Which wood furnace you bought or you would like to get and why?

[70marlin]

Thank's laynes,If there is anything else u can think of please let me know ,I am ready to pull my hair out!I would like to give it a shot this year by running it this way but if i am not happy then the tax credit is gone, a lot of the dealer's I have called have been pointing me to max caddy and then some are saying either the max or regular caddy< one thing is for sure that I want to make sure that I will have a big enough furnace that will heat in the near future because I do plan on adding on at some point .I will be finishin the base ment and add on a three car garage that i would like to heat here and there also,and plus I would like to get burn times of at least eight hour's or so or at least last the time of my work day and i would like to heat my hot water with it also and i dont think the caddy has that opition but the max doe's but then is the max going to fall into the oversized category?

I'm not sure what my burn time is. But first time with only a 3/4 load of wood in to the fire box it burn't for almost 6 hours though it wasn,t very cold out 40's. my harman came with a heating loop for the water heater or what ever you wanted to use it for. " little devil say's heat a hot tub with it!"

 

[freeburn]

Squish - just a thought. If you are going to add on and your current furnace is too big. Aren't you already set with what you have or do you just want the EPA cert furnace and get the credit?

 

[laynes69]

Yeah if you got the Max Caddy, you would still be oversized right now and maybe even after an addition. I don't know what else to say. You can save alot of money by sticking with what you have. If you have concerns about burning too much wood, or creosote, too much heat, etc. then theres alot to think about. How much wood did you burn per winter with the 480? You have alot of legit concerns, which is good because they are things that need to be thought of. How warm do you like your house in the winter?

 

[vvvv]

considered adding firebrix to make the firebox smaller?

 

[squish]

Thank's for the advice everybody.I was really after getting the epa furnace ,to reduce wood consumption,cleaner chimney,and also the tax credit to do this cheaper.I am going to add a three car garage on hopefully within the next two years or so but really would only need it to be 65 degree's or so.I usually keep my home at 69 or 70F with the wood heat.I should really take some more time and think about what i amgoing to be adding on exactly.I called the psg to day and talked them and they thought the caddy would be just fine even if i did add on the garage/workshop. I asked them about the water coil for the caddy and they said there has been some talk about making one for that unit.I think a few of u guy's said u were heating 2000sq or more with the regular caddy so i think that would be the right unit to buy,most of the dealer's must be thinking about the coin more then anyhting sometime's.Blimp u said adding fire brick to reduce firebox size, any idea's on how to do it?

 

[laynes69]

I was thinking even if you added on, the Caddy would work. I know some people want their house 80, but we keep ours around 72. I'm heating a 2400 sq ft home with 10' ceilings thats 150+ years old. If your really thinking about it, I would take advantage of the tax credits.

 

[vvvv]

Thank's for the advice everybody.I was really after getting the epa furnace ,to reduce wood consumption,cleaner chimney,and also the tax credit to do this cheaper.I am going to add a three car garage on hopefully within the next two years or so but really would only need it to be 65 degree's or so.I usually keep my home at 69 or 70F with the wood heat.I should really take some more time and think about what i amgoing to be adding on exactly.I called the psg to day and talked them and they thought the caddy would be just fine even if i did add on the garage/workshop. I asked them about the water coil for the caddy and they said there has been some talk about making one for that unit.I think a few of u guy's said u were heating 2000sq or more with the regular caddy so i think that would be the right unit to buy,most of the dealer's must be thinking about the coin more then anyhting sometime's.Blimp u said adding fire brick to reduce firebox size, any idea's on how to do it?

got a pic of the firebox + airflow description? increased mass in firebox would heat & cool slower. main concern would be to not bust the brix when loading the furnace.

 

[FyreBug]

I work for PSG and by the sound of it, I have to agree with everybody the Max Caddy would cook you out of the house. It's a great furnace but it needs the house to go along with it.

On a side note we have done something neat with the Max that we hope to port to the other Caddies eventually. The Max has a 6 speed blower that automatically adjusts according to the plenum temperature. What this means is on high fire the blower will go faster and at the tail end of the fire it will reduce the air flow to a minimum. This means the temperature coming out of your register remain constant, but the velocity of the air changes. It makes the furnace a lot more efficient and on low fire doesn't cool down the fire box too much (thus reducing the chance of creosote formation).

The computer keeps track and adjust the air damper, plenum temperature and blower speed.

 

[trailhound68]

I bought and installed the Seton and am very happy with it. Glad I did not get the Greenwood from what I've learned here.
Large feed door and NO splitting. I've become accustomed to the fact that it smokes when loading and has no ashtray, not a problem.
Installation was easy, she's heavy though. I'm considering some mods to clean the heat exchanger, I don't think it will be too difficult.
I was able to find replacement insulation no problem. Natural draft is to my liking also.
Overall it's a good fit my situation heating the garage it is in and the house which has baseboard heating.
Did I mention NO splitting, traded my splitter for a log truck load, almost a year's worth of fuel.
I was looking for an indoor boiler because of close neighbors not to mention regulations.
Love the boiler and the fact that it is easy to maitain, alter and should last a lifetime with maintenance and upkeep.

 

[johnsopi]

I have the Yukon Big jack. This will be the 6th winter we love it. Easy to start and heats the house very well. Plus I uses the fan with my A/C to push the air in the summer

 

[woodsmaster]

I bought a biomass 60 boiler. I got it becouse it was cheper than the tarm, garn, and woodgun and seemed to be quality boiler. I like the peep hole in the gassifacation door. I also like that it will burn corn on the cob,
50% wood chips, 50% coal and cord wood mix and cord wood. I probably could have gotten by with a 40 but liked the 30" long fire-pot on the 60 and I'm going to have storage so the larger size I believe will make
burnig more convienient with less filling. Oh ya my wood was already cut to long for a 40 and didnt want to re-cut.

 

[OldStoneHouse]

FyreBug:

This sounds really interesting! Do you think it might be possible to retrofit to existing installs? I've got a Caddy and that is one of the things I really liked about the Max Caddy.

We put a Caddy in last year and this year now that we have the fuel situation worked out (read: dry enough) it's working very well. I'm heating a 2500 square foot, 160 year old stone house and it holds its own quite well. I don't think we had the space to get the Max Caddy in because the basement ceiling would have been too low. For us (in Canada), Newmac was the other choice but it has an 8" flue where the Caddy has 6". Getting the 6" liner in was hard enough!

I work for PSG and by the sound of it, I have to agree with everybody the Max Caddy would cook you out of the house. It's a great furnace but it needs the house to go along with it.

On a side note we have done something neat with the Max that we hope to port to the other Caddies eventually. The Max has a 6 speed blower that automatically adjusts according to the plenum temperature. What this means is on high fire the blower will go faster and at the tail end of the fire it will reduce the air flow to a minimum. This means the temperature coming out of your register remain constant, but the velocity of the air changes. It makes the furnace a lot more efficient and on low fire doesn't cool down the fire box too much (thus reducing the chance of creosote formation).

The computer keeps track and adjust the air damper, plenum temperature and blower speed.

 

[ddad]

I have a Harmon SF 1500 furnace. Usually use wood and I am happy with it, although I think a boiler or soapstone would mean less work with the system holding the heat longer.

 

[Akgasser]

I have a Seton 130 and wouldn't buy another one. Installation guidance was a joke and it took me a month to figure out how to seal it up properly and keep the overtemp valve from dumping water in my garage every night. The load door and damper door gaskets had to be replaced immediately as the factory ones are worthless if they're even there. Calls to seton were never returned. Go with something else.