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Picking a Trifuel Furnace

Posted: Fri. Apr. 06, 2012 5:46 pm
by bwoody525
I am looking at NewMac and Yukon trifuel furnaces. If anyone has any knowledge of these brands I would greatly appreciate your input. I am looking for a furnace that burns wood, coal and gas.

Re: Picking a Trifuel Furnace

Posted: Fri. Apr. 06, 2012 6:10 pm
by Dennis
member "DennisH" has a yukon and burns wood and coal in his furnace and seems pleased with it. PM DennisH and ask for more details. I never heard of NewMac,but it seems to have a good deep square firebox for burning coal.

Re: Picking a Trifuel Furnace

Posted: Fri. Apr. 06, 2012 6:58 pm
by bwoody525
How long have you had your yukon and have you had any problems or concerns?

Re: Picking a Trifuel Furnace

Posted: Sat. Apr. 07, 2012 8:57 am
by coalkirk
Free advice here! Don't do it. Pick a fuel and burn it. The multi-fuel units will burn each of the fuels but not burn them very well. Just sayin'. While is may seem like a great idea to be able to burn wood and coal in one unit, there are reasons why you shouldn't. Vent pipes are installed differently for wood than coal. Different type vent dampers are used. Just do your research so yoou don't end up spending thousands on a unit you wish you hadn't bought.

Re: Picking a Trifuel Furnace

Posted: Sat. Apr. 07, 2012 9:16 am
by Dennis
coalkirk wrote:Free advice here! Don't do it. Pick a fuel and burn it. The multi-fuel units will burn each of the fuels but not burn them very well. Just sayin'. While is may seem like a great idea to be able to burn wood and coal in one unit, there are reasons why you shouldn't. Vent pipes are installed differently for wood than coal. Different type vent dampers are used. Just do your research so yoou don't end up spending thousands on a unit you wish you hadn't bought.
I agree with coalkirk,but If you do want to go this route and nothing wrong with it ( I have a WOC-55 AHS/multi fuel boiler and love it). Make sure there are seperate draft controls for wood and coal. My boiler has a combustion blower for coal and IMO it has a much quicker recovery time than natural draft.
I seen on the NewMac website there was a blower above the load door.I didn't see any cut away views to see if had seperate air passages for below draft and above draft.
Member DennisH in Michigan "not me" has a Yukon furnace and is very pleased with it and burns both wood and coal with it, I'm sure he will help with any info. you need about the Yukon furnace.

Re: Picking a Trifuel Furnace

Posted: Sat. Apr. 07, 2012 7:51 pm
by whistlenut
NewMac is made in Nova Scotia and has an excellent reputation for boilers as well as furnaces. I have used two different tri fuel furnaces and was amazed at how seamless the wood and coal worked. Tough rigs, well made, been around for a very long time. Here is a link to their website: newmacfurnaces.com/.

I am with many others when we say pick a unit that does one thing well, but having used a Tarm trifuel and the NewMac, I'm headed to the 'Green Camp' of Newmac. When you look over their product line-up, you might think things look a little quirky, but I can assure you that is because they are designed with easy service in mind! There is a thought you can live with.....no loss of skin, no PITA access points, these folks DO actually care about the end user. Check them out!

Re: Picking a Trifuel Furnace

Posted: Sun. Apr. 08, 2012 9:59 am
by EarthWindandFire
Even though Harman has a terrible reputation for customer service, they do make a wonderful tri-fuel unit called the SF-2600-SS. I think this unit is often overlooked, partly because of price.

This unit seamlessly switches from hand-fired coal or wood to burning oil because it has two completely seperate combustion chambers.

http://www.harmanstoves.com/Products/SF-2600-SS-W ... rnace.aspx

Re: Picking a Trifuel Furnace

Posted: Sun. Apr. 08, 2012 10:51 am
by bwoody525
I looked into the Harman and thought it seemed very solid. the only problem was that it burned oil not gas

Re: Picking a Trifuel Furnace

Posted: Mon. Apr. 09, 2012 6:27 pm
by oilman
I have many years of experience with both. I will say the Newmac is superior to the Yukon. However, I'm not saying the Yukon is bad by any means. The seperation of the wood/power burner combustion chambers of the Newmac makes it more efficient on the solid fuel side.
The Newmac is available with or without grates. If the intention of anyone is to only burn wood, the one without grates is much better as far as burning. However, this is a coal forum.....but I guess you never know who is reading this.
The Harman is excellent on coal, not so great on wood, but a nice unit.
As far as service, the Newmac is easier to clean than the Yukon in my experience. Also, the controls package is simpler and cheaper to fix if something goes bad.