Introducing Brand New Wood Furnace to Market - The Drolet Tundra!

[Fyrebug]

I posted some quick short videos on YouTube under drolet heatmax

Good secondary combustion there.

It'd be nice to see a video when the fire's raging then when the damper is down.

 

[Cloud IT]

 

[zogger]

That burns pretty!

I'd like to get a stove with a visible flame, but right now too expensive when the old one is working fine.

 

[flotek]

 

[flotek]

I added some more videos on YouTube

 

[Fyrebug]

Here, I posted the link here for you... Nice Secondaries BTW

 

[flotek]

Here's my mini review after about a week of burning ..I'm really Lovin this furnace so far .running this thing is so different than my englander in every way . I basically had to forget everything I knew about burning in a large wood burner .its going to take some getting used to .the drolet is about the closest thing you can get to a natural gas furnace just set it on your thermostat and forget it .i have not really filled it up much and getting clean burn times easily over 10 hours and plenty of coals after 14 hrs .the wood usage is pretty amazing itlike the fire just never goes out on the thing .i throw some splits in it set the digital wall thermostat upstairs at 68 degrees and go to work ten hours later it's still right at 68 degrees and a bed of hot glowing coals .the flue isn't even that hot kind of keeps all the heat in the unit itself .Stays within a few degrees of my t stat setting no wild temperature swings or going downstairs to make air adjustments or add more wood .it uses far less firewood than my englander at this rate maybe even truly half. ..Now that all being said it's still early in the season so it hasn't gotten brutal cold but so far so good and I'd say it was worth the time and trouble to switch

 

[spadjen]

Just got this stove on sunday and finished the install on monday. Decided on this for the clean bern and also since i have a drolet ht2000 on the main floor. Great company and was very happy with that stove. But people with sinus problems, cold floor, mess in house, and cold bathroom i decided to try this. It Is a different experience. Damper fully open or closed takes some getting used to. Heat set on thermostat stays almost with in a 2-4 degres of where its set. Loading is easy with coals. Raise your thermostat to open damper and throw wood in. Thats it....no leaving door open or having to go back and turn it down. I decided to load the stove all the way to see what that was like. It was 62 in the house and 20 outside. brought a 1600 sq foot house up to 72 in little less then an hour. Too much wood....it shut the damper down almost rest of the night. I was left with the biggest load of red coals after 7 hours. but loading it bout half or little more i have been getting clean burn with almost no ash. I was going to get a remote thermostat with an alarm since i am not used to wood stoves in the basement. I dont see the need for it. Stack temp never gets that hot even with a raging fire in the box. Its been less then a week and so far i think its great. Only concern is how much wood am i going to use? Time will tell. I am coming from a wood stove on the main floor so i only used 2.5 to 3 cord. I expect to use a little more then that. But i have no problem with that to have even heat, warm floors, and heat in the back of the house.

few more things to do for the install. Hooking up a cold air return in the house with filter. Should make it more efficient to remove cold air from the house and air running over the jacket will not be as cold. also need to measure static pressure to make sure blower is running at the right speed. I dont get alot of air flow out of the vents. But so far it has not been an issue heating the house. I do get some heat loss in the duct work in the back of the house. not sure if they need to be insulated or fan speed needs to be changed. they have the seams taped and running in the basement that is somewhat warm from the stove. I get about 140-150 from the floor vents in the front and about 115-125 from the back of the house.

I will do some movies on the install and operation at some point soon. nice stove...heavy and bulky. get some moving straps and 4-5 guys. had no problems other then my broken toe. fyi...do not set it on your toe or any other part of your body. that is not in te directions .

 

[flotek]

For my setup I use the lowest fan speed setting. . The high setting was cooling the heat off the furnace unit too much and dropping the air temp enough to shut off the blower too early the low setting was just right pressure and not overly loud in my case

 

[spadjen]

I have not tried using the lowest setting yet. I have been on med high and high. It does not cool it to the point of shutting the blower off. I prob load more wood then you and run the box hotter. The only thing i have noticed is that when the damper is open and the blower is on it chews through the wood pretty fast. Then when it shuts down it goes it to a nice steady low burn. So maybe having the fan too high would cause it to eat more wood? I am concerned with the amount of wood being used when its wide open. I was thinking of running the fire box full of wood and then shutting the damper down. When i do this the blower goes on and off on its own ( not alot) but the wood seems to last longer. Slow and steady wins the race?

