Everything Drolet Tundra - Heatmax...

[brenndatomu]

it almost gets fun!

Almost?! Whadya mean almost? I'm having a freakin blast tweakin this thing!

and now we're working on infinitely-variable blower speeds.

I have had mine going since last Friday, It took a little tuning to get things dialed in but I am close now and I can say...I like it! It limits the blower cycling on/off to a bare minimum, but to me the real advantage, at least in my setup, is being able to use a higher fan speed, without excessive cycling like I'd get before on all but low speed. That means more heat to the house when the fire is rockin, and then it keeps the fan going at a real low speed for many hours once things die down. That also puts more heat to the house because the blower is not sitting idle waiting on the HE to heat the fan switch back up for another 2 minute run.
Oh, and this is another big advantage to me...no more wind chill! Before, even with the fan on low, when the fire was dying down, and the duct temps are running lower...my feet were always cold due to the blower running sub 100* duct temps...and my recliner being in front of a cold air return I suppose. But the wind chill is gone with the speed control now...by the time the duct temps are much below 100*, the fan speed (and duct velocity) is dropping. Win win
Thanks to @STIHLY DAN for the stellar idea to use a ICM Head Pressure Controller to manage the blower speed on these things. I may be getting one for the Yukon too...'course, I probably ought to wait to see if ole Yook is gonna be stayin or goin!

 

[mcmac]

So, i picked up a tundra from home hardware for about 1950 cdn including taxes. Brought it home yesterday and spent the evening reading this thread from page one. Checked the serial number...1906. Looks like i got an old one. Any ideas what the actual failure rate is on these in terms of the front face plate cracking? I dont plan on installing it until next season...maybe i should try and exchange it? Im surprised theres no recall on these, im afraid I will just have to test the warranty when it twists itself apart.

 

[brenndatomu]

Howdy mcmac, welcome to the jungle! You are a pretty hard core reader if you read this thread from page one! (of course I'm sure it reads just like a good novel, once you start, you just can't put it down! ) What is your build date? Can you post a pic of the front of the furnace? Does it have the thin steel trim cover around the HE cleanout door like Digger79s new one does (pics a couple pages back)

 

[Digger79]

So, i picked up a tundra from home hardware for about 1950 cdn including taxes. Brought it home yesterday and spent the evening reading this thread from page one. Checked the serial number...1906. Looks like i got an old one. Any ideas what the actual failure rate is on these in terms of the front face plate cracking? I dont plan on installing it until next season...maybe i should try and exchange it? Im surprised theres no recall on these, im afraid I will just have to test the warranty when it twists itself apart.

take it back bro trust me. Go to a Menards they are on sale and they appear to be the newer units not positive but they are special order from menards and at like 1580$ or 1670$ I can't rem. You can specify with menards and SBI that you receive the updated model and you will pay much less for the furnace.

 

[Digger79]

take it back bro trust me. Go to a Menards they are on sale and they appear to be the newer units not positive but they are special order from menards and at like 1580$ or 1670$ I can't rem. You can specify with menards and SBI that you receive the updated model and you will pay much less for the furnace.

$1519 with filter kit at menards. Just checked their website.

 

[Digger79]

Watch out cause there is a line of them with the temp controls and fan controls on top but it still the old build and could crack. I'd recommend contacting SBI directly telling them what you want and want to order it through Menards. Seriously send them and email about it I bet the set you right up to by one shipped direct to the store. They wanted to ship mine there then decided to ship it to the house when they did the replacement.

 

[brenndatomu]

take it back bro trust me. Go to a Menards

He's in Canada...

 

[STIHLY DAN]

And I get what your saying about the longer burns and better control but thats not what I am shooting or with this tiny split towers. Im just having fun and want the coals gone so I don't mess up the evening load before bed. and drive some heat in the house. If Im busy I'd load a proper 4 hour fire I believe then go reload around 10-10:30. Last night I stayed up till 11 and loaded stove.. was too late at night for how early I was getting up and wanting to reload. Well fire was too big for a 8 hour burn was the problem. should loaded it much lighter that late at night. lesson learned.

It will happen again..and again..and again.

 

[Digger79]

He's in Canada...

 

[STIHLY DAN]

So, i picked up a tundra from home hardware for about 1950 cdn including taxes. Brought it home yesterday and spent the evening reading this thread from page one. Checked the serial number...1906. Looks like i got an old one. Any ideas what the actual failure rate is on these in terms of the front face plate cracking? I dont plan on installing it until next season...maybe i should try and exchange it? Im surprised theres no recall on these, im afraid I will just have to test the warranty when it twists itself apart.

