Everything Drolet Tundra - Heatmax...

[Digger79]

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...

I began doing the same thing to raise the floor or emulate a grate somewhat. I need to try the grate. I bet I like it cause I am finding myself trying to build smaller fires closer to the top.

 

[Digger79]

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.

I do firmly believe I was merely minutes from an actual chimney fire.. maybe not possible as there is basically no suit to burn inside the flu it just burns so damn clean.. however def feel I was minutes from catastrophic failure of either single wall pipe or plenum cracks... Been weeks now and everything seems normal. Likely it was only in the 900-1200 deg range for a matter of minutes before I caught it. Never again. Rules in place and lately I just been shutting the door despite the smokey startup from low coal.. Id rather clean up a little smoke on the glass or clean the flu more than once every year than burn the damn garage down.

 

[brenndatomu]

Noticed my baffle is cracked last night, the whole way, front to rear...no idea how that happened, I didn't hit it, or if i did, it wasn't very hard at all...I believe it is still the original one.
I place my wood in its spot, I do not throw it in.
I guess I have heard that the C-cast baffles the TII and the Caddy line uses is much more durable than the vermiculite baffle that the T1 has.
I think I will just slide a thin piece of stainless between the secondary tubes and the baffle for now...although it doesn't really seem to be affecting anything right now...probably because its cracked, but not really gapped open much.

 

[brenndatomu]

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

Here ya go...mine from last night

 

[DoubleB]

Here ya go...mine from last night

Still got that turb in there huh? Good for you. Mine was great when everything was clean, but it was intricate enough that it quickly fouled, and was really difficult to clean, so I ditched it.

 

[trx250r87]

I cleaned my flue last night for the first time this season. I got less than a cup of soot, not bad for 30' of pipe.

 

[jb6l6gc]

Finally got my damper from sbi and changed it. No binding now Game on!

 

[3fordasho]

Tundra close outs down to $499 plus 11% rebate at Menards. I just bought one of the last ones in southern Minnesota. Going to replace a 30NC in one of my outbuildings... or use it for spares for my other two...

 

[jimlop]

Hi first time posting so hope am in the correct place.
Am getting ready to install a Tundra bought last fall.
SBI sent the front brick upgrade as soon as I inquired about any upgrades.

Question #1 Does the front air boost hole (only 1/4") really seem to impact the fire? Seems mighty small compared to the draft coming in the (3/4" hole) of the the damper.

Question #2 Has anyone seen any impact from the rear boost hole about 6" up on the back wall. Again only 1/4" so seems mighty small.

Question #3 Was the stainsteel baffle screwed to the innner area above the loading door origional or an upgrade?

Thanks for all the info already on the site

 

[brenndatomu]

Does the front air boost hole (only 1/4") really seem to impact the fire?

Early on in the fire I'd say yes.

Has anyone seen any impact from the rear boost hole about 6" up on the back wall. Again only 1/4" so seems mighty small.

Never experimented with it but based on the front one, probably

Was the stainsteel baffle screwed to the innner area above the loading door origional or an upgrade?

Original.
Welcome to the club jim!

 

[Builderml]

Update # not sure any more. It's been awhile and wanted to keep y'all informed with my experience and how you may or may not address your issues. So here goes.
At the end of last year some of you may recall I had the cracks welded on my tundra.
Here is the repaired picture.

This year i fired away and have been keeping an eye on things. I don't believe i over fired the unit this year (that i know of) i have been trying to limp the Tundra along to buy me as much time with it as possible.
With that said now take a look at what has happened to the weld now.


Nice crack right down the middle of the weld. So need less to say this thing wants to move with the hot cold cycles.I don't recommend welding the cracks that you may get. I suggest trying to just drilling out the end of the cracks to stop it and let it be. Others have done so with sucess.
Here is a photo of a new crack
This is the left upper hand side of the door right under this weld last year

So while some may think welding is the answer think again you may just be creating a problem in another spot. I think Brenn is one who only drilled out the crack ends and has not seen things getting worse.
You never really know until you try so learn from my experience and i hope it helps you in resloving your possible problem.
So this new crack above and the one that has cracked right down the middle of the weld i will drill out the ends and see how i make out with that.
Hope this helps someone.... Happy burning

 

[brenndatomu]

I think Brenn is one who only drilled out the crack ends and has not seen things getting worse.

