Wood-Burning Furnace

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The forced-draft fan provides air to the firebox for near-complete combustion.  
The forced-draft fan provides air to the firebox for near-complete combustion.  
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Allan shows us how he plumbed his heavily insulated hot water storage tank to the wood-burning furnace.
Allan shows us how he plumbed his heavily insulated hot water storage tank to the wood-burning furnace.
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Circulating pumps send water to the three zones of the house.
Circulating pumps send water to the three zones of the house.
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The
The "heart" of the system is the furnace itself, which has an incredible 80% efficiency.

“Raising our family in a huge 130-year-old farmhouse in northern New England is great,” says Allan M. Brown of Lincoln Center, Maine, “but the fuel bills were driving us straight to the poorhouse.” So, Allan went to his drawing board, and—after combining a little ingenuity with a lot of hard work—he came up with a wood-burning furnace that not only heats well, but does so at minimal expense! 

Of course, being an engineer by profession—and living on 114 partially wooded acres—made Allan’s “victory” over the utility companies all the sweeter. But, even if you don’t have Al’s “advantages,” this sophisticated wood burner is well worth looking into.

Now, Mr. Brown is quick to point out that his design is a furnace, not just a stove, and is capable of heating an entire house on even the bitterest of winter days. Furthermore, he has eliminated all the problems that normally go with wood heat: smoke and dust in the house, uneven distribution of thermal energy, and the old bugaboo of lugging great armloads of logs into the house at every turn.

Before he ever picked up a tool, though, Allan sat down and listed exactly what he wanted to accomplish. When the furnace was completed, he had succeeded on all counts:

[1] The house’s existing hot water baseboard system distributes the heat throughout the building.

  • Published on Jan 1, 1979
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