A.S.Woodchucker
ArboristSite Operative
$1599
Family farm and hame has them in their ad for $1599 on sale!
Family farm and hame has them in their ad for $1599 on sale!
Introducing Brand New Wood Furnace to Market - The Drolet Tundra!
- Thread starter Fyrebug
- Start date
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Cloud IT
ArboristSite Operative
In the first place how can one say I'll have to cut, split and sweep twice as much wood? Ya'll have no idea how good my old worn out wood furnace is/was. I never found a tag to even now what brand it is. As for sweeping that is one reason I am getting a shaker grate stove of some type so the ashes go into a pan and not on the furnace room floor nor does all that dust go all over tha basement and in time thru out the house.
My brothers neighbour has a shaker grate furnace and that room it is in stays as clean as the kitchen and I've been there when he is shakeing down the ashes.
Al
I totally get where you are coming from. Shaker grates are much easier to remove ashes than any ultra efficient design that uses ceramic on the bottom of the fire box.
Maybe someday there may be a combination grate that gives us the best of both worlds. Until then I'm going to have to go with what gives me the most efficient burn. Maybe its not 50% less wood but even if it's only 10% less then that is 10% less felling, bucking, loading, gas, unloading, splitting, stacking, storing, hauling, stacking, loading, and creosote.....makes a few min of raking ashes totally worth it to me.
Again, I totally get your thought process and think you should get what is best for you. (check out yukon's with the shaker grate. Excellent furnaces) My dad thinks exactly the same way and it's not a wrong way of thinking by any means. My only reason for posting this is to encourage the manufacturers to push for efficiency because in my opinion, it's a far more important factor.
Now if Lowes would only get them in stock I could go buy one. It's going to be pretty cold tonight.
It comes standard with 3 tools including an ash shovel
This is a self contained ash gatherer. No dust but $129. Hoping I don't have to empty the ashes from the Tundra but once every two or three weeks as I did on my other epa stove.
brenndatomu
Hey you woodchucks, quit chucking my wood!
Yeah, I'd think someone would have one of these babys blowing smoke by now...
TruckerTeacher
ArboristSite Lurker
got Tundra on order thru menards , shipped free to store ,went that route instead of $480 to ship it to my house. chimney guy was out today to fix crown ,recap and seal it, that will keep it from leaking in basement at the base. they said 2 -3 weeks to arrive , so will have it ready to install when it gets here. will post some pics after we gets it going.
I just got one myself as well, a HeatMax from Family Farm and Home. Got it out the door with aftertax for $1694. I was debating between that and the Max Caddy, but my local dealer wanted >$4700 for the max, so.. that made all the difference.
I got a 2100sq ft home, with a 1500 sqft basement (6" wall with full fiberglass plu 1" styrofoam around the whole house, insualted basement, LOTS of windows, but at least they are all newer thermopaned...). I'm hoping that the Heatmax will be able to handle it... but even if it doesn't, I suppose it'll knock a bit of the bite out of the electric bill.
The Heatmax will be replacing a 30 year old RightWay 73 in the basement. I'm looking forward to the efficiency difference and having the window. Can't wait to get a chacne to change it out and get it fired up.
Hoping for the best!
I got a 2100sq ft home, with a 1500 sqft basement (6" wall with full fiberglass plu 1" styrofoam around the whole house, insualted basement, LOTS of windows, but at least they are all newer thermopaned...). I'm hoping that the Heatmax will be able to handle it... but even if it doesn't, I suppose it'll knock a bit of the bite out of the electric bill.
The Heatmax will be replacing a 30 year old RightWay 73 in the basement. I'm looking forward to the efficiency difference and having the window. Can't wait to get a chacne to change it out and get it fired up.
Hoping for the best!
brenndatomu
Hey you woodchucks, quit chucking my wood!
Any luck on gettin that promo Fyrebug?
Hi guys, with the site going up & down I have not been able to keep track of thing. If you are seriously going to get one, PM me and I'll provide you with some goodies.
