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

[flotek]

There's a lot of variables most people heating a house exclusively with a wood furnace will use around 6 cords maybe 7 if you have a large home in a cold climate this epa stove should knock that down 2-3 cords less depending on a lot of variables . Laynes would be the guy to ask he's had his caddy for several years now . One thing about this epa furnace is that it distributes the heat over a longer period and doesn't get blazing hot like a traditional furnace with a huge firebox can.. as a result if you are used to 80 ish in dead of winter you may not feel the same comfort level with this unit that maintains 70 in the house instead,in all fairness the degree that your wood is seasoned probably plays a big part in that too

 

[laynes69]

We use between 5-6.5 cord a year, but we have a 160+ year old 2500 sqft Victorian with 10' ceilings and over 40 windows. The old furnace would use between 8-10+ cord a year plus 200 gallons of propane. We don't load full loads every time, because someone is always home. When temps drop into the teens and below then we will move towards full loads. I know we could knock a cord or more off our usage, but my wife keeps the house at 75 most of the winter.

 

[spadjen]

Has anyone Tried loading there wood side to side? Went to do some more work on sealing up the basement. Major air infiltration so not sure if that would be a huge problem in the house but i am sure it does not help. Was think of insulating the ducts but not sure if that would help with the long duct runs and the lower temp i am getting out the registers in the back of the house. When looking around i things i noticed the back 8" round was quite a bit colder then the front. This was when a pretty good fire was going with the damper open. I would expect it to be colder being in the back but this seemed to be alot colder. is this normal or is the stove just not up to temp?

 

[flotek]

My wife is same way she would rather me cut an extra cord so she could be at 75 all day instead of room temperature lol easy for her to say .. She doesn't cut split or stack it . Yes Mine runs cooler in back too I think because that where the fan is blowing probably . It's almost impossible to overstate " good seasoned wood makes all the difference" epa designs get their efficiency by secondary combustion you won't have it if the temperature is lacking in the firebox .. If it has to boil any water out of your wood it will be way down in temperature to light off the gases ..at least this is my understanding of why it requires premo dry wood. If the wood is only half seasoned it probably won't do any better than a old hotblast tractor supply special for efficiency

 

[Cloud IT]

My wife is same way she would rather me cut an extra cord so she could be at 75 all day instead of room temperature lol easy for her to say .. She doesn't cut split or stack it . Yes Mine runs cooler in back too I think because that where the fan is blowing probably . It's almost impossible to overstate " good seasoned wood makes all the difference" epa designs get their efficiency by secondary combustion you won't have it if the temperature is lacking in the firebox .. If it has to boil any water out of your wood it will be way down in temperature to light off the gases ..at least this is my understanding of why it requires premo dry wood. If the wood is only half seasoned it probably won't do any better than a old hotblast tractor supply special for efficiency

This...

If you guys aren't using dry wood you are missing out on what the furnace can do. Once the firebox is hot and the thermostat stops calling for heat, the damper will close and will cause a low oxygen burn to start. Any wood you add won't be burned as normal. Instead the wood will give off gases as it is baked and those gasses will ignite at a very high temperature. Once those gasses are burned off you will be left with solid charcoal that will continue to give off heat for hours and hours on end.

The overnight burns are best to be added at this point without getting the coals too fired up. That way when the temp drops after you go to bed the damper will open up and in getting that 1 degree back will start the chain reaction all over again.

I've had some major issues that the manufacturer is hopefully going to address and I will be giving you all an update when everything is said and done. However, this furnace is beyond impressive and I've been heating my home on the worst stuff I could find out of 10+ cords and it's been amazing. My dad said the amount of wood I brought into my basement would last him less than 2 days and it lasted me over a week. I'm heating 3800 sq. ft. of well insulated and airtight home.

If you aren't using dry wood then you aren't going to get the secondary combustion. When my secondary combustion is going it doesn't even burn the wood per say and I can't hold my hand 12" in front of the glass door for more than a few seconds. I like to describe it as "nuking" the wood.

Also, I wanted to point out that I'm getting the best result using much smaller wood. Forget what you knew about throwing in that big "overnight" log. It will have too much moisture and will prevent secondary combustion. To compensate the damper will need to be open more and your wood will burn out faster. If you aren't getting long burns, try using very small splits and just pack it it. I've gotten insane burn times using this method.

