying metal much at all. In many of these spots you could see fingerprints etched into the metal where someone had grabbed the bare metal...the (2) 2008 Kuumas both had places where you could see shoe/boot prints where the paint was coming off. Seems to me that the metal needs wiped down with a prep/degreaser more thoroughly prior to painting.
Paint issues aside, by springtime I think you'll be a huge VF fan...


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## woodey (Dec 1, 2019)

Nice looking setup, its kind of hard to tell from your pics but it looks like your Bio damper is set to horizontal you want the adjustable weight on the right side, sorry if I am looking at it wrong.


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## JRHAWK9 (Dec 1, 2019)

Nice clean install!

Wow, that's a lot of square footage you are heating!      What's the volume of your heating envelope?  Looks to be 9' ceilings in the basement.

I've, personally, never had a low limit switch go bad, but have heard of others getting a bad one.  They are not extremely consistent, IMO.  You can buy 3 of them and it seems they all will have slightly different kick on/off temps.  I did what bren did and I am actually using the Honeywell high limit control for both my low and high limit.  Glad to see you already moved it up into the plenum.   

I have seen a little puddle of water where you are talking a few times, but it's always right in the beginning of the heating season....like the first fire or two of the year.  In fact this year I had one there.  I think it's just condensation on the chimney wall making it's way down.

Are you talking the brown paint on the air jacket?  Mine is fine and I've never noticed any flaking or tendency to do so.  Mine is going on it's  6th heating season.

As far as draft, like bren said, it should get stronger with colder weather.  I have 30+' of Class A ran inside and I have too much draft to where I had to add weight to the BD in order to bring it into spec.


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## KVFOhio (Dec 1, 2019)

brenndatomu said:


> Welcome to the family KVF. Whereabouts are you in Ohio?
> Your draft will get stronger with colder weather.
> As for the puddle...was it right under the pipe, laying on the blower box top? That seems to be a common issue with new fireboxes of any brand...some claim the moisture has to be baked out of the firebrick. Plus you say the wood is 19% MC...If you think about it, that's a lot of water! 19% of the woods weight is water. I doubt you see this issue again unless you get into wet wood.
> As for the low limit switch, mine was bad too...intermittent. Dale sent me a new one out, said they almost never see a bad one...but my second one was just the same. I replaced it with a Honeywell fan control/limit switch, problem solved.
> ...



I am in Granville.  

The puddle is on top of the blower box.

Paint is flaking on the door and jacket.  I will need to paint it as well.



woodey said:


> Nice looking setup, its kind of hard to tell from your pics but it looks like your Bio damper is set to horizontal you want the adjustable weight on the right side, sorry if I am looking at it wrong.



You are correct. I was playing around with it.  I covered it with tin foil testing the draft.  I forgot to move it back.  Thank you for reminding me.  I havent ran it today.  It has been warm enough where I haven't had to run the propane.  The house has maintained the temp well.  The temp is averaging in the upper 40s.  It is falling down the lower 30s now.  

Thank you for reminding me to move it back!



JRHAWK9 said:


> Nice clean install!
> 
> Wow, that's a lot of square footage you are heating!      What's the volume of your heating envelope?  Looks to be 9' ceilings in the basement.
> 
> ...




The basement is a 8ft ceiling.  The rest of the house has 9ft.

Both the jacket (brown paint) and the door (black paint) are flaking.

I also forgot to mention my blower 1/2 horse.  I bumped it up because my furnace is in the center of the house.  I have a pretty long run to push the air down.

I hired the HVAC work, but I installed the chimney myself.  I did have to put a 15* offset in to avoid a truss.

 I am curious to see how well it does once it finally gets cold.


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## brenndatomu (Dec 1, 2019)

KVFOhio said:


> I am in Granville


Cool...I have a buddy that lives south of Mt Vernon, works in Granville


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## RockyMtnGriz (Dec 4, 2019)

Very nice looking install!  I can see the problems with your paint, and all I can say is my paint ended up much nicer than yours.  The only place I've had trouble with the paint is on the top bonnet around where the outlet plenum is, partly because it got pretty well mangled in transit, and also because the paint was poorly bonded to that part.  So far, I've been able to ignore it, but I wish I had just stripped it bare before I installed it.

I had the same problem with the fan not coming on initially. I'll second, or forth, or whatever,  the Honeywell fan control in place of the snap switch.  I bought a spare while I was at it, since nothing mechanical lasts forever.

