# wood/propane furnace?



## Tilly (Oct 16, 2007)

Hey, has anyone used one of these or seen reviews/testimonials of them? they look perfect for our off grid home we are planning.

http://www.yukon-eagle.com/FURNACES/EAGLEIIPOLAR/tabid/56/Default.aspx


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## mdharris68 (Sep 28, 2006)

First, I am not an owner of one of these nor do I know anyone with one, so my opinion is based on my research since you posted your questions. I read through one of the installation manuals, and find this to appear to be a well made product with what appears to be a good company to back it. 

I am in the heat/cool business, although I prefer to burn wood myself. I have been looking for a version like you linked to and am really impressed with these furnaces. I do think the warranty is lacking though. But you may find a dealer who really backs thier product. 

I am serious enough to inquire about pricing for a unit to fit my house. Thanks for posting the link. I hope you get some info from people that have used this brand. 

One thing you could do is contact the company and get specific referrals in your area so you could talk face to face with an owner. 

The only potential problem that I see could be the quality of your power supply in an off grid situation. The funace control will require "clean" power to operate correctly. But with todays power converters, that should'nt be too much of a problem. Hope my 2 cents helps a little.

P.S. One thing I forgot to mention is this. Assuming your new structure will be very well insulated, you may not be able to utilize the full capacity of thier smallest unit. When that is the case, it is better to choose something else to fit the particular load requirement. Talk to a pro about sizing your heat/cool loads based on the construction design before deciding on one of these. Oversize is just as bad as undersized equipment. 2 more cents

P.S.P.S. check this out.... www.woodmasonry.com this would be my choice for an of grid situation.


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## WisJim (Jan 14, 2004)

This was one of the brands that was on the short list of furnaces we considered a couple of years ago, when we needed to replace our old unit. We ended up with a Charmaster as it could be ordered in a 2 piece unit that was possible to get into our basement easier, and the Charmaster also has some features for running in a power outage as a gravity circulation unit. Ours is straight wood, though, and I am not sure if I would want a combination unit that had 2 fuels using the same firebox and flue. I also agree that these furnaces might be too big for a sensibly sized well-insulated house.


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## Tilly (Oct 16, 2007)

I guess our planned home is not sensibly sized. We are doing a log barn style, two story on a walkout basement. Total size about 2700 ft. We are trying to find a heat source that we can use in the basement with duct work or even just let it radiate through grates to heat the upstairs. with three levels, I really don't want to have a woodstove on each floor. Also, if you only use wood heat, what do you do if you are gone a couple of days? That is the problem we are trying to figure out now. Thanks for the info about oversizing, my step dad put in an oversized hi-e funace for their place and it is very inefficient! Woodmasonry was a fun site,thanks!!!


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## mdharris68 (Sep 28, 2006)

Tilly said:


> I guess our planned home is not sensibly sized. We are doing a log barn style, two story on a walkout basement. Total size about 2700 ft. We are trying to find a heat source that we can use in the basement with duct work or even just let it radiate through grates to heat the upstairs. with three levels, I really don't want to have a woodstove on each floor. Also, if you only use wood heat, what do you do if you are gone a couple of days? That is the problem we are trying to figure out now. Thanks for the info about oversizing, my step dad put in an oversized hi-e funace for their place and it is very inefficient! Woodmasonry was a fun site,thanks!!!


I would contact the company and ask them if they have someone who could help you run a heat load on your house. Chances are they have a heat load computer program that they could run on your planned structure, if you have enough info available, and I bet it would take the bigger size on a barn that big. Sounds like a thirty x thirty log cabin? huh?


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## Tilly (Oct 16, 2007)

Yup, 30x30, we currently have a nat gas furnace in our 2000 ft modular that we are renting with a woodstove, and i really prefer the wood heat. I just can't see myself hauling wood to three levels! After looking back over the owner's manual, there is an issue if we lose electricity for the blower. DH is planning on running the blower on solar w/ batteries, and a prop generator back-up. Inever thought of having a heat load program run, I just figured we'd get the one that fit the ft2!!


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## mdharris68 (Sep 28, 2006)

Basing furnace size on square ft is an old rule of thumb. Probably the same rule of thumb that was used in the step dad's situation. Good luck with your equipment search.


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