Drolet ECO 65.

[FyreBug]

The stove will make plenty of heat to heat the basement without the added outlet. Do what your brain says and put the heat where you live and need it to be comfortable. Blocking one hole off would not cause me to lose very much sleep, and you will find this out by trial.It is a more rugged stove than mine.It should be therefore at least more apt to handle this. May I suggest a magnetic temp gauge on the front of the stove for real safety.

Of course the customer can do whatever they want. But keep in mind, these things must pass safety test. I saw this burn in the lab with all sorts of temp sensors all over the place. Blocking one hole will still register safe, but do you want to take the chance? Home & family is more important than any extra oomph of heat.

A second reason to alway follow MFG's recommendations is if an inspector comes by he may tell you to put the unit back as per MFG's recommendation. Thirdly if the house ever burns down because any heating appliances were modified beyond the MFG's recommendations your insurance might be disallowed.

Just not worth it...

 

[jtakeman]

I agree with pete, I would focus the heat where its most needed.

Send the heat upstairs. And because the stove doesn't have isolated return air. It will loop the upstairs air back to the basement anyway. So with that and the radient from it the basement will be warmed. Its exactly what I am doing with my stove and a modified duct setup. My near 2k sqft home is 72ºF up and 66ºF down.

 

[pete324rocket]

If you have cold air returns in your house, you will feel a definite breeze from them air the air moves naturally, and you will understand how to tailor this setup for your needs. You want to be able to heat the house but use the lowest possible setting on the stove for efficiency and save money...and then you will be happy. Btw, I don't use a fresh air intake but I tried it and made no difference and got tired of the extra piping for no benefit that I could see.....but I do understand the reasoning...it just wasn't for me.

 

[DV]

I agree with pete, I would focus the heat where its most needed.

Send the heat upstairs. And because the stove doesn't have isolated return air. It will loop the upstairs air back to the basement anyway. So with that and the radient from it the basement will be warmed. Its exactly what I am doing with my stove and a modified duct setup. My near 2k sqft home is 72ºF up and 66ºF down.

Isolated return air?

 

[DexterDay]

I agree with pete, I would focus the heat where its most needed.

Send the heat upstairs. And because the stove doesn't have isolated return air. It will loop the upstairs air back to the basement anyway. So with that and the radient from it the basement will be warmed. Its exactly what I am doing with my stove and a modified duct setup. My near 2k sqft home is 72ºF up and 66ºF down.

Isolated return air?

"Cold air return" . Like on your regular furnace.. Keeps the air isolated upstairs. Blows the hot air upstairs, and sucks from upstairs. Which keeps the basement out of the "loop".

The pellet stove will force the hot air upstairs, but it wont be pulling return air, through an isolated line back to the stove... So its gonna be heating, the upstairs and downstairs.

(Pretty surr thats what he meant?) I didnt put a Cold air return on my pellet furnace (even though there is provisions) for the main fact I can get the basement hotter than the upstairs. So I want to pull the hot air out of the basement and push it upstairs. Im heating both. But on purpose. Easier that way for me. Cheaper too... Wood is really cheap for me!! ;-P

 

[DV]

I agree with pete, I would focus the heat where its most needed.

Send the heat upstairs. And because the stove doesn't have isolated return air. It will loop the upstairs air back to the basement anyway. So with that and the radient from it the basement will be warmed. Its exactly what I am doing with my stove and a modified duct setup. My near 2k sqft home is 72ºF up and 66ºF down.

Isolated return air?

"Cold air return" . Like on your regular furnace.. Keeps the air isolated upstairs. Blows the hot air upstairs, and sucks from upstairs. Which keeps the basement out of the "loop".

The pellet stove will force the hot air upstairs, but it wont be pulling return air, through an isolated line back to the stove... So its gonna be heating, the upstairs and downstairs.

