Everything Drolet Tundra - Heatmax...

[brenndatomu]

Welcome to Camp Tundra @yzman! Are you a fan of Yamaha dirt bikes by any chance? Or maybe Yazoo mowers?!
Anyways, sounds like you probably got a great deal on that Tundra...get in touch with SBI for the firebrick and other "recall/updates" available for it. It should do a nice job of heating your 1800 ft for you if you feed it dry wood...which I assume you would have if you use a stove for 6 years already...if not, get choppin! (PS, Tundra likes smaller splits)

 

[jb6l6gc]

Just emailed sbi back about my damper been waiting almost a month. Lol they forgot to ship it so apparently I should see it this week

 

[jb6l6gc]

Just a quick kinda weird question. Was cleaning out my heat exchanger. From what I can see stove pipe isn't looking too bad. Just wondering if any of us tundra guys has thought about using the pellet guys leaf blower trick. From what I can see it looks pretty easy to run leaf blower in center exhaust tube and bunch up some rags or something around it to make a seal. Then turn her with an extension cord from outside so I can watch the ensuing mess. Maybe a good option for a quick mid season cleanup? Any thoughts?

 

[brenndatomu]

Just wondering if any of us tundra guys has thought about using the pellet guys leaf blower trick.

What would this do for you? I'm familiar with the procedure...just not sure how it applys to a wood burner

 

[jb6l6gc]

What would this do for you? I'm familiar with the procedure...just not sure how it applys to a wood burner

Blow any light ash out of my stove pipe and liner!

 

[jb6l6gc]

At least that's the thought!

 

[3fordasho]

Just a quick kinda weird question. Was cleaning out my heat exchanger. From what I can see stove pipe isn't looking too bad. Just wondering if any of us tundra guys has thought about using the pellet guys leaf blower trick. From what I can see it looks pretty easy to run leaf blower in center exhaust tube and bunch up some rags or something around it to make a seal. Then turn her with an extension cord from outside so I can watch the ensuing mess. Maybe a good option for a quick mid season cleanup? Any thoughts?

I'll occasionally get a pretty good reverse draft (basement install, cold flue) and have thought one of those weed burner propane torch heads shot up the center exhaust would heat up the flue pretty quick ;-)

 

[jb6l6gc]

I'll occasionally get a pretty good reverse draft (basement install, cold flue) and have thought one of those weed burner propane torch heads shot up the center exhaust would heat up the flue pretty quick ;-)

I have the same problem some times but I'm talking about doing it to possible clean out some buildup in my stove pipe and liner. I could see how that may help reverse the draft if needed!

 

[Lcback]

I'll occasionally get a pretty good reverse draft (basement install, cold flue) and have thought one of those weed burner propane torch heads shot up the center exhaust would heat up the flue pretty quick ;-)

I don't have a tundra. But I do have that reverse draft problem. Torch works but it takes longer to get it heated then you think. Best thing for me so far has been a hair dryer left sitting at the air obstacle for 10 minutes. Next I'm going to buy a harbor freight hot air gun. Got a coupon for one for 8$. I have a buddy who lights his charcoal grill with one. Lots of heat no tanks to run low or fumes /smoke.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[brenndatomu]

Blow any light ash out of my stove pipe and liner!

At least in my setup, I've never seen anything light and/or loose enough to be able to blow it out without brushing first. The other thing is that the pellet stoves use a 3 or 4" vent pipe...so a leaf blower would make some pretty high velocity through there...it would be a lot lower in a 6" pipe...

I'll occasionally get a pretty good reverse draft (basement install, cold flue) and have thought one of those weed burner propane torch heads shot up the center exhaust would heat up the flue pretty quick ;-)

You: "Hello, 911? Yeah, I have a chimney fire"
(After the fire is out) Firechief: "What happened son?
You: "Well, I was warmin muh chimeny up and..."

Actually, my sister deals with poor (no) draft almost every time she has to do a cold start up...I told her to open the cleanout door and blow a hair dryer in the center tube...works like a charm!