It looks like your ducts are very free flowing!  I wonder if you might have some trouble with the furnace tending toward gravity heat operation at the lower settings.  That could be a problem with heat distribution with long, uninsulated ducts.  As I feel my way through mine, I think I'm seeing a tendency there with my similar setup, not sure yet if it's really going to be a problem though.  Just throwing that out, as you might actually find that the thing works better with the blower turned down, but running more.  It'll want to cycle the fan more with the Honeywell control, I bet.

From what I've seen of my Kuuma, I just can't imagine having a puddle from the stove pipe.  Everything is just dusty dry.  But there's lots more humidity available in other parts of the world, so maybe that's it.

Anyway, nice job!


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## sloeffle (Dec 5, 2019)

KVFOhio said:


> I am in Granville.


I am not too far from you. I am north of Sunbury, and east of Delaware.

Nice looking install BTW.


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## gary38532 (Dec 5, 2019)

KVFOhio said:


> For those who have a VF, does your paint flake off easily? I look at mine and it flakes off.


My front door is peeling pretty bad. I complained about it and they said they had issues with it but rare on VF100. They told me they would send me a can of the new paint they are using (said its better). They must have forgot because that was months ago and never did.


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## woodey (Dec 5, 2019)

KVFOhio said:


> For those who have a VF, does your paint flake off easily? I look at mine and it flakes off.


Going on year 4 here with no issues.


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## lampmfg (Dec 5, 2019)

We had an issue with paint recently but determined it was the painter, who is now no longer with us.  We will help you through the paint issue, but please be patient.  Send us another e-mail if it's been a while.  Dale now has an office manager, and this is helping him immensely to stay on top of stuff like this better.

Thanks,


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## gary38532 (Dec 5, 2019)

lampmfg said:


> We had an issue with paint recently but determined it was the painter, who is now no longer with us.  We will help you through the paint issue, but please be patient.  Send us another e-mail if it's been a while.  Dale now has an office manager, and this is helping him immensely to stay on top of stuff like this better.
> 
> Thanks,


ok sounds good


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## Beaster (Dec 7, 2019)

I'll be following this thread very close. We plan on building a very similar sized bungalow & basement next year. We would like to install either the Max Caddy or Vapor Fire in parallel with a natural gas furnace to help cut down our energy bill. Your VF and propane furnaces are hooked in parallel right? If so, I'm curious what your HVAC guys used for dampers in the supply and return lines between the 2 furnaces.


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## KVFOhio (Dec 7, 2019)

Beaster said:


> I'll be following this thread very close. We plan on building a very similar sized bungalow & basement next year. We would like to install either the Max Caddy or Vapor Fire in parallel with a natural gas furnace to help cut down our energy bill. Your VF and propane furnaces are hooked in parallel right? If so, I'm curious what your HVAC guys used for dampers in the supply and return lines between the 2 furnaces.


Hello Beaster,
The HVAC company installed four manual dampers.  One damper on the plenum of the propane furnace.  One damper on the cold air return.  Then two dampers where the VF connects to the main trunk.





RockyMtnGriz said:


> Very nice looking install!  I can see the problems with your paint, and all I can say is my paint ended up much nicer than yours.  The only place I've had trouble with the paint is on the top bonnet around where the outlet plenum is, partly because it got pretty well mangled in transit, and also because the paint was poorly bonded to that part.  So far, I've been able to ignore it, but I wish I had just stripped it bare before I installed it.
> 
> I had the same problem with the fan not coming on initially. I'll second, or forth, or whatever,  the Honeywell fan control in place of the snap switch.  I bought a spare while I was at it, since nothing mechanical lasts forever.
> 
> ...



I installed the new snap disc and worked like a charm.  I will be ordering a Honeywell.

So far low and slow has heated the house nicely.  I haven't had the blower kick on high yet.  We will see when it truly gets cold.  It's been in the low 30s/ upper 20s at night.


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## Erichomeowner (May 13, 2020)

I just received my new Vapor-Fire!! Now for the install


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## brenndatomu (May 14, 2020)

Erichomeowner said:


> I just received my new Vapor-Fire!!


Summer 2020, longest, eveeer.


