Everything Drolet Tundra - Heatmax...

[crewchief264]

My old hot blast had the same amount clearance. I understand the risks involved with a wood furnace. The clearance to combustibles is within acceptable limits. I appreciate the heads up. My wood pile is close to the wood furnace, however a bit of being and carful and I have never had a problem. Honestly I feel my fireplace insert upstairs is more dangerous than these furnaces could ever be. ( I have a regency 2800i) I have limited space in my finished basement. I have this Furnace in the exact same location as my hot blast that ran for years with no problem. I have a fire extinguisher in close proximity just in case something bad were to happen. I do appreciate the advice though. I had lots of carful consideration before I put a wood furnace in and moved all the combustable items as far away as I could given my space restraints.

I purchased high temp DEI spray adhesive and I will be insulating the outer cabinet on the inside. the insulation is rated to 2000 degrees and is only 1/4 inch in thikness. I was intrigued by previous posts and was always amazed about how much heat was not being used efficiently with my hot blast. This Drolet is no different. So the insulation will also help with that heat transfer in the basement.

As to the thermodisc question: My Hotblast would cycle the fan all the time and I would never get the heat needed upstairs. SO I put an adjustable honeywell fan controller. I had it set at 120 on and I think 100 off. It worked great. After the first fire yesterday I noticed this thing would cut the fans off way to early. So todays fire will be a true test. I have the therm-disc set at 120 on 100 off. It goes down 90. I also have the fan on speed 3. I may need to adjust that? I think the insulation and thermodisc will make a big difference. If further heat transfer is needed. I am thinking of taking an old car radiator and sectioning it and brazing/hotpot epoxying them to the heat exchanger to help with heat transfer.

 

[maple1]

Since insurance was mentioned above - aside from the simple things like clearance distances per manual, I would expect an insurance company would have even bigger issues with modifications made to the appliance.

That's not pointed at the latest posts, but just a mention as there is a bit of it off & on all through the thread. Also not saying bad or good either way - I just would hate like heck to see someone ending up later very sorry they did something without that consideration. And it likely wouldn't come down to the fact whether whatever you did actually caused a problem or not - but rather, the perception of the insurance company and them looking for any way out of a claim.

 

[JRHAWK9]

The clearance to combustibles is within acceptable limits.

If the area circled in red has 11" of clearance, then I've been seriously understating the size of my you know what! lol How it was explained to me by the chimney guy, it doesn't matter if you place a piece of metal in between the furnace and that wood stud/wood pile, it still needs to have the correct CTC for it to be considered "up to code".

 

[brenndatomu]

My old hot blast had the same amount clearance. I understand the risks involved with a wood furnace. The clearance to combustibles is within acceptable limits. I appreciate the heads up. My wood pile is close to the wood furnace, however a bit of being and carful and I have never had a problem.

Boy, that would sure make me nervous loadin that thing up and leavin for work in the morning with my family still sleeping above...that and I have often had Locust (and others) give me a shower of sparks when I open the door to reload...my respect/paranoia of fire would make me late for work pullin firewatch on that wood pile after a Locust fireworks show.
As for your fan problem, sound like you need more static pressure...have you checked it? Have a meter? Want one?
Even with the SP at spec, the fan cycling is exactly why I, and @3fordasho (and I think @DoubleB now too) have installed a speed controller on the blower to limit this cycling to a minimum...and kinda optimizes heat transfer too since it works off of the supply duct temp

 

[STIHLY DAN]

If the area circled in red has 11" of clearance, then I've been seriously understating the size of my you know what! lol How it was explained to me by the chimney guy, it doesn't matter if you place a piece of metal in between the furnace and that wood stud/wood pile, it still needs to have the correct CTC for it to be considered "up to code".

View attachment 187736

The header to the supplies looks awful close too... Power outage in the middle of the night on cruise control I bet would get those pipes smoken hot. Also its not a 1 time event, it could be years of heat bringing down the flammability temp to of the wood, then woosh. I am not criticizing the install or you, just pointing out things that others may want to learn from. Lots of new burners on here every year.

 

[Digger79]

I'd be willing to bet the replacement one that @Digger79 got from SBI will be just fine...

It is. Currently kicking butt. It runs much cooler. Fan comes on much sooner, Over heat shut off comes on before flu hits 800. Its a fine stove. they tuned it in well. Very happy with it and SBI. Blows some cooler air since fan comes on so early and stays on so long however in the end its pushing more heat in the house that wood just dissipate around the stove.

