Hey guys, just looking for any hands-on experience with this particular stove. Just what your impressions are as far as quality, ease of use. Also, I don't see a top damper on this stove, just a bottom draw adjustment.
Drolet 1400
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Swedishchef
Minister of Fire
Tou'che. I should probably get my lingo right before I start asking questions. But yes, I am refering to the insert.
I have had the Drolet 1400i Insert for 3 burning seasons and it is a wonderful insert. My house is 1400 sqft 2 story home, with the insert located in my living room on my first floor. I use it as the primary heat source for my home during the winter. I can get some really good burn times out of it even though it is a smaller insert. I load the stove up at about 11 pm (Hickory) and get the air adjusted and goto bed. I wake up at 5:30 and I still have plenty of hot coals to get a morning fire going. I end up using about 2.5 -3 cords of wood each winter. Let me know if you have anyother questions on this insert. I am very happy with it and I feel it is an excellent value.
Thanks rhyano. From looking at the insert it appears to only have a bottom air adjustment, and no top damper to adjust how much is going out. Is this the case, and if so, will it even make a difference? I will also be heating the downstairs portion of my house, roughly 1300 sf. I'm in Indiana, so winters aren't quite as severe as other parts.
Yes it just has an intake air control. I have a 23' 6" dia. chimney connected to mine and I have had no need for a top damper. The air control is all that is needed. Most high effeciency wood stoves no longer use a top damper as they are not needed. The newer high effiency wood stoves are sealed up really tight, and they only use an intake hole that is a little larger in size than a quarter. I would think that this insert would easily heat your downstairs living area. If the room is below ground level, then I would think that once you get the room upto temperature, that it will be very easy to maintain that temperature as the exterior walls will never be below 50degrees.
I have used the Drolet 1400 insert for two full winters. The unit is small with a firebox size of 1.8 cf. My house is around 1800 cf with three large old single pane picture windows on the first floor. I find the little Drolet does heat the house unassisted until the temperature drops below 25 degrees F. With outside temperatures in the teens or lower I find the insert struggles to keep the house at 60 degrees. The other problem is the firebox is very small so I can only get several hours of max heat out of a load of wood. It requires frequent reloading and I have to get up at least once during the night to reload the stove. I plan to wrap the insert with roxul in an attempt to improve the efficiency for the winter of 2012. If that doesn't help I will most likely look for a larger insert. If you think this insert is too small for your purposes Drolet is now offering a larger insert - Model #1800I which the mfg rates at 75,000 BTU. Sister company Century Heating is also offering a similar stove. My guess is the firebox size is about 2.2 or 2.3 CF. Northern Tool is now offering this stove for purchase online. I only wish this slighty large stove had been available when I bought my nsert. Unless you home is very small most members here would recommend going with the larger insert.
Hello Kingquad - For a number of reasons I decided against getting the Progress. Primarily, I. didn't want make major changes in my living room to accommodate a free standing stove. Another factor is the low natural gas prices. I can always use my furnace to supplement the insert. If my furnace used oil or propane it would have given me the financial incentive to get the Progress. So for the winter of 2012/13 I will continue to use the little Drolet. My wood will be in the best shape (well seasoned) since purchasing the insert so I am hoping to get a little more heat out of it. I'm sure wrapping it with roxul will also help. In the meantime, I will be following how Mellow likes his Appalachian 52 Bay as it is on my short list of possible larger inserts to consider for upgrading in the future. Too bad I was not aware that your Kodiak 1700 was up for sale as I would have considered purchasing it from you.
Yes, there are a number of other threads on this subject. On one someone indicated it was like a completely different stove after they wrapped it. Some mfg. may not recommend doing this. I plan to keep a 1 inch air space between the stove and the ceramic wool. My initial thought is to make a frame of heavy wire with 1 inch larger dimensions than the stove. Wrap the ceramic wool around the frame and then insert the stove into the frame.
With an insert and using the blower the insulation being in contact with the shroud isn't gonna hurt anything. The blower will dissipate the heat into the room.
I sold it with the house. The buyer wanted it. If I had sold it separately, I would have contacted you.
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