 

[Digger79]

I quit using the low alarm, I found the tstat does the same thing for me...seems like the load "lasts longer" that way too...I could see using the low alarm to burn down excessive coals build up though (like during a major cold spell)

bingo. I only been using high limit on temp controller around 400-450 HYS set around 80. Yup Thermostat and low draft setting..(HYS) both will open stove for coal burn off so what good would a 2nd alarm setting on temp controller be? I still think the firebox is too tall. Im getting more heat in the house with small splits stacked tall than anything else. House winds up warmer at end of burn. Its all about getting the max heat from the surge and letting temps drop.. the higher I drive the temp in the house during the day the warmer it is when I get home. The more I try to conserve would/ turtle wins the race/ or use re burn cycle the colder the house is at the end of the day with the same amount of wood gone. The re burn or damper closed feature is neat, helpful during first few hours of a full load for sure but am finding the more I can burn with the damper open (at safe temps mind you) the warmer the house is at the end of the day. Believe it or not the most efficient for my setup is leaving the thermostat at 70. 68 is too low and 72 is too high. When leaving T stat at 70 along with temp controller I am getting the high heat as its needed but not over doing it and at the same time drawing enough high heat before the fire burns down to keep house temps up.

 

[Digger79]

Funny someone should mention a chimney fire. I now have successfully caused and stopped a chimney fire. . Let me explain. I'll start by saying this.. The new Tundra 1 updated model is tough... really tough. My flu hit 1200 plus the other night. How? Well I cracked the door, stepped inside and planned on watching the tv for 5-10 minutes then returning to the stove to close the door as I have done a hundred times.. Well I now have a new rule... I don't leave the stove with out setting an alarm on my phone an keeping it by me or I stay until its time to close the door. I passed out from exhaustion with the TV remote in my hand. Never even turned the TV on. Woke up in a panic 1hr and 15 mins after leaving furnace door cracked with a full load in it. Ran out to the garage in a panic to find the chimney roaring and throwing flames and sparks out the top. Naturally I freaked out. shut the door and immediately popped the baro full open as daylight came out of the flu when I opened the damper. Spun the dial burning my fingers so baro would stay full open and temps plummeted immediately from 1150-1200 down to 950, then 800 ish then down to 600's in about 20 secs or less. The chimney fire went out in about 45 secs. Three things.. luckily the baro damper WAS installed even though its rarely needed.. generally only contains draft in single digits to negative digits however in this case I firmly believe it saved my stove and my garage. 2nd luckily the Tundra burns so clean there was hardly any creosote to really catch fire and most the "chimney fire" was real just the turbo cyclone racing up the flu from to hot of a fire. I don't think the flu was really on fire it self. Thank god. I was seconds from calling the fire department if I did not get it under control in a minute or 2. 3rd thing to mention is I full inspected everything after this event and nothing was damaged.. no cracks, warping.. nothing. now lets consider the time... it takes 45 minutes for a full load to get up to 800 deg with the door cracked for me after a full day burn. coals are pretty low so takes 10-15 minutes just to light up sometimes with out adding air(bellows). So.. to shorten up this point.. I don't think the flu over drafted until after about 30-45 minutes at least more likely almost an hour.. so I am thinking the temps above 900 up to 1200 only occurred for maybe 10-15 minutes. Luckily. On top of that the baro likely kept the flu from going up near 1500 or higher temps. Lesson on that point is INSTALL THE BARO! Even if you don't need it it is prob the best backup last chance safety measure you can have in the system and I firmly believe it saved my butt on this one. I do now have a rule in place for my self so this never happens again. And again .. the updated Tundra is damn tough. I do have a little more protection than SBI's upgrades.. I also lined the loading door up the sides with firebrick, stuffed rock wool in the cracks at the top corners of the fire door inside above fire brick behind heat shield, also have rock wool in the corners above deflector where fresh air comes in from main damper, as well firebrick cut and wrapped around the bottom corners of the heat exchanger door inside.. With all this plus SBI's modifications my stove survived flu temps around 1200 deg for at least 15 mins maybe more. And yes I am an idiot. No excuse for this negligence on my part and I can assure you this was scary enough I will never let anything like that happen again. BTW Steely Dan.. I removed the copper tube and stuck the rubber manometer hose directly on the fitting.. it melted and fell off. lol. I cut it back and tried this again under normal operating temps and it still melted and fell off. I am measuring possible too close to the output so I went back to the copper extension tube to engineer down the temp on the rubber hose. I am measuring draft about 12" away from the output on the level run of the single wall stove pipe. Wondering if possibly my draft readings are off cause I am not in the vertical chimney? I would imagine it wouldn't be much different. My drafting may be higher than I think based on where I am measuring it. I do not want to drill a hole in my 600$ chimney. lol.

