Hello everyone, after much researching here and other sites, much reading and internet surfing I have narrowed my choice down for replacing our aging Empyre furnace to two choices-Portage and Main gasification units or Central Boiler gasification units. Our Empyre is the 450 deluxe, 11 going on 12 years old. It has been a good furnace, but I know now that there are better choices for efficiency, etc now than there was when we bought it. The furnace is rated for 8000 square feet, holds 300 gallons of water
My Central Boiler dealer is recommending the E classic 3200 for our situation, two older farmhouses, heated garage/workshop. I went to visit a neighbor the other day that has this model and just loves it. he uses it year round to even heat his milk house water. He tells me that he loads it once daily in the winter, every two days spring and fall, and every 4 days in the summer. Our Central Boiler dealer is about 40 minutes away.
The Portage and Main unit I am looking at would be the BL3848. I have to yet find someone nearby that has one of these to compare and speak to the owner about performance/satisfaction.
Here is the big question I have about making the final decision-Central Boiler has a much higher water jacket, and slightly higher BTU output(according to the manufacturer) , with the Portage and Main the water jacket is much smaller leading to potentially faster recovery times. Is it better to go with higher capacity or faster recovery?
What I like about the CB also is the spray foamed insulation, we had our basement and garage done, if I were to build a new house it would be done from top to bottom and everything in between. What I don't like is not having an ash pan to haul the ashes out like we have always done with our Empyre. The Portage and Main apparently has little to no ashes? This is only what I have heard as I have not yet seen one in operation or found out anymore details as of yet.
Two other notes to consider-CB dealer 40 minutes away, P& M dealer one hour 45 minutes away. What I am looking for is most efficient I can get, with longest burn times, I don't mind using more or less wood each loading, as long as it works out to using the lesser amount of wood over the entire heating season
Thanks in advance for the help