U.S.Stove CLAYTON 1600 EF Outdoor Furnace

Hey guys,

I just noticed that U.S.Stove Company introduced it's New Clayton 1600 EF outdoor furnace model. http://www.usstove.com/proddetail.php?prod=1600EF http://usstovecom.siteprotect.net/Downl ... 1600EF.pdf

It looks like U.S.Stove is now providing a needed niche for those who can't have or don't want a solid fuel furnace indoors. Their outdoor model seems to be a modified Clayton 1600. I can't wait to see one of these furnaces in person. The design appears to be well thought out and should perform every bit as well as their Clayton 1600 series indoor models. It appears to come standard with the motorized natural draft kit.

I'm curious to see how well it does outdoors. See what you guys think. I bet it will do very well for heating and will find itself in a lot of future central heating applications such as trailers, and buildings where an indoor solid furnace was not a possibility before.

I just got done reading the owner's manual to this Clayton Outdoor furnace. It seems that U.S.Stove has covered a good bit for successfully burning in their new Clayton 1600 EF. I think that someone from U.S.Stove must have been reading some of the posts here on NEPA because they have a special BULLETIN RC454
A GUIDE TO BURNING COAL IN YOUR FURNACE at the end of the manual. It sure reads like they have been listening to our posts here on NEPA. Great job U.S.Stove!

Hey U.S.Stove, If you are reading any of this, where did you go? You once were a member in the manufactures corner here on NEPA, but have disappeared. Anyway, keep up the good work! I just hope that all of the positive talk here on NEPA will help you and the wonderful Clayton designed furnace. It really is the best bang for the buck!

I fired up my Clayton 1600G last night to take the chill off because it dropped to 30 degrees outside and smiled happily as the warmth quickly went through the house and kept my family toasty all night on just a few logs. I believe that out of all of the U.S.Stove products, the Clayton 1600 series furnaces are the best, not only offered from U.S.Stove, but anywhere else for the price!

Has anyone actually used one of these? This house lacks a basement & this would seem the perfect solution for me if they're worth having.

I want to install some form of wood furnace in my all electric 1700 sq ft house and I'm having a hard time deciding whether to install one in my attached garage, or go with an outside one. I've been thinking of going with the U.S. Stove Hot Blast #1400 in the garage, Orscheln has it on sale for $1080.00. By the time I install a chimney, etc I'm sure I'll have over $2000.00 in it. I'd run several warm air ducts into the house, and run a cold air return. This would help to keep the garage heated just by having the furnace in the garage. Or... Go with an outside wood furnace such as the Clayton 1600 EF. The standard Clayton indoor 1600 appears to be a very good unit, I was thinking of going cheaper since I'll be burning all wood and I have plenty of it. The Clayton EF doesn't appear to be insulated as are some of the other outside wood furnaces, I'd buy it if it was proven to work efficiently as Northern Tool has it shipped for a little over $2600.00. The best outside forced heat furnace that I have seen is made by Shaver. Here is an Ebay link to it. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... lHV3M%253D It is a new for 2010 model as is the Clayton 1600 EF, but Shaver has been making outside wood to water furnaces since the last ice age, and it seems like they have thought of everything. Installing both 12" dia lines into my basement doesn't sound like a fun job, although I've done worse. I like the idea of having all the mess outside as I use to heat with an insert in a zero clearance fireplace and it was a mess, although the garage wouldn't be too bad. I also like the thought of not having to install a chimney in the house.
You guys on here appear to know your furnaces, what are your thoughts on this? Thanks! Bob

I'm thinking of putting the 1600 EF in a small building adjacent the house with a coal bin included. I REALLY miss having a basement and this seems like the next best thing. I know they're new on the market, but I thought maybe someone had at least seen one in use?

I'm bumping this thread up just in case anyone has seen one of these in action?

I would NOT recomend a remote outdoor furnace.

Guys remember that AIR is the worst conductor of heat you can use. Think about it.. what is insulation? It's many layers of airspaces. Air is not molecule-dense. And heat is adding energy to or increasing the vibration rate of molecules in a substance.. Air is just too close to a vacuum, compared to water..

