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jdemaris
03-23-2005 20:45:49
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Re: Which brand of add-on wood furnace? in reply to FarmerSid, 03-23-2005 03:10:21
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I'm assuming your oil furnace is hot-air, and you want to tie a hot-air wood furnace into the existing duct work? If so, the right way to do it is NOT to hook in series, or in simple parallel, but do it with a "backflow preventer" in the main furnace plenum which you might have to get made on-site. Any good furnace you buy will give some diagrams and probably won't honor the warranty unless you install the device. As far a choosing a model, good luck. I spent a long time looking around. I've been heating with wood for most of my life, but for various reasons, decided to updgrade. Tore out our old 1914 pot belly coal/wood stove and replaced it with a EPA rated woodstove - a Heartstone. We love it, and it's amazingly efficient as compared to the old stove. It's not sufficient to heat the entire house though when it's 25 below zero F. outside. So, I built an extra room and installed a wood-furnace which is tied in to the oil hot-air furnace in the basement. I found out that the Canadian regs. on stove pipe are stricter than the U.S. regs., so I ordered pipe from Canada. It has a higher burnout rating and better insulation than anything offered in the U.S. I was hoping to find a new wood furnace that used some newer combustion technology like all the wood stoves do now. But, anything called a "furnace" is exempt from EPA regs, so there are very few improvements - except in the advertising. As far as I know, there is only wood furnace that has been tested and approved by the EPA - and it's made in Qu�bec. I tried to buy one, and the French-Canadian refused to sell it to me. Maybe because I'm not French enough? I don't know. It got me quite frustrated. So, being uable to find anything that uses enhanced technology, I looked for a furnace that had the best durability. That let me to the Myers Co. They manufacture farm equipment and wood furnaces. Their largest model, the Woodchuck 4000 has 1/4" steel in the combustion chamber along with firebrick. So, I bought it. It works great - eats wood - but that's what I expected. I suppose the EPA rated Canadian furnace is more efficient - but guess I'll never find out. You're Canadian, correct? Brush up on your 18th century French, call them up, and see if they'll sell it to YOU. By the way, I'm not trying to insult the French-Canadians - but the version of French they speak is very close to what was used in France in the 18th century - whereas the French language today, in France, has changed considerably. Neither my mother or grandmother (both long deceased) who both came from Soutern France, could not converse with a French-Canadian - in French. So, they used English - a good common denominator. I'll stop digressing. Woodchuck furnace website is at: Link The EPA rated furnace in Qu�bec is made by PSG and is called the EPA Caddy. One of their sites is at: Link or a site that describes the EPA Caddy is at: Link If you get a chance, post some of the links for furnaces that YOU mentioned. I'd like to read the specs.
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