Hello, all, I need a little help! Recently bought a new house that has both a propane forced air furnace as well as the wood furnace mentioned in the title. The wood furnace is located just outside the house and the ducting is run down through a portion of crawl space, and tied into the furnace ducting. The hot air duct gets warm all the way up to the point when it reaches the furnace but it stalls there. I can kick on the furnace for 20-30 seconds to push the warm in through but after that it begins to blow colder air. I feel like this could be a cold air return issue. I am quite a novice when it comes to HVAC so any help is appreciated. I have attached images of the stove, and the cold air return situation. It looks like the original cold air return from the furnace has been blocked off and ran just to the wood stove through a wall vent on the main floor of our house. I feel like this should not be capped, but then again I am a novice.
It's really hard to tell what we are looking at from those pics...but yes, the wood furnace cannot push warm air back into the house if it can pull return air from it...it's all a loop. If the pipes that run in the crawlspace are not insulated, that will eat up a lot of your heat before it even gets to the house, both on the supply and return pipes. Not sure what size those duct pipes are, or what size they are supposed to be, but they look a little small to me...
Had all the same thoughts here. Ducts look too small. No insulation in crawl space. Need complete loop in duct work. Blower speed could be a problem..
Looks like the stove/furnace calls for 10" and 12" ducts. I'd guess the (lack of) insulation is the biggest problem
.............wow! This is why home inspections are so important. Home inspections by someone who know what they are doing and what to look for. In this pic, sure looks like a LP gas regulator just below an operating window......next to some sort of fresh air intake (?) .....and what looks like maybe 3' to the outdoor furnace? I hesitate to comment further. I realize you just bought the place and I don't want to "rain on your parade" sort of thing, but I betting that the install of the outdoor furnace may be also questionable. Its hard to determine much without being there to see how it is set up and how it could be set up and how it should be set up. I have never been a fan of outdoor furnaces; OWB yes, a huge fan of them. Is the supply and return duct from the furnace to the house (and back) insulated? Looks like it may be PVC pipe and metal elbows with PVC paint rated for underground use? Once the SA (supply air) gets inside the house, is it tied into the LP furnace plenum? Is there a backdraft damper installed in association with the outside SA tie in? What size trunkline (ductwork) does the plenum connect to? How many heat runs? What size RA (return air) and trunkline? How many RA are there throughout the house? I think the best way to proceed is to get a well known and reputable HVAC company to assess it. It is hard to try to find a fix with just a couple of pics on the internet. Judging from what little I can see, this may be one of those cases that will have many corrections that be needed; hard to say for sure. The important thing is that you are willing to tackle this and make it right. Don't get dis-heartened.
Appreciate all the input guys. The duct work is at least 10 " both outside and in the crawl space. Insulated well on the outside to the point where you cannot feel it hot to the touch. The crawl space is not that cold, but I still may look into insulating the ducts until they reach the basement. The supply air does tie into the LP furnace, but one of the cold air returns from the furnace that ran to the return vent pictured has been capped and re-ducted straight to the wood stove. Should the outdoor furnace be tied into the same cold air return as the furnace? I believe the furnace has 1 RA on the second level of the house and 1 RA on the main level that has now been linked to the wood stove. I plan to take more pictures of how it is tied into the LP furnace. Side note, yes that is a LP regulator that the propane company came out to look at and update. He did not seem to have an issue with it. The white pvc next to that is the exhaust from our water heater. yooperdave I won't get dis-heartened, learning something new about it all every day.