 

[spadjen]

What kind of issues are you having with your stove? Be intresting to see how they respond. I have had good support from drolet

 

[laynes69]

Airsealing our attic alone, cut down the heating demand by 30%. I plugged almost 12 sqft of voids that were channeling hot air out the attic. This not only increased comfort, but it made the home much easier to heat and lowered wood usage. Any draft whether large or small that's stopped will make a big difference. Start in the attic and then work your way down to the basement. Basically it's like having a couple windows open all winter long.

 

[flotek]

I have old 70"s crest line double pane windows . I hate them they get thick frost on them and a high wind is felt near them .come spring I'm getting all new modern tight vinyl ones I'm also considering blowing in additional insulation mine has whatever the thin standard was for 1978 . It can't be more than 3 inch blanket between the boards
Of my attic

 

[laynes69]

I have old 70"s crest line double pane windows . I hate them they get thick frost on them and a high wind is felt near them .come spring I'm getting all new modern tight vinyl ones I'm also considering blowing in additional insulation mine has whatever the thin standard was for 1978 . It can't be more than 3 inch blanket between the boards
Of my attic

We had about 3" of cellulose in our attic. After I went through and sealed every crack and hole I could fine, the next year we blew in around 10-12" more on top of the 3. That winter, the upstairs stayed about 10 degrees warmer. Now in the summertime, the upstairs stays cooler than downstairs. Since insulating, it settled a few inches, so I'm going to blow in more probably this summer. We spent about 500.00, which has saved us much more than that. We just got done putting a 2 story addition on our home, which has made things tighter, but currently I have an uninsulated, drafty room that needs attention. It's never-ending, but all effort in the end, is well worth it.

 

[stihly dan]

Has anyone Tried loading there wood side to side? Went to do some more work on sealing up the basement. Major air infiltration so not sure if that would be a huge problem in the house but i am sure it does not help. Was think of insulating the ducts but not sure if that would help with the long duct runs and the lower temp i am getting out the registers in the back of the house. When looking around i things i noticed the back 8" round was quite a bit colder then the front. This was when a pretty good fire was going with the damper open. I would expect it to be colder being in the back but this seemed to be alot colder. is this normal or is the stove just not up to temp?

Balancing dampers.

 

[flotek]

Just came home from church and Here's what I have left today at 12:54 I loaded yesterday evening at 9:45 . That's 15 hours and. 9 minutest the blower has since quit ( maybe an hour ago) but the furnace is still warm to the touch..that's double the burn time of my old furnace and this new one even has a smaller firebox
..Seeing is believing

 

[spadjen]

What was the temp outside? I just finished hooking up the cold air suply upstairs to the house. Hard to tell how much a diffrence it makes since it went from 5 to 30 degrees at night. But so far it seems to heat the house faster and longer. Duct temp increased from 145 to 160. And flue temp increased due to warmer air running over the jacket.


I still would like to know what issues cloud it had with his. I asked on here and his youtube but never answered .

 

[flotek]

For my burn it was around 20 through the night then gradually increased in the morning to around 30 as sun came out

 

[Mlaw22]

I have a cape cod around 1800 sqft. Full unfinished basement. Built it myself, well insulated and tight. I've had my tundra hooked up for three weeks now. My chimney is around 24 ft tall. Double wall insulated stainless outside, double wall black inside with two 90s in basement and one 90 outside. I'm struggling to get long burn times. I get my fire ripping and close my damper. I have the flame up high and it's hotter than heck in front of the stove. 8 hour day low 30s outside and I loose about 6 to 7 degrees inside and it's a pile of coals when I get home. Do I need a barometric draft regulator? The chimney barely ever gets hot. I have plenty of make up air. Is there a way to tie in the make up air? I use to have a mindless hotblast wood eating machine. I'd have that chimney so hot you couldn't go near it. And the blower ran constantly. I'm struggles with this one. Plus I have to assist the damper door when I flip the switch. They said they'd have a solution this week for me. I love it and have high hopes, just feel I don't understand it yet. My wood has been seasoned one to two years. I have messed with fan speeds but low doesn't blow it enough and high seems to cool it off to fast. Do I need to geek it up and get into manometers and technical aspects of it? Or is there something I'm missing ? Even though I can't get the heat right I wouldn't go back to that hotblast if you paid me. No smoke in house and I've emptied the ashes only once without dumping a tray and getting dust all over.

 

[brenndatomu]

-Hmmm, unfinished basement, are you hooked up to duct work to push the heat to the living space? how many ducts? size?

