fahrenheit endurance

[jwalker]

I am loooking at adding a Endurance furnace to my electric heat pump. I am new to this so I know very little. From what I read, this seems to be an OK model. I have a cape code with @ 1800 square feet to heat. The furnace will be in the basement. Will the BTU output on this be enough to heat my house? I live in Lancaster PA. I have some concerns that the blower fan will be underrated to.

What is a typcal price I should be paying for this?

Any help or comments will be appreciated.

I am trying to find a furnace that will offer lower maintanence. I understand taking out teh ash, I just dont want to shut it down everyweek. I would probably burn corn most of the time as I think I can get that cheaper than pellets.

Thanks
Jeff

[byrn-e-stoves]

What ever furnace you are looking for, Your best bet is to have a local dealer for support.
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cornstoveheating.com
st croix
fahrenheit
Bixby
grainstoves inc.

[jwalker]

I called several local dealers and most dont do much with corn/pellt furnaces...mostly stoves. The closest fahrenheit endurace dealer is 1.5 hours away...and i am not really in their territory...so not sure how to even buy one if I wanted. So I guess I am trying to do as much research on my own before I buy something.

Thanks
Jeff

[doug martin]

jwalker, I own a farenheit 50. my house is 1800 sq ft cape cod. 9/12 & 10/12 pitches on roof. split wing design makes it harder to get even heat to both ends equally. my burner burns on low settings 90% of the winter. i have it wired to a separate thermostat. being wired to a thermostat the fan motor will cycle like a regular furnace, but the fan will run more often. i understand about service, I'm lucky to have a good dealer. I have dealt with a few different people at the company, they are wonderful with all the help they offer. I have never seen a company back their product like they do. TOP NOTCH! I figured it would take 3 years to pay for itself, but pretty much did last year with a somewhat milder winter. have to shut it down about every 8-10 days to clean burner, and about once a month i clean the exhaust. would recommend to anyone who does'nt mind the cleaning. Good luck whatever you decide.

[jwalker]

Doug,

Are you burning corn or pellets? How much is used in a typical month or season?

Thanks for your input.

Jeff

[Tinytim]

Last winter I went through about 160 bushels of corn. I also remember about a week straight of -10 to -20 temps. I have a 2 story house, about 1000 sq ft per level.
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[jwalker]

Just trying to figure our if I will actually save money with a corn furnace rather than using my heat pump. My house is all electric and My highest bill was $217 (2233 KWH) in Jan. My cheapest was in May @ 86.00 (789 KWH). So lets assume my heat cost $131 or 1444KWH. If I need to burn 1 bushlel of corn a day and 1 bushel cost $5.00 I will be paying $150 per month for corn compared to 131 for electric. And this was the worse month, typically I use @ 1750 total KWH per month in the heating season.

Am I missing something here?

[rona]

If you assume that your electric bill will remain cheap and corn will stay at 5.00 you probably will save the most by leaving things the way they are.
Corn is 3.10 here which makes a big difference in your comparisons.
I think electricity is going to take a big jump with this cap and trade issue they are bandying around.
The gov will do whatever they have to do to encourage cheap food so I wouldn't look for corn to be jumping up like it has in the past. Fert has dropped in price which cuts overhead and farmers can get by with a little lower price.

[jwalker]

[doug martin]

jwalker a buddy of mine tried to heat his whole house from harmon that was installed in a finished basement with wood foundation. wood foundations are much warmer than poured walls as they don't conduct cold like concrete.the basement was toasty to say the least, but upstairs was cool. he eventually put a wood burner upstairs. unless you put in something tied into ductwork heat is more localized. the last two years it has cost me $1200 per season. i burn about 7 tons which equates to about 250 bushels. i get my corn from a local farmer who delivers, cleans and pumps it to my basement into 35 bushel bags. its real convenient. no hauling bags down the stairs. good luck.