Drolet Pyropak burnout / damage

[tomrowsell]

Hi all:

My tiny Drolet Pyropak is into its 5th winter. This season, I noticed a little buckling in the ceiling of the firebox, in the vicinity of the secondary air holes. It's getting rapidly worse. It obviously worries me, but it still seems to burn ok. See pic below...It's now completely burned through the interior plate/steel. I'm wondering how "normal" this is. The stove has been used constantly each winter, probably 4-5 cords each season. Thanks in advance for any thoughts...

 

[Wisneaky]

Hi all:

My tiny Drolet Pyropak is into its 5th winter. This season, I noticed a little buckling in the ceiling of the firebox, in the vicinity of the secondary air holes. It's getting rapidly worse. It obviously worries me, but it still seems to burn ok. See pic below...It's now completely burned through the interior plate/steel. I'm wondering how "normal" this is. The stove has been used constantly each winter, probably 4-5 cords each season. Thanks in advance for any thoughts...

View attachment 153271

I wonder if its from moisture and humidity from the chimney during the summer?

 

[begreen]

That baffle is shot. The flue gases are heading right up the chimney and secondary combustion has to be poor if any at all.

 

[BrotherBart]

That is the baffle that is burned though. What has always concerned me about the welded in, non-replaceable, baffles in Drolets. The stove is done for.

 

[Wisneaky]

That is the baffle that is burned though. What has always concerned me about the welded in, non-replaceable, baffles in Drolets. The stove is done for.

is it normal for them to rust through like that?

 

[BrotherBart]

Drolet stoves usually have stainless steel baffles. Don't know about this one. If so on this one that ain't rusted trough, it is burned through.

 

[Wisneaky]

Drolet stoves usually have stainless steel baffles. Don't know about this one. If so on this one that ain't rusted trough, it is burned through.

I don't own a stove, but I have a drolet furnace and it has a vermiculite baffle. I've had that vermiculite baffle crack in half twice now and its a little over a year old. It's crazy that they would just use a steel one.

 

[BrotherBart]

Just checked, it is stainless. Stick a fork in that stove, it is done.

 

[bsruther]

I think 4 to 5 cords of wood a year for 5 years through most any stove that size is going to take it's toll.
That thing's been burned hard.

 

[BrotherBart]

And the chimney can't be in much better shape after that burning.

 

[bholler]

I think 4 to 5 cords of wood a year for 5 years through most any stove that size is going to take it's toll.
That thing's been burned hard.

My stove has had 4 to 6 cord a year through it for over 35 years (not all by me) and it is still doing fine granted i had to put a new baffle and combustion grid in it. And i know many that burn 3 to 4 cords and there stoves hold up fine. The problem with this one is you cant replace the baffle Which really is a wear part that will need replaced form time to time. Ok i just checked the size of this stove and that is allot of wood for that little guy if you are talking about full cords

 

[weatherguy]

Another reason to always go a bit bigger on a stove

 

[velvetfoot]

My first Quad insert, a 2100i, had a 40 lb. removable steel baffle. I'm glad they've moved to non-metallic baffles now. I put 4-5 cords a year through a Quad 2700i which is 1.7ft3 with no ill effects.
How does one clean a stove without a removable baffle-not from the bottom, for sure? It's got insulation on top of it that requires removal too, I imagine.

 

[tomrowsell]

Many, many thanks for the speedy replies, "stick a fork in it, it's done" being my favorite
Regardless of the "heavy" use, it's a little sad that I only got 5 winters out of it. However, it was $500 on sale so I guess that's not too terrible. On the one hand, the stove was too small, but on the other hand, we were able to enjoy the room it sits in, where my previous (VC Resolute) was a bit too big for that.
i think the "stainless" baffle is a recent mod by Drolet in the newer PyroPaks. i.e. I don't think mine is/was stainless...
Anyone have any experience with this little number ? http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200485153_200485153
Update: disregard my last question...found a good report https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/report-on-my-new-50-tvl17-stove-lots-of-pictures.57350/

Tom

 

[mellow]

Search Home Depot, sometimes they will mark down the 17 VL crazy low this time of year. It is a good little stove from the reports I have seen.

Not sure about running 4-5 cords through it a season, but at least the baffle and tubes are replaceable.

 

[mstoelton]

Menards has their Drolet stoves on sale. I was there earlier this week.

 

[Jags]

And make sure you inspect the stack before you go sliding another stove under it. Burning out a stove like that brings with it the possibility of stack damage.

 

[tomrowsell]

...not sure exactly what "stack" is referring to. The pipe goes straight up for about 2 feet, then there's a 90 degree elbow with about 2 feet of horizontal stovepipe going into the wall thimble and the prefab stainless chimney is all outdoors from there. I have a magnetic thermometer on the pipe about a foot above the stove and it's normally within the "good" range, i.e. not over-firing. So, even though the picture I posted is a bit alarming, I don't think alot of excessive heat is going far beyond...then again I'm often not correct

 

[Jags]

Stack = pipe. Good to know that you were monitoring the pipe temps. There may be no issue at all, but it is worth a good inspection. With the baffle as wiped out as it is, there could have been a fair amount of flame impingement.

 

[tomrowsell]

...10 months later and I finally decommissioned the Pyropak and went with....yup, an Englander VL-17, mostly because of all of the information on it that I gleaned from this site. It's an interesting little beauty and I've only had it going for 4 days, but I'm loving it so far...come on winter !!

 

[velvetfoot]

It sure seems that changing out a stove is a whole bunch easier and cheaper than an insert.