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

[Christusrex54]

Hello everyone,

First let me say thanks to all of you who have shared so much information on here and are so willing to help others figure out their problems. I have been stalking this thread for a year or so now. I was so excited to quit using the 40 year old add-on that came with my house and switch to the tundra and save all kinds of wood. Well, now I'm considering contacting drolet to see if they will take the stupid thing back. Before I do that, I figure I'll come on here and see if you guys can help me out. I still have hope that I can get this furnace to function at a decent level, but right now ( in -10 or -20 wind chill) I have to load 5-7 times a day to keep my house decent. So, here is a little information, and thank you all for your time and input.

My house is 1400 square feet. Decent insulation around and on top, but I have a sunroom exposed on three sides with big windows and sliding doors and it's a freezing crawl space underneath. My masonry chimney was 7 X 13 or so and after doing a bunch of research ( and checking with the company) I went with the 5.5 inch chimney liner. Barely fit it, the 6 inch wouldn't have a chance. The two 8 inch ducts feed into my furnace plenum and there is a limit switch to trigger the main furnace fan because honestly, the fan on the tundra, on med-high, can't get the heat anywhere close to my upstairs.

Here are my questions/concerns
1. Let's start with the chimney. Wisneaky, I have your digital manometer. How do you check the pressure? Do I shove the plastic tube in the stove pipe? Or keep it flush with the pipe? Where should it be reading what? You guys have thrown all kinds of numbers out there, but nobody really clarifies whether the flap is open or closed and whether the fire is hot, cooling, or cold. Oh, and it was hard enough to get the wife to agree that we needed all this stuff, so please, please, please tell me that we can make the 5.5 inch chimney work.

2. I have a magnetic thermometer on the stove pipe, but no internal probe. I know most of you basically ignore the magnetic ones on the stove pipe, so we won't go there. But it seems to be standard to have the magnetic one on the clean out door. Can you guys tell me how hot that gets for you guys? And after the flap closes and opens again, how hot does it get to then?

3. One of my problems (in my estimation) is that I can't catch up. I have the thermostat set to 73 ( in the warm part of the house - bedrooms, hallway on top of furnace room) which makes the other side of the house (kitchen, dining room, sunroom) around 67-68. At night, this side of the house drops below 60. Anyways, the house is cold which keeps the flap open almost constantly. But even when the house warms up, the flap will close, I'll have that cool slow moving fire with the secondaries firing and I'll watch my fire die to 200 or less. Even when the flap opens again, the fire can't get hot enough to do anything.

4. Whoever installed the AC in the house put the coils at the top of the plenum. This means I have to put the ducts from the tundra under the AC coils. Is this causing the huge difficulty in getting the heat up stairs? I mean, I have 600 degree fires (on the thermometer on the clean out door) and my house will go up 2-4 degrees the entire length if the fire.

5. The static pressure thing. I think the number I want is .22 or so, right? Where do I check it? I can tell you in individual 8 inch ducts, with the he fan on med-high, it is about .14. When the main furnace fan kicks on, it jumps to .46 in each one. Is there someplace else I should check it?

That's all I got for now. Thanks in advance for reading this long post and thank you also for any advice and tips you can offer.

 

[Wisneaky]

Hello everyone,

First let me say thanks to all of you who have shared so much information on here and are so willing to help others figure out their problems. I have been stalking this thread for a year or so now. I was so excited to quit using the 40 year old add-on that came with my house and switch to the tundra and save all kinds of wood. Well, now I'm considering contacting drolet to see if they will take the stupid thing back. Before I do that, I figure I'll come on here and see if you guys can help me out. I still have hope that I can get this furnace to function at a decent level, but right now ( in -10 or -20 wind chill) I have to load 5-7 times a day to keep my house decent. So, here is a little information, and thank you all for your time and input.

My house is 1400 square feet. Decent insulation around and on top, but I have a sunroom exposed on three sides with big windows and sliding doors and it's a freezing crawl space underneath. My masonry chimney was 7 X 13 or so and after doing a bunch of research ( and checking with the company) I went with the 5.5 inch chimney liner. Barely fit it, the 6 inch wouldn't have a chance. The two 8 inch ducts feed into my furnace plenum and there is a limit switch to trigger the main furnace fan because honestly, the fan on the tundra, on med-high, can't get the heat anywhere close to my upstairs.

Here are my questions/concerns
1. Let's start with the chimney. Wisneaky, I have your digital manometer. How do you check the pressure? Do I shove the plastic tube in the stove pipe? Or keep it flush with the pipe? Where should it be reading what? You guys have thrown all kinds of numbers out there, but nobody really clarifies whether the flap is open or closed and whether the fire is hot, cooling, or cold. Oh, and it was hard enough to get the wife to agree that we needed all this stuff, so please, please, please tell me that we can make the 5.5 inch chimney work.