Wellllll....funny you say that...I was just getting ready to do an update of my own.
My crack has blown past the drilled hole this winter.
I agree with your diagnosis...it just needs to move during hot/cold cycles. As long as I keep the firebox hot, or a least warm...there are no issues. But with this warmer weather we've had this winter, I've had opportunity to let 'er go cold plenty of times in the last 4-5 months, and I've noticed that every time I let it go cold, the crack grows a bit.
My drilled hole held things in place for a while though...probably gonna drill another one, see if I can stop it again...I guess there is a chance that I didn't get to the very tip of the crack last time...maybe I should spray it with some crack detector dye this time. I was gonna go ahead and weld it...but now, screw it...let 'er move.
Anyways, thanks for the update @Builderml

 

[jimlop]

Update # not sure any more. It's been awhile and wanted to keep y'all informed with my experience and how you may or may not address your issues. So here goes.
At the end of last year some of you may recall I had the cracks welded on my tundra.
Here is the repaired picture.
View attachment 195911
This year i fired away and have been keeping an eye on things. I don't believe i over fired the unit this year (that i know of) i have been trying to limp the Tundra along to buy me as much time with it as possible.
With that said now take a look at what has happened to the weld now.
View attachment 195912 View attachment 195913

Nice crack right down the middle of the weld. So need less to say this thing wants to move with the hot cold cycles.I don't recommend welding the cracks that you may get. I suggest trying to just drilling out the end of the cracks to stop it and let it be. Others have done so with sucess.
Here is a photo of a new crack
View attachment 195914 This is the left upper hand side of the door right under this weld last yearView attachment 195915

So while some may think welding is the answer think again you may just be creating a problem in another spot. I think Brenn is one who only drilled out the crack ends and has not seen things getting worse.
You never really know until you try so learn from my experience and i hope it helps you in resloving your possible problem.
So this new crack above and the one that has cracked right down the middle of the weld i will drill out the ends and see how i make out with that.
Hope this helps someone.... Happy burning

 

[jimlop]

hope this doesn't come across wrong as I am not a expert welder, but around maintenance for some 40plus years. If that horizontal crack was welded with that vertical welding there would not have been good penetration all along the entire crack. Also was the crack ground out some. Please don't take this questioning wrong if I am way off track on any of this.
Jim

 

[Builderml]

hope this doesn't come across wrong as I am not a expert welder, but around maintenance for some 40plus years. If that horizontal crack was welded with that vertical welding there would not have been good penetration all along the entire crack. Also was the crack ground out some. Please don't take this questioning wrong if I am way off track on any of this.
Jim

Welcome,
He did grind out the crack and by doing so you thin down the material. He did run parallel with the crack and then stitched the crack perpendicular to add material and strengthen the face. Not taken the wrong way.

 

[DoubleB]

Nice crack right down the middle of the weld.

My crack has blown past the drilled hole this winter.

Well I guess I'm glad I haven't gotten around yet to drilling a root hole yet or welding anything (procrastinating 2 years now). My biggest crack has grown a bit in 2 years but not too bad. It still closes when hot and opens when cold iron.

Thanks for the updates guys.

 

[trx250r87]

I still have zero cracks, knock on wood!

 

[brenndatomu]

I still have zero cracks, knock on wood!

You and @3fordasho about the only ones left now...

 

[DoubleB]

Well now that we're doing updates, I'm getting a frustrating smell in the house sometimes.

I'm starting to wonder if I have a leak in my heat exchanger.

The first winter, on occasion I'd get a smell the same as the burning paint/oil during the first couple fires. It was usually right after the damper closed. It didn't smell like wood smoke, but paint/oil smoke, so I figured it was just a momentary hot spot due to closing the damper and the burn mode/zond shifting (or some theory about something that I didn't understand).

Last winter, it still happened a little bit, but not as much. I wondered if the air blowing out of the jacket near the HX door was stirring things up/out of the HX gasket into the basement air, so I put a metal pipe on top of the HX to obstruct airflow and that might have helped a little.

This winter, the first few fires the ductwork (not used last summer) smelled nasty, not super moldy, but more than just dusty. I also would get a fire kind of smell in the house after the damper closed 20-30 minutes into the burn. I putzed around and put a small shim under the damper so it would close 95%, and that seemed to help. But by now I still get a fire smell maybe 1 or 2 burns per week. It didn't used to smell like campfire, but it's starting to smell more that way.

With the recent warm spells, the furnace was cold for a few days, and the bad duct smell was back. So now I have an occasional burning paint smell, and if the system hasn't been hot for a while then I have a dank air smell from the ducts and/or furnace. I wonder if it's coming from whatever causes the paint smell.

I've never had one of the CO alarms make any mention of it, which are 3-5 years old.

