New Furnace Day: Drolet Heat Commander

[FixedGearFlyer]

So my question for either you or nick is after hitting that button can you literally walk away and the stove will take care of the rest? I ask because I work away a lot and the wife will not start the wood stove because she can’t get it to catch or will not manage the air controls haha. If this is the case I will be placing my order very soon because my electric bill is starting to scare me

Actually, yes. You press the button, light your fire or reload on coals, keep the door cracked for a minute or two until it's burning well, close the door, and walk away.

In fact, you don't have any access to manually adjust the air controls - it's all managed by the furnace.

 

[Gbawol42]

Marquette. You?

Saint Ignace

 

[Mrpelletburner]

So, just over 6 hours of good heat on a small load of small maple splits. It's 71*F on the first floor, 67*F on the second floor, and 62*F in the basement.

Of major note, I literally didn't touch the Heat Commander or the thermostat after lighting it this morning - we let the Heat Commander's computer manage the burn while we spent the day out in our family's shop, sewing and filling orders while our kiddos were in the house.

Have you had any small back puffs when in idle mode?

 

[FixedGearFlyer]

Have you had any small back puffs when in idle mode?

No, not at all. But we have a strong draft in a 7x7 inch masonry flue that's metered at .06" W.C. by a Fields barometric damper. By the time the kindling has burned, the draft is well established.

 

[FixedGearFlyer]

Update:

It's been cold-ish the past few days, but nothing that's demanded more than one, small to medium burn per day.

We let it get cool in the house last night and it was 60 when we woke up this morning. The plan (well, MY plan - my wife and kiddos really aren't that interested...) was to do our first full-load burn in the Heat Commander and see how long it goes for.

I loaded the cold firebox to 4 inches below the secondary burn tubes, then lit a small kindling stack in front of the bottom splits at 730am. It burned nicely front to back and I went about my day.

It's now 530pm and, 10 hours later, the green "heat available" light is on, the blower is running, the house is 70*F, and there's still a 3-inch bed of coals in the back half of the firebox.

I'll take that!

 

[trx250r87]

Update:

It's been cold-ish the past few days, but nothing that's demanded more than one, small to medium burn per day.

We let it get cool in the house last night and it was 60 when we woke up this morning. The plan (well, MY plan - my wife and kiddos really aren't that interested...) was to do our first full-load burn in the Heat Commander and see how long it goes for.

I loaded the cold firebox to 4 inches below the secondary burn tubes, then lit a small kindling stack in front of the bottom splits at 730am. It burned nicely front to back and I went about my day.

It's now 530pm and, 10 hours later, the green "heat available" light is on, the blower is running, the house is 70*F, and there's still a 3-inch bed of coals in the back half of the firebox.

I'll take that!

Agreed! I was surprised to find my house at 70 degrees this morning at 6:30am when it was only 20 degrees F outside and I had enough hot coals for an easy reload.

Eric

 

[brenndatomu]

Agreed! I was surprised to find my house at 70 degrees this morning at 6:30am when it was only 20 degrees F outside and I had enough hot coals for an easy reload.

Eric

When, and how much did you load last night?

 

[trx250r87]

When, and how much did you load last night?

I loaded 3-4 larger pieces of maple (maybe 8" diameter) around 9:30pm last night. I certainly didn't expect it to be producing heat at 6:30am!

Eric

 

[Gbawol42]

I loaded 3-4 larger pieces of maple (maybe 8" diameter) around 9:30pm last night. I certainly didn't expect it to be producing heat at 6:30am!

Eric

Wow I haven't really seen anyone load these stoves with wood that big. I kinda always wondered how it would effect the stove putting bigger pieces of fire wood in. All of my wood is no bigger that 4-6" diameter. Mainly split smaller to season faster.

 

[trx250r87]

Wow I haven't really seen anyone load these stoves with wood that big. I kinda always wondered how it would effect the stove putting bigger pieces of fire wood in. All of my wood is no bigger that 4-6" diameter. Mainly split smaller to season faster.

This was very dry, dead standing maple with no bark. I left a few pieces unsplit just to see how long and how clean they would burn. No complaints whatsoever. The fire bricks and glass door were perfectly clean too.

Eric

 

[andym]

Did I see correctly that in the manual it shows 5" clearance to combustibles on the plenum but 0" for the ductwork itself? My Heatmax2 requires 5" and 1" respectively. I don't have a full inch clearance everywhere but it's pretty decent overall.

 

[FixedGearFlyer]

5" clearance from the plenum, 1" for ducts for the first 12" of run, then 0" for ducts after 12".
"PLEASE NOTE: These clearances are NO LONGER correct. SBI issued an updated technical bulletin on 12/4/2020 and is amending the manual and furnace data plate to require a 1" clearance for ducts, even after 12". "

 

[Matt78]

Finally!!

 

[Rockstar1346]

Update:

It's been cold-ish the past few days, but nothing that's demanded more than one, small to medium burn per day.

We let it get cool in the house last night and it was 60 when we woke up this morning. The plan (well, MY plan - my wife and kiddos really aren't that interested...) was to do our first full-load burn in the Heat Commander and see how long it goes for.