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## lampmfg (May 14, 2020)

Erichomeowner said:


> I just received my new Vapor-Fire!! Now for the install


We are planning on doing a video sometime on a correct install.  If you want to document yours for everyone that would be great


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## brenndatomu (May 14, 2020)

lampmfg said:


> We are planning on doing a video sometime on a correct install.  If you want to document yours for everyone that would be great


Dale already did some nice assembly/install videos...you just updating those? 




And just FYI, for anyone wiring a Kuuma up...the wiring diagram shown online is much improved over what is in the manual! https://www.lamppakuuma.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/VF100-Electrical-diagram.pdf


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## lampmfg (May 14, 2020)

brenndatomu said:


> Dale already did some nice assembly/install videos...you just updating those?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



We were hoping to show it actually being done.  There are always questions.


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## brenndatomu (May 14, 2020)

lampmfg said:


> We were hoping to show it actually being done.  There are always questions.


There always are...every install is so unique...I'm jealous of these guys with a wide open ranch basement though...I had about every obstacle to deal with on my install...all were overcome though, some by design, some by pure luck, or maybe some divine intervention!


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## JRHAWK9 (May 15, 2020)

Erichomeowner said:


> I just received my new Vapor-Fire!! Now for the install



Your setup is going to be a bit different than most, seeing you have a down-flow furnace IIRC.   Do you plan on running it in series using your LP furnaces blower?  Personally, I'd run your setup ideas by the guys here on the forum, as they may be able to see potential issues and guide you along the way to help you avoid any do-overs in your install.  It will be much easier and less expensive to get it setup correctly from the get go rather than have to go back and re-do things later on.  Just a thought.


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## Erichomeowner (May 17, 2020)

lampmfg said:


> We are planning on doing a video sometime on a correct install.  If you want to document yours for everyone that would be great



yes I will do my best to take pictures and document my install. I’m sure I’ll have questions.


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## Erichomeowner (May 17, 2020)

JRHAWK9 said:


> Your setup is going to be a bit different than most, seeing you have a down-flow furnace IIRC.   Do you plan on running it in series using your LP furnaces blower?  Personally, I'd run your setup ideas by the guys here on the forum, as they may be able to see potential issues and guide you along the way to help you avoid any do-overs in your install.  It will be much easier and less expensive to get it setup correctly from the get go rather than have to go back and re-do things later on.  Just a thought.



I ordered a bigger horse power motor because I will be pushing hot air down and into my crawl space. after a great conversation with Dale and explaining my situation he seems to think the vaper fire will have no problem heating with my type of install.


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## Erichomeowner (Oct 5, 2020)

Vapor-fire is installed


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## JRHAWK9 (Oct 5, 2020)

Erichomeowner said:


> Vapor-fire is installed




I was thinking about your setup the other day and wondered how it was coming along.

You may want to remove that stove pipe thermometer from the front door.  One, it looks like you may be covering one of the secondary air openings, and two, the door is not a very good spot to measure temp, as it stays relatively cool and three, those things are not very accurate anyway!   

Pickup an internal probe type of gauge so you are actually measuring the INTERNAL stack temp on your flue.  You will find out the external surface temp of your flue is going to be pretty low.


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## Erichomeowner (Oct 5, 2020)

JRHAWK9 said:


> I was thinking about your setup the other day and wondered how it was coming along.
> 
> You may want to remove that stove pipe thermometer from the front door.  One, it looks like you may be covering one of the secondary air openings, and two, the door is not a very good spot to measure temp, as it stays relatively cool and three, those things are not very accurate anyway!
> 
> Pickup an internal probe type of gauge so you are actually measuring the INTERNAL stack temp on your flue.  You will find out the external surface temp of your flue is going to be pretty low.



Ya I’m not really using the temp gauge on the door it was a extra and I just put it there. So I had my first fire yesterday and tried it out. Works great I think it will work better when it’s gets colder out. One thing that I did see was stack temp. Was not very high I hit it with a lazer thermometer and highest reading I got was 195* . Is that normal?


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## JRHAWK9 (Oct 5, 2020)

Having a single fire is hard to gauge, once you start stacking back to back to back loadings you will be burning more efficiently.  Spring and fall, when having to do constant re-lights,  are not very efficient when using wood furnaces....especially when you have to start with a cold firebox every time.   

yep, that's normal.  External pipe temps are not representative of the internal flue gas temps and are way lower.