I never get the smell when the damper is open.

I popped the sides off the furnace a couple months ago and couldn't find any missing welds like @brenndatomu had.

Anyways, I'm open to any ideas. I haven't thrown in the towel on this Tundra yet, but things like this make me more likely. Especially because I'm going to start using the ductwork to ventilate a rec room in the summer, but not if that nasty duct smell arrives when the furnace goes cold.

 

[Builderml]

I still have zero cracks, knock on wood!

You want a cookie ! j/k

 

[Builderml]

Well now that we're doing updates, I'm getting a frustrating smell in the house sometimes.

I'm starting to wonder if I have a leak in my heat exchanger.

The first winter, on occasion I'd get a smell the same as the burning paint/oil during the first couple fires. It was usually right after the damper closed. It didn't smell like wood smoke, but paint/oil smoke, so I figured it was just a momentary hot spot due to closing the damper and the burn mode/zond shifting (or some theory about something that I didn't understand).

Last winter, it still happened a little bit, but not as much. I wondered if the air blowing out of the jacket near the HX door was stirring things up/out of the HX gasket into the basement air, so I put a metal pipe on top of the HX to obstruct airflow and that might have helped a little.

This winter, the first few fires the ductwork (not used last summer) smelled nasty, not super moldy, but more than just dusty. I also would get a fire kind of smell in the house after the damper closed 20-30 minutes into the burn. I putzed around and put a small shim under the damper so it would close 95%, and that seemed to help. But by now I still get a fire smell maybe 1 or 2 burns per week. It didn't used to smell like campfire, but it's starting to smell more that way.

With the recent warm spells, the furnace was cold for a few days, and the bad duct smell was back. So now I have an occasional burning paint smell, and if the system hasn't been hot for a while then I have a dank air smell from the ducts and/or furnace. I wonder if it's coming from whatever causes the paint smell.

I've never had one of the CO alarms make any mention of it, which are 3-5 years old.

I never get the smell when the damper is open.

I popped the sides off the furnace a couple months ago and couldn't find any missing welds like @brenndatomu had.

Anyways, I'm open to any ideas. I haven't thrown in the towel on this Tundra yet, but things like this make me more likely. Especially because I'm going to start using the ductwork to ventilate a rec room in the summer, but not if that nasty duct smell arrives when the furnace goes cold.

You may want to check the area i had to repair on the HX here is a picture, The only time i get a slight smell is from a bone cold start .(Dusty smell)Aside from that nothing (Yet).
Here is a pic of repair.

 

[Builderml]

Gonna give the Tundra a good once over at the end of the year and make my final selection from there. I was at Lowes the other day and looked at an Englander Furnace i think it was only $600. I know as far a tech goes its going backwards but if i don't have to worry about cracking might be a safe bet. Thats the way i am leaning for now things may change once i look the Tundra over good.
Time to go enjoy the Blizzard here today.

 

[jimlop]

coming from 45+ years of heating with a Vermont Casting Defiant am surprised that in all the reading on cracks I don't see any mention of slow heating on initial startup. It may be more critical with cast iron but do believe steel is susceptible to uneven heating especially formed and welded material. When SBI talks about over firing am surprised they don't caution to allow for gradual warming on initial startup.

 

[sloeffle]

Gonna give the Tundra a good once over at the end of the year and make my final selection from there. I was at Lowes the other day and looked at an Englander Furnace i think it was only $600. I know as far a tech goes its going backwards but if i don't have to worry about cracking might be a safe bet. Thats the way i am leaning for now things may change once i look the Tundra over good.
Time to go enjoy the Blizzard here today.

Going on year number five with my Caddy and I have had zero issues with the furnace. A non-EPA approved Englander seems like a step backwards IMHO. I'll take paying more up front for a more efficient furnace vs having to cut more wood. It seems like every year I have less time to cut wood and more time to do things I really I don't want to.

Scott

P.S. Have fun in the snow.

 

[Darbycrash]

Anyone else have issues with large amounts of fly-ash in their flue? My Tee was just about clogged when I cleaned it out yesterday, with very fluffy fly ash. I noticed typical draft issues signs like, fires not getting hot as fast, smoke coming back into the house when loading, smoke dripping from flue pipe seams ect. ect.

Sure enough when I opened up the flue pipe to clean things out, it was completely clogged. The tee filled up past the stove output. This stuff is very fine and when vacuumed up it barely filles the shop vac container. Should I just add more tee/clean out capacity? The rest of the flue was not bad at all.

Been burning 5 year dead standing ash all year, right around 18-22% MC