Wood/Oil furnaces

[NEPAUG_LOGGER]

I recently ordered an Alpha American/Yukon Eagle combo furnace from an outfit in MN.  Does anyone have one of these?  Has anyone ever heard of them?  They seemed pretty well built, and the company has been making them for 25 years with over 50,000 unit sold.  Lang

[L. Wakefield]

   Interesting website and furnaces. I have a 'Longwood' oil/wood burner that came with this house. It's a horrible creosote factory. The major problem with it is lack of an efficient damping system. After having to clean incredible amounts of creaosote out of the chimney, I gave it up and went with oil. I like the look of the afterburner on the Yukon furnaces.

   There was another thread around that dealt kind of with this same topic. If you search 'furnaces' or 'woodburners' on the forum you may find it.   lw

[hawby]

My Longwood creosoted as well, until I covered my chimney from the roofline on up to the top. Never had a problem again. I liked the fact that if I was lucky enough to sleep in, the oil took over until I packed it with wood again for the 8-12 hour burn. I still have one out on the junk pile, been threatening to put it out in the shop....but it is way down the list on the huney-dos!

[L. Wakefield]

   Covered how? Was it making creosote only in the chimney? Mine was producing a fine batch of creosote right in the fire box.  lw

[Sailor]

I have the Homesteader built in Winkler Manitoba and have been using two of them for over seven years. One heats my house and shop the other heats the barn. We have had almost zero problems and price wise they were in Canadian Dollars, making them thousands of dollars cheaper. I only load these furnaces every three to four days and if I find myself loading sooner than that it's either -40 or I have a leak on one of my door seals. Their always good about info and have parts on the bus that day. Mind you I've only had to replace the door seals and one damper motor in that time. When I research them there were better furnaces out there but none at their price and quality. Sailor

[NEPAUG_LOGGER]

I just finished putting in the furnace, and I have a nice load of wood in there now.  All is well so far, and it seems like a very well built unit.  I plan on cleaning the smoke pipe once a month or every 6 weeks, so I'll let everyone now how it turns out.  party on!

[L. Wakefield]

I have the Homesteader built in Winkler Manitoba and have been using two of them for over seven years. One heats my house and shop the other heats the barn. We have had almost zero problems and price wise they were in Canadian Dollars, making them thousands of dollars cheaper. I only load these furnaces every three to four days and if I find myself loading sooner than that it's either -40 or I have a leak on one of my door seals. Their always good about info and have parts on the bus that day. Mind you I've only had to replace the door seals and one damper motor in that time. When I research them there were better furnaces out there but none at their price and quality. Sailor

   Damper motor, damper motor- now that sounds like the right technology..  lw

[hawby]

lw,

I covered it with 2x2s, insulation and vinyl siding. That kept the chimney warm all the way up, which in turn increased the draw. Up until then, I would have the film of creosote in the firebox, running out the cleanout, and it would crust at the roofline.

klh

[beenthere]

Hawby
How hot do you think those 2x2's are going to get?  They (assuming wood 2x2's) will deteriorate and possibly ignite if they get too warm. Saw that (similar anyway) happen with a stud wall behind a fireplace. Two layer of brick, some mortar plus a layer of firebrick before the stud wall and siding on the outside of the home. The studs were completely burned through and gone, with a little bit apparently going after each burn in the fireplace.
Only worried about you having a potential burn around your chimney. The insulation trick sounds like a good way to keep the chimney hot and keep the smoke warm for a bit longer.

[hawby]

Beenthere,

I was not too concerned about them as they were on the outside of the house. ( I only did this above the roofline) The chimney itself was cold enough to condensate the creosote at that point.

Not to sound uncaring, but I don't own that house anymore. It does still stand ;), but I am not sure if they still use the Longwood. I see a lot of pallets outside, but no woodpile.

I used styrofoam insulation so it would not draw moisture and cause the mortar to degrade..... klh