Everything Drolet Tundra - Heatmax...

[sloeffle]

I will go on record here...I bet it's basically the same furnace, but they actively monitor and control the firebox temp using a stepper motor on the damper...

I doubt they be able to do a retro kit for their old furnaces since it would require some kind of sensor to be in the firebox.

Doesn't the Kuuma have an O2 sensor in the furnace somewhere ?

 

[brenndatomu]

I doubt they be able to do a retro kit for their old furnaces since it would require some kind of sensor to be in the firebox.

Doesn't the Kuuma have an O2 sensor in the furnace somewhere ?

Yeah and that would be too easy...making something that was easily retrofitted...that's what Yukon claimed to be working on a few years back...a "2020" firebox that could be retrofitted to the older furnaces...guess it didnt work out, they seem to be just selling the old models to Canada, and parts to the USA now.

 

[brenndatomu]

Doesn't the Kuuma have an O2 sensor in the furnace somewhere ?

No, thermocouple

 

[Socratic Monologue]

Would the temp probe have to be in the firebox, or would the flue temp work?

 

[brenndatomu]

Would the temp probe have to be in the firebox, or would the flue temp work?

Well, we use the flue temp for our aftermarket temp controller mod, but actual firebox temp would be much better.
Or if you could use an O2 sensor, probably better yet.

 

[CYOUNG7938]

Added some more technology to the Tundra. I call it my bluetooth temperature monitoring device. Works awesome. You can set temp alarms for highs and lows. You can also review the history of that burn in graph form. I once i tie the tundra into my cold air return I'll put a prob in that ductwork so i can monitor what temperature air is being recycled. Pretty cool.

 

[JRHAWK9]

Added some more technology to the Tundra. I call it my bluetooth temperature monitoring device. Works awesome. You can set temp alarms for highs and lows. You can also review the history of that burn in graph form. I once i tie the tundra into my cold air return I'll put a prob in that ductwork so i can monitor what temperature air is being recycled. Pretty cool.

sweet! I'm doing the -SAME THING- but with a BBQ thermometer (Thermoworks Smoke and Gateway). What equipment do you have?

 

[Case1030]

I will go on record here...I bet it's basically the same furnace, but they actively monitor and control the firebox temp using a stepper motor on the damper...

I think your correct. That's really all it would take. It sure would nice to have burn setting for cold and mild temperatures. I just hope they keep the nice picture window.

It would be really neat if one of these manufactures put the time into developing an integrated thermostat that could auto detect temperature gradients in the house to accurately adjust heat output a house requires. Maybe one day...

 

[Socratic Monologue]

I just hope they keep the nice picture window.

Not me. I hope they upgrade it. I replaced my glass with Robax IR glass, and it keeps my furnace room 5-7 degrees cooler than with the stock window. I imagine that heat is going into the ducts, since my flue temp is controlled so it isn't just going out the chimney.

 

[CYOUNG7938]

sweet! I'm doing the -SAME THING- but with a BBQ thermometer (Thermoworks Smoke and Gateway). What equipment do you have?

Mine is actually a bluetooth bbq thermometer from Amazon...i was just trying to make it sound cool. Haha it works really good

 

[Case1030]

Not me. I hope they upgrade it. I replaced my glass with Robax IR glass, and it keeps my furnace room 5-7 degrees cooler than with the stock window. I imagine that heat is going into the ducts, since my flue temp is controlled so it isn't just going out the chimney.

All depends where you have the furnace located. I have mine in the sunroom (house entrance)... sure it gets pretty warm in there but I also dry all my laundry on clothes hangers and store 1.5-2 cords of wood. It helps to keep the windows moisture free and dry everything out nice (including the snow covered wood).

In a basement or room that doesn't get used much it would come in handy having a solid door without glass.

I am curious to know if the IR glass increases the firebox tempurature and combustion efficiency. Does it reflect the heat?

 

[Socratic Monologue]

I am curious to know if the IR glass increases the firebox tempurature and combustion efficiency. Does it reflect the heat?

It does reflect the heat back into the firebox. This is plainly obvious by standing in front of the glass when burning, It is a night and day difference. It also claims to reduce soot on the glass -- I can confirm that this is also clearly (pun intended) true.

I assume many/most modern woodstoves have IR glass on the door; our Hearthstone does. Supposedly there are improvements in combustion with a hotter firebox -- hopefully someone can chime in and explain exactly how that works.

I don't have any data on where that heat is going in my system, or on combustion efficiency. My damper is currently (and has been) set to open and close at 300F/500F in the flue, so the heat isn't going up the flue. By process of elimination I'm concluding that the heat is going into the hot air ducts directly, or causing the furnace to run damped down more frequently and thus using less wood.