 

[Digger79]

Curious, but if you guys drop your high temp limit, do you actually get a good secondary burn? Where are your thermocouples - how far from the stove?

If my damper closes on a fresh load at 400-500°F, than it seems too cool for secondary burn to occur. I do get 550-615°F temps on a fresh load if the timer is set long enough. Then my high alarm shuts damper, and the stove will not see that temps above 375-400°F again for the rest of the burn. I do wonder if while the fire is building up to the 500°F+ range, that I am wasting a lot of heat up the chimney.

I never realized til I joined this forum how much can go into wood heat.

It may be worthwhile to mention I believe secondary burns are occurring even when you don't see flames coming out of the 2ndary tubes.. I could be wrong here but it seems we only really see flames coming out of the burner tubes while wood is off gasing and once the wood is coked the smoke and suit is still being burned we just no longer see the flames coming out of the burner tubes.. I think.. my point here.. is that so long as clear vapor is coming out of the chimney we are re burning regardless of blue flames coming out of the burner tubes. Not sure I'm totally correct about this.

 

[Digger79]

Ahh, I see. That's exactly why I wanted to do the variable speed blower mod...I hated that on/off crap at the end (actually, for me it was on/off after the first couple hours) The controller has a sensor in/on the supply duct so it will speed the blower up and down to match what heat is available from the furnace. It eventually gets to an on/off stage too (obviously) but the blower runs at a very low speed for quite a while at the end. You'd be surprised the heat that can be had from some pretty low CFMs. Just ask @JRHAWK9 , he recently found out what a sweet setup a variable speed blower is on a wood furnace...

currently with factory setup in updated Tundra 1 model my fan would come on around 250-300 deg flu temps and run for around 8hrs before cycling off and on. On off cycling was pretty minimal they must have widened the range on the snap disc along with lowering the firing temp. I used some metal shimming under the snap switch to raise the turn on temp and now get around the same 8 hrs or so but less cycling off and on at the end of burns. It seems to be running on full high when ever plenum is hot enough is pushing the max amount of heat into my house. I think my issue is long run from separate garage to house so low-med fan setting have too low CFM's and do not rob the heat from the plenum as well as when on the high setting. My set up is diff than most but full high on the fan is def best for me. I've played with speed settings and get more heat this way with my setup. Otherwise heat escapes into the garage which is often 80 deg! lol. waisted heat for me. Need to push every BTU to the house as much as I can.

 

[brenndatomu]

