Add-On Wood Burning Furnace Install - *UPDATE*

[Paddy]

Your correct.
It dosn't matter how tight a house is, it will pull the air or the fire will go out. We all have seen the egg get sucked in the bottle with the candle!

Outside air source is so easy if you understand it does not need to be hooked up direct. Just close to the intake.

If you were concerned about cold getting in when the fire was out or low, you could put a small rubber flap on the end.

Patrick

 

[Scrounger]

Since I;m thinkng of doing the same thing, propane is killing me. You said, " Still no fire yet...low voltage dampers out of stock (to keep gas furnace from fighting with wood furnace). " What doe this do, I was thinking of just interupting the starter on the propane furnance so if wont produce any heat or just turn it off. I was thinking of using its blower, but the usstove units have a blower on most of them.

 

[billbill1]

I set the thermostat lower on my propane furnace by about 5 degrees. If the fire goes out on the wood furnace, the propane furnace comes on and keeps the house warm. My two furnaces are separate but use the same ductwork, works very well.

 

[JSUnlimited]

Scrounger,

The dampers will go inside the cold air returns right near both furnaces.

I will have one thermostat on the wall which has 2 heat stages and 1 cool stage.

My 1st stage of heat will be the wood furnace set at wherever the boss wants it and the second stage will be the gas furnace set 5 degrees lower or so.

When the T-stat calls for heat the 1st stage will kick in and close the damper on the gas furnace so that the blower from the wood furnace won't have to drive air through the gas furnace therefore not losing much volume of airflow. If the wood fire goes out then once the temp drops to the second stage the gas furnace kicks on and closes the damper on the wood furnace................ of course the cold stage is normal summer operation of the A/C, which should close the wood stove damper as the gas furnace is the on that has the A coil in it

Unless there is a malfunction of the T-stat, both furnaces should never run at the same time!

Confused?

 

[beenthere]

Mega_Me
Have you burned wood to heat a home before?

 

[JSUnlimited]

Yes, but with nothing like this. Why do you ask?

 

[beenthere]

I am thinking you will be going through some learning and adjusting periods with the 'control' of heat, from what you are talking. Hopefully its as clean and straight-forward as you plan.
I think you'll find some of this out early on, and each system is a bit different. I had a hot air system at first, and several friends who did as well. Interesting the things that worked and things that didn't work. I switched to heating water and have several 'controls' to make up for lack of wood heat when the wood isn't burning anymore (for a number of reasons) and the 'gas' back-up needs to kick in.
I only ask to interpret what it is you are talking about with your plenum controls. I don't doubt that it is a good way to go, and that you will learn the 'characteristics' and anomolies of the whole system.
I think you are doing a good, thorough design and hope you get it up and running soon.

 

[JSUnlimited]

beenthere,

I appreciate your comments and suggestions. I'm sure each individual system is different and I have had a few sleepless nights wondering if this is all going to be worth the money. However, I've heard conversations from guys at work and/or family about how their gas bill (on a budget) has shot up tremendously already, we are not on a budget and gas bills are already over $100 (68 degrees in 2500 sq ft.). Since the majority of work (layout, etc.) is being done by a licensed HVAC/electrician friend of mine, I'm confident that things will work as planned. I agree with you that there will definately be a curve to the learning here as I figure out how this thing burns.

Now its a matter of when mother nature figures out what she is going to do.....it's supposed to be 70 with thunderstorms tomorrow...it seems that winters in SE Ohio are getting much more milder, so much for a quick return on this investment!

 

[djradz]

<font color="blue"> </font><font color="blue" class="small">( Mavrik02, I have not even lit the this thing yet...but I do have at least a face cord carried down the steps and let me tell you.....I'll have a walk-in basement by next winter!</font> )</font>

Although are Bilco door installation used to have a stairway down in it, we pulled it out and now just load the pit up with wood, then go inside and take wood from the pit when we need it. To keep the outside of the inside door from getting all banged up when we load the pit, we lay a sheet of plywood about 6 ft high across the opening, and then pull it when we start to use the wood.