Drolet Heatpro

[djkost]

Here is a pic of mine

 

[aokpops]

I got about 1800 sq feet . The weather has been above normal . The tundra has been on idle for a month . Think I would need a much larger house for a heat pro . With the new tundra humidity is up to over 60 seen has high as 68 . I took the water pot off to get the low 60 . Anyone else notice this ?

 

[flotek]

Some may disagree but in my experiences with wood heating units Bigger is better~ if you have the space and can afford it . You can always build smaller hot fires for mild seasons and when it's really windy and frigid out the extra cubic feet of firebox means in the real world you will get more btus and longer burn times it's a matter of physics ...the few hundred saved on smaller units is quickly lost and forgotten if you have to feed it constantly to keep up and or your not getting the house comfortable enough when it's bitter cold out . I have owned a tundra and currently own a max caddy .to me in my climate the tundra is best suited for 1500-1800 ft house .if your on a budget and have around 1800+ sq ft the heat pro would Be the way to go ( or better yet the max caddy !). Sometimes it makes more sense to go big .i believe you'd appreciate the extra firepower in January

 

[djkost]

Well I don't know what your area temps are, you can build a smaller fire in the Tundra and the heat pro. Nice about the heat pro I can build a larger fire cause it will get cold here soon. As far as which to own if you have the space go with the heat pro and adjust your fire to current temps. The temps here are in the teens and little above during the day. I never notice the diff in humidity.

 

[brenndatomu]

I agree that you can build a small fire in a larger firebox...to a point. Having owned wood burners with all different size fireboxes I have noticed that even for a "small" fire it takes more wood to get things up to a proper "operating temp" with the larger units. But like Flotek said, if it takes a larger unit to heat the house in January...

 

[flotek]

I agree that you can build a small fire in a larger firebox...to a point. Having owned wood burners with all different size fireboxes I have noticed that even for a "small" fire it takes more wood to get things up to a proper "operating temp" with the larger units. But like Flotek said, if it takes a larger unit to heat the house in January...

That's true and something to consider , the bigger the unit the more wood it uses on start up to get that extra mass up to temperature .doesnt matter how expensive fancy or high tech the unit is .. They all have a period of time that uses all the available btus to just warm the firebox up its almost what could be called a waste of wood but in actuality it's not . for 24/7 heating in dead of winter it's not a big deal but stopping starting in fall and spring wastes a lot of wood just getting from stone cold to blowing heat . This is why I like my little defender EPA free standing stove in my fireplace ..takes the chill off and doesn't require much wood to get up to temperature

 

[newyorker]

I heat 2250sqft 2010 build with a caddy and it is ideal it gets to -10 -15 sometimes at night and it's all it wants but does a great job my gas furnace is a 2 stage 60k btu and has only ever ran 40k but just to give you idea of demand almost bought the max caddy sure glad I didnt

 

[brenndatomu]

This is why I like my little defender EPA free standing stove in my fireplace ..takes the chill off and doesn't require much wood to get up to temperature

X2

 

[aokpops]

Been kepting records of the wood I burned since 09 . So far the drolet is breaking records by a bunch . Will know at the end of the season . Will show the paper work

 

[82mkiiltype]

Spoke to SBI, they said the switch on the back is just to read, cant change the temp on fan, that is locked on the card. Had mine going and it is nice. Now the probe runs the fan. Fan does adjust, WC is at . 2. My air flap keeps getting stuck closed but hoping to take care of it tm. Must be paint or something. No problem that cant be fixed. I just shovel the ash out, This is a very nice furnace.

At what fan speed did you balance to 0.2"? I ask because the Max Caddy manual says to do it on speed 4, and it's controller has a CIRC mode to force the fan into the correct speed BEFORE you light a fire. Heat Pro controller does not have CIRC mode, and is locked at the factory. If you're running 0.2" on speed 1, I'd be very careful on your larger fires ... as I'd expect your static pressure to rise at higher fan speeds.

 

[djkost]

I checked it by drilling a hole dead center of the top of the pletium when the furnace was hot. The temp inside the pletium was around 150 degrees. Now the fan will kick on soon at a lower speed so I just waited till I had 150. I had trouble with My draft door opening but spoke to sbi and was told to unhook the door and work the rod back and forth cause it was probably sticky cause it was new. I did that and now the door opens. NevNever had a problem with it closing. Will see if the solution works.

 

[flotek]

Why does Sbi insist on using that stupid sticky rod going through the unit on Their new generation wood furnaces . Makes no sense when they could easily do the chain lift like the caddy line. Having had both I can say the chain is always reliable without hang ups. Seems like a no brainer

 

[djkost]

Not sure why, I'll get it to work, if not I'll call them and get a replacement. Their customer service is good.

 

[82mkiiltype]

Sorry, been busy over the holidays and hasn't been cold enough here in Ontario to burn much.

After two attempts I got my replacement air door from SBI (no charge) so service was good.

I've been getting to know the "personality" of the Heat pro over the last two weeks and I'm very happy with it. It does behave a bit different than the old Tundra ... but different doesn't mean bad.

The Heatpro throws great heat, more than the Tundra, and flows a TON more air. (Better ducting hookup is key)

For caparison at -10C the old Tundra would heat on it's own for 6-8 hour stretches, without propane assistance, with house temps going from 65 -70 degrees. Anything colder, propane was coming on after 4-5 hours. At -20 C the Tundra struggles to reheat from 65 to 70 and usually the propane was used to speed up the process.