We need to run some sort self help support group for the heat max. Everyone share there techniques, how much wood they use, how big there house is, outside temp, and how many floor vents?

 

[spadjen]

anyone have yellow discharge coming from the stove pipe connector ( not you ) at the back of the stove? Only had it fired up for about 4 days so not sure whats going on here. Stove pipe has been running low temps 200-375. cant imagine cleaning the chimney weekly

 

[flotek]

I get that too where the single wall connects at the joint in the back .its from using wood that's less than seasoned . Its setup and angled in such a way that resulting Moisture can collect there my excuse is I was busy working on my muscle car and got a late start getting my wood split and stored away in time . This condition won't happen if your wood is well seasoned IMHO also I wouldn't set the t stay too high on a cold house or it will eat wood running wide open trying to incrementally get to the T stat setting I'd do it in stages till it raised it high enough you don't want your air flap wide open for too long

 

[laynes69]

Like Flotek is saying, you shouldn't be seeing anything like that. Unseasoned wood or burning at too low of temps will cause it. It takes some time to get the furnace up to operating temps before closing the damper. I know our wood now has been seasoning for 3 years, and we don't have that issue.

 

[spadjen]

wish i could say i was working on a muscle car but lately been working on a pos dodge neon. Anyway, getting to the end of my wood supply that has been stacked for 2.5-3 years. I guess it may not be fully seasoned since the area its stacked in is in shade most of the day. but it is off the ground with a roof over it. I will keep an eye on it. maybe its something that was just a fluke or heavy rain coming down the chimney ?

I will try heating the house in stages. Pretty much along the lines i was thinking of trying next. Fill the fire box, shut the damper down, then let the fan kick on and off as it gets over 160.


and what the .......... My 3rd post and I get a Dumb ?

its all good.

 

[flotek]

This furnace appears to be pickey about moisture in the wood . It will definitely require a bit of a learning curve. .but there's a big benefit compared to a traditional campfire in a box with some sheet metal and a blower. I like how it will idle for hours on end. ..then ramp up and the blower comes in the second I bump up the thermostat setting .

 

[spadjen]

I plan on keeping a good supply of wood in basement so that may help.

Yeah...other then learning the stove to reduce wood usage I love the stove. Deff works well and using a tstat is a nice touch. I like how adding wood is as easy as throwing some in and putting the tstat 1 or 2 degrees higher. Almost set and forget.

Planning on hooking up cold air supply to the upstairs. Hoping that will help heat more efficient. Did u hook up air supply to yours?

 

[brenndatomu]

This furnace appears to be pickey about moisture in the wood . It will definitely require a bit of a learning curve. .but there's a big benefit compared to a traditional campfire in a box with some sheet metal and a blower. I like how it will idle for hours on end. ..then ramp up and the blower comes in the second I bump up the thermostat setting .

Yup, modern EPA type stoves definitely do require dry wood to maintain secondary combustion, and that is where the efficiency comes in. Without secondary combustion, "tube" type stoves will barely heat your doghouse! Dry wood makes 'em rock!

 

[flotek]

Nope I have not I may in the future though ..its 19 outside and mid 70"s in my 2000 sq ft house so I can't complain
The burn times are nice

 

[laynes69]

I'm glad to hear your liking the new furnace. Our wood wasn't up to par the first year, so I just ran the furnace with a little extra air. It would take a half hour or more to get things up to operating temps, where now it's 10-15 minutes with better wood. There's definitely a learning curve, but it's worth it!

 

[spadjen]

about how much wood are you going through a year for your sq foot? How full do you load your stove and how long of a burn do you get? I think getting use to this furnace would be alot easier for those that had a stove in the basement. I had an HT 2000 (big stove) in the living room. Was able to baby sit it. Was also able to turn it way down due to the stove being so big and the radiant heat. I no doubt will be using more wood this year. as far as wood usage and efficiency i see this furnace to be in the middle of the stove in the living room and stove in the basement. Most of us upgrading to the heatmax will see your wood usually go down....I will see it go up. But that is the trade off for being warm everywhere with a warm floor. I may be expecting too much at times? so just wanted to see how full you guys load yours, how many times a day for what temps and sq foot. kinda to get an average. I am thinking i will be moving from 2.5- 3 cord a year to somewhere around 4-5?