I loaded the cold firebox to 4 inches below the secondary burn tubes, then lit a small kindling stack in front of the bottom splits at 730am. It burned nicely front to back and I went about my day.

It's now 530pm and, 10 hours later, the green "heat available" light is on, the blower is running, the house is 70*F, and there's still a 3-inch bed of coals in the back half of the firebox.

I'll take that!

This is definitely what I like to hear! I got a pre epa right now and it seems like I’m constantly shoving it full of wood.. I’ll be upgrading here after we get Christmas out of the way, cheers.

 

[andym]

5" clearance from the plenum, 1" for ducts for the first 12" of run, then 0" for ducts after 12".

I wonder why that got changed? That makes me feel better with the way my ducts are run.

 

[Case1030]

I wonder why that got changed? That makes me feel better with the way my ducts are run.

I think it might be due to the furnace being able to completely shut itself down the primary and secondary inlets (inevent of power outage or overheat)... similar to it being very forgiving without a BD.

 

[Matt78]

I think it might be due to the furnace being able to completely shut itself down the primary and secondary inlets (inevent of power outage or overheat)... similar to it being very forgiving without a BD.

There was a revision to this. 1" after the first 12"

 

[FixedGearFlyer]

I wonder why that got changed? That makes me feel better with the way my ducts are run.

JUST KIDDING! As @Matt78 says, we just got an update to the clearances this morning and they're ammending both the manual and the furnace data plates.

I'm guessing that the SBI team is watching this thread and our conversation helped them catch the documentation error, which is pretty cool.

 

[Matt78]

JUST KIDDING! As @Matt78 says, we just got an update to the clearances this morning and they're ammending both the manual and the furnace data plates.

I'm guessing that the SBI team is watching this thread and our conversation helped them catch the documentation error, which is pretty cool.

Indeed! I tell ya their customer service is excellent!

 

[FixedGearFlyer]

Another update:

I adjusted our barometric damper so that the furnace is running between 0.04" and 0.05" W.C. It had been running so that it was centered on 0.06" W.C.

That small adjustment seems to have made a notable difference. The secondaries are larger, the temp on the heat exchanger door went up by about 70*F, the flue temp either stayed the same or dropped very slightly, and we noticed a significant increase in the heat output in the house.

I suspect we'll also get longer burns, but didn't push it today because it's pretty warm out (30*F) and I don't want to cook my family.
Here's a short video about 2 hours into a small load this afternoon, showing the secondaries and the magnehelic draft reading.

I'm writing this 4.5 hours into that burn and we still have a strong coal bed and good heat output.

 

[brenndatomu]

I adjusted our barometric damper so that the furnace is running between 0.04" and 0.05" W.C. It had been running so that it was centered on 0.06" W.C.

That small adjustment seems to have made a notable difference.

The difference between -0.04 and -0.06" can be huge! I tend to stay closer to -0.04" myself...after experimenting with different settings.

 

[Case1030]

Another update:

I adjusted our barometric damper so that the furnace is running between 0.04" and 0.05" W.C. It had been running so that it was centered on 0.06" W.C.

That small adjustment seems to have made a notable difference. The secondaries are larger, the temp on the heat exchanger door went up by about 70*F, the flue temp either stayed the same or dropped very slightly, and we noticed a significant increase in the heat output in the house.

I suspect we'll also get longer burns, but didn't push it today because it's pretty warm out (30*F) and I don't want to cook my family.
Here's a short video about 2 hours into a small load this afternoon, showing the secondaries and the magnehelic draft reading.

I'm writing this 4.5 hours into that burn and we still have a strong coal bed and good heat output.

How tall of a chimney do you have? Not sure if it's stated in previous posts?

 

[FixedGearFlyer]

How tall of a chimney do you have? Not sure if it's stated in previous posts?

We have a beastly 7x7 inch masonry chimney that's 36 feet from base to cap and about 32 from thimble to cap.

I'm hoping to drop a 6-inch liner in it next summer.

 

[trx250r87]

Another update:

I adjusted our barometric damper so that the furnace is running between 0.04" and 0.05" W.C. It had been running so that it was centered on 0.06" W.C.

That small adjustment seems to have made a notable difference. The secondaries are larger, the temp on the heat exchanger door went up by about 70*F, the flue temp either stayed the same or dropped very slightly, and we noticed a significant increase in the heat output in the house.

I suspect we'll also get longer burns, but didn't push it today because it's pretty warm out (30*F) and I don't want to cook my family.
Here's a short video about 2 hours into a small load this afternoon, showing the secondaries and the magnehelic draft reading.


I'm writing this 4.5 hours into that burn and we still have a strong coal bed and good heat output.

I wonder how much your draft will change once the -20 degree weather hits in mid-January? I know mine sucks more than the Chicago Bears!

Eric

 

[FixedGearFlyer]

With the baro damper, we can keep it in check pretty well. I've thought about adding a manual key damper for those really windy or bitterly cold days, but never seem to get around to it.