Funny someone should mention a chimney fire. I now have successfully caused and stopped a chimney fire. . Let me explain. I'll start by saying this.. The new Tundra 1 updated model is tough... really tough. My flu hit 1200 plus the other night. How? Well I cracked the door, stepped inside and planned on watching the tv for 5-10 minutes then returning to the stove to close the door as I have done a hundred times.. Well I now have a new rule... I don't leave the stove with out setting an alarm on my phone an keeping it by me or I stay until its time to close the door. I passed out from exhaustion with the TV remote in my hand. Never even turned the TV on. Woke up in a panic 1hr and 15 mins after leaving furnace door cracked with a full load in it. Ran out to the garage in a panic to find the chimney roaring and throwing flames and sparks out the top. Naturally I freaked out. shut the door and immediately popped the baro full open as daylight came out of the flu when I opened the damper. Spun the dial burning my fingers so baro would stay full open and temps plummeted immediately from 1150-1200 down to 950, then 800 ish then down to 600's in about 20 secs or less. The chimney fire went out in about 45 secs. Three things.. luckily the baro damper WAS installed even though its rarely needed.. generally only contains draft in single digits to negative digits however in this case I firmly believe it saved my stove and my garage. 2nd luckily the Tundra burns so clean there was hardly any creosote to really catch fire and most the "chimney fire" was real just the turbo cyclone racing up the flu from to hot of a fire. I don't think the flu was really on fire it self. Thank god. I was seconds from calling the fire department if I did not get it under control in a minute or 2. 3rd thing to mention is I full inspected everything after this event and nothing was damaged.. no cracks, warping.. nothing. now lets consider the time... it takes 45 minutes for a full load to get up to 800 deg with the door cracked for me after a full day burn. coals are pretty low so takes 10-15 minutes just to light up sometimes with out adding air(bellows). So.. to shorten up this point.. I don't think the flu over drafted until after about 30-45 minutes at least more likely almost an hour.. so I am thinking the temps above 900 up to 1200 only occurred for maybe 10-15 minutes. Luckily. On top of that the baro likely kept the flu from going up near 1500 or higher temps. Lesson on that point is INSTALL THE BARO! Even if you don't need it it is prob the best backup last chance safety measure you can have in the system and I firmly believe it saved my butt on this one. I do now have a rule in place for my self so this never happens again. And again .. the updated Tundra is damn tough. I do have a little more protection than SBI's upgrades.. I also lined the loading door up the sides with firebrick, stuffed rock wool in the cracks at the top corners of the fire door inside above fire brick behind heat shield, also have rock wool in the corners above deflector where fresh air comes in from main damper, as well firebrick cut and wrapped around the bottom corners of the heat exchanger door inside.. With all this plus SBI's modifications my stove survived flu temps around 1200 deg for at least 15 mins maybe more. And yes I am an idiot. No excuse for this negligence on my part and I can assure you this was scary enough I will never let anything like that happen again. BTW Steely Dan.. I removed the copper tube and stuck the rubber manometer hose directly on the fitting.. it melted and fell off. lol. I cut it back and tried this again under normal operating temps and it still melted and fell off. I am measuring possible too close to the output so I went back to the copper extension tube to engineer down the temp on the rubber hose. I am measuring draft about 12" away from the output on the level run of the single wall stove pipe. Wondering if possibly my draft readings are off cause I am not in the vertical chimney? I would imagine it wouldn't be much different. My drafting may be higher than I think based on where I am measuring it. I do not want to drill a hole in my 600$ chimney. lol.

Geez Louise Digger, you hard on equipment man! Good to hear you still have a house and garage to heat, and that there was no real (apparent) damage done.
I never walk away from an open stove door, ever! I'd rather the fire go out than walk away and leave the door open. If my kid is screaming bloody murder upstairs, close the door and go! Actually, I rarely ever leave one cracked open at all. The Tundra with the boost air at the bottom doesn't need it IMO...I rake the coals to that area, load the firebox, throw some small stuff (splitter trash) on the coals and close the door. If the fire doesn't light immediately, I have started lighting it rather than letting it smoke...my new trick is to throw an unlit match on the coals and close the door. The heat from the coals light the match very quickly and once there is flame things generally take off quickly...put 20-30 minutes on the control timer (you have one of those Digger, no?) reload done. No need to fret over an open stove door.
The other thing I have as a safeguard is a remote (wireless) temp monitor. Its a Maverick ET 732 dual probe BBQ monitor. I monitor flue and duct temps. It has high and low alarms that can be set, if my flue temp goes over 600*, the high alarm will go off. If the duct temps go over 175*, the other high alarm will go off. I don't use the low alarms. When I'm in the house I try to have the monitor nearby...makes it easy to see what a "normal" burn cycle looks like too.

 

[Digger79]

Geez Louise Digger, you hard on equipment man! Good to hear you still have a house and garage to heat, and that there was no real (apparent) damage done.
I never walk away from an open stove door, ever! I'd rather the fire go out than walk away and leave the door open. If my kid is screaming bloody murder upstairs, close the door and go! Actually, I rarely ever leave one cracked open at all. The Tundra with the boost air at the bottom doesn't need it IMO...I rake the coals to that area, load the firebox, throw some small stuff (splitter trash) on the coals and close the door. If the fire doesn't light immediately, I have started lighting it rather than letting it smoke...my new trick is to throw an unlit match on the coals and close the door. The heat from the coals light the match very quickly and once there is flame things generally take off quickly...put 20-30 minutes on the control timer (you have one of those Digger, no?) reload done. No need to fret over an open stove door.
The other thing I have as a safeguard is a remote (wireless) temp monitor. Its a Maverick ET 732 dual probe BBQ monitor. I monitor flue and duct temps. It has high and low alarms that can be set, if my flue temp goes over 600*, the high alarm will go off. If the duct temps go over 175*, the other high alarm will go off. I don't use the low alarms. When I'm in the house I try to have the monitor nearby...makes it easy to see what a "normal" burn cycle looks like too.

