Is it worth upgrading?

[garmford]

Our home currently has a lp gas furnace that plays backup to a Clayton 1600G add on wood furnace. Having a baro on the stove pipe I am able to keep a fire going 24/7 but the temp in the house will fall to the upper sixties in the house by the time I get home from work. It doesn't take long and the house will be in the lower seventies by the time we go to bed. Burning constantly comes with a price. The furnace gets a little hungry over a typical Wisconsin winter. Roughly 10 cord a year of good hardwood. I am getting a bit tired of bringing wood in the basement and having slight anxiety of the chance of a chimney fire. I do sweep my chimney often to lessen the chances. I looked into an OWB to get the fire outside, but I do have a neighbor directly east of me. Also I would have to spend roughly $15000 to get one that is high efficiency installed to avoid having a smoke breathing dragon. So I have been looking at the Max Caddy or the Kuuma. I know they will both advertise to decrease the amount of wood a house will use over a season but is it enough to justify making the swap? I see people rave about the Max Caddy but I don't see much difference from that to what I already have. I do like the Kuuma for its gasification though. It would make sense that it would be more efficient. Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

[1970roadrunner]

Only you can answer if $$$ spent is worth it. You will be looking at the cost of the unit, and installation costs. With a newer EPA unit (I'm only familiar with the Caddy, but I assume the Kuuma is similar) you will get longer burns and your chimney will be cleaner. You will still have to bring wood into the basement though, just a bit less.

If your Clayton is in good shape, perhaps you can recover some costs by selling it.

 

[brenndatomu]

Put a wood chute into the basement and then a Kuuma...the cadillac of wood furnaces..IMO.
Prolly cut your wood usage in half...unless you have a really high heat load!
If you have done any homework on the Kuuma then you already know that there is almost zero chance of a chimney fire (with a proper chimney and dry wood of course) due to flue/chimney only having a light coat of tan powdery soot in it.
Just my 2 cents...

 

[arbutus]

We cut our wood requirement by near half and had FAR more even heat going from a smokedragon wood stove to a large stove with secondary burn in our previous house.
It was absolutely worth it to us.

 

[maple1]

Yes.

 

[JRHAWK9]

Where in WI are you? I installed a Kuuma this Spring. It's physically impossible to burn 10 cords of wood in a winter (5-6 months) with the Kuuma.

 

[garmford]

Thanks for all the response. You defiantly informed me of what I wanted to know, and that is less wood consumption. If I am able to significantly decrease the amount of wood burned along with a clean chimney, count me in. I did build a chute this past fall for bringing wood in the basement. That has helped out a lot. Only one trip up and down the stairs instead of fifty. As far as cost, I am leaning towards the Kuuma which is listed just under $5000 on their website. After delivery and paying a friend who's a HVAC guy to redo the hookup to the duct work, I should be heating again for less than $6000 easily. I will have a return in investment in 3-4 years. JRHAWK9, we're not too far from you. We are in eastern dodge county. Near Hartford. Now that you've had yours for part of season, it sounds that you are very happy. What made you decide between a 100 or 200? Go Packers

 

[Highbeam]

Thanks for all the response. You defiantly informed me of what I wanted to know, and that is less wood consumption. If I am able to significantly decrease the amount of wood burned along with a clean chimney, count me in. I did build a chute this past fall for bringing wood in the basement. That has helped out a lot. Only one trip up and down the stairs instead of fifty. As far as cost, I am leaning towards the Kuuma which is listed just under $5000 on their website. After delivery and paying a friend who's a HVAC guy to redo the hookup to the duct work, I should be heating again for less than $6000 easily. I will have a return in investment in 3-4 years. JRHAWK9, we're not too far from you. We are in eastern dodge county. Near Hartford. Now that you've had yours for part of season, it sounds that you are very happy. What made you decide between a 100 or 200? Go Packers

Packers schmackers!