2. I have a magnetic thermometer on the stove pipe, but no internal probe. I know most of you basically ignore the magnetic ones on the stove pipe, so we won't go there. But it seems to be standard to have the magnetic one on the clean out door. Can you guys tell me how hot that gets for you guys? And after the flap closes and opens again, how hot does it get to then?

3. One of my problems (in my estimation) is that I can't catch up. I have the thermostat set to 73 ( in the warm part of the house - bedrooms, hallway on top of furnace room) which makes the other side of the house (kitchen, dining room, sunroom) around 67-68. At night, this side of the house drops below 60. Anyways, the house is cold which keeps the flap open almost constantly. But even when the house warms up, the flap will close, I'll have that cool slow moving fire with the secondaries firing and I'll watch my fire die to 200 or less. Even when the flap opens again, the fire can't get hot enough to do anything.

4. Whoever installed the AC in the house put the coils at the top of the plenum. This means I have to put the ducts from the tundra under the AC coils. Is this causing the huge difficulty in getting the heat up stairs? I mean, I have 600 degree fires (on the thermometer on the clean out door) and my house will go up 2-4 degrees the entire length if the fire.

5. The static pressure thing. I think the number I want is .22 or so, right? Where do I check it? I can tell you in individual 8 inch ducts, with the he fan on med-high, it is about .14. When the main furnace fan kicks on, it jumps to .46 in each one. Is there someplace else I should check it?

That's all I got for now. Thanks in advance for reading this long post and thank you also for any advice and tips you can offer.
View attachment 404070 View attachment 404071 View attachment 404072 View attachment 404073

Right where you have that thermometer on your pipe drill a hole and take the reading there. Zero it out first before you take the reading. I try to take the reading with a hot fire and the front damper shut. Shove it in the hole about 3 inches. You want it to read about -.06

 

[flotek]

First is the wood well seasoned and dry ? Minus 20 wind chill is going to eat wood no matter what you have but you shouldn't be filling it more than 3-4 times in a day .. Do you have a high heat loss was the old unit capable

 

[bedrock1]

First is the wood well seasoned and dry ? Minus 20 wind chill is going to eat wood no matter what you have but you shouldn't be filling it more than 3-4 times in a day .. Do you have a high heat loss was the old unit capable

Hi how often does your blower cut in. What thermodisc does your furnace have, I have a heat max same as the tundra I'm having something similar trouble as u eat a lot of wood not really heating my 1000sq/ft house. But my blower won't cut in that often with the damper close, so the guys on here was very helpful then they figured out that they change the location of the thermodisc on top of the furnace because u have a lot of heat to cut the blower in.

 

[brenndatomu]

Do I shove the plastic tube in the stove pipe?

No, get a piece of metal tubing, 1' or so, insert that into the flue pipe, then attach the rubber tubing to that.
How are you checking the static pressure? To me the duct air temp means as much as anything...more than SP, IMO
Also, can you close the "sun" room off from the rest of the house during this cold weather?

Hi how often does your blower cut in. What thermodisc does your furnace have, I have a heat max same as the tundra I'm having something similar trouble as u eat a lot of wood not really heating my 1000sq/ft house. But my blower won't cut in that often with the damper close, so the guys on here was very helpful then they figured out that they change the location of the thermodisc on top of the furnace because u have a lot of heat to cut the blower in.

Did the new location work for you B1?

 

[laynes69]

I'm willing to bet, your coil is robbing heat from the woodfurnace. Also with the central furnace running it's blower, it's even cooler. You want the ducts from the woodfurnace tied into the ductwork above the coil with a backdraft damper to prevent backflow and increase pressure in the system. Doing this will allow for fully heated air to travel in one direction. I suspect this is your main problem, the other issue would be getting your draft in check. I wouldn't worry about static pressure.

If your crawlspace is freezing, I would investigate and see what could be done to reduce drafts, or heat loss.

 

[bedrock1]

No, get a piece of metal tubing, 1' or so, insert that into the flue pipe, then attach the rubber tubing to that.
How are you checking the static pressure? To me the duct air temp means as much as anything...more than SP, IMO
Also, can you close the "sun" room off from the rest of the house during this cold weather?

Did the new location work for you B1?

I'm hoping to get the kit today I let u know

 

[Christusrex54]

Thanks for your responses.

wisneaky, I have a hole right next to where the pipe goes into the furnace so I checked there. With the damper open and closed and the fire at 400 degrees, my draft was a min of .06 max of .10 and an average of .08. Is this a big enough problem worthy of getting a baro? It's amazing how people on other sites make you sound stupid for even considering using a baro with wood stoves because of the danger of creosote.