-(3) 90s on your chimney really reduces draft, any chance to change the inside 90s to a series of 45s? Each 90 knocks the draft down equal to taking 3-4 ft off the chimney height, and most modern "EPA" type burners need a minimum of 15 ft. of height, and that is with a straight up chimney. This furnace is gonna need a stronger draft to work right than the Hotblast did.

-You said you have a tight house and plenty of make up air? I assume you have a outside air kit?

-Who is the "they" that will have a solution for you?

-Your wood was cut, split, stacked for 1-2 years? What kind of wood? Oak will need at a minimum of 2 years after CSS. Honestly, this really sounds like wet wood, well, not wet, just not dry enough. Try some ECO bricks in 'er, or mix in some kiln dried lumber with your firewood load, see if it makes any difference.

-It certainly wouldn't hurt to "geek" out with a manometer, get some hard numbers to work with, no more ass-u-me ing. FYI, I have bought (2) Dwyer Mark II manometers on fleabay for under $20 delivered to my door.

 

[laynes69]

Your not going to feel the heat the hotblast put out. That's because the hotblast had a firebox almost double the size. The reason why the flue was hot on the old furnace, it was very Inefficient. Now I know you said you built your house and it's tight and well insulated, but to loose 6 to 7 degrees when it's only in the low 30's after burning the furnace during the day, tells me it's not as tight as you think. We have a different furnace, but the same firebox as the tundra. We have a 2500 sqft home plus basement, that's over 150 years old and when it dropped to 18 during the night, I loaded the furnace (same firebox) at 10pm, set the thermostat for 72 and 9.5 hours later woke to a 69 degree house. Your losing quite a bit of heat, did you have a blower door test done on the home?

Anyhow, yes you need a manometer to measure draft. With that many elbows though, It would reduce draft quite a bit. A manometer will take out the guess work.

 

[Mlaw22]

The wood I have is maple ash mixed cut, split and stacked. But it's seen alittle rain this last fall and summer do to so some lazy deeds on my part. I did put a few cords In the base basement with dehumidifier in it and it's seems to be dry as a bone. I'll check the moisture content tmr. It doesn't sizzle.

I do have it hooked up to my cold air return. Two eight inch in off the cold air and two eight inch tied into the main furnace. Story 1/2 with ten ducts. My outside air intake is a 3 1/2 in duct coming into the same room. Plus I have my basement window next to it which I've tried leaving open to see if that helps. What is an outside air kit? Does it hook directly to the stove?

I kinda wanna geek out. I've been stalking this forum for months, which led me to buy this stove. I'll check eBay. Thanks for that.

I called drolet about the draft door. The guy said I was the second person that day to call. They are working on a solution. Seemed nice enough. I'll update.

Would changing my chimney to 45s really help? Or could I just put on a baro draft reg? It would push my stove quite a bit further in which I don't won't but could live with if needed.

I didn't have a blower door test done but I take pride in building homes. I used very efficient windows, doors, sealed all nooks, cranys and insulated well. Only built it about 7 years ago. Don't think that's the problem.
Maybe I need look at wood. Seems to be most of the talk about epas.

Plus I want to thank all of you for your posts and inputs. You guys frigin rock.

 

[zogger]

Any flow likes gradual over abrupt, so ya, 45s over 90s will help right off the bat.

 

[brenndatomu]

Changing to 45s will help a lot to give you a stronger draft, and like I said, if you figure that each 90 is equal to losing 3-4' of chimney height, (15 being minimum) you potentially have a bare minimum chimney. Not saying that for sure, you need a draft speed reading (manometer) to know for sure.
Now, a baro will help lower your draft readings (but only to your preset reading) installing one certainly won't hurt (good time to install one when you change to 45s)
Baros are nice to have just for the fact that they keep the draft consistent all the time (during high winds, etc.)
Sounds like you have the bases covered for the most part, I'm bettin you have weak draft.
One other thought, did you ever get any temp readings? Internal stove pipe temp (probe type thermo) or temp on the firebox? This being a new model, I can't tell you where those #s should be or the best "spot" to get them, but I do know that people with free standing stoves like to run 5-6, even as high as 700* stove top temps for them to work the best. Maybe some of your fellow Tundra owners here on AS could shoot some #s off theirs for ya? Guys (gals)?

 

[lampmfg]

90's are a No No...