LL Hyfire Vs Reading Sesquehanna or Keystoker Furnace

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213007237
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Post by 213007237 » Fri. Aug. 08, 2008 11:00 am

I need help choosing between a Hyfire II with Hot Air jacket, vs a Reading Sesquehanna furnace, vs a Keystoker A-120 dual fuel furnace.

I am leaning towards the Hyfire II with air jacket because of lower cost, but mainly because of of unit availability. However, I have a few concerns. Namely, I'm not crazy about the idea of sucking the open air from around the stoker and distributing it throughout the house. The idea of a heat exchanger and "closed loop" air system (i.e. Reading or Keystoker) seems better, from the standpoint that I can contain trace odors to the furnace room, as opposed to broadcasting them througth the duct system.

Does anyone with a Hyfire/air jacket combo have anything to share about your experiences? Am I blowing the threat of odor out of proportion?
I have a 1700sf ranch in Central NY. Finished basement doubles the space, so about 3400sf total. I plan to put my new stoker in the "business end" of the basement where the existing forced air oil furnace is. I will tie into the ductwork with any of the stokers mentioned.

My dad has a Keystoker stove (not furnace) and I know he sometimes has a sulfur or oily odor around it inthe basement. I'm just trying to avoid any perceptable smells from coal (or irritants, as my wife has allergies) in the main living space. If I got the Reading, I would likely get a CoalTrol to overcome the Tri-burner drawbacks. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

 
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LsFarm
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Post by LsFarm » Fri. Aug. 08, 2008 12:51 pm

Personally I wouldn't worry much about the smells/fumes as I would about not having a filter box and the Hyfire hooked up to pull return air from the house.

Pulling cold air from a basement floor and heating it is not very efficient,, the air off the basement floor is the coldest air in the house. All furnaces pull return air from the house's cold air returns and reheats this relatively warm air. This air is also drawn through filter on the way to the furnace..

If you are creative, you can hook the Hyfire up to pull it's air from your cold air returns, this will greatly increase it's efficiency... But unless you create a filter box and heat only returned air, an actual furnace will be more efficient. Since the Hyfire is available, this is the way I would recommend, even though it will require some additional work and creativity. The Hyfire II with a coal trol and it's two burners make it very adaptable to almost any heat load. And I like the LeisureLine stokers/burners..

Hope this helps.. do a search for WNY's photos of his Hyfire I, he has hooked his distribution fans to his cold air return..

Greg L.


 
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Post by WNY » Fri. Aug. 08, 2008 2:07 pm

I took my existing blowers (currently without the heat jacket) on my Hyfire and tied them into my furnacne duct, it can then circulate from teh cold air returns from upstairs and move the warm air around more. My gas furnance is only convection, It has no blower, hence the large cold air returns by natural convection.

here is my hook up
Cold Air Return From Existing Run

I may be adding a custom jacket to it, but enclosed on the bottom and tied into the same way of the blowers, instead of the open one LL offers.

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