What do you mean hard on equipment? haha.. I wanted to make sure the New Tundra wasn't going to crack. They said it wouldn't crack and if it did they'd replaced it again. As well my flu is clean as a whistle now . ok all joking aside.. I leave the door cracked when firing usually till flu hits around 400-500 then close it up. This keeps glass very clean and fire, draft all is hot and ready to go up to temp. Yes I can shut the door and use the timer and a few times have had to however I prefer to leave door cracked until I reach appropriate burn. As mentioned I have a rule I will live by now. I either stay in the garage till I shut it or set a timer on my phone if I walk out. I have been successful in simply going back about 10 mins later in the past with no problems. Normally I'm just doing a few quick things knowing I'm headed back in 5-10 mins. My human side kicked in an error took place. I checked the HE tubes and box over well, flu pipe.. as mentioned I don't think I was at these temps very long and the plenum somehow wasn't all that damn hot most the heat was in the flu I guess. Either way it is safe to leave door cracked upon firing so long as its not forgotten or watched. Makes for a much faster cleaner startup but obviously is going to require better discipline on my part. I was so exhausted I literally closed my eyes for a few seconds and bam it happened. I had plans to set and over fire alarm that would message my phone but this requires paying a service fee so I have yet to do it. Had I had it in place it would have woken me. I think the smell of the ducts getting warm woke me. I've checked everything thoroughly and been operating stove with no signs of issue for about a week now since. again pretty sure I got lucky and it was only 10 -15 minutes at these temps if that long over 850-900 anyhow. Scary, lesson learned and I hope others can at least realize the potential dangers of wood stoves with me sharing this experience. Embarrassing to share this but I don't shame easily. We are all human I don't care what anyone says they've all made stupid mistakes and this is exactly what that was. Stove is pretty damn tough though I'll say that. chit was def very very hot!. nothing changed color anywhere though.. the metals I mean.

 

[Digger79]

Geez Louise Digger, you hard on equipment man! Good to hear you still have a house and garage to heat, and that there was no real (apparent) damage done.
I never walk away from an open stove door, ever! I'd rather the fire go out than walk away and leave the door open. If my kid is screaming bloody murder upstairs, close the door and go! Actually, I rarely ever leave one cracked open at all. The Tundra with the boost air at the bottom doesn't need it IMO...I rake the coals to that area, load the firebox, throw some small stuff (splitter trash) on the coals and close the door. If the fire doesn't light immediately, I have started lighting it rather than letting it smoke...my new trick is to throw an unlit match on the coals and close the door. The heat from the coals light the match very quickly and once there is flame things generally take off quickly...put 20-30 minutes on the control timer (you have one of those Digger, no?) reload done. No need to fret over an open stove door.
The other thing I have as a safeguard is a remote (wireless) temp monitor. Its a Maverick ET 732 dual probe BBQ monitor. I monitor flue and duct temps. It has high and low alarms that can be set, if my flue temp goes over 600*, the high alarm will go off. If the duct temps go over 175*, the other high alarm will go off. I don't use the low alarms. When I'm in the house I try to have the monitor nearby...makes it easy to see what a "normal" burn cycle looks like too.

Also to mention again.. it was scary, all the horror stories I've heard of chimney fires flashed before my eyes.. but I'm pretty sure there was no actual chimney fire so to say. I don't believe the creosote had caught fire and was burning so much as there was just a cyclone running up the chimney cause the minute I shut the door and opened the baro full tilt everything died off in about 30 secs or so. Thank God I burn hot clean fires cause had that been a standard gunked up chimney I don't think the results would have been the same as far as stopping the overdraft. I think its safe to say this was technically just a bad overdraft situation and the flu hadn't actually caught on fire. When it happened though I had visions of a fire I could not stop. Pretty sure that wasn't totally the case.

