trx250r87
Burning Hunk
I'm not sure. I didn't see any instructions for the restriction plate. I didn't spend much time with the parts or furnace yet. I'll install everything in a few days.
Everything Drolet Tundra - Heatmax...
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DoubleB
Minister of Fire
@Wisneaky mentions this starting in post #31.
But I don't know what it's really for. Kind of another SBI quirk in my opinion--important enough to send to some people to retrofit without knowing how, why, or if it's needed, but not important enough to send to other people who may be prone to overtemps and cracking.
Wisneaky
Minister of Fire
From what I could tell it seems to keep the front damper open just a crack to keep it from completely closing.
Question about the secondary burn. The third tube from the front looks to me like the one that does all the work. That one looks like a gas grill while I do see some flames from the other tubes they are not nearly as visible as the third one. Just wondering if that's what others are experiencing?
From what I can tell this stove likes a full firebox of wood, not just a couple pieces. For the first time last night I put in 7 pieces of wood I couldn't find any room for another piece after leaving the damper open for a good 10 minutes to really get it roaring and the wood chared. Went up stairs turn the tstat down so the damper would stay closed. Came down an hour later before bed and had really nice secondary burn happening, so i loaded at about 8pm and came down at 4am
To find some nice coals still left, put a few pieces of kindling ontop of the coals which caught very quickly and reloaded. Very impressed, keep in mind that is 8 hours with only spruce/pine being burned. As you can see I am still trying to figure "her" out so any other tricks you guys may have will be much appreciated.
From what I can tell this stove likes a full firebox of wood, not just a couple pieces. For the first time last night I put in 7 pieces of wood I couldn't find any room for another piece after leaving the damper open for a good 10 minutes to really get it roaring and the wood chared. Went up stairs turn the tstat down so the damper would stay closed. Came down an hour later before bed and had really nice secondary burn happening, so i loaded at about 8pm and came down at 4am
To find some nice coals still left, put a few pieces of kindling ontop of the coals which caught very quickly and reloaded. Very impressed, keep in mind that is 8 hours with only spruce/pine being burned. As you can see I am still trying to figure "her" out so any other tricks you guys may have will be much appreciated.
Maybe I shouldn't be posting the kind of wood I am burning. After all pine/ spruce is what everyone says not to burn. Prices for the softwood is really cheap for me it happens to be free. A tree guy keeps bringing me what he cuts so by the time I get the wood its in log lengths. So far it has cost me a bottle of wine for about 20 full cords worth. I don't want the price to start going up but I figured if it hasn't by now I should be safe in posting what I burn. I do have some hardwood about 2 cords worth and was keeping that for the really cold months but if I am getting almost 8 hours on softwood it will be interesting to see what the tundra does with hardwood.
Pine is fine to burn but it has to be dry just like any other wood, maybe even more so. The thing with pine is it WILL burn wet, so people do. That makes tons of creosote, plugs up the chimney with sappy goop, then you decide to have a rippin fire or get some good dry wood that really takes off and WOOOF, chimney fire. People will tell you the pine did that...no, burning wet wood did that.
The pine I am burning right now has been cut/split/stacked over a year, yeah, it dry!
The pine I am burning right now has been cut/split/stacked over a year, yeah, it dry!
DoubleB
Minister of Fire
@Builderml , it sounds to me like you're off to a great start.
-yep, a full firebox works best.
-It's normal for me, too, to have one secondary burn tube seem to do more work than the others. I'm fine with that. Sometimes if I'm concerned I'll actually stick my fingers in the baro damper for a moment and give them a smell to monitor how clean it's burning. (Sounds awful but it works, it's not as hot as I first suspected). I can get clean burning as measured by my nostrils even with uneven secondaries.
-sometimes "topping off" the load doesn't work as well. All things equal, I'd rather burn a really small fire at 6pm and a full load from 8pm to 4am, than start a large one at 6pm and top it off at 8pm. Unfortunately, that takes a little practice and foresight to anticipate your heat load, but it will be pretty obvious after a few weeks.
-And as @brenndatomu says, pine and spruce are absolutely acceptable species, as long as they are dry just like anything else. Your results (strong secondaries after 1 hr, 8 hr burn time) suggest to me you are doing just fine. Heck if I had to cut down and haul home hardwood, or just split and stack pine, I'd probably go with the pine. Sounds like you have a nice arrangement there.
-yep, a full firebox works best.
-It's normal for me, too, to have one secondary burn tube seem to do more work than the others. I'm fine with that. Sometimes if I'm concerned I'll actually stick my fingers in the baro damper for a moment and give them a smell to monitor how clean it's burning. (Sounds awful but it works, it's not as hot as I first suspected). I can get clean burning as measured by my nostrils even with uneven secondaries.
-sometimes "topping off" the load doesn't work as well. All things equal, I'd rather burn a really small fire at 6pm and a full load from 8pm to 4am, than start a large one at 6pm and top it off at 8pm. Unfortunately, that takes a little practice and foresight to anticipate your heat load, but it will be pretty obvious after a few weeks.
-And as @brenndatomu says, pine and spruce are absolutely acceptable species, as long as they are dry just like anything else. Your results (strong secondaries after 1 hr, 8 hr burn time) suggest to me you are doing just fine. Heck if I had to cut down and haul home hardwood, or just split and stack pine, I'd probably go with the pine. Sounds like you have a nice arrangement there.
For some reason I found that line very amusing...
Got my morning chuckle in, thanks doubleb!
