Hot blast enemy or friend

[stihly dan]

Tundra on its worst day still about 100% better than a HB on its best day! (IMO, I don't have one)

What he said, but the tundra has lots of issues too. With wood you get what you pay for.

 

[flotek]

To answer the original question The ussc hotblast is the woodcutters best friend ! It keeps him employed and offers job security lol ..Other than a few little things ( added strips of 6$ high temp foil tape around the opening by the blower and I added a 15$ adjustable snap switch ) on my drolet tundra I haven't had a issue with mine and glad I switched . I never play Boy Scout anymore ,there is always coals in my firebox! Heats great ..8-10 hour burns are child's play .. Seems to Run forever on an arm load of wood . I'd bet Your wood use would be literally half and it's only 1700 bucks that's only like 400 more than a hotblast . A Kumma sounds like a great high tech furnace as well but be prepared to get your wallet out . Personally I'd say If you wanted a more refined polished unit compared to the tundra but with same basic design ,you could get a caddy they are around 2800 . Keep in mind all of these newer high tech furnaces require well seasoned dry wood to operate correctly.

 

[CWME]

What issues have you found with the Drolet Stihly Dan? Not asking as a challenge, just interested in your findings so I can correct them on mine.

I went from a Englander furnace to a NC30 which did a great job, just not big enough for our needs in the dead of winter. So I got my drolet this year. Wood consumption is way down and steady house temps are the norm for us.

 

[newyorker]

I almost bought a hb at tsc they had them on clearance I went home and Google it and I started to read forums so glad 6 months later decided on caddy couldn't b happier

 

[Cpeder]

Just got back from my local ace hardware witch has it own fireplace and stove are inside. The sales man can pretty much get me anything. The whole fire kind line up, the drolet ( witch he said to stay away from) and the caddy. A caddy dropped off in my drive way with the blow option for 3300. Max caddy for 4100. My house is very tight well insulated 2500sqft. Would the caddy do the trick or do u I need max caddy?

 

[laynes69]

I have a 2500 sqft mid 19th century victorian that's well insulated but is drafty in many places and our Caddy heats just fine. The Max Caddy would be too much. What's wrong with drolet? There's many satisfied customers out there.

 

[Cpeder]

I kind of got the impression he was trying to sell me the more expensive stove for commission reasons. My only concern is witch stove will adapt to my current duct work. I spent a decent bit of money doing the duct work to the hot blast. Really don't want to Change to much. Hard to see but my return air duct runs along the back wall.

 

[laynes69]

The Caddy has a plenum opening, unlike the 2-8" ducts on the hotblast. In all honesty, the tundra would plug right into that install. You will have the benefits of secondary combustion, longer burn times and a much easier install. Also the Tundra just like the Caddy can be controlled via thermostat. This allows the furnace to cycle the coalbed throughout the night to keep the home warm. Here is one in action.

 

[Cpeder]

Well I'm very interested now. I guess either way I'll be cutting my 25" splits the splitting in half. I'll have to sell half of my 30 cords with burn times that long..

 

[Cpeder]

So the tundra has a forced draft blower? Maybe I'm a bit confused from all the units I'm looking at

 

[brenndatomu]

I'd say the Drolet would adapt up to the current setup pretty easily but the caddy wouldn't be terrible either. I agree with Laynes, plenty of satisfied Tundra customers out there. They make a quality product and take care of their customers. They had a minor hiccup with them the first year out, but they took care of things post haste. I think you are right, that sales guy was trying to upsell you. Although the Caddy line likely is a bit higher quality product, both the Caddy line and the Tundra/Heatmax line are made by SBI (Stove Builders International (Canada, not chinese crap), which is the parent co of Drolet, and, both lines are based on the same firebox design FYI. I wouldn't have a problem plunking down ~$1500 on the Tundra, which BTW, can be bought at roughly that price at Menards when they have one of their 11% off sales. If I had to bet, I'd bet they have one coming within the next month or so, not sure if you are near a Menards or not though.