If anyone else tries this, I should mention that the glass in my T2 was exactly 1/8 inch smaller in both height and width than is listed on SBI's parts list (SBI lists 10 7/8 x 13 1/8; I measured the stock glass at 10 3/4 x 13). I ordered glass based on the parts list, and it did fit. I ordered from these folks, who were great, and are the only custom cutters of IR glass I could find in North America:

ROBAX fireplace glass

ROBAX fireplace and wood stove replacement glass. Glass-Ceramic withstands high termperatures.

www.tecniglas.com

 

[brenndatomu]

You may have posted it already, I don't recall, but if you don't mind, what did that piece of glass set ya back @Socratic Monologue ?

 

[Gbawol42]

You may have posted it already, I don't recall, but if you don't mind, what did that piece of glass set ya back @Socratic Monologue ?

Curious on this as well

 

[sloeffle]

Not me. I hope they upgrade it. I replaced my glass with Robax IR glass, and it keeps my furnace room 5-7 degrees cooler than with the stock window. I imagine that heat is going into the ducts, since my flue temp is controlled so it isn't just going out the chimney.

My wood furnace is in my basement. We have R10 insulation on the basement walls and the joist bays are spray foamed down to the first block with closed cell insulation. I turn off all of the ducts to my basement and the heat from the furnace ( the front glass mostly ) is what keeps my basement warm when I'm running the wood furnace. I'm able to "push" more heat into the living space of my house since I can turn the ducts off. The heat from the front glass then indirectly makes my hot water too.

Personally I like being able to look into the firebox to see if I need to reload or if the secondaries are going good. I think everyone's situation is different.

 

[Socratic Monologue]

You may have posted it already, I don't recall, but if you don't mind, what did that piece of glass set ya back @Socratic Monologue ?

$60 US for the glass, and another $65 to ship it. Much less than buying another piece of stock glass from the manufacturer, so I'm going this route for any future needs.

 

[Getwidit]

This has probably been touched on a million times. When do you guys check ur draft? After u close it down and the secondarie have mellowed out?
Also someone posted a link for menards duct work start off for the cold air return which I cant find.
I'm installing a barometric this week and i want to order the duct for the return. Thanks in advance. Merry christmass

 

[Socratic Monologue]

This has probably been touched on a million times. When do you guys check ur draft? After u close it down and the secondarie have mellowed out?

You leave the manometer hooked up all the time. Use a piece of brake line to insert into the flue so the hose doesn't melt.

 

[Gbawol42]

Still dialing in this heatmax. I am miles from where I started and a thank you to all you guys on this forum for that.

Biggest upgrade and difference maker was getting the return off the basement floor and to the ceiling. I used two 12" flex duct connected to two 12x20" return air boxes, setup near the front of the heatmax to catch that heat coming up from the door and rising to the ceiling. This also was nice because it also lets me use air filters now. Return air went from a pretty steady 65f to around 75-85f from the ceiling. No more blower on and off the whole burn cycle, it now stays on for the majority of the burn cycle. Basement temp has dropped dramatically, which makes me believe that the heat is now upstairs. Picture will explain this setup better.

I now am able to heat and maintain house temp down to 25-30f. Colder than that it just won't keep up. Register temps are around 95-100f during the hot parts of the burn cycle. Just wondering what you think should be my next thing to tackle?

I am using my basement door, that I cut the top off of, as my return to the basement. Do you think this could be an issue? I have thought maybe put the top of the door back on and cut a vent into the bottom of the door instead. Maybe pull colder air off the floor was my thought.

I haven't really checked static pressure of the ducts, but I can feel the air coming out pretty good.

I am thinking some options are:

1. Mess with the return part of the system, either the basement door or the piping itself.
2. Maybe insulate my ducts and heatmax plenum downstairs?
3. Look into insulating basement with some foam board?

Or maybe I am at the max for this furnace? Are my register temps similar to you guys?

I am getting around 10 hours of burn time on a full load, setting my temp controller to open at 275f and close at 350f.

 

[JRHAWK9]

I am using my basement door, that I cut the top off of, as my return to the basement. Do you think this could be an issue? I have thought maybe put the top of the door back on and cut a vent into the bottom of the door instead. Maybe pull colder air off the floor was my thought.

IMO, you should open up the lowest part of the floor level you are heating. The way I see it now, cold air, on that level, needs to build up to the opening before spilling over and down the steps. Not sure if it will help you much, but it won't make things any worse. We just keep our basement door cracked open about 4" or so with a hook and loop latch. We also have a cat access arch cutout at the bottom which also helps.

Everbilt 6 in. Black Decorative Hook and Eye 20494 - The Home Depot

This Everbilt 6 in. Heavy Duty Decorative Hook and Eye is ideal for surface applications on doors, gates and sheds. Decorative look. Easy to install.

www.homedepot.com

 

[Gearhead660]

Still dialing in this heatmax. I am miles from where I started and a thank you to all you guys on this forum for that.