Bedrock, I still have the thermodisc on the back, which is 120-10. I just looked at it and was hoping it was something different hoping that would help. I'm hoping to avoid paying over 100 bucks for the pieces to put the thermodisc on top. Do I need it?

Flotek, I'm sure I have heat loss, but I'm cutting it out wherever I can find it. I've burned through the amount of wood I thought I would burn this year and the stuff I was saving for next year. I know not all of it is seasoned like it should be, but even the loads I am confident of, it doesn't seem to matter. Honestly, I can handle struggling through this year if I can figure it out and have it ready to go for next year.

Brenn, How do you guys measure the duct temp? Sun room is wide open to kitchen and dining room, no closing it off. It's a good 20' - 25' run of duct to get to that side of the house anyways, then to have ducts that have to run to the far side of the sun room, there just isn't much pressure there even with the main furnace fan.

Layne, that, in my mind also, my biggest problem. I want to move the AC coils down and the tundra ducts above it, but I'm thinking that is an extensive project best saved for the summer. I heated last couple of years with a system like this and while I went through a crapload of wood with the old hog, it kept the house a little warmer than this.

More questions:
1. does anyone else have AC coils above tundra ducts?

2. I used to have the cold air return hooked up, but I turned my whole setup to reduce elbows in my chimney and haven't setup it up under the advice of a furnace guy who I admit probably didn't have a lot of experience with good wood heat set ups. Am I a fool for not having the cold air return hooked up yet?

 

[brenndatomu]

The creosote thing is a problem with a baro, I have mine covered up and using the manual damper instead as I type this.
Another problem with having the AC coil above is that the drip trays on modern AC coils are plastic and with wood heat the air can get hot enough to melt that, not that you are there right now, but just FYI and another reason to move it.
If your old smoke dragon furnace didn't really keep up then the Tundra won't either in it's current setup. The old style wood furnaces had more on demand fire power if it was needed. If you get a few things sorted out then the Tundra should do a nice job for you...

 

[Christusrex54]

Another question for you all. For those of you who have your tundra ducts going into the plenum of another furnace...do you have the tundra ducts inside it pointed up, or just into the side? I was with someone else installing a simple Daka wood furnace and their instruction manual makes it seems required to point the ducts up inside the plenum. Now, My plenum isn't big enough to point both up, but I could do one and was wondering if others did/needed to do this.

 

[brenndatomu]

do you have the tundra ducts inside it pointed up, or just into the side?

Shouldn't really matter as long as you have a backdraft damper between where you tie in and the fossil fuel furnace. Also need backdraft dampers on the 8" lines coming off the Tundra so it doesn't backfeed when the furnace or AC is running

 

[bedrock1]

Thanks for your responses.

wisneaky, I have a hole right next to where the pipe goes into the furnace so I checked there. With the damper open and closed and the fire at 400 degrees, my draft was a min of .06 max of .10 and an average of .08. Is this a big enough problem worthy of getting a baro? It's amazing how people on other sites make you sound stupid for even considering using a baro with wood stoves because of the danger of creosote.

Bedrock, I still have the thermodisc on the back, which is 120-10. I just looked at it and was hoping it was something different hoping that would help. I'm hoping to avoid paying over 100 bucks for the pieces to put the thermodisc on top. Do I need it?

Flotek, I'm sure I have heat loss, but I'm cutting it out wherever I can find it. I've burned through the amount of wood I thought I would burn this year and the stuff I was saving for next year. I know not all of it is seasoned like it should be, but even the loads I am confident of, it doesn't seem to matter. Honestly, I can handle struggling through this year if I can figure it out and have it ready to go for next year.

Brenn, How do you guys measure the duct temp? Sun room is wide open to kitchen and dining room, no closing it off. It's a good 20' - 25' run of duct to get to that side of the house anyways, then to have ducts that have to run to the far side of the sun room, there just isn't much pressure there even with the main furnace fan.

Layne, that, in my mind also, my biggest problem. I want to move the AC coils down and the tundra ducts above it, but I'm thinking that is an extensive project best saved for the summer. I heated last couple of years with a system like this and while I went through a crapload of wood with the old hog, it kept the house a little warmer than this.

More questions:
1. does anyone else have AC coils above tundra ducts?

2. I used to have the cold air return hooked up, but I turned my whole setup to reduce elbows in my chimney and haven't setup it up under the advice of a furnace guy who I admit probably didn't have a lot of experience with good wood heat set ups. Am I a fool for not having the cold air return hooked up yet?

