Burning wood , Add-A-Furnace; Monarch, Longwood

[Theowegian]

Anyone have a wood burning furnace which is tied into the gas furnace?

I have one-installed new with the house in 1975. The wood furnace an old Monarch brand, called Add-a-Furnace. Parts are extemely hard to find, but Ive found a few. Ive heard and seen a few Longwood furnaces, too.

Just wondering if anyone has a wood furnace that they purchased or built or if anyone is familiar with Monarch or Longwood?

dwight

 

[Sigarms]

Dumb question, longwood or "logwood"?

 

[Theowegian]

Longwood brand furnace.
/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Sigarms]

I'm "out". Thinking of Marathon heater. Apologies

 

[rswyan]

Dwight,

I'm not familiar with either. I have a LTD Limited add-on furnace which I bought about 15 years ago used. The door says Osseo WI on it. Uses a small Dayton squirrel cage blower. Up until last year I had it in my shed. I replaced it with the idea that I would move it down to the house and tie it into our existing H.E. forced-air gas furnace.

That plan has gotten waylaid a bit for several reasons:

1. I would need to move my existing furnace from where it sits. The estimate for our local HVAC company to do so was around $500 to $750.

2. I currently have a natural gas water heater which vents into the flue I would use, so I would probably need to move it and/or come up with a different venting scheme. More $$$.

3. The basement room where I would be locating the addon doesn't have a door to the outside, which makes getting wood into it a bit of a problem. (The only path is thru a family room in the which currently has a white berber carpet /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif)

4. I already have a woodburning insert in the basement fireplace - although it isn't the greatest unit (it's a Good News), it does provide a significant amount of supplemental heat.

5. We're putting up a polebarn (they start tomorrow) and I'm thinking of just locating the unit there.

One of the things I did after pulling the unit out of the shed was to "port & polish" /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif the draft vent to open up the holes in it. When I had it in the shed it was always starving for air - in order to get the fire going good in it you had to open the ash cleanout tray slightly to give it enough air - hopefully it will work a little better now. One of the problems with the design of this unit is that they ash cleanout tray does not have a door that locks closed on it - the tray just slides in and out. It would be very easy to over-fire it if you weren't careful.

Attached is an image.

 

[TMcD_in_MI]

Dwight -

I used a Monarch Add-A-Furnace for twenty years hooked up just like yours. I burned about twenty face cords of wood a year and not much propane . I thought the furnace was pretty darn good. I did have to replace the cast iron liner plates a couple of times, but the last time I tried to replace them, my dealer told me he couldn't get them anymore.

When we were getting ready to sell our house, I replaced both furnaces with a high efficiency gas furnace, and the old Monarch was carted off to the scrap yard.

Tom

 

[djradz]

When I eventually relocated my old add-on to my barn, I removed all the shrouding, insulation and the blower, so I didn't have to have that noisy blower going all the time. To provide a little better air circulation, I put a ceiling fan in the ceiling above and have it on low speed. It not only helps to distribute the heat, but also does a better job at keeping the whole barn warm, and its oh so quiet. I've only got 3-1/2 inches of insulation in the ceiling, but it's not uncommon to get my 30x40' barn up over 70 degrees.

 

[Theowegian]

Tom:
Thanks for taking time to reply to my post.

I visited the heating/ac dealer this week that originally installed my Monarch in 1975. He actually remembers the install. Anyway, I asked him about replacement parts because I was thinking about refurbishing it or maybe replacing it with a newer stove.

The dealer offered me one option.
1-Install new side plates...$100 a piece (he has some and showed them to me)
But I wondered if buying a whole new wood furnace, like the Yukon Eagle Add on Furnace. Im wondering if that might work for me? The payback would be about 3-5 years.

I burn about 3 full cords of wood per year and cut my own wood, my house is 1800 sq ft plus full walkout basement.

So, I guess Im still exploring my options....if you have some possibilities, feel free to let me know.
/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

dwight

 

[Cowgirl]

We have a wood furnace just like yours which we bought from an individual when we built our house in 1995. We live near Cassoday and would love to know of a local dealer for parts.

Jean

 

[JRobyn]

My B-I-Ls new log cabin has a wood-burning add-on furnace made by FireChief. Works great!

Obadiah's Furnaces

- Jay