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## brenndatomu (Oct 5, 2020)

Erichomeowner said:


> Vapor-fire is installed


Good to hear...and I want to second what JR said...the one thing I want to add is that since you have a downflow arrangement...you really need to install some sort of emergency heat dump door on the VF so it doesn't overheat during a power outage...it can happen quick! I just talked with another member with newer VF100 and his buddy just had this happen on his VF...burnt the paint off the front cover before he got the genny hooked up! That's hot!
The problem is nobody makes EHD's anymore (that I can find)...I might call Dale and talk to him about them making EHD's...or they can be DIY'd without too much trouble...it just consists of a downward leaning door that is held shut buy a fusible link. When the link melts the door drops open dumping the heat from the supply plenum to the basement...these links can be bought at Grainger/McMaster Carr for $5(ish)
Picture of mine here (it was in place from my old Yukon furnace so I left it..."suspenders and belt" for me since my ducts should gravity flow fine on power fail, but I like the insurance)


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## JRHAWK9 (Oct 6, 2020)

Yeah, a power outage in the middle of a load with that setup could get very interesting in very short order!


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## Erichomeowner (Oct 7, 2020)

Well of course I don’t want that even though I have a generator. I’d still like to be safe. So know body makes them? I wouldn’t feel comfortable trying to make one myself.


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## Erichomeowner (Oct 20, 2020)

So I wanted to take a moment and give my thoughts about the vapor-fire 100. This furnace is amazing! I have been burning for a week here in northeast Wisconsin and although it’s not terribly cold out this furnace works great. It’s basically load it and forget it. I have been getting long burn times and not even close to getting into my good wood yet. It’s nice not having to get up in the middle of the night to reload the furnace. I want to say thank you to Dale and all the staff at lamppa for all the time they took on making this great furnace and the help and info on install. Also everyone on Hearth that has helped me with great information and trouble shooting. I hope with what I have learned I can help someone else in deciding to get one of these great furnaces.


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## brenndatomu (Oct 20, 2020)

Erichomeowner said:


> It’s basically load it and forget it


Welcome to club Kuuma...and yes, so good, they're boring...


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## woodey (Oct 20, 2020)

Erichomeowner said:


> . This furnace is amazing!
> It really is an amazing furnace. As stated above load er up and walk away.  You will love the steady- even heat of the Kuuma and the extended burn times. I am heating a old large house and I rarely fill it over 2/3 full to get the burn times I need between loads.


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## JRHAWK9 (Oct 20, 2020)

Erichomeowner said:


> So I wanted to take a moment and give my thoughts about the vapor-fire 100. This furnace is amazing! I have been burning for a week here in northeast Wisconsin and although it’s not terribly cold out this furnace works great. It’s basically load it and forget it. I have been getting long burn times and not even close to getting into my good wood yet. It’s nice not having to get up in the middle of the night to reload the furnace. I want to say thank you to Dale and all the staff at lamppa for all the time they took on making this great furnace and the help and info on install. Also everyone on Hearth that has helped me with great information and trouble shooting. I hope with what I have learned I can help someone else in deciding to get one of these great furnaces.




Great to hear!  It's nice isn't it?  I can go away for the weekend and my other half can keep the house warm with it.  She just builds  fire and walks away.  

P.S.  We will be up in your neck of the woods this weekend.


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## Erichomeowner (Oct 20, 2020)

JRHAWK9 said:


> Great to hear!  It's nice isn't it?  I can go away for the weekend and my other half can keep the house warm with it.  She just builds  fire and walks away.
> 
> P.S.  We will be up in your neck of the woods this weekend.



Perfect have fun up here in door county! If you need anything feel free to message me.


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## andym (Oct 20, 2020)

brenndatomu said:


> Welcome to club Kuuma...and yes, so good, they're boring...


Thats because there's no glass door! Seriously tho, that's the beauty of (some) these modern wood burning appliances. 

I wonder if it would be possible to build and sell EHDs on a forum like this? I want to make one for myself. Couldn't cost more than 15 bucks, yet worth 100. Any entrepreneurs out there?


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## Erichomeowner (Oct 20, 2020)

andym said:


> Thats because there's no glass door! Seriously tho, that's the beauty of (some) these modern wood burning appliances.
> 
> I wonder if it would be possible to build and sell EHDs on a forum like this? I want to make one for myself. Couldn't cost more than 15 bucks, yet worth 100. Any entrepreneurs out there?