 

[Digger79]

I sold my old Tundra for 500$!

 

[Teglovinvtec]

I need some serious help installed my tundra a week ago. Have barometric damper on it. Dwyer manometer draft -.05 or so. I'm getting great heat 10 hour burn times. Burning ash/maple 2 years old. Seasoned very dry. My house is only 1200sq feet super warm. My flue temps are very low like 150-200 off inferred I'm getting moisture and water out of my clean out door. The chimney is 16x16 block with 8in clay flue built 2 weeks ago by a masonry contractor. Roughly 25ft high with cap. I don't know what's goin on the clean out is about 18in from where flue enters. Ductwork is now tied in that was just for first burn with door open please help

 

[Guy988G]

I know my first few fires I had a lot of moisture dripping back out of my chimney. I'm not an expert on block but see In as it's new, could it just be moisture coming out of the block and running down? Maybe some moisture in the firebricks in the stove?

Sent from my VS880PP using Tapatalk

 

[Teglovinvtec]

I was kinda thinking because it's only been a couple burns. What are ur flue temps like with the tundra guys. I looked in the barametric damper and there's some creosote

 

[brenndatomu]

View attachment 187782 View attachment 187780 View attachment 187781 I need some serious help installed my tundra a week ago. Have barometric damper on it. Dwyer manometer draft -.05 or so. I'm getting great heat 10 hour burn times. Burning ash/maple 2 years old. Seasoned very dry. My house is only 1200sq feet super warm. My flue temps are very low like 150-200 off inferred I'm getting moisture and water out of my clean out door. The chimney is 16x16 block with 8in clay flue built 2 weeks ago by a masonry contractor. Roughly 25ft high with cap. I don't know what's goin on the clean out is about 18in from where flue enters. Ductwork is now tied in that was just for first burn with door open please help

Welcome T!
Well, it could be several things
1. Just the moisture being driven out of everything
2. Wet wood
3. But most likely, that flue is too big and too much of a "heat sink" and the flue gasses are condensating. As you have seen Tundra doesn't waste much heat up the chimney so there isn't any "extra" there to keep the flue above 212* (BTW, how are you measuring the flue temp...external?)
I would bet you'll need a insulated liner installed in the chimney.
It could be a combination of all 3 too...also, that is the problem with baros...they cool the flue gasses even more

 

[laynes69]

We had the same issue with condensation, it was solved with a liner. Like mentioned, the flue temps run low.

 

[Teglovinvtec]

Measuring flu temps off of magnetic thermometer and off a digital inferred on out side of stove pipe.

Did the liner the one guy put in was it insulated?

I'm going to remove chimney cap to see if it makes this any better

 

[DoubleB]

I'm only one datapoint; I have a clay chimney like yours, with a non-insulated 6" diameter stainless liner. No condensation issues.

Why are you removing the chimney cap? (How do you think that might help?) I don't think that will make any difference for condensation, although might be a safety problem and let rain in (making your problem worse).

 

[STIHLY DAN]

Definitely needs a 6 in liner..preferably insulated but not necessary. Also whats up with that flue pipe? That 180* swing absolutely hurts your draft. Where is your baro? Cant see it in the photo. If I were you I would turn your furnace 90* install the baro closer to the chimney, and run a liner down the chimney. Just my 2 cents,

 

[Teglovinvtec]

Baro is on its blocked by ductwork. Draft is always between -.04-.06 if it wasn't I would have moved it

Pulled cap it helped but it's not a fix while I was up there to flue gas was cold so yes I think it's time for a liner chimney is under 30ft

As far as a liner any recommendations on where to by does it have to be insulated also are u able to clean them

 

[brenndatomu]

I don't know that there is a "bad" chimney liner out there...some are more heavy duty than others...but HD is not a necessity. If I had to choose between a bare HD liner, and a regular duty liner with insulation, I'd go with insulation everytime. They all have to meet the same standards. Main thing is too stay away from the 2 ply liners...they have had issues with those.

As far as where to buy, Chimney liner Depot or Rockford are sponsors here...but there are a ton of different places to get 'em. They're not even very expensive really.

Oh, and you may be a little tight getting a 6" liner with 1/2" insulation wrap down your 8" flue...but you can get 1/4" insulation wrap too, that would be better than having none...but even a liner with no insulation will be a lot better than what you have now.
Just to give you a little comparison, your 8x8" flue (I assume its square) is 64 sq inches...a 6" round liner is only28 sq inches, that's a whole lot less area to keep warm...and the velocity through the flue will be much higher, which means it will be much hotter when it hits the top

 

[Teglovinvtec]

Recommend smooth or ridge inside do u clean them with the same style chimney brush as the metal or clay brushes?

