Drolet 1800i Feedback and Blower Failure

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.

IntentionHill

New Member
Feb 13, 2022
4
Gifford, WA
I have a review and a problem. Feedback first.

wood stove.jpgReview: I bought the Drolet 1800i in 2020, but it sat in my living room for a year before installing. Finally it was installed early this year, and I've loved it. It heats my whole house, and I can pack it to last most of the night. The installation didn't go smoothly... the fireplace opening/fire box were plenty big enough, but the position of the damper was such that I had to push the stove so far back as to not be able to use the faceplate. We bent the insulated liner as appropriate, but also had to smoosh it into an oval to fit through. But there is considerable clearance around the stove. I actually was hoping I could find someone to take down the fireplace facade because it is really oversized... but then we realized that the bricks cover a steel firebox. This doesn't bother me really, except that I had hoped in a power outage, I could at least boil a pot of water on top, though it's a narrow top. A friend is going to make me a shelf that I can use to fill that task, since power outages seem to be multiple times per year in the Fall and Winter. Otherwise, I have no complaints. The stove burns wonderfully. I love the glass, it's self cleaning if a piece of wood has bark or might be a bit green, but most of my wood is exceptionally dry, and came from a forest fire... My only real complaint about operation, similar to other reviews, is that the control bar has no measurements on it. I open it if I am adding wood to embers, and crack open the door, and fires light right up. I dampen all the way at bed time, or once a good ambient room temperature is established, and that way keep a glowing fire instead of a roaring one. But it would be lovely to have some sort of notches on that bar that are helpful for remembering optimum openings.

Problem: The blower, however, began to be quite noisy within less than 3 months. So two days ago, I opened it up, vacuumed it out, then also realized I could tip it upside down and let dust and ash fall out through the opening in the back. I have a very dusty house, between my dirt road, wood burning, dogs, dirt yard, and the beach across the street, so rendered by low lake levels this time of year. Everything gets a coating of dust and needs constant wiping down. Fans and air filters need continuous cleaning. After cleaning the blower, it doesn't work. What might I have knocked? I know there is a heat sensor. I know there is power. Does anyone have any guidance on this before I end up replacing it? The blower is essential to heating the whole house. There won't be tremendous need the rest of the year, but we are still having nights below freezing, so I'm running a fire to heat the house back up in the morning and while I'm working, and by afternoon, I let the fire die out.
 
It's good that it got cleaned. The hearth must be kept clean in front of this blower. Otherwise, it will suck in a lot of ash and dust into the blower. This will also end up blowing around the room.

Check the snap disk thermostat to make sure it didn't get nudged out of place. Make sure the receptacle that the blower is plugged into is still live.
 
Make sure the thermal switch is back touching the stove. I had to wedge a screw under mine to keep pressure pushing the switch against the stove.

Only parts are the blower rheostat and the thermal switch. I would make some wires and bypass the switch. eliminate one at a time.

I like your notch idea. I am going to file several in my control rod.

Evan
 
The Drolet 1400i uses the same blower box setup...I got tired of the blower coming on late and going off early so I wired in a toggle switch to bypass the temp switch..."on" means just that, the blower is going to run (the speed can still be adjusted with the rheostat) and "off" just means that its back to being controlled by the factory temp switch.

As far as ashes in the blower, that's the one thing I don't like about Drolet inserts, ashes can get in between the back of the top cover and the front of the stove body...I take a brush and clean that area off real well every time I open the door...fortunately we don't use the stove a ton, so I don't have to take the blower out to the garage for a "blowin out" too often.
If we did use it more I think I'd consider running a bead of black high temp silicone across the back to keep ashes from getting in there...not sure how big of a headache that would cause when the top cover/blower box needs to come off though...
 
I appreciate everyone's replies. Yes, the unit had considerable ash/dust in it. After reading these replies, I gave a small push to the connectors for the heat sensor, and the blower came on immediately. It also ran quieter now that it was cleaned. I will have to clean it at least weekly. The wood stove is my primary heat for the house. It previously used a pellet stove, and has baseboard heaters, but the wood stove can run even in a power outage, and covers really the whole house. So in an outage, I can save the generator for daytime needs, like computers.

I will have to explore bypassing the heat sensor.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EbS-P
Yay, back in business. Make sure the blower is off when loading or reloading the stove and clean the hearth in front of the stove before turning it back on. That should reduce cleanings to once or twice a season unless heavily shedding pets are on or near the hearth when the blower is on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: IntentionHill