I’d buy one!


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## lampmfg (Oct 21, 2020)

Erichomeowner said:


> So I wanted to take a moment and give my thoughts about the vapor-fire 100. This furnace is amazing! I have been burning for a week here in northeast Wisconsin and although it’s not terribly cold out this furnace works great. It’s basically load it and forget it. I have been getting long burn times and not even close to getting into my good wood yet. It’s nice not having to get up in the middle of the night to reload the furnace. I want to say thank you to Dale and all the staff at lamppa for all the time they took on making this great furnace and the help and info on install. Also everyone on Hearth that has helped me with great information and trouble shooting. I hope with what I have learned I can help someone else in deciding to get one of these great furnaces.


Looks great and thanks for sharing.  Dale and our team do a fantastic job!


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## brenndatomu (Oct 21, 2020)

andym said:


> I wonder if it would be possible to build and sell EHDs on a forum like this? I want to make one for myself.





lampmfg said:


> Looks great and thanks for sharing.  Dale and our team do a fantastic job!


I emailed Dale a while back about the possibility of you guys making, or having made, EHD's available as an accessory for people that really need, or just want them for the safety factor...there is none to be found for sale these days...mine is a remnant from my old Yukon...even if they still had them, you wouldn't want more people putting Yukon accessories on your Kuuma's, would ya?! 
So far I've not heard back from anyone...


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## JRHAWK9 (Oct 21, 2020)

brenndatomu said:


> I emailed Dale a while back about the possibility of you guys making, or having made, EHD's available as an accessory for people that really need, or just want them for the safety factor...there is none to be found for sale these days...mine is a remnant from my old Yukon...even if they still had them, you wouldn't want people putting Yukon accessories on your Kuuma's, would ya?!
> So far I've not heard back from anyone...



I wonder what type of liability would be assumed?  I can see it turning into a legal mess if the EHD failed and a house burned down, even though the root cause of the fire had nothing to do with the heat dump.  Wonder if that's why they stopped making them....?


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## brenndatomu (Oct 21, 2020)

JRHAWK9 said:


> I wonder what type of liability would be assumed?  I can see it turning into a legal mess if the EHD failed and a house burned down, even though the root cause of the fire had nothing to do with the heat dump.  Wonder if that's why they stopped making them....?


Its a fusible link, and gravity...not much to fail...as far as why they quit making them, some wood furnace company in Minnesota put 'em outta business... (Yukon and Charmaster were the only places that I ever knew of selling them...no idea if they made them, or were buying from a fab shop)
I'd sure rather take my chances with a EHD "failing" vs having a downflow supply duct with nothing! Even with ranch style houses...those long flat trunk duct runs often don't gravity flow very well.


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## JRHAWK9 (Oct 21, 2020)

brenndatomu said:


> Its a fusible link, and gravity...not much to fail...
> 
> I'd sure rather take my chances with a EHD "failing" vs having a downflow supply duct with nothing! Even with ranch style houses...those long flat trunk duct runs often don't gravity flow very well.




I completely agree, I'm just wondering why nobody makes them.  Heck, I'd probably buy one if they were available.


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## brenndatomu (Oct 29, 2020)

andym said:


> build and sell EHDs





Erichomeowner said:


> I’d buy one!





JRHAWK9 said:


> I completely agree, I'm just wondering why nobody makes them.  Heck, I'd probably buy one if they were available.


Any others that would be interested in an emergency heat dump? Considering making a few...


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## Erichomeowner (Oct 29, 2020)

brenndatomu said:


> Any others that would be interested in an emergency heat dump? Considering making a few...




Put me down for one.


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## sloeffle (Oct 30, 2020)

brenndatomu said:


> Any others that would be interested in an emergency heat dump? Considering making a few...


Sign me up too.


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## JRHAWK9 (Oct 30, 2020)

brenndatomu said:


> Any others that would be interested in an emergency heat dump? Considering making a few...



Any idea on the cost?  What temp fusible link would you be using?  How about size?  Sorry, gotta ask questions so I know what I am commuting to!    

In case anybody is wondering or has any doubts, bren is a stand up guy and won't screw you over.


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## brenndatomu (Oct 30, 2020)

JRHAWK9 said:


> so I know what I am commuting to!


I thought you were working from home?!  


JRHAWK9 said:


> Any idea on the cost?