 

[DoubleB]

Yea, Digger, I'm glad everything seems ok. I dare say that everyone on here has probably learned a hard or scary lesson about burning at some point. Just as long as we learn from it, as you are. @brenndatomu said everything that I had in mind. I also find I don't need to ever leave without closing the door. Even my phone timer doesn't put me at complete peace, I'd probably set it down somewhere, or it would go off when I was in the middle of something and I'd tell myself "don't forget to go down and close the door" and then I would forget.

Someone on here said their trick to putting out a chimney fire is to throw a wet towel in the firebox. Cools down the fire, and also displaces oxygen out of the chimney. I've never had to try it myself, so I can't vouch.

 

[brenndatomu]

I still think the firebox is too tall

Interesting you say that. I noticed that the Heatpro/Max Caddy fire box, even though 1.3 CF larger is actually 1/4" shorter than Tundra

Wondering if possibly my draft readings are off cause I am not in the vertical chimney? I would imagine it wouldn't be much different. My drafting may be higher than I think based on where I am measuring it. I do not want to drill a hole in my 600$ chimney.

Taking the reading in the stove pipe is fine. It needs to be taken between the baro and the furnace...not too close to an elbow or tee (in a straight section of pipe)

 

[brenndatomu]

And another thing, as far as the firebox on Tundra being "too tall", that is another reason I leave the ashes build up when the weather is mild. Heck, I probably have 4-5" in there now. I just keep the ash level knocked down toward the front so I have a place to put the coals when re-loading...and gotta keep the boost air hole clear too...

 

[trx250r87]

And another thing, as far as the firebox on Tundra being "too tall", that is another reason I leave the ashes build up when the weather is mild. Heck, I probably have 4-5" in there now. I just keep the level down toward the front so I have a place to put the coals when re-loading...and gotta keep the boost air hole clear too...

I agree 100%. I have not emptied my ashes yet this year, and I don't use the ash pan ever. Burning mostly oak might have something to do with the lack of ashes though. I just make sure the front air hole is clear.
Eric

 

[DoubleB]

I have not emptied my ashes yet this year, and I don't use the ash pan ever. Burning mostly oak might have something to do with the lack of ashes though.

Wow, good for you. Every 7-10 days I have a pail of 90% ashes with a few accidental coals thrown in. I'm sure that's at least half air because I don't bust the ash structure down, but I'm amazed you don't have more ashes, or else I'm curious if you think they get blown up your stack (not sure how, but hey).

 

[Darbycrash]

Hey Guys. Drolet is running well. I was wondering if you guys could post some pictures of your flue, (looking down the front openjing of the heat exchanger). Mine gets quite a bit of buildup on it, the chimney does not look bad however. Just a lot of dry buildup on the flue pipe exiting the furnace. I can actually knock a lot of it off by slapping the chimney flue once and awhile. I am burning wood that isn't ideal since I was not prepared really to heat with wood this winter, however it is white ash that has been dead standing for over 3 years. Most of the splits are 18-25% moisture content, (not all). This normal? Do you guys get a decent amount of build up? I am not talking about sticky tar that is changing the inside diameter of the flue to 4 inches or anything, just a coating with some jagged edges sticking out.

 

[DoubleB]

I was wondering if you guys could post some pictures of your flue, (looking down the front openjing of the heat exchanger).

I don't have pictures, but I experience something similar to what you are describing. Less so in the heat exchanger because I try to keep that cleaned out, but more so in the chimney connector out the back end of the Tundra, because I don't clean that as often since I have to take that apart (I have single-wall black stove pipe for that). I'm still running through some firewood that isn't as bone-dry as I'd like. Also, once the fire takes off, I close the door so I can come upstairs but it's probably kind of smokey for a few minutes until it's roaring. I don't know if I produce more smoke than I should over time, but I'm dealing with it just fine.

 

[brenndatomu]

I try to clean my HE tubes every week. I typically have a little dry fluffy buildup. It is so light (weight) that most of it seems to get sucked up the flue as I am cleaning. I've not had any wet looking stuff in a really long time, even the black "corn flakes" type stuff hasn't appeared this winter, which kinda surprises me because I know that I have had some pieces of wood that weren't optimal dry.
I'll try to get pics the next time I open 'er up.