Cottage Furnace

[cowanjo]

hi all, considering putting a furnace in the cottage - propane - today 4 season cottage wood heated mostly. any thoughts and direction most appreciated. have to duct etc s have no infrastructure at all.

 

appreciate any experiences and pit falls!

 

Thank you and have a great new year (hope icefishing jan 1 zone 17 is sucessful for all!)

[nofish4me]

If you make sure it is a 2 pipe venting system for your High efficency furnace, it will take care of any venting problems.

Propane is only good to -40, at that temp there is no pressure in the tank.

[Twocoda]

just a suggestion ...depending on how many sq your trying to heat...why not just go with a propane gas fireplace? ...no duct to worry about ...im assuming your trying to get away from the mess a woodstove makes? There are ventless but im not sure they are legal in canada so you could go with a zero clearance right up through the flu

[Rizzo]

we just have a propane fireplace, no ductwork because the cottage is only 700 sq feet. No problem for us, other than the bedrooms are pretty cold and the loft is boiling! For the few times a winter we use it we find that to be adequate.

[Fish4Eyes]

Have a energy efficiency inspection done, and you might be eligible for a rebate on that furnace! Look into it.

[grt1]

When I was putting in a furnace in my house (1400 sq ft) + full basement, The furnace guy told me that it would take years to get a payback on the high efficiency mode., For the money he recommended the next step down from the High efficiency model. This was 10+ years ago and the furnace was an oil version. I don't know how much they cost now but the diffference back then was about 2500 dollars for high efficiency.

 

I went with the recommended furnace and haven't had a problem (touch wood)

[bushart]

How bout this one

 

If your burning wood already and it's not your principle residence (Where wood gets to be a pain)

 

I believe It was made by Napoloean when I looked into this once

 

It's a fireplace (looks and all) not a woodstove and you build a wall behind the front and there is several forced air supply outlets that you can hook your ductwork up to

 

Basically it's a warm air plenum behind---just looks like a fireplace in front--looked kinda cool

 

Little different spin on a forced air wood furnace

 

Bushart

[cowanjo]

I appreciate all the responses. I have a local guy coming to talk to me saturday. the comments are spot on he suggested the survey to get the rebates, he talked to me about why high efficiency vs others. He wants to come crawl around and then suggest. Talked about HST - never thought this would cost more but it will not be exempt.

 

I have the insert described in bedroom - looks like fireplace, but its electic and really sucks the juice!

 

Thanks all I will put comments after I meet with his suggestions and let everyone comment.

[Fisherman]

I do believe that your cottage qualifies for the Home reno rebate program and looks like they may extend it, go check on the gov't site.

[bushart]

what I described burns wood--not hydro

 

Bushart

[Fish4Eyes]

Expanding on what bushart said, back home in Europe my house (which was rather large) was heated by firewood that sent heat through ducts. I think only a fan was used to move the heat better, and i'm not sure how the smoke was filtered out. If your interested, I can ask my dad for more details as I was real young when we left. Im sure you can find info regarding this online too. From what I can remember the fireplace or furnace if you want to call it was approx 4' wide, 8' long, 3-4' deep and you would jam it full of wood, and you wouldnt have to worry about reloading for up to 12hours. It would be the perfect set up for you, especially considering its a cottage and it is not your permanent residence. Besides, utilities aint cheap in the bush. Just a thought.

Edited December 31, 2009 by Fish4Eyes

[Twocoda]

A couple of strategically placed ceiling fans will eliminate the hot/cold spots in the cottage...

[Rattletrap2]

High efficiency furnaces are great........while they work. Unfortunately, to get this increase in efficiency, the furnace has become more complex and has a great number of parts that can fail associated with it. They can be finicky!

There are combustion blowers, ignitors, pressure switches, circuit boards, ECM motors, secondary heat exchangers, roll-out switches, limit switches, and many other components.

Unfortunately, the trusty old thermocouple and standing pilot are a thing of the past these days and along with them, went reliability!

 

I work with this stuff every day, and am hesitant myself to upgrade my own furnace!!! I know all the benefits, but unfortunately, knowing there is still a good chance that my furnace will be operating while I am away, means more than cost savings from higher efficiency.

 

Just being able to repair the thing myself does not make me feel any more comfortable when I go away for a few days!

 

Make sure that if you do go high efficiency, the venting is located in a place that snow cannot drift up against and block them. I would also want to remote monitor the cottage temperature with a phone dialer if there is a risk of freeze-up and have someone nearby that is able to check on things for you.

 

I'm sure the Salesman will be all hyped on these higher efficiency furnaces, but make sure you know what you are letting yourself in for. Get a service plan with them that covers parts and labour. If they really believe in the products, they will back them.

[Twocoda]

from purchasing furnaces on a regular basis and using several different manufacturers through out the years the best warranty your going to find out there will be Tappan... they initialized the longest gaurantee then any of the other i have used (forcing the others to recently follow suite)...they have taken the "best" features of ALL the manufacturers and combined them into their units...

 

Good Luck