Cloud IT
ArboristSite Operative
I've sent you two messages but they disappear right after. I think it's issues with the forums here. Are you under the same name on hearth dot com? I sent you a message over there.
I'm ready to buy and looking for a deal.
Corey
I'm ready to buy and looking for a deal.
Corey
brenndatomu
Hey you woodchucks, quit chucking my wood!
Yup, he is/does...although...I don't recall seein him hanging out (at least posting) much over there lately.
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With the site going on and off, I haven't had a chance to comment on the HeatMax that I have, I've started a bit of a discussion over at Hearth, and I'll add my first post overe here, just so the same information will be availabe here.
Copy & pasted:
Hey All!
Figured I'd report in on that new furnace from Drolet....
First, how about some background, I live in a 2200 sqft 1.5 story house, with a 1500 sqft basement (3700sqft total). The House was built in '78 and was built as efficiently as they were able at the time, 6" walls with full fiberglass, with 1" styrofoam on the outside before the siding, the basement is also fully insulated, There are a lot of windows (8 are considered "picture" windows byu the insurance comapny) however, most are newer thermopanes at least.
The house has electric baseboard for the primary heat, and the previous owner had a RiteWay 73 furnace in teh basement with one giant duct straight to the kitchen which is in the middle of the first floor. I burned with that riteway for 2 years. It heated the house... but it took a LOT of wood, with a 7.3 cubicfoot firebox, that it could burn through in 4-5 hrs... you can only imagine how old that go.
So this year I decided to upgrade, I searched around, Kuuma, PSG, Blaze King (I used to have a princess insert in my last house and was happy with it), Boiler system, The Napoleon HMF furnaces, etc. I eventually decided on the Drolet Tundra #1 because of the price (I got it for $1599 on sale last week at Family Home and Farm), and 2# because of the raving reviews of the PSG Caddy.
I am not entirely sure if the stove has the grunt to heat the whole house when it starts getting real cold... but since the price for something larger, like the Kuuma (>$4k) and the MaxCaddy (quoted by my "local" dealer at $4700), I decided to go for the MUCH cheaper tundra.
Took me all weekend, but I managed to get the old stove out, and the new stove in and hooked up, I wasn't sure if it would draft that well, (the manual says no more than 2 90° turns before the chimney and I have 2 plus another 45°. But it sure looks pretty in place.
I fired it last night just for the fun of it, I completely smoked up the house due to the curing paint, but that's expected. The stove started easily enough and teh chimney drafted just great ( even with all the bends, it's still a 30' interior chimney, so it's got some heavy pull when it's hot).
I't's going to take some getting used to, as the damper system is either fully on or fully off, I've never run a stove like that before. But once it was up to temp, I shut off the primary damper and the secondaries flared right up and the heat poured out. The other great thing is when I woke up this morninger and checked (12 hr's after startign it) there was plenty of coals to restart a new fir, no heat.. but LOTS of coals, that is something my RiteWay would never do.
So far the negatives I have found...
-I am not a big fan of the wingnuts closures for the heat exchanger and ash drawer. They look cheap and tacky and will probably be a pain to use and have a good potential for losing the wingnuts by dropping them. I understand it was a cost saving measure to get the unit to the 1599... but I'd have paid more to get nice hinged doors with over-center handle locks.
-The on/off switch for the primary air is on the back of the stove, it is very inconvenient to hit, especially when the unit is hot. I'll probably eventually remoting wire the switch to a better place.
-The blower is pretty nice and pretty quiet, but I'm not sure it'll have the grunt to push air all the way to the second floor when I get around to ducting the house (to be fair, I haven't changed the setting from the "medium-low" default setting and it could potentially push much more when switched to high, we'll see)
Anyhow, that's I got for now, I hope it works out, so far I really like it and I think it was a fantastic value at the price point. Especially if I can get the tax credit at the endo f the year.
I'll post pictures when I get a chance
Copy & pasted:
Hey All!
Figured I'd report in on that new furnace from Drolet....
