I would really appreciate any feedback from owners having experience with this furnace. I have the green light to purchase and looking at a basement install. Ranch style home with open staircase to basement. About 2500 sq ft to heat. Maybe a couple outlets in a couple basement rooms. This will replace a Hot Blast that was already in the home when we purchased. Neither of likes the feel of the heat pumps and I need something that requires a lot less attention while heating. Any comments appreciated. Thanks.
I know brenndatomu has one. There have been a couple threads on them. I'm considering one as well. Need to find a solution besides the oil furnace. The woodstove gets the job done but when no one is home to feed it, house gets cold during the day. Sluggo what's your wait time for one?
The wood furnace guys hang out in the boiler room. The are only two furnaces available for purchase right now. Both are quite good but the vf100 has a well earned reputation. Have you considered the other?
JRHAWK9 Matthewchopswood comanche79p all have Kuuma's...there are more people here too, but CRS right now... Now is the time to do it, with the tax credit that is available I bet they have a pretty good backlog right now...can probably get one in time to get it installed for next heating season though...(guessing?)
The Vapor Fire I have is by far the easiest wood heater I have ever had or been around. I have the smaller version in a 800 sq ft up and 800 sq ft down cabin and I can make my wife open windows when it is minus 18 if I want to fill it up. I did have somewhat of a learning curve on the size fire to build. I only burn softwood because that is what is available in my area. If I had some good dry oak I would have another learning curve to deal with. It is soooo simple. Totally satisfied. Only con I have is the blower is a little loud. But the heat and the drone will make your eyelids heavy.
This is my third season heating with a VP100 in a ranch home. We love the nice consistent heat and the ease of use. I think you will see a dramatic reduction in wood consumption over the Hot Blast. You just need to make sure the install is done properly.
Thanks so much for all the input! I saw nothing bad here. I'll pull the trigger as soon as I figure out a couple of ducting issues. I'll follow up as things progress. Thanks again.
Georgia?? How cold does it get down there? A VF100 may be overkill in that climate. Not a biggie, you'll just have to load it accordingly.
I was thinking about that too...depends on the houses insulation level I suppose...this may be a good candidate for the smaller VF200, once they get it through EPA certification and back in production...
Well, high teens and low 20's not uncommon here in winter at night. Our heat pumps are fine until it gets into the low 50's and then there is always a chill in the air no matter the temp setting. Our goal is to have a steady heating source that actually feels warm. Our heat pumps don't. We both work at home so it would be nice to be comfy day and night without messing with the fire too much. If it gets too warm, I could easily bleed off some heat into the basement. Another 2500 sq ft. Just my thoughts.
We have a similar sized house with a full basement in Virginia. I would go with the VP-100. You can always open some vents in the basement or load up with some lower btu wood. If you undersize you will have bigger problems.
Some...not a ton...keeps my basement 70* or so with only 1 register (partially open) feeding the basement...I'm also stripping heat from the basement by using a heat pump type water heater, but that only dropped the average temp a couple degrees.
Do you like the heat pump water heater? I have propane water heaters and I’d love to go to wood and heat pump heat instead, with one propane as backup. Did you think about heating the water directly with the VF100?
I do...it been in place for over a year now, and appears that it will pay for itself in electric savings in ~5 years or so. I did consider it...my VF actually has the water heating coil...but I really don't have room to put the heater anywhere near the VF, and it would have cost way too much in plumbing supply's to try and make it work...plus I would have lost the dehumidifying aspect from the HPWH in the summer...which is part of the electric savings since, no need to run an additional DH...at least for us it works that way.
I am actually capturing some of the radiant heat coming off the front face and injecting it into my return air. So my basement doesn't get as warm as it used to, but it still stays 72-75 in the 30x12ish furnace room and mid 60's or so in the rest of it. This increases my return air temp and also increases my delivered efficiency. Instead of those BTU's being used to heat the room it's in, they are now being sent upstairs to heat the house. My return air temps are 6-10° warmer than the upstairs house temp. I don't have any open vent in the basement, it's heated solely off of whatever radiant heat is left.
