Selling Modified hot blast 1500 (Secondary Burn) 10-12 hour burn times ($950) Price lowered

[crewchief264]

Hey I have posted on here before and read a lot about how to do secondary burn. I am upgrading my heating system and am no longer going to use my hot blast. the first link is the secondary burn and how I did it. The other link is the craigslist ad. I am asking $1250.00

I have a Hotblast 1500 add on wood and coal burning furnace. I am asking for 1250 Cash. I have used it for 3 years and never over fired it