If u call SBI they will send u the 110/90 free it should cut your furnace blower in more. Does your blower cut in much.

 

[flotek]

You may need the newer snap switch . When I got mine it wouldn't heat my house till I got an adjustable one and set it lower

 

[byron2]

Christuurex if the furnace is in a cold space every time the blower comes on its putting cold air into the system fast and cooling the fire box down fast also .....I would also think the AC coil is sucking some of the heat out of the hot air also by conduction loss....

update for others on my setup
I've been testing my droplet with a 120/15 snap loosely located on the top of the furnace "just forward of the cut out snap" for a couple days now......And quick thinking for my setup is its far better than the rear location..... The thing that's helped me the most is when I have coal build up the fan cycles far more than it did using the snap on the back.....So I'm getting more heat delivered upstairs from the coals than I was before.... big help really.......Today I was going to see if I could set the rear snap in line with the test snap I'm using "I have an adjustable in the back" see if I can get it in the same range as the test snap up top....before I go ahead and nail down the move..... defiantly think a cold return to the upstairs is in order for me.... its not super cold down there but for sure colder at the floor than it is up here.....

 

[bedrock1]

You may need the newer snap switch . When I got mine it wouldn't heat my house till I got an adjustable one and set it lower

I'm going to get one and try it.

 

[Wisneaky]

I think I figured out the coaling issue that people are having. I installed a good field controls baro and I did a test. I burnt a load of white oak that isn't fully dry. I set the baro to fully open which on my manometer was about -.04 and let it burn. My burn time dropped to about 4 hours and I had a half a firebox full of coals. It was burning hot, but throwing hardly any heat. I burnt that load down set the baro to close and loaded it back up with the same wood and got the monometer at about -.06 to -.08 this time it burned for 7 hours and burnt down to fine ash and threw heat the whole time. If this wood would have been dry I'm sure I would of had heat for 10 hours. With this test I'm pretty sure coaling issues come down to not enough draft. Hope this helps.

 

[stihly dan]

Another question for you all. For those of you who have your tundra ducts going into the plenum of another furnace...do you have the tundra ducts inside it pointed up, or just into the side? I was with someone else installing a simple Daka wood furnace and their instruction manual makes it seems required to point the ducts up inside the plenum. Now, My plenum isn't big enough to point both up, but I could do one and was wondering if others did/needed to do this.

Do you or do you not have a backdraft damper on your gas furnace? If not, that is your issue.

 

[bedrock1]

I think I figured out the coaling issue that people are having. I installed a good field controls baro and I did a test. I burnt a load of white oak that isn't fully dry. I set the bar to fully open which on my manometer was about -.04 and let it burn. My burn time dropped to about 4 hours and I had a half a firebox full of coals. It was burning hot, but throwing hardly any heat. I burnt that load down set the baro to close and loaded it back up with the same wood and got the monometer at about -.06 to -.08 this time it burned for 7 hours and burnt down to fine ash and threw heat the whole time. If this wood would have been dry I'm sure I would of had heat for 10 hours. With this test I'm pretty sure coaling issues come down to not enough draft. Hope this helps.

that nice to know thanks

 

[byron2]

I think I figured out the coaling issue that people are having. I installed a good field controls baro and I did a test. I burnt a load of white oak that isn't fully dry. I set the baro to fully open which on my manometer was about -.04 and let it burn. My burn time dropped to about 4 hours and I had a half a firebox full of coals. It was burning hot, but throwing hardly any heat. I burnt that load down set the baro to close and loaded it back up with the same wood and got the monometer at about -.06 to -.08 this time it burned for 7 hours and burnt down to fine ash and threw heat the whole time. If this wood would have been dry I'm sure I would of had heat for 10 hours. With this test I'm pretty sure coaling issues come down to not enough draft. Hope this helps.

Hey Wisneaky..... I'm fairly sure part of my problem is draft in that I don't have enough when the stove is at idle.....So I need to pickup a meter see just what it is.... Are you checking yours at idle damper door closed ? Wouldn't tweaking open the damper door increase draft in the chimney ? I guess I'm a bit confused how things work ......

 

[Christusrex54]

Dan, I do have a backdraft damper. The furnace people said they didn't have one so I'd have to get one made. So it is home made and I'd say it keeps out 90% of the air or more. But if the air has to choose between struggling through the AC coils and then going down long runs of ductwork, or finding gaps in the backdraft damper and then going through the much shorter run through the cold air return, I don't know how much goes where.

Can you guys tell me what you use to check the ductwork temperature? Can I use a meat thermometer?

Also, where do I check to find out the static temperature?