Not yet...wanted to see how much interest there actually is first...have some ideas in mind for design...probably 12" x 12" (tall/wide) x 8" ish deep.
As far as the link, I was planning on the same one that came on my Yukon EHD https://www.mcmaster.com/1147A19/


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## Erichomeowner (Oct 30, 2020)

brenndatomu said:


> I thought you were working from home?!
> 
> Not yet...wanted to see how much interest there actually is first...have some ideas in mind for design...probably 12" x 12" (tall/wide) x 8" ish deep.
> As far as the link, I was planning on the same one that came on my Yukon EHD https://www.mcmaster.com/1147A19/



I might be wrong here but on the kumma Isn’t the high temperature probe that is mounted in the plenum 250*?


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## JRHAWK9 (Oct 30, 2020)

brenndatomu said:


> I thought you were working from home?!



 oops. I blame spell check.  
**committing**


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## brenndatomu (Oct 30, 2020)

Erichomeowner said:


> I might be wrong here but on the kumma Isn’t the high temperature probe that is mounted in the plenum 250*?


High temp is handled by the fan control/limit switch and should be adjustable, mine is...250* might be the max?
250 is too high in my opinion...pyrolysized wood (framing) will auto ignite lower than that...


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## JRHAWK9 (Oct 30, 2020)

Erichomeowner said:


> I might be wrong here but on the kumma Isn’t the high temperature probe that is mounted in the plenum 250*?




nothing wrong with the dump opening before that high limit.


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## brenndatomu (Oct 30, 2020)

JRHAWK9 said:


> nothing wrong with the dump opening before that high limit.


My Yukon EHD came with the 210* link...and believe me, that monster ran higher duct temps than any Kuuma! (had to run 'er hot to keep the chimney from plugging up in less than 48 hours


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## JRHAWK9 (Oct 30, 2020)

brenndatomu said:


> My Yukon EHD came with the 210* link...and believe me, that monster ran higher duct temps than any Kuuma! (had to run 'er hot to keep the chimney from plugging up in less than 48 hours




yeah, I was going to mention we could get a way with a MUCH lower fusible link temp.  As if our plenum temps even hit 150° there is something wrong.  Well, I guess mine may in the middle of the winter when I temporarily shut my blower off when I re-load.  I have a second low limit switch wired in as an emergency to a different speed tap on my blower in case my speed controller takes a dump.  This is set to 175° and that has never tripped, even when I have shut my blower off when re-loading.


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## andym (Oct 30, 2020)

Where is the fusible link installed? Inside the plenum?


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## brenndatomu (Oct 30, 2020)

andym said:


> Where is the fusible link installed? Inside the plenum?


No its in the EHD...which gets attached to the side of the plenum after a 12" ish hole is cut in the plenum


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## brenndatomu (Oct 30, 2020)

JRHAWK9 said:


> I was going to mention we could get a way with a MUCH lower fusible link temp.


Looks like the next one down is 165*


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## Highbeam (Oct 30, 2020)

brenndatomu said:


> Any others that would be interested in an emergency heat dump? Considering making a few...



dude... don’t do it. The liability is insanely high. Super easy for some investigator to blame this device for causing the fire that burned the house down and killed the children. You could lose everything and end up in jail.

There’s a reason that the big boys with insurance and lawyers won’t build these things.


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## brenndatomu (Oct 30, 2020)

Highbeam said:


> There’s a reason that the big boys with insurance and lawyers won’t build these things.


No, there is nobody left in the forced air wood furnace world that gives a rip about a EHD...they all just tell you not to install in a down-flow configuration, etc, etc...but I hear ya...liability/headache/hassle would be the main reason I don't do it, if I don't.
It's not like anybody is gonna become wealthy making them...last I seen Yukon's EHD was something like $169


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## andym (Oct 30, 2020)

brenndatomu said:


> No its in the EHD...which gets attached to the side of the plenum after a 12" ish hole is cut in the plenum


I mean is it installed on the inner side? So that it's in the heated air stream?


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## brenndatomu (Oct 30, 2020)

andym said:


> I mean is it installed on the inner side? So that it's in the heated air stream?


