Husky/eagle 1/610.742 Firebox/Heat Exchanger replacement

[Boogieman142]

I put this on another site that Keith also is on and was asked to put it on here as well. Well Keith it will all be here It will just take a bit to do it as there are a lot of pictures and info as you know. Before I get into the process I'd just like to take a minute to thank Keith and everyone else at the Alpha American Company for building a great furnace........3 decades ago. It has had the Secondary Heat Exchanger replaced in the past and It needed one again. Little did I know that I'd be replacing the firebox as well. Neat thing is as I sit here and type this I can feel the warm air being blown from the heat register from this said furnace. Our house is something like 2900 sq. feet so it takes a task to heat all of it and this Husky does it with ease (haha, tell the furnace that right). We use approx 5-6 cord of wood a year to heat and I cut all of it (won't get into that topic, thats for the other said forum). Now we were going to replace this furnace with another Husky but as I'm sure all of you know money is a bit tight for everyone so we decided to repair it instead. The thought of hiring the work out never even crossed my mind as I am a professional Automotive Tech but you may want to hire it out to someone else if you feel it may be a bit overwhelming. This whole process took me a few weeks but I wasn't able to work on it every day (Single parent of 3 little girls, age 1, 3, 4, oldest in school) and there was a week or so in there while I was waiting for the firebox to arrive. I think its awesome that my 3 decade old furnace has been refreshed and working just like it did when it was first installed. I also think its -- that parts like that are still available for this furnace.

Before I start to -- everything I would like to thank Keith for putting up with me through this. His customer service is the best that I have seen from any company.

Check back every so often to see what progress that I have on here. This repair has been completed to its fullest extent and is running now. All of the pictures and info are done just need to be put together for the purposes of this forum.

[Keith Nelson]

Hey Boogieman....you made it over here with your post...cool beans!
Welcome to our forum and I know that this thread will be good for others with super old Yukons to know they can rebuild them too or for the guy that is just thinking about getting one.Knowing we have and will be there to support you is not something you see very much of anymore.

[Boogieman142]

Well, I have some time to put some stuff up here. Between getting ready for winter, cutting wood, Christmas, working to keep food on the table, and the ongoing battle for custody of my kids i've been pretty busy lately but i'll start on it tonight.

This was going to be a Heat Exchanger(HX) R&R but needed a firebox as well. Keith feel free to add to anything or let me know If I screwed up somewhere. Trying to recall info from a few months ago. So here goes.

This first pic is just with the pipes removed from the outlet box.



This one the outlet door is removed as well as the filter door. The filter has been removed and discarded as it has needed it.



The lower door has been removed, just a few screws on the sides.



The trays that holds the filter in will need to be removed. All that these do is just sit in a slot, just hit them up and they pop out. This is the part that holds them.

[Boogieman142]

Now the shroud that surrounds the heat exchanger needs to be removed. This shroud tucks under the cold air plenum as well, so the screws that hold that need to be removed. It will go around the hinge ok, it will just need a bit of help.



Now this is where the turning off the breaker part comes in. You need to remove the wires from the blower motor It doesn't matter which way they go as its an a/c motor, it only turns one direction. Its just a matter of removing the bx-cable clamp and remove the cover from the motor and unplug the 2 wires. Once this is unhooked on mine i can just remove the blower motor assembly but if yours has never been apart then there might be some nuts on the bottom of the assembly that go on studs, they will be located on the end that is closest to the outside of the furnace. Mine are gone now as they broke the last time the exchanger was changed and were never replaced. There are rubber mounts under them that may be a good idea to replace while you are at it, I ended up changing mine. The motor is a tight fit in the hole but it will slide out, you may just need to wiggle it. Try not to damage the seal around the hole tho. This is what it looks like with the blower assembly removed.