If it is the older one take it back. why install twice? Besides new ones seem to heat better also, as you have read.

 

[Digger79]

It will happen again..and again..and again.

oh man you got a Kuuma furnace? Neat got any pics? I was checking those out. Hows' it working?

 

[STIHLY DAN]

Not the right thread for that. But I'm happy with it.

 

[STIHLY DAN]

And who say's NEAT anymore?

 

[mcmac]

Hey guys, from looking at the unit, its certainly the old build. No trim around the HX door, tacks underneath and welded from backside, although it does have the temp sensor on top. I also found a pinhole in the weld along one of the HX tubes to the manifold at the front of the unit. I really cant believe they let some of those welds pass, i found cold lap, undercut and complete lack of penetration all within 3" of the same weld. Anyways, I'm going to email SBI tomorrow and find out what can be done. I was really looking forward to running this thing. The 1977 Lakewood "wood pig" as i call it has pretty much run its course.

 

[BrotherBart]

And who say's NEAT anymore?

Groovy people.

 

[Digger79]

And who say's NEAT anymore?

What a silly question.. its should be clear who says neat anymore. I just did.

Groovy people.

Yeah I thought this was a stove forum not Facebook. Lets leave the personal comments to twitter and FB why don't we? lol

 

[3fordasho]

I finally made a cold air return connection from the tundra to the propane furnace ducting. Up till now I've just had the open filter frame on the tundra pulling air from the furnace room - not ideal but it worked. Results all positive so far, less overall fan and blower noise, same or more output at registers even though I moved to the slowest fan speed (playing with speed control but not functional yet) No drafts in the stairways leading to the lowest level. I will have to install a backdraft damper in the propane furnace to prevent hot air from the Tundra doing the short circuit thing, but I was expecting that. Overall well worth the $125 or so I spent on misc duct and fabricating a filter box, etc. Probably most important, I don't have to worry about someone closing the furnace room door and creating negative pressure in there.

 

[brenndatomu]

oh man you got a Kuuma furnace? Neat got any pics? I was checking those out. Hows' it working?

Not the right thread for that. But I'm happy with it.

FYI, there are quite a few Kuuma threads with pics if you are interested. Just search Kuuma using the Hearth search

Yeah I thought this was a stove forum not Facebook. Lets leave the personal comments to twitter and FB why don't we? lol

Boss man makes makes "personal" comments as he likes...

 

[Digger79]

FYI, there are quite a few Kuuma threads with pics if you are interested. Just search Kuuma using the Hearth search

Boss man makes makes "personal" comments as he likes...

Oh Im just teasing. There's nothing wrong with saying thats neat and if someone wants to tease me about that seriously I don't mind. Im the coolest nerd around. period. Boss man? He doesn't sign my paychecks.. um no one does except my clients. I own my company. I am the Boss. Literally.

Dan, Rt on man I'll check em out. They are interesting cause they are very pricy but have weak blowers, etc. the specs seems week but I suppose its cause they are such incredible furnaces they don't need big fans and such. Seems the heat output was very high but I swore I saw like 8 hour burn times on those things. I dunno. Any gasifier over 5k gets my attention. Want to know what makes it worth 5K. I'll check em out my self some other time thanks Dan.

 

[Digger79]

Oh Im just teasing. There's nothing wrong with saying that neat and if someone wants to tease me about that seriously I don't mind. Im the coolest nerd around. period. Boss man? He doesn't sign my paychecks.. um no one does except my clients. I own my company. I am the Boss. Literally.

it just reminded me of Facebook. lol

 

[Digger79]

[

I finally made a cold air return connection from the tundra to the propane furnace ducting. Up till now I've just had the open filter frame on the tundra pulling air from the furnace room - not ideal but it worked. Results all positive so far, less overall fan and blower noise, same or more output at registers even though I moved to the slowest fan speed (playing with speed control but not functional yet) No drafts in the stairways leading to the lowest level. I will have to install a backdraft damper in the propane furnace to prevent hot air from the Tundra doing the short circuit thing, but I was expecting that. Overall well worth the $125 or so I spent on misc duct and fabricating a filter box, etc. Probably most important, I don't have to worry about someone closing the furnace room door and creating negative pressure in there.

lol I just saw your new avatar pic. Thats great. We must be close to the same age cause thats from those stupid Ren & Stimpy cartoons.. What I ever saw in those stupid cartoons I'll never understand now. lmao.