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trx250r87
Burning Hunk
Well, here is the restrictor plate installed. The piece just goes under the damper door and the tabs are bent to hold it in place It does not hold the front damper door open any more than without the restrictor plate. It does look like the purpose is to let less air into all 3 openings behind the flap.
trx250r87
Burning Hunk
Hey would you mind measuring those holes for me? Looks like 6 of the smaller ones and one larger center hole.
As I was playing with my Tundra over the weekend I had the thought that the intake damper seems a bit big, too "on/off". I was thinking that I'd move the damper control rod on the control motor so the door didn't open quite as wide, but this is a better solution to the "full throttle/turbo boost" of a wide open damper door. Easy to remove/modify too
trx250r87
Burning Hunk
Actually the center line of each hole is folded, tops folded up and bottoms folded down, to make a total of 3 holes. The left and right holes are 1.21875Wx1"H while the center is 2.5"W x 1"H.
I used to experiment with magnets over the holes.
I used to experiment with magnets over the holes.
DoubleB
Minister of Fire
Ha, yea I got no shame around here at my silliness.
Some of my firewood last year was on the moist side so that's why I was so curious about smelling the exhaust to help see how well it was burning. My fingers were about the quickest extensions I could find to stick in through the open baro to absorb a sample of combustion products for nasal analysis. But when it wasn't burning as well I had a hard time washing the stink off my hands, and the better half had a strong opinion about that. So this year I'll have to find some other sacrificial element to stick in there. Actually, the firewood this year is in much better shape so I shouldn't have much stinky exhaust to deal with, or as much interest to go fishing in there.
About your secondary burn tubes: the front of the stove tends to have more air entering and more air leaving. This makes the front have more O2. The secondary burn is burning the smoke due to spontaneous combustion. So if the front area is getting more air it is burning the wood better while the back of the furnace isn't getting as much O2. This is where the secondary in the back will burn "better" than the others. It is because there is more fuel for it to burn and is hotter.
OK, I'm confused. If we are referring to the holes in the position that the plate is mounted on the furnace, then to me they look taller (up and down) than they are wide (left and right)
You are saying the 6 side holes are 1.21875" wide and only 1" tall? By looking at the pic, I would have guessed the holes to be roughly twice as tall as they are wide. And then the center hole just a bit taller than it is wide...
Well today I received my firebricks from SBI but no pretty stainless steel plate like TRX received, I guess I'm just not that special
I did not install the new firebricks for the floor that SBI sent because they didn't fit anyways. So I reused the existing ones I had and cut a notch to fit.. Here is a picture of what they sent and under is what I ended up doing. Also a couple pictures of the bricks installed along with a picture with the additional brick pieces i ended up adding to the bottom edge of the door area.
I did not install the new firebricks for the floor that SBI sent because they didn't fit anyways. So I reused the existing ones I had and cut a notch to fit.. Here is a picture of what they sent and under is what I ended up doing. Also a couple pictures of the bricks installed along with a picture with the additional brick pieces i ended up adding to the bottom edge of the door area.
I'm gonna try to make a "restrictor plate" to clip on the intake out of a piece of scrap ductwork metal
trx250r87
Burning Hunk
I'm sorry, I could have been more clear and put this all in 1 post. Here are 3 pictures showing the original area behind the damper door, the new plate set on but without tabs folded, then the last picture shows plate installed with tabs bent and folded to keep the plate held in place.
There are 3 holes. The outer holes are just under 1.25" wide and the center hole is 2.5" wide. All 3 holes are 1" tall.
There are 3 holes. The outer holes are just under 1.25" wide and the center hole is 2.5" wide. All 3 holes are 1" tall.
Ahhhh, now I see said the blind man! All makes sense now. Thanks trx!
Wonder why builder didn't get a plate, think the "newer" Tundras already have smaller intake holes?
OK, I went downstairs to make my plate and after removing the damper door, I realized this is gonna be really simple. No sense in making this more difficult than it needs to be (like I did with my SS firebox shields a couple pages back 
)
The factory intake holes are already 1" tall and the center hole is already 2.5" x 1" so only hafta restrict the side holes. I used some high temp aluminum duct tape...
As promised, here is the pics of the temp controller that I put on last weekend. I used a extra deep steel 4x4 electrical box with a extra thick single wall outlet cover. There was just enough room for the controller and a mini relay in there too. The 4x4 box is just screwed down to the factory controls box on the back of the furnace.
Sorry about the blurriness of this one, camera refused to focus on this subject! Shot from above/behind
)The factory intake holes are already 1" tall and the center hole is already 2.5" x 1" so only hafta restrict the side holes. I used some high temp aluminum duct tape...
As promised, here is the pics of the temp controller that I put on last weekend. I used a extra deep steel 4x4 electrical box with a extra thick single wall outlet cover. There was just enough room for the controller and a mini relay in there too. The 4x4 box is just screwed down to the factory controls box on the back of the furnace.
Sorry about the blurriness of this one, camera refused to focus on this subject! Shot from above/behind
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3fordasho
Minister of Fire
My 1342 and 1348 serial numbered Tundras have the smaller left and right intake openings. Guess I won't be needing restrictor plates. Still waiting for the updated bricks...
Ahh, maybe we have discovered a lil piece of the puzzle here, might be part of the reason yours aren't "on crack" (well, at least the older one)
I have found on any modern firebox that roughly 2/3 to 3/4 full of good dry wood will give you the best secondary action. Gotta give those wood gasses someplace to mix with the secondary oxygen and then expand...
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