The Heatpro at -10C easily holds an 8+ hour burn with coals, and the house is still at 67 in the morning. Reheat from 67 to 72 ... about an hour. THAT's the best improvement. Only had two nights of -20C, and if the propane came on, it wasn't for long. Also, the re-heat time was still very fast.

The down side ... I'm burning more wood. I think the wood usage in moderately cold temperatures would be very similar but for off season milder temperatures the Heatpro uses much more.

Getting the firebox up to temperature is critical to getting good efficiency out of the Heatpro. Small fires, don't get hot enough for good secondary combustion in the Heatpro, so you send smoke/ heat up the chimney. Alternatively you can have 10 deg. temp swings in the house burning full loads every 12 hours. In milder temps I'm also using up lots of kindling wood starting a new fire as I let it go out completely to let the house cool off a bit.

I was having coaling problems with the Tundra, not with the Heatpro. It burns every coal to dust and I'm removing far less ash from burning more wood. (likely due to my exterior chimney being kept at a high enough temp for good draft by the larger pile of coals.)

I think the best way to handle off season burning of the Heatpro is with full loads of low BTU wood. There is a cedar mill that sells slats and off-cuts in a bundle about an hour from my house. Filling a firebox with nothing but cedar would likely heat my house in milder temps for 6 to 8 hours. That in itself is awesome.

Even with full loads of dry wood the Thermo-couple temp rarely is above 150deg F on the fan control. The blower spends most of the first hour of a big fire on fan speed #2, and the rest of the time just on Speed #1. The last 2-3 hours it cycles on and off. Even on speed #1, LOTS of heat is being pumped into the house.

Overall, I'm very happy. I'm glad I went with the bigger replacement and so far it suits my needs perfectly. Now excuse me while I go cut more wood to feed the beast.

 

[brenndatomu]

I'm burning more wood. I think the wood usage in moderately cold temperatures would be very similar but for off season milder temperatures the Heatpro uses much more.

That's when it is nice to have a little wood stove too. Like I mentioned earlier, we have one in the fireplace, it works great for the warmer part of the heating season and saves a ton of wood!

 

[JHolman05]

Sorry, been busy over the holidays and hasn't been cold enough here in Ontario to burn much.



For caparison at -10C the old Tundra would heat on it's own for 6-8 hour stretches, without propane assistance, with house temps going from 65 -70 degrees. Anything colder, propane was coming on after 4-5 hours. At -20 C the Tundra struggles to reheat from 65 to 70 and usually the propane was used to speed up the process.

Just curious do you have a thermostat hooked up to your wood furnace?

It seems like you have a large temperature difference, with my tundra on a mild day it will hold it at a constant temp (whatever the thermostat is set to). With it being 3*F here last night the tundra couldn't keep my house warm overnight, and I lost 4*F before my propane heat kicked on.

Or are you going for a more complete burn and just have the furnace do it's own thing?

 

[82mkiiltype]

I have a thermostat that was wired into my old Tundra, but haven't hooked it up to the Heatpro yet. It didn't work very well with the Tundra because it took too long to raise the house temp in cold weather. It would call for heat for so long it would burn up all the wood in the firebox in 2 hours with lots of heat going up the chimney. It worked much better if I used my timer for 20 min, to get everything up to temp and shut it down for a long, hot coast to coals. I even tried to use the thermostat to help burn off the Tundras coals, but it never really worked any better than just leaving it shut.

I do mostly 8-10 hour burns just because I'm not home during the day, and I sleep all night so no point in trying to keep the house a constant temp if I'm not even in it. I figure a few degree's of temp drop at top efficiency burns the least amount of wood.

However ... I should probably give it a try with the Heatpro.

 

[brenndatomu]

What kind of tstat? One that has tight control (within 1* total swing) works better than the old 1* above/1*below tstats.
I'm using a Honeywell Focus Pro 5000, works pretty well. I have a 6000 (programmable) that I thought about using. You could program it to be "on" around the time that you normally load (like my morning load is usually ~6:15 AM then drop back 15-20 minutes later to let the furnace "cruise". Then it could be set to be "on" again around the time that the coals need to be burnt off (for Tundra owners) Having the tstat call for heat late in the burn seems to work pretty well (for me anyways) to burn down coals and gets the most heat possible from the remainder of that load. I really don't have much of a coaling problem with mine, but, I also don't load more than every 8 hours very often either. I bet part of the reason the Heatpro doesn't have coaling issues is just from the larger (longer) heat output, allowing less frequent loading, so more time to burn down...

 

[flotek]

Interesting you say that because My max caddy doesn't coal up bad like my tundra did in frigid temperatures and the max is probably the easiest wood appliance I've ever had when it comes to starting a fire from a dead cold unit . Having a floor ash grate up front by the loading door and a seperate sealed door for ashes underneath is a great benefit .

 

[82mkiiltype]

It's just an old digital Honeywell I had lying around, so likely +/- 1 degree style.
Using a programmable thermostat to burn off coals in the morning is a good idea. If I ever put a large enough chunk of real hard wood to have that many coals in the morning I'll have to give it a try.

I still haven't used the ash drawer. Is it really that handy to find and pull out the ash plug, scrape it down the hole, only to dump the ash pan every weekend? Do you remove and dump the entire pan or shovel the pan into buckets?