(Pretty surr thats what he meant?) I didnt put a Cold air return on my pellet furnace (even though there is provisions) for the main fact I can get the basement hotter than the upstairs. So I want to pull the hot air out of the basement and push it upstairs. Im heating both. But on purpose. Easier that way for me. Cheaper too... Wood is really cheap for me!! ;-P

Gotcha. My regular furnace/heat pump has a cold air return in basement and main level tied into the same duct. I assumed this was what isolated return air was referring to just wasnt sure.

 

[jtakeman]

I agree with pete, I would focus the heat where its most needed.

Send the heat upstairs. And because the stove doesn't have isolated return air. It will loop the upstairs air back to the basement anyway. So with that and the radient from it the basement will be warmed. Its exactly what I am doing with my stove and a modified duct setup. My near 2k sqft home is 72ºF up and 66ºF down.

Isolated return air?

"Cold air return" . Like on your regular furnace.. Keeps the air isolated upstairs. Blows the hot air upstairs, and sucks from upstairs. Which keeps the basement out of the "loop".

The pellet stove will force the hot air upstairs, but it wont be pulling return air, through an isolated line back to the stove... So its gonna be heating, the upstairs and downstairs.

(Pretty surr thats what he meant?) I didnt put a Cold air return on my pellet furnace (even though there is provisions) for the main fact I can get the basement hotter than the upstairs. So I want to pull the hot air out of the basement and push it upstairs. Im heating both. But on purpose. Easier that way for me. Cheaper too... Wood is really cheap for me!! ;-P

Gotcha. My regular furnace/heat pump has a cold air return in basement and main level tied into the same duct. I assumed this was what isolated return air was referring to just wasnt sure.

Because you don't have a means to connect the return air straight to the stove. Your convection blower is going to suck the air from your basement area(not the upstairs). This we create a negative pressure in the basement. The cold air from upstairs will be drawn to the basement back to the stove convection path. Eventually it will circulate enough air to pull warmer air from upstairs to the basement area.

Probably best to leave the basement door open or put a louver in it to allow the cold air to return down there.

I can't connect the return air to my stove either. But I want my basement warmed anyway. Plus like dex is doing. I can use my wood eater to warm the basement and with the pellet eater's running on low, The convection fan will draw the warmed air thru the stove and send it upstairs. But my pellet eater has plenty of power so I don't need to do this. But it is an option if pellet go thru the roof again. I can use the wood to ofset my pellet usage and still have a warm upstairs. The natural convection of my wood eater isn't the ticket. My basement would be roasting, While we would be freezing upstairs.

 

[pete324rocket]

Our house was built with oil furnace in mind so there are hot and cold ducts through the house....with ductwork.

 

[Love the Heat]

I have the eco-45...pleased with it. Have made a boot that goes over the heat tubes in the front of the stove to a pipe the goes directly to the main floor above to old heat register cut in floor(stove in insulated basement). This is the only way we have been able to be efficient in heating the main floor properly-normal convection, adding fans, etc didn't cut it. Only direct piping will. Cold air register are essential thoughout house for return or that area won't heat up. Save time and install duct kit-it only makes sense.

Thanks for advice. I'm thinking my situation is very similar to yours. That duct kit comes off the stove with 2 registers. i wonder if they make one that has 1 register instead. I would only need 1. If not I will have to install a 2 by 1 adaptor.

I'm no expert but working the physics of it, the fan CFM is to handle 2 registers so reducing it to 1 could maybe "choke" it
and increase the heat in the plenum way too much????

I would probably ask the question to DROLET on this one, they are pretty quick at answering question....
They told me to not run it into the cold air of my existing duct work, the heat dissipation would be too great
and loose too much of the generated heat...

Voila....

And the answer is..... NO you cannot block one of the outlet and we cannot make one with just one outlet. Heating appliance are heavily regulated for safety etc... The reason there is 2 outlets and the front plate from the kit does not block 100% of the unit heat exchange exhaust is that if one outlet gets blocked for whatever reason the temps in the other outlet will not go past a certain safety level.