So if an air heating device is needed in your house, locate it IN the house.. not outside. If you need to locate your heating device outside of the envelope of the house, use a boiler, and heat and transport WATER. It is a MUCH better heat transport medium.. Then use a water-to-air heat exchanger in your ductwork.

It's much easier to transport 1000's of BTUs of heat in water than air.. the size of a hot water pipe vs an insulated air duct, keeping a duct clean over the years, etc, etc..

I'll let one of our forum scientists come up with the the numbers but there are a LOT more BTUs in a pound of water at 140* than in a pound of Air,, and hwo big is a pound of air?? I know a gallon of water weighs 8.3#, so a pound of water is a pint.. I'm gonna guess that a pound of air is about 6 cubic feet in volume. This is a GUESS.. I'm probably off by a huge amount.

Anyway,, take care.
Greg L

DOUG wrote:Hey guys,

I just noticed that U.S.Stove Company introduced it's New Clayton 1600 EF outdoor furnace model. http://www.usstove.com/proddetail.php?prod=1600EF http://usstovecom.siteprotect.net/Downl ... 1600EF.pdf

It looks like U.S.Stove is now providing a needed niche for those who can't have or don't want a solid fuel furnace indoors. Their outdoor model seems to be a modified Clayton 1600. I can't wait to see one of these furnaces in person. The design appears to be well thought out and should perform every bit as well as their Clayton 1600 series indoor models. It appears to come standard with the motorized natural draft kit.

I'm curious to see how well it does outdoors. See what you guys think. I bet it will do very well for heating and will find itself in a lot of future central heating applications such as trailers, and buildings where an indoor solid furnace was not a possibility before.

Got one and its working well. Its a bit lacking here in Vermont on the coldest of days but its not the unit its how I have it hooked up. I am piping it directly into the crawl space under our home. I don't have a full basement so ducting it is difficult. But with the wood stove and the EF 1600 going its plenty comfortable on the really cold nights in the single did gets.

LsFarm wrote:I would NOT recomend a remote outdoor furnace.

Guys remember that AIR is the worst conductor of heat you can use. Think about it.. what is insulation? It's many layers of airspaces. Air is not molecule-dense. And heat is adding energy to or increasing the vibration rate of molecules in a substance.. Air is just too close to a vacuum, compared to water..

So if an air heating device is needed in your house, locate it IN the house.. not outside. If you need to locate your heating device outside of the envelope of the house, use a boiler, and heat and transport WATER. It is a MUCH better heat transport medium.. Then use a water-to-air heat exchanger in your ductwork.

It's much easier to transport 1000's of BTUs of heat in water than air.. the size of a hot water pipe vs an insulated air duct, keeping a duct clean over the years, etc, etc..

I'll let one of our forum scientists come up with the the numbers but there are a LOT more BTUs in a pound of water at 140* than in a pound of Air,, and hwo big is a pound of air?? I know a gallon of water weighs 8.3#, so a pound of water is a pint.. I'm gonna guess that a pound of air is about 6 cubic feet in volume. This is a GUESS.. I'm probably off by a huge amount.

Anyway,, take care.
Greg L

Greg I will not argue the science behind a boiler verses a hot air furnace. I will however argue cost/logistics and legal issues. Here in Vermont they have made it almost impossible to place a remote outdoor boiler. However all of the state regulations for permitting other than building permits are specific for as they call them out door hydronic boilers. So working with a lawyer friend we decided that a out door hot air furnace is not a boiler here for I do not need state permits to install. I did get a local building permitand even the administrator agrees with this legal argument. Now for cost. For what it would have cost me for just the boiler I purchased my EF1600 hooked it all up, built a 20x24 deck added insulation to parts of my home and did a brake job on my car. All for about 6 thousand dollars. So if permitting and cost are your concerns its a great deal. If efficiancy is more important than money then go for the boiler.

Stephen in Soky wrote:I'm bumping this thread up just in case anyone has seen one of these in action?

Got one and its working well. I have been burning wood mostly but I have been exploring the coal option. My first experiance went OK but obviously the is a learning curve.