[Deadhead]

Does anyone here have one of these? Just bought a place with one in it. Thought it was kind of a gimmick, but watched their video on it, and it looks like it is actually pretty cool. Tied into the central heating system duct on the supply side. 90+* efficiency rating.

I am interested in how you build a fire in one. The video indicates that you do not use a grate, and build the fire, which will burn at 1700-2000* on the base, producing an output of 160,000 BTU. I have the installation manual, but it tells precious little about operating the thing. Burned plenty of wood stoves and fireplaces but not a combination of the 2.

Looking forward to firing the bad boy up.

http://www.centuryfireplacefurnace.c...e-century.html Their video.

[Bentwheelbob]

I have a similar type stove, but not plumbed into the HVAC. In my experience it is much easier to keep a fire going without a grate because the wood stays on the bed of coals. With a grate. the coals fall through and are not in contact with the wood. My process for building a fire is:

1) place two sticks of kindling in the ash bed
2) put two firestarter blocks on the kindling and lay 4 pieces of fatwood against the firestarter blocks
3) add 3 more pieces of kindling on top
4) crumple 2 sheets of newspaper into balls and place on top of kindling
5) light the firestarter blocks and once they have reasonably ignited also light the newspaper
6) close the doors and make sure the air flow is wide open
7) fix a drink and go to the garage
8) once the drink is done, go back to the fireplace and add two or three pieces of wood. I usually try to add two smaller pieces and one bigger piece at this point
9) once this starts to burn down and create coals you should be able to burn about anything

You can greatly control the rate of burn with the air flow control. Load it up at night and choke back the air and there should be coals in the morning.

Good luck. I lit my first fire of the season last night and am still enjoying it.

[Deadhead]

That may explain why there are about 10 bushel sized boxes filled with fatwood in the barn. STACKS of covered wood all over the yard. KS contractor guy in the video says he heats his home(s) with it & burns 1 truckload a month. About 3 fires/fills a day. That is just a little more than I have used in some air tight stoves to heat old houses.

No sun here for about 7 days has got it chilly. Thinking of testing it out soon while I am working there. Will try the drink method once I get moved in.

[rexs73gto]

If you have used a wood stove before you will use the same method for that as you do with the combo stove. I used a wood stove in my last house for 10 years & have been in this house for 28 years. I started to burn wood here about 6 years ago & now wonder why I didn't do it sooner. I love the way wood heat feels, it is so much warmer feeling then gas heat. The heat is all around you & the house doesn't get cold & then warm & then cold again. Plus using wood is a lot cheaper even if you don't cut it yourself. In the worst parts of winter It costs me about $ 65.00 a month in a 1500 sq. foot home. Wood is good.

[Deadhead]

Oh yeah, I have decades of experience heating with wood, but all the FP inserts I ever saw were nothing compared to a wood stove and never saw one that did not use a grate. Not saying much since I did not consider them viable until reading about this one. Most of the ones I have seen heat was wasted and went up the chimney, even on the ones with blowers. This thing is more like a stove that is made to look like a fireplace. It is not an insert. Has 2 heat exchangers and the air inlet (from outdoor source) blows directly on the bed of coals. It can be used straight convection w/ heat coming out the vents on top of it or running through the duct system. Pretty sure it has to have the air circulating w/ fan or risk damage to overheating from reading the installation manual.

The 2 best stoves I have used from the old non-catalytic era were Temp-Wood, a top loader down draft stove and a Fisher, which was a front loader. Both are worth their weight in gold today. Both of these would heat large poorly insulated houses to the point of comfort when temps don't go ago above freezing. The stuff they have now with the converters and the like simply can not compare to those stoves. My place with the Century also has a Tulikivi that I think is a 2200 model that weighs in at over 4500# of soapstone, so I should be able to heat 3k SF with both of these devices no problem. Just don't want to screw up my new paint job messing with something I have never used before. Here are Pics of the 2 at this place I am working on:

[rexs73gto]

I've had 4 wood stove over the years & the one that in the house right now is the same as my last house & in my shop. It's not made any more , well they build a type of it but it's an insert only now. It's called Blaze. They made 3 different sizes , the King, Queen & the princess. I have the Blaze King in my house right now & it has a bi-metal t-stat in the air opening to regulate the incoming air & during the coldest weather it will stay within 3 degrees & on a full load will last about 10 hours. It's a front loading with the stone liner in the bottom to keep the heat at a constant temp. It is an older one without the cat con built into the stack. This is my 2nd Blaze & i got this one about 6 years ago & it works great keeping the house comfortable in the winter.

[Bentwheelbob]

I can't believe you are more excited about the Century than you are the Tulikivi. Have you researched it yet? I am a fireplace (fire) nut and have wanted a Tulikivi for years. That thing is 4200 lbs of thermal mass that will radiate heat for a day after the fire dies down. You lucky dog. Please update this thread after you fire it the first couple times.

[Deadhead]

Originally Posted by Bentwheelbob

I can't believe you are more excited about the Century than you are the Tulikivi. Have you researched it yet? I am a fireplace (fire) nut and have wanted a Tulikivi for years. That thing is 4200 lbs of thermal mass that will radiate heat for a day after the fire dies down. You lucky dog. Please update this thread after you fire it the first couple times.

We live near the quarries where they get all the stone for them, so many homes here have them. I have not owned one prior. I fired it 3 days in succession in the Spring b/c I could not stand the suspense. Roars like a freight train. After reading the book, I did exactly as instructed, building 2 fires in a row with 70lb stacks of kiln dry hickory in each. After 3 days, I had still not heated the entire stove. I figure it will take 5 days to get it up to Temp. Might be that I need to build a slightly bigger fire, but the book is pretty specific about the whole procedure. Might also try doing 2 sets of 2 fires one in AM and one in PM until it is heated up? No real forums on info I have found on-line.

That stove is in a more isolated room where I have a return I have moved near the stove to suck some air back into the HVAC. Then it has a window in the top of the room open to a bedroom. It does not seem to me like the location is going to allow it to do as much for the house as the Century.

As a side note. I lived in an old company house originally part of the Alberene Soapstone Co. on my current property before I built. It had chimneys made of soapstone bricks. We used a Monarch cook stove to heat that place. The chimney would stay hot for about 18 Hrs after use. When I built, I lined all my hearths and fireplace surrounds with those bricks, which I found in the woods. My current FP uses a Texas Fireframe grate, and heats pretty well. If you have not see one of these, it is worth a Google. I have been using them for 30 years. They will run you out of a room with ANY conventional fireplace. $125. The stones on the hearth will hold heat for OVER 24 hours. Century thing at new place has a similar hearth, but I doubt it will absorb as much since there are airtight doors on it.

[Deadhead]

Used this fireplace furnace twice so far. The 2nd time I used it (figured out what I was doing) I raised the Temp in the entire 2700 SF house about 15* in 3 hours with 4 good sized oak logs. It was amazing. Weather has been consistently warm since then, so I have not had time to test it further, but I would highly recommend one of these things. Blasts hot air out of the duct work like nobody's business. Unless I can find a way to hook up a speed control on my HVAC fan, I am going to be opening windows to regulate the Temp. in the house.