Very good thank you.., sounds very logical to me and I know that you are the man (expert) on this one

 

[pete324rocket]

It wouldn't hurt if you ran the stove without the hookups for awhile so that you got to know its parameters. That way, should trouble arise, you will be not stuck with blaming it on unknowns.

 

[DV]

It wouldn't hurt if you ran the stove without the hookups for awhile so that you got to know its parameters. That way, should trouble arise, you will be not stuck with blaming it on unknowns.

Sounds good to me. I still have to get the stove set up. So I'm getting ahead of myself with the ducting. Sounds like that will be a summer project. By the time I find the time to get the stove set up it will be spring!!

 

[jtakeman]

Spring? How can you stand it! I would be taking time off on the day job to get my toys in order! :cheese:

Priorities, NO????? ;-)

 

[DV]

Spring? How can you stand it! I would be taking time off on the day job to get my toys in order! :cheese:

Priorities, NO????? ;-)

Ha! I plan on building my hearth pad tonight. I ordered my vent piping so it should be in next week. When it arrives work will take a back seat for the day. Gotta get that bad boy in!!

 

[herdfan2003]

I know this is an old post but I would love to see pictures of how you all have this stove set up and opinions of it since installing...Thanks.

 

[hyfire]

I have a brand new plenum kit if you want to save some cash i'll give you a good deal.

 

[herdfan2003]

I have a brand new plenum kit if you want to save some cash i'll give you a good deal.

If I decide to go with this I may get ahold of you thanks

 

[hyfire]

Also you should know the Selkirk 4" pipe connector won;t fit this unit. As the eco-65 has a 4.020 outlet pipe diameter and the selirk will not go over it. You need the adjustable connector. Also the unit has 4 adjustable feet that you can level the unit upto about 1" in each corner. Also any of the wifi thermostats should work on this I have one similar to the 3m50 and it has millivolt output but you must supply a 24 volt power supply.

If you open the door it has a stainless steel baffle that moves around from shipping make sure its sitting square in the notches, mine was flying all over the place when I was moving the stove around.

 

[herdfan2003]

Also you should know the Selkirk 4" pipe connector won;t fit this unit. As the eco-65 has a 4.020 outlet pipe diameter and the selirk will not go over it. You need the adjustable connector. Also the unit has 4 adjustable feet that you can level the unit upto about 1" in each corner. Also any of the wifi thermostats should work on this I have one similar to the 3m50 and it has millivolt output but you must supply a 24 volt power supply.

Ok, thanks. All the piping I have now is 3" so I would need to buy some anyway. Just need to pull the trigger on something. My P-38 heats the house pretty good but just cant get to the back bedrooms and bath.

 

[hyfire]

That Eco-65 will dwarf the p38 in airflow capacity almost 500 cfm compare to 135 cfm...From all the reviews of the eco-65 everyone says ,its blasts the heat out and no one is complaining about them.

 

[herdfan2003]

I have a brand new plenum kit if you want to save some cash i'll give you a good deal.

Why have you decided not to use the plenum? I would be putting this in the basement and I think it would work well for that application.

 

[hyfire]

I only am using this for one large area with no basement.

 

[herdfan2003]

phew, 4 inch vent kits aren't cheap. I have a spare 3'' for my Harman. Probably a bad idea to try to adapt it down?

 

[hyfire]

phew, 4 inch vent kits aren't cheap. I have a spare 3'' for my Harman. Probably a bad idea to try to adapt it down?

I;m not sure the inlet is 4" but inside the air inlet combustion fan is not sealed, it will just pick up any volume its requiring from the inside air, but I would consult with the manufacturer and ask.

 

[hyfire]

Here are some more pics as you requested.

 

[DexterDay]

Here is the bottom feed of the Enerzone (SBI stove) which is the same as a Drolet. This is off a smaller model, but still an awesome design and burns with the best of them

Where the 65 has one clamp on the front, the Eurostar has 2 clamps, one on each side (that's why you don't see them)