 

[Digger79]

Yo 3fordasho, I bet you get a kick out of this! Lol my cold air return setup! U must keep in mind my install is relatively temporary and on too low of a budget. I had to start w flex duct everywhere cause I either had to but more gas or the stove. I chose the stove. Been replacing flex as ive been able to w solid pipe. All the crawl ducts are just about switched over I plan on doing solid cold air return this summer. Ive got the air flow pretty darn good at this point however so I may just live w what ever flex is left. I been renting here 9 years. Terrible i know. 80k i have paid in rent at least. Very sad. Any way heres the silly cold air setup! It works. Well. Lol

 

[DoubleB]

Any way heres the silly cold air setup!

The only silly thing I see is the canoe paddle. Everything else looks like it was done by a professional contractor. Wait, that's you!

 

[Digger79]

Alright so I tried the high draft thing damper closed all the time a few days now.. My results?? all my wood is being burnt out and house is colder. I am not sure exactly why but I was getting better heat and longer burns with the lower draft and the therm opening once in a while for heat. I did not close down the tertiary burners any so maybe that would help but man the heat loss. No good and I am burning 10%-15% moisture hickory loads! Its pignut not shagbark but still. I was getting 10-14 hour burns and still had good coals and heated house at 10 hours with the lower draft setup. On the 14 hour burns house would get down to 63-65 but still enough coals to re start just took a minute or two instead of seconds to fire up. All this was done durning temps anywhere form 20's to low 30's with the high's being around 30-32 deg outside. I am going back to my slower drafts. I was getting much much better results and burning much less wood. I mean it makes sense you turn the draft up your gunna burn more wood. I figured if damper stayed closed all day it would burn less and put out a lower heat for a longer time. Nope. It puts out hardly any heat all day. I watch the therm drop with full loads in there while damper was shut about half way thru the burn. So closing down the tertiary burn some may slow it down but it will produce less heat even more so. Im not sure what model these guys are doing these with but I can tell you this. The newer units do not get near as hot as the old ones so I am thinking the damper opening is probably needed more so for heat on the updated units than the first ones. SBI got tired replacing the stoves so they made them run cooler.. However 100% it pumps more air into the house.. This is likely mostly all due to the new fan switch and location. The location is the same as the intermediate models between the first couple thousand and the ones that are produced currently but the switch range is different. dif snap disc same location on last two models of Tundra. The fan comes on way early and runs damn near the whole cycle. So less heat is radiated from the stove and pushed into the house sooner. just at a lower temp until box gets hot. In the end more heat is being pushed into the house. Yes this can create cool drafts but honestly its only cool for few minutes then gets warm enough its no longer a cool draft. Still takes a little longer to get hot but just keeps going most the burn. My results on my setup have been the best so far with draft set at -.05 or -.06.

 

[Digger79]

Why does everyone call the tertiary burn a secondary burn? I studied these EPA stoves and there are 4 burns stages going on in these things. secondary is simply the burn going thru the coals. Quadrafire's 4 stage burn is exactly what is going on in all the EPA stoves. 1st burn or primary is the burn from the coals or the air coming in at the bottom front of the loading door pulling thru the coals. The primary air intake. The "Secondary" burn is the air coming down across the glass mixing with the primary air, The Tertiary burn is the one from the air coming in and burning gases at the intake tubes across the top of the box and then there is actually a 4th or Quaternary burn that occurs as the gases roll back across the top of the baffle and exits the flu. a few more impurities are burned of in that last stage of these 4 stage fires as well.

Now I've learned a lot on here I didn't realize we needed that strong draft to keep pulling air thru those tubes.. well I didn't know they could burn for more than 30 mins at first. lol. Not till Brenndatomu clued me in on thermal chimney loss. duh. U'd think I'd put that together but I didn't know these things where suppose to run the burner tubes for hours and hours I always though 30 mins was it until I began reading about other people using these units. I had no idea I would get this kind of heat this long from it. I just figured its a wood burner its not going to be that much different than any old wood burner just cause the stove companies say they are. YA know the ol buyer beware thing. I am new to the EPA tech but studied it last year when I got the insert. Didn't get Tundra till right at the end of winter so really didn't have much time to learn anything about it. However I did read and watch video and explanation of what was going on inside the fireboxes and how the stoves were built, burned air intakes and such. Just didn't make it to the chimney and flu stuff yet. None of that ever matter much years ago in my life cause I just had fireplaces then 4 or 5 years ago got a crappy old cracked 40 year old wood burner from my uncle. Thought that was just awesome. lol. Draft? who cares just throw wood in that old monster its gunn burn it all up in a few hours and then put suit every where any ways! lol