The Pellet Furnace

A pellet furnace is designed to be a whole house heating system and comes in two types. There's the sort which is a large freestanding pellet stove and can be placed within the home, and the industrial looking units which are intended to replace oil or gas, can run hot air and water and are meant to live in the basement, utility room or outside the home. There is some overlap between the two styles.

For information about furnace installation, go to Installing

Freestanding Pellet Stove Furnaces

Freestanding pellet furnaces are at the top end of the pellet stove ranges in terms of heat output and are not designed to heat water or be connected to heat ducting systems, (apart from the Bixby UBB and some Ecoteck stoves). They rely solely on placement within the home and their high capacity blowers to distribute the heat.

The models I have given here are those with a furnace-like design, but other stoves with a similar output can be more decorative. See "Best Pellet Stoves" and scroll down to the 'Over 50,000 btu.' section to find other high output units.

The hoppers on these model are designed to be hand filled.

The Kozi Shop Heater is a furnace style box, with a choice of a large or small viewing window. It produces 40,000 btu. and is capable of heating an area of 1,800 square feet. Maximum burn time is from 100 hours to 230 hours with extensions.
Kozi Shop Heater--- 40000 btu.

The Ecoteck Laura freestanding pellet furnace has the option of being able to be attached to ducting to form a whole house heating solution. The stove body is in black painted steel, with majolica highlights at the front corners and the top.
Laura --- 44,000 btu.

The Ecoteck Veronica pellet furnace, as well as being freestanding, has the option of being capable of attachment to ducting. Majolica panels are used to highlight the front corners and the top of the stove.
Veronica --- 44,000 btu.

The Ecoteck Elena pellet furnace is available in three versions; the standard full majolica bodied model, the majolica bodied ductable model (Airplus), and the Elena Steel.
Ecoteck Elena Airplus --- 48,000 btu.

The Pelpro Home Heater is furnace styled, has a maximum heat output of 50,000 btu. and is able to heat an area of two thousand square feet. The large hopper enables a long burn between refills.
Pelpro Home Heater--- 50000 btu.

The Breckwell Big E is a no nonsense large heater. Available with a small window, it's called a furnace, and with a large window, it's a home heater. The hopper size can be extended to 350 lbs.
Breckwell Big E--------- 55000 btu.

The Englander Super 240, with its 240lb. furnace hopper capacity can burn for five days without refilling.
Englander Super 240 ------ 56000 btu.

The Enviro Omega is a high output multi fuel heater which needs little maintenance. Because of the burn pot cleaner, high ash fuels such as corn and grass pellets are no problem.
Enviro Omega ------------ 60000 btu.

The Seraph Genesis 108 multi-fuel corn and pellet furnace is a pedestal type with a cast iron door/viewing window incorporating a sunrise pattern. The solid state controller is programmable for any type of biomass fuel that can be fed through the stove.
Seraph Genesis 108 ---- 60000 btu.

The Drolet Eco 65 is a very powerful furnace, capable of producing 65,000 btu/hr, heating up to 2,600 square feet and burning for 92 hours on the low heat setting. One of the options is a ducting plenum kit to allow the stove to be connected to internal ducting.
Drolet Eco 65 ----- 65000 btu.

The Bixby UBB produces 70,000 btu. and is rated to heat 3,000 square feet, an impressive output. By using an adapter, it's possible to connect this unit to an existing hot air ducting system.
Bixby UBB---------- 70000 btu.

The Enviro Maxx is probably the most powerful freestanding pellet heater available today. It has a vast heat output, is thermostat ready and remote control compatible.
Enviro Maxx ------------- 75000 btu.

If you're interested in the possibility of adding hot water capacity to your existing or new pellet stove by retrofitting a boiler kit for either domestic or boiler use, have a look at Crosslink Conversions LLC and visit the forum to see what others are saying and saving by using the Crosslink conversions system.

Utility Pellet Furnaces

Utility pellet furnaces are designed to be compatible with home air and water heating systems and to work just as an oil or gas furnace would. Delivery of pellets to the hopper can be automated, and pellets can be blown into a storage area from a delivery tanker.

These unit start at an output of about 60,000 btu. so you can see that there's an overlap between these furnaces and the units above. Which unit you decide to go for will relate to your own requirements for heat, whether or not you have a ducting system already in place, if you need the furnace to heat water, and storage facilities for the fuel.

Pellet furnaces are designed to burn a range of fuels and cope with impurities in the fuel. The burn pots and ash disposal systems are rugged and designed to reduce maintenance requirements.