Yes


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## laynes69 (Oct 30, 2020)

It may not be pretty, but a dedicated opening close to the plenum within the living space feom the main trunk would be ideal. Power goes, trap opens into floor above and gravity takes hold. Our previous furnace during an outage would get so hot, water droplets would dance on the surface of the ductwork above it. Nothing that I would ever wish on anyone! But 6 cubic feet of firebox burning white hot during an outage was a fire waiting to happen.


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## sloeffle (Oct 30, 2020)

brenndatomu said:


> I thought you were working from home?!
> 
> Not yet...wanted to see how much interest there actually is first...have some ideas in mind for design...probably 12" x 12" (tall/wide) x 8" ish deep.
> As far as the link, I was planning on the same one that came on my Yukon EHD https://www.mcmaster.com/1147A19/


If free labor equates to a free heat dump count me in for sure. I could probably run up there one weekend and help you if you want.


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## brenndatomu (Oct 30, 2020)

sloeffle said:


> If free labor equates to a free heat dump count me in for sure. I could probably run up there one weekend and help you if you want.


You sure you wanna expose yourself to that liability...we might get our pants sued off...


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## Spanky (Oct 30, 2020)

sloeffle said:


> Sign me up too.


Sign me up for one also.


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## RockyMtnGriz (Nov 11, 2020)

Just so y'guys know,  the temps inside the Kuuma plenum are all over the place, depending on where you measure.  I currently have a probe centered on the front of the plenum, about 4" up from the bonnet, and about 1 1/2" into the air stream.  I get temps there ranging from 220 just before the fan kicks on, to 140 when the fan is continuously running.  That's using a fan control, located in this general area.  If you were using the stock, slow to respond, snap switch (is anybody doing that?), you'd probably see a lot hotter temps for a while before the fan activates.  The air that comes out of the front cover and the angled tubes is hot.  If you're putting a link on the front side, particularly low, you might want to check your temps before you settle on a link temp to avoid nuisance trips.

Just hoping to maybe save you a little aggravation.


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## RockyMtnGriz (Nov 11, 2020)

laynes69 said:


> It may not be pretty, but a dedicated opening close to the plenum within the living space feom the main trunk would be ideal. Power goes, trap opens into floor above and gravity takes hold. Our previous furnace during an outage would get so hot, water droplets would dance on the surface of the ductwork above it. Nothing that I would ever wish on anyone! But 6 cubic feet of firebox burning white hot during an outage was a fire waiting to happen.


That you could make of parts you can buy today.  A normal (large) register on the floor above, with an upward duct controlled by a normally open electric duct damper.  Power goes off, damper opens.  

Not quite as good as a dump controlled by a fusible though, that would work even if, say, the power stayed on, but the blower failed.


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## Erichomeowner (Jul 21, 2021)

brenndatomu said:


> You sure you wanna expose yourself to that liability...we might get our pants sued off...


Did you ever find anything out about a emergency heat dump?


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## brenndatomu (Jul 21, 2021)

Erichomeowner said:


> Did you ever find anything out about a emergency heat dump?


Haven't forgot about it, haven't done anything with it though either...


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## clancey (Jul 22, 2021)

This is a off the wall question?  How much would a 1000 gallons of oil be in contrast to about 6 cords of oak wood? These boilers work on wood and I am just curious about the pricing and would not oil be easier to use instead of having to load this thing up once a day which by the way is "great" compared to some of the other wood appliances...I read some of this thread and I got very concerned about the safety of these things knowing not much about them..and just wanted to compare these two prices to really see what we are talking about..clancey


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## brenndatomu (Jul 22, 2021)

clancey said:


> This is a off the wall question?  How much would a 1000 gallons of oil be in contrast to about 6 cords of oak wood? These boilers work on wood and I am just curious about the pricing and would not oil be easier to use instead of having to load this thing up once a day which by the way is "great" compared to some of the other wood appliances...I read some of this thread and I got very concerned about the safety of these things knowing not much about them..and just wanted to compare these two prices to really see what we are talking about..clancey


These are not boilers, they are forced hot air furnaces fired by wood...and computer controlled, so they pretty much can't make creosote, so very safe...safer than most manually run stoves IMO.
And depends on the price of the Oak and the oil at the time...but for the most part I think most of us have access to plenty of "free" wood...just our labor to turn it into firewood.


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## clancey (Jul 22, 2021)

All right thank you...By what little I read they seem to be very efficient and less work loading a lot of work daily..plus environmentally better because they have less pollution for the air and they get good rebates or tax deductions as well..thanks clancey


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