First, how about some background, I live in a 2200 sqft 1.5 story house, with a 1500 sqft basement (3700sqft total). The House was built in '78 and was built as efficiently as they were able at the time, 6" walls with full fiberglass, with 1" styrofoam on the outside before the siding, the basement is also fully insulated, There are a lot of windows (8 are considered "picture" windows byu the insurance comapny) however, most are newer thermopanes at least.
The house has electric baseboard for the primary heat, and the previous owner had a RiteWay 73 furnace in teh basement with one giant duct straight to the kitchen which is in the middle of the first floor. I burned with that riteway for 2 years. It heated the house... but it took a LOT of wood, with a 7.3 cubicfoot firebox, that it could burn through in 4-5 hrs... you can only imagine how old that go.
So this year I decided to upgrade, I searched around, Kuuma, PSG, Blaze King (I used to have a princess insert in my last house and was happy with it), Boiler system, The Napoleon HMF furnaces, etc. I eventually decided on the Drolet Tundra #1 because of the price (I got it for $1599 on sale last week at Family Home and Farm), and 2# because of the raving reviews of the PSG Caddy.
I am not entirely sure if the stove has the grunt to heat the whole house when it starts getting real cold... but since the price for something larger, like the Kuuma (>$4k) and the MaxCaddy (quoted by my "local" dealer at $4700), I decided to go for the MUCH cheaper tundra.
Took me all weekend, but I managed to get the old stove out, and the new stove in and hooked up, I wasn't sure if it would draft that well, (the manual says no more than 2 90° turns before the chimney and I have 2 plus another 45°. But it sure looks pretty in place.
I fired it last night just for the fun of it, I completely smoked up the house due to the curing paint, but that's expected. The stove started easily enough and teh chimney drafted just great ( even with all the bends, it's still a 30' interior chimney, so it's got some heavy pull when it's hot).
I't's going to take some getting used to, as the damper system is either fully on or fully off, I've never run a stove like that before. But once it was up to temp, I shut off the primary damper and the secondaries flared right up and the heat poured out. The other great thing is when I woke up this morninger and checked (12 hr's after startign it) there was plenty of coals to restart a new fir, no heat.. but LOTS of coals, that is something my RiteWay would never do.
So far the negatives I have found...
-I am not a big fan of the wingnuts closures for the heat exchanger and ash drawer. They look cheap and tacky and will probably be a pain to use and have a good potential for losing the wingnuts by dropping them. I understand it was a cost saving measure to get the unit to the 1599... but I'd have paid more to get nice hinged doors with over-center handle locks.
-The on/off switch for the primary air is on the back of the stove, it is very inconvenient to hit, especially when the unit is hot. I'll probably eventually remoting wire the switch to a better place.
-The blower is pretty nice and pretty quiet, but I'm not sure it'll have the grunt to push air all the way to the second floor when I get around to ducting the house (to be fair, I haven't changed the setting from the "medium-low" default setting and it could potentially push much more when switched to high, we'll see)
Anyhow, that's I got for now, I hope it works out, so far I really like it and I think it was a fantastic value at the price point. Especially if I can get the tax credit at the endo f the year.
I'll post pictures when I get a chance
Cloud IT
ArboristSite Operative
Fyrebug, could you please explain what the exact differences are between the DF01000 and DF02000? Both are available in the US now and I'm not able to get a straight answer from anyone I've talked to about the differences.
TIA
TIA
Aside from some cosmetics they are identical. The purpose of having two different models of the same unit is to allow our retailers the ability to compete. This is quite common with any appliances. Basically if you are a small retailer and carry the Heatmax you dont really want to compete against Lowe's and lose margins.
It's a common strategy for most products nowadays.
Got a test fire in my heatmax.. Just in my garage with a jerry rigged flue pipe to get the stink and sweat out of it before the real install ..so far I'm impressed . Quality construction good design easy to use. .I broke down a few pieces of the packaging crate and tossed a small aspen slab on top of it ( load would fit in a mailbox ) and it burned for better part of 4 hours that's with the air intake open too . I'm thinking This unit should offer some great burn times loaded up with red oak.there will definitely be a wood savings with the drolet over my englander 28-3500
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