Good economic results have been obtained by integrating pellet furnaces with solar heating systems.

Pellet Burners

Pellet burners can replace the heating component of most wood or coal boilers, and many oil fired furnaces. These heaters plug into the firebox and are fed by an auger from a hopper. You may not have to replace the furnace you already have to move over to wood pellet firing.

Traeger

Pinnacle Stove Sales, (Eco-Fit) of British Columbia in Canada offer the Traeger range of furnaces which run from 70,000 btu. to 425,000 btu.

GBU 070 gives 70,000 btu. Fuel: corn and wood pellets. Blown air.

PB 150 pellet water boiler can be set beween 85,000 and 130,000 btu./hour. Fuel:wood pellets and corn. Designed to run central heating systems.

GBU 130 blown air and water heater can be set between 85,000 and 130,000 btu. Fuel: wood pellets and corn.

GBU 400 produces beween 250,000 and 425,000 btu. Fuel: wood pellets, shavings, walnut shells, cherry pits, sawdust and many types of grains.

Pinnacle Stove Sales
1089 Highway 97 North
Quesnel, BC., Canada
V2J 2Y3

Tel: toll free 866 967-9777
or : 250 992-5050

Web: www.pinnaclestove.com

Fahrenheit Endurance

The Fahrenheit Endurance 50F is marketed as a multi-fuel furnace, but can be used as a free standing multi fuel stove with the optional warm air diffuser.

Producing 50,000 btu.'s and able to heat 2,500 square feet, This stove can either be connected to ducting or used freestanding with the optional warm air diffuser top.

Fahrenheit Endurance

Harman

The Harman Stove Company, well known for their pellet stoves, offer three pellet furnaces.

PB105 Boiler gives 105,000 btu. and is a water heater. Fuel: wood pellets

PF100 Furnace gives 112,000 btu. and heats blown air, (ducted or self-contained). Fuel: wood pellets

HydroFlex gives 60,000 btu. and is a water or ducted air furnace. Fuel: wood pellets

Harman Stove Company
352 Mountain House Road
Halifax, Pennsylvania 17032

Tel: 717-362-9080

Web: www.harmanstoves.com

Janfire

Along with Traeger, Janfire are one of the best known names in pellet furnaces. Their furnaces are often combined with boilers of other makes, although they produce their own. For an example of a Janfire unit combined with a Bosch boiler, go to www.maineenergysystems.com

Janfire make two models of burner, a boiler, and a combined unit. They also produce a pellet storage and delivery system

Flex-a designed to directly replace or substitute an oil or gas system. Produces 60,000 btu. (78,000 btu. optional). Fuel: wood pellets

Janfire NH, again replaces oil or gas furnaces. Produces 68,000 btu. Fuel: wood pellets.

Pellet boiler to suit the above furnaces. Capacity 150 ltrs.

Integral, a neat design that combines the NH and the pellet boiler above.

Janfire
Slattertorpsgatan 3,
Box 194,
662 24 Amal
Sweden

Tel: +46 (0)771-100 100

Web: www.janfire.com

Superior Biomass Furnace

Made by Ja-Ran Enterprises inc., two models are produced that can burn almost any pellet type fuel including corn, rye, any pellets, cherry pits and pellets made of switch grass. The single burner will give 100,000 btu. and the double burner, 200,000 btu.

Ja-Ran Enterprises Inc.
3541 Babcock Rd.
Lexington MI 48450

Tel: 1 (810) 359-7985

Web: Site is currently down, possibly out of business.

St Croix Pellet Furnace

There are two versions of the St Croix pellet furnace, the SCF-050 and the Revolution. Both can be connected to existing ductwork and used in conjunction with another furnace.

St Croix pellet furnaces are made by Even Temp who are well known for their pellet stoves. These two furnaces have grate systems designed to cope in different ways with high ash fuels.

St. Croix Pellet and Corn Stoves
PO Box 127
1919 Highway 34
Waco, NE 68460

Tel: 1-800-331-8862

Web: www.stcroixheat.com

WEbiomass Pellet Furnaces

Webiomass pellet boilers come in three models, Woodpecker 25, 45 and Thermon, with a heating range of 50,000 to 500,000 btu. depending on the settings. Using premium grade wood pellets for fuel, and self-cleaning, they require very little in the way of maintenance.

WEbiomass.com

Mail: info@webiomass.com
Phone: (802 )772-7563
16 Washington St
Rutland VT 05701
USA