Long time reader first time poster...
I just recently purchased and installed a new Drolet Austral ($635 before tax after rebate at Menards) and thought I'd share my thoughts on the forum. The stove is AWESOME, actually I think the stove is very much like myself, not much to look at but willing to work hard. This winter has been un-naturally warm in South Dakota so I havent had a chance to really crank the stove up but it burns well with both small and large loads.
I researched this model and brand extensively prior to purchase and was unable to find much information about this particular model or any Drolet large stoves (i.e Baltic, Legend, Myriad, Austral) prior to my purchase. As such I wanted to share my experience thus far. The stove is large (3.1cf fire box) and weighs a ton (close to 400 lbs with the crate), comes with pre-installed blower (more on this in a minute), and 99% assembled (install handles and ash pan). I have been getting overnight burns with a full load of ponderosa pine (if only we had hardwoods in this part of the country).
The stove comes with a lever on the left rear of the stove, this lever opens a bypass damper which allows the smoke to bypass the baffle plate when open. I find this feature useful on start-up and reload; I have had only minimal smoke spillage into the room and that was upon startup, never on reloads. One of the few threads I read regarding Drolet on this forum was in regard to customer service. My Austral came with a couple of broken fire bricks and the blower does not appear to be functioning correctly (fan randomly varies speed no matter the setting). I contacted Drolet customer service and spoke with a very nice gentleman named Eric, who promptly shipped me some new bricks and a new blower no questions asked.
I look forward to posting more and becoming an active member of this community. I will try and post some pics when I get home tonight.
I just recently purchased and installed a new Drolet Austral ($635 before tax after rebate at Menards) and thought I'd share my thoughts on the forum. The stove is AWESOME, actually I think the stove is very much like myself, not much to look at but willing to work hard. This winter has been un-naturally warm in South Dakota so I havent had a chance to really crank the stove up but it burns well with both small and large loads.
I researched this model and brand extensively prior to purchase and was unable to find much information about this particular model or any Drolet large stoves (i.e Baltic, Legend, Myriad, Austral) prior to my purchase. As such I wanted to share my experience thus far. The stove is large (3.1cf fire box) and weighs a ton (close to 400 lbs with the crate), comes with pre-installed blower (more on this in a minute), and 99% assembled (install handles and ash pan). I have been getting overnight burns with a full load of ponderosa pine (if only we had hardwoods in this part of the country).
The stove comes with a lever on the left rear of the stove, this lever opens a bypass damper which allows the smoke to bypass the baffle plate when open. I find this feature useful on start-up and reload; I have had only minimal smoke spillage into the room and that was upon startup, never on reloads. One of the few threads I read regarding Drolet on this forum was in regard to customer service. My Austral came with a couple of broken fire bricks and the blower does not appear to be functioning correctly (fan randomly varies speed no matter the setting). I contacted Drolet customer service and spoke with a very nice gentleman named Eric, who promptly shipped me some new bricks and a new blower no questions asked.
I look forward to posting more and becoming an active member of this community. I will try and post some pics when I get home tonight.