Now in the above pic you can see that whip for the blower motor just dangling there, that needs to be removed in order to get the cold/hot divider(center divider) out. In order for this to happen the box on the front of the furnace needs to be removed and the wiring undone, This is where you need to make a diagram or take a picture where these wires go for installation later. If yours is the same as mine then you can go by my picture as well. If you forget this step, its not the end of the world, he diagrams can still be found at http://www.yukon-eagle.com under "Owners manuals". You need to spin off the bx-cable retainer or you cannot remove the whip. Once it is spun off, you can remove the whip. I chose to do it this way as I know I was going to be taking my time at this project and trying to find that little friggin cable retainer a few weeks later is unlikely.

Close up of wiring.



Location view.

[Boogieman142]

When you get that wire out of the way you can attack the center divider. There will be 2 L-brackets on the bottom that secure the bottom part of it, remove these. On the top there will be 5 screws into some parts that go in-between the heat exchanger baffles, remove all 5 of those. On the top of those parts that go between the baffles there are 5 more screws you need to remove those also. You can reach your hand in from above the outlet box and under the cold air plenum and reach them(atleast I can, there are some people bigger than me).
Remove all of those in-between baffle parts. The center divider is put in there in a similar way as the trays that hold the filter are. Start at the top of each side and work your way down until it is free then it will take some jimmying and re-positioning to get it out but I'm sure you will figure it out, just try not to bend it too much. once that is out, you are left with a view of the burner(some are bolted on and some are welded on, mines welded. The bolt-on ones are for where space is a limiting factor when bringing the furnace into your home), the firebox and all of the screws that hold the heat exchanger on the bottom and sides.



Now remember those 5 screws that you had to reach your arm thru the end under the plenum to get to, the part that they screwed into needs to be removed to gain access to the top bolts to the heat exchanger. There were 2 screws between the hot and cold air plenums that held mine in, yours may be a bit different. once that is removed you will get a view something like this.

[Boogieman142]

A few notes at this point from other forum members

Keith - Hey Boogieman....great post....awesome pics.....thanks!

When you think about having an almost 30 year old furnace that can be taken apart and rebuilt...what a statement that it.
Yes, the secondary is now 304 grade stainless instead of plain hot rolled steel.
The fireboxes are also thicker from 14 to 10 gauge.

The beauty of this is that you are doing the work yourself.It's not rocket science and we are here to aide in the tech end of things should they be needed.

With a furnace this old I would have recommended to replace the firebox too, but if you think you can patch it up .....I can't stop you.
We have all of the parts for your furnace that are supposed to be in there as per U.L.
Old Huskies never die...they just get reincarnated.


Good job!

Keith -
Originally Posted by laynes69
I hope you have some carbon monoxide detectors in the house. Just incase you miss any -- in the firebox.


That's exactly why I would have recommended a new firebox.
If the last one held up this long I doubt he'd need another after a full rebuild.
Really....that old firebox is plum worn out. Chances are that it fails in the dead of winter.....not a good time.
There is a 20% discount he can get off of a new firebox with all new brick,grates and doors plus new smoke baffles,jet air tube and brick retainers which are stainless too.

It is his choice though Layne ,but we would hate to hear of a fatal issues later down the road.

*note* the discount applies to at the time I was doing this, contact your Yukon rep. for details on any current promotions.

The Eagles all have 10 gauge fireboxes.
This old furnace we are looking at has a 14 gauge box.
It also had a 20 warranty when it was produced.I'd say it out lived that period.
Here's a tidbit.....when tested the firebox walls never got over 930 degrees.
It takes heats a lot higher to warp steels.
In the early 90's we decided to beef up the fireboxes to 10 gauge on those multifuels.
In the late 90's we decided to go to stainless(304) on the secondary heat exchangers plus in 84 we added the clean out door.

Since that furnace is built modulary ,it can be rebuilt. Any part of a 35 year old Husky can be replaced with the new parts we make today.
If the customer wants ...he could switch it over to gas from oil too.2 years ago we went to backing them up for 30 years.

No manufacture makes a true wood/coal/gas furnace today. They all need 2 flues and the gas will not fire the wood like in that Husky or Polar.