Biggest upgrade and difference maker was getting the return off the basement floor and to the ceiling. I used two 12" flex duct connected to two 12x20" return air boxes, setup near the front of the heatmax to catch that heat coming up from the door and rising to the ceiling. This also was nice because it also lets me use air filters now. Return air went from a pretty steady 65f to around 75-85f from the ceiling. No more blower on and off the whole burn cycle, it now stays on for the majority of the burn cycle. Basement temp has dropped dramatically, which makes me believe that the heat is now upstairs. Picture will explain this setup better.

I now am able to heat and maintain house temp down to 25-30f. Colder than that it just won't keep up. Register temps are around 95-100f during the hot parts of the burn cycle. Just wondering what you think should be my next thing to tackle?

I am using my basement door, that I cut the top off of, as my return to the basement. Do you think this could be an issue? I have thought maybe put the top of the door back on and cut a vent into the bottom of the door instead. Maybe pull colder air off the floor was my thought.

I haven't really checked static pressure of the ducts, but I can feel the air coming out pretty good.

I am thinking some options are:

1. Mess with the return part of the system, either the basement door or the piping itself.
2. Maybe insulate my ducts and heatmax plenum downstairs?
3. Look into insulating basement with some foam board?

Or maybe I am at the max for this furnace? Are my register temps similar to you guys?

I am getting around 10 hours of burn time on a full load, setting my temp controller to open at 275f and close at 350f.

With the temp controller, are those internal flue temps? Do you have the temp controller active for just the first hour? At what temp is the blower kicking on? Jealous of all that space you have...

 

[brenndatomu]

Or maybe I am at the max for this furnace?

Doubtful, but hard to say without knowing what the houses heat load is...what were your fossil fuel heat bills like? How much gas/oil/electric?

 

[Gbawol42]

So many responses already! Let's see if I can hit all the questions.

IMO, you should open up the lowest part of the floor level you are heating. The way I see it now, cold air, on that level, needs to build up to the opening before spilling over and down the steps. Not sure if it will help you much, but it won't make things any worse. We just keep our basement door cracked open about 4" or so with a hook and loop latch. We also have a cat access arch cutout at the bottom which also helps.

Everbilt 6 in. Black Decorative Hook and Eye 20494 - The Home Depot

This Everbilt 6 in. Heavy Duty Decorative Hook and Eye is ideal for surface applications on doors, gates and sheds. Decorative look. Easy to install.

www.homedepot.com

Good idea with the hook! I was just leaving the door open before but people (wife) kept walking by and closing it. I may try this today. Still in the high 30's till monday so it's going to be a couple days before I can really test if stuff changes.

With the temp controller, are those internal flue temps? Do you have the temp controller active for just the first hour? At what temp is the blower kicking on? Jealous of all that space you have...

Set up on the timer for an hour to get things going, then those parameters pretty much take over after the secondary burn is done. It's what my alarm relay is set at. It will usually cycle a few times probably 3-4 hours in, then finally stay on and burn the coals down.

Blower is stock setup, 125f on and 110f off.

Doubtful, but hard to say without knowing what the houses heat load is...what were your fossil fuel heat bills like? How much gas/oil/electric?

When I bought the home the previous owners used between 1000-1200 gal of propane, learned this from propane company. I never used only propane, I was burning a pellet stove plus the propane. But wasnt happy with heat distribution and cold floors, thus the furnace. I maybe burned 5 pallets and pellets and 2-300gal or propane in a season, but the house was much colder with the pellet stove running. Upstairs was almost 5-8 degrees colder than main floor.

I really feel this stove is putting the heat out, and I have a heat distribution issue. Just wanted some advice because most of my issue cost a lot to remedy. Except the basement door, which I said I may do later today and test that out.

 

[JRHAWK9]

Good idea with the hook! I was just leaving the door open before but people (wife) kept walking by and closing it. I may try this today. Still in the high 30's till monday so it's going to be a couple days before I can really test if stuff changes.

We leave the cat food on the steps, so I had to find a way to keep the door open but to keep the dogs from eating the cat food. This did it.
I know, the temps suck for this time of year. I would love for winter temps to be low teens/single digits at night and low 20's during the day. Enough to keep things frozen for all the winter activities, but not so cold where one can't go out and enjoy it.

When I bought the home the previous owners used between 1000-1200 gal of propane

Depending on what the previous owner kept the thermostat at, he used a bit less than we used to use a year.....we used 1,200 - 1,400 gal a year keeping the house at 68°. ~100 gal of that went to the clothes drier and water heater. Either way, it should be well within the capabilities of the furnace, I'd think.

 

[Copperking]

I am looking at buying the heat max next year. It says in the owner's manual that it takes a 6 inch flue pipe. I have a 5 inch double lined stainless steel one in now. Can I reduce it down and still be ok? Do I need a barometric damper or run straight pipe from the stove to the chimney?