Drolet Tundra vs DS Machine #300-09

[69mustang]

Hey All,

I am going to upgrade from my old wood furnace and put is a new one. My question is, should I go with something mid range like the Drolet Trundra, or spend double and get a heavy duty furnace like the #300-09?

 

[Highbeam]

What the heck is a #300-09?

 

[velvetfoot]

http://www.discountstoves.net/DS-Stoves-300-09-Coal-And-Wood-Furnace-p/ds300-09.htm

 

[brenndatomu]

DS has a big following among the amish for heating with coal, but I think you will find little experience here for heating with wood using a DS.
For double (or less) the price of a Drolet Tundra you can get a PSG Caddy (which the Tundra is based off of) a proven winner.
What part of Ohio are you in?

 

[69mustang]

I am in west central Ohio. I have a DS dealer about 30 miles from me (Urbana) and am considering them. They are built like a tank. I can buy the 300-09 for right around $3000. I am getting a quote for the Caddy also. I am still considering the Tundra because of the price though.

 

[brenndatomu]

It may be a bit of a drive but there is a PSG dealer in Andover OH that I hear has unbeatable deals on PSG furnaces (also a DS dealer too I believe)...just FYI

 

[sloeffle]

Would be interested to know how DS come up with their efficiency numbers.

I got my PSG Caddy from a guy in Bucryus. He was pretty easy to deal with and likes cash. Cash = Discount

 

[69mustang]

What is the name of the place in Bucryrus?

 

[JRHAWK9]

Would be interested to know how DS come up with their efficiency numbers.

I'll take a guess......... lol

 

[brenndatomu]

I'll take a guess......... lol

View attachment 160148

Close, but I think they're Amish so no TP...only

 

[sloeffle]

What is the name of the place in Bucryrus?

It is called the Wood Stove Shed. Info below:

4602 STETZER ROAD
BUCYRUS(OH) US
(419) 562-1545

Similar to what @brenndatomu said, I have also heard that the guys prices in Andover cannot be beat. A salesman at Lehmans told me that. I was unaware of that of that place when I bought mine. It might be worth at least giving them a call at the minimum.

I still think I got a pretty good deal after hearing what other folks paid.

 

[STIHLY DAN]

Run from both.

 

[Highbeam]

While either might be an upgrade I have heard multiple times that any furnace that can burn both wood and coal is not capable of burning either very well. You can get a coal burner or a wood burner that would do much better.

 

[69mustang]

Well... I looked at the DS Stoves products today .... They are built very heavy duty.... The wood furnace seems to be legit.....They also carry basement stoves which I believe would work very well if you have an open floor plan. Right after I looked at the DS product I looked at the Tundra at Menards. The build quality seems to be decent. I don't know which way to go....

 

[blades]

bite the bullet get a Kuma wood furnace

 

[69mustang]

Those are out of my budget

 

[DoubleB]

I admit I don't have first-hand experience with anything other than my Drolet Tundra, but I'll say I'm satisfied with the bang for the buck and don't think you'd go wrong if you got one, as long as it has the firebrick on the inside of the firebox on the near on the sides of the door. Up to this point, the Tundras didn't have firebrick there, and some of us got cracking as a result. Supposedly, the manufacturer has begun installing firebrick on the front of the firebox to correct this, although the display unit at my Menards is the same one from a year ago so it doesn't feature this upgrade, and I'd make sure before I bought one that you're getting the front firebrick.

You can get a better picture of this in post #323 by @brenndatomu in the thread below. His stainless steel addition is the same location as the firebrick that the manufacturer is supposedly including now:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/everything-drolet-tundra-heatmax.140788/page-13

The many pages of that thread also describe the cracking problem, frustrations, and some ways to fix it.

There are better furnaces out there, but you can pick up a Tundra for $1500-$1600 from Menards if you time it right with a sale and 11% rebate, and many of us find that to be a good value.

 

[brenndatomu]

you can pick up a Tundra for $1500-$1600 from Menards if you time it right with a sale and 11% rebate

Suppose they will do the $1250 deal again?
I bet not, my theory is that Drolet was trying to reduce inventory on their existing model to make room for the new modded ones, made Menards a deal...

 

[DoubleB]

I don't know if they'll go down to $1250 again. I don't know Drolet and Menard's pricing strategy, but I doubt the reduced pricing was to reduce inventory in order to get to modded ones quicker. If I was trying to maintain SBI's good reputation and also make a profit I wouldn't intentionally flood the market with product if I already knew it would cause full refunds and hassle. I bought mine about 12 months ago with serial 8xx, and if I recall correctly, some serial numbers in the 14xx's were sold with those reduced prices, and the cracking was reported on this site with serial numbers in the 2xx's, so I can't imagine they would manufacture and sell nearly the entire fleet of furnaces if they knew halfway through there was a problem and also had a feasible solution ready to go.

Also, it was around the same time last year, IIRC Octoberish, that the $1250 deals were around, and then a month later Menards sold the $1300 DHT log splitter for $700 on Black Friday, but I haven't heard problems with that line of DHT splitters.

So, I have no idea, and you might be right, but I guess time will tell if there are good deals this fall on the Tundra. I'm rather interested to see what the story is on the alleged Max Caddy cousin.

 

[Highbeam]

Those are out of my budget

Mine too. 5000$ plus shipping.

 

[brenndatomu]

Good points @DoubleB ...

 

[69mustang]

Well guys, I can buy the DS wood/coal stove for $2500, and the Drolet Tundra for $1556.67 @ Menards right now. The DS is 140K BTU, while the Tundra is 95K BTU. I have 1700 sq ft ranch with a full basement. I think the Tundra would do it, and the DS might be overkill. The DS is built (730 LBS) and the Tundra seems decent, although I don't care how the door opening is stamped and formed on the Tundra. I think the DS would outlast the Tundra, but I don't like the fact that it doesn't have glass in the door. Also I am not sure how the forced induction and thermostat would work on the DS. The induction fan feeds the stove with the primary combustion air and the secondary combustion air. It will draft naturally through the induction blower however, so when the fan is not blowing you still get the secondary combustion. Any thoughts guys?

 

[brenndatomu]

I had a Yukon Big Jack wood furnace with forced air combustion. It worked like magic...when the blower kicked on, the wood disappeared!
I ended up running it with the blower left off.
I think forced combustion could be made to work better (more efficiently) with a thermocouple sensor in the stove pipe hooked to a temp controller that shuts the blower off when the stack temp gets to a preset high temp and then allows the blower to come back on when the stack falls back to a preset low temp, only when the T Stat is calling for heat of course.

If that sq footage is a grand total of 3400 ft both floors, and the Tundra is gonna be actively heating the basement too, it may be on the smallish side in colder weather. All depends on your insulation level I guess. If you need more firepower, just wait a bit, Drolet is supposed to be releasing a larger version of the Tundra soon.

Any idea if the Tundras that Menards is getting now are the new modded ones with firebrick behind the front panel of the firebox?

 

[69mustang]

I emailed SBI today to see.

 

[brenndatomu]

I emailed SBI today to see.

You'll update us with what SBI says, please? Thanks!