 

[Teglovinvtec]

yes 8x8 square flu

 

[brenndatomu]

Recommend smooth or ridge inside do u clean them with the same style chimney brush as the metal or clay brushes?

Smooth bore liners are a gimmick. The regular ones actually stay just as clean or cleaner. The liner expands and contracts with heating/cooling and the ridges knock off dry soot/creosote...kinda self cleaning.
I like a Sooteater for cleaning...super easy to use and does great job as long as there is not gooey creosote buildup, of course a regular chimney brush won't clean that off either. Sooteater can be had $50 or less many/most places (Lowes. Menards, Amazon, Ebay, etc etc)

 

[maple1]

Recommend smooth or ridge inside do u clean them with the same style chimney brush as the metal or clay brushes?

I wouldn't use wire on stainless - always used a poly brush on my stainless chimney.

 

[crewchief264]

The header to the supplies looks awful close too... Power outage in the middle of the night on cruise control I bet would get those pipes smoken hot. Also its not a 1 time event, it could be years of heat bringing down the flammability temp to of the wood, then woosh. I am not criticizing the install or you, just pointing out things that others may want to learn from. Lots of new burners on here every year.

Yea... I have been keeping a close eye on things.. when the hot blast was in there the front pipe actually almost touched the upper 2x4. obviously the tundra set up is a totally different.. I appreciate the advice and comments.. I unfortunately have space limitation.. I had 8 inches of side clearance on either side with the hot blast which also wasn't ideal. However, nothing ever got hot/warm, and I agree a power outage would be an issue. Luckily there is never a fire when no one is home.. and I have a back up generator as well. I am removing the wood stud and the cedar this weekend. and putting a non combustable material in. As for the clearance issue with the central furnace I should have 8-11 inches of clearance thats obivously not possible. So after some reading I am installing 2000 degree 1/4 inch insulation in the Tundra Furnace. Ill get some data on that as to the before and after numbers. I am also going to place a sheet metal plate between the two furnaces with an air gap on either side to help with radiant heat. Other than that to each there own, and when you do this stuff its all on you and you assume all the risk. I will say this so far this furnace runs much cooler externally than my modified hotblast. The Tundra is much more effedcient and much easier to control. But the hotblast put out more heat, of course its firebox is about twice as big too! That said I appreciate all the advice and all the great ideas Thanks.

Here are my settings:
I hooked up my draft meter.. I am pulling between .06-.08... I do not have a damper control.. Also I double checked all my controller connections and I have everything working just like it should....so heres my numbers:

Low alarm 150 and offsets of 100. and my SV is 475.

Heres how I have been running it... I set my timer to about 30 minutes (Cold Start) load it up currently 11-14% chinese elm. light it up and let it go. It will hit the high temp but then reopen... as long as the timer or thermostat is still on. by then I am getting a face temp of about 450-550... once the timer shuts the damper its in cruise no touch mode... I am getting 100-120 duct temps upstairs and its heating the house up to 77-79 degrees in a matter of an hour or two... also its only getting down to about 28-30 degrees right now... I have the fan set on speed 2 and my thermo disc set at 110. Seems to be working pretty well. not sure that I am gonna make the 90-100 dollar variable speed fan control investment at this time.

 

[STIHLY DAN]

.06 to .08 is kind of a large swing, is your bd level. or is it set at .08? there is an adjustment on the face of the bd. you should be able to dial it in nice and tight.
Personally, I never like hitting the high limit on anything, maybe the timer could be dialed back a bit to still get your desired performance but not bounce of the high limit.

 

[Teglovinvtec]

Guys so it's confirmed about the liner what do I do about a clean out I'm not gonna be able to use my existing clean out door with liner and a tee will not mske it down there

 

[crewchief264]

.06 to .08 is kind of a large swing, is your bd level. or is it set at .08? there is an adjustment on the face of the bd. you should be able to dial it in nice and tight.
Personally, I never like hitting the high limit on anything, maybe the timer could be dialed back a bit to still get your desired performance but not bounce of the high limit.

I don't have a bd installed I have one but haven't put it on.... I have a manual damper that if it's wide open I only get .09 I can dial it in by manually adjusting the manual damper... you know the one they say specifically shouldn't be installed... it was previously installed from. My hotblast. Anyways I may install the bd later on as it would make it completely automatic....