So the tundra has a forced draft blower? Maybe I'm a bit confused from all the units I'm looking at

No, both are natural draft

 

[laynes69]

Yeah, natural draft. One thing to realize, the Tundra or Caddy has a 3.5 cuft firebox. The Hotblast on the otherhand has around a 6.5 cuft firebox. You will see longer burns on close to half the wood, and a more even temperature in your home. Last night we were in the 20's, I loaded our furnace (3/4 load) at 9:30 pm, it was 75° then set back the thermostat at 72 and woke up 10 hours later to a house at 71 degrees.

 

[Cpeder]

Well thank you all for your help. Apparently ace can not get me a tundra they do not offer them any more. Apparently a lot of online retailers are sold out. There are no menards near me. I'm in eastern pa. I see I could have on shipped tho from them. This will most likely be my best bet. Hate to hear the propane unit firing today and the hotblast is getting pulled and sold ASAP. Tundra here we come. Unless they move on thee caddy price.

Oh forgot to mention ace had a furnace called summers heat. Didn't look very well built from what i saw. The tried to sell it to me for 1100 tho

 

[brenndatomu]

Yeah, it sounds like a lot of the stove manufacturers are behind right now, but I bet if you order a tundra now you'd still have it in a few weeks. It seems to me somebody here just did that recently. FWIW, someone else here was able to buy a Caddy through the local HVAC supply house as a "business" for sub $2k.
Keep us up to date on what you do then!

 

[newyorker]

it was me it ended up being $2300 with blower fan limit and tax

 

[newyorker]

before i bought the caddy i was going to get a tundra from menards i called them they said they would ship and gave me a quote it was kinda high so my company goes that way i was going to have them pick it up if you have a carrier pick it up you dont have to pay tax out of state their are so many sites to join where they give you the best price from many carriers

 

[flotek]

Northern tool has them ( tundra)for 1699 now there will likely be 100$ in shipping but you won't pay tax. I'd bet The guy at ace has never even seen a tundra in his life . His job is to sell you the most expensive unit he can because it will increase his bottom line for Christmas funds

 

[Cpeder]

Cannot find them on northern tool for the life of me. Only place I can find is menards. Kind of scares me they're so hard to find. Everyone I called today says the stopped selling them cause drolet was hard to work with.

 

[3fordasho]

Menards got mine in 1 week. It's kept the propane furnace off for the last week and that's only loading once a day because I'm not moved in yet.
I've got 3400 ft2 that's going to be a challenge for it to heat but I've also got a free standing stove installed in the fireplace room. So far no regrets on the tundra and it was the only add on furnace that I could get in a short timeframe
(besides a hot blast or daka or other forest eater). Really have not it had long enough to give a complete review. I am right in the middle of Menards country so that made it easy to get from them.

Cannot find them on northern tool for the life of me. Only place I can find is menards. Kind of scares me they're so hard to find. Everyone I called today says the stopped selling them cause drolet was hard to work with.

 

[brenndatomu]

Cannot find them on northern tool for the life of me. Only place I can find is menards. Kind of scares me they're so hard to find. Everyone I called today says the stopped selling them cause drolet was hard to work with.

Yeah, NT site says "no longer available" right now. I noticed the same thing a few weeks back on NT and Menards, but then a few days later they were back, on both sites. I think when SBI goes on backorder with stuff, then the non-stocking vendors sites say "not available"...my best guess. (although it is curious that NT shows NLA but Menards says available...)
Hard to find means...popular. If Drolet is hard to work with, then it is on the vendor side of things...I dunno 'bout that. What I do know is I can't recall anybody having anything bad to say about their customer service, well, I think there was one guy a while back when they had problems with the first year Tundras, but he also seemed like one of those be-autch-if-he-was-hung-with-a-new-rope types. And, as I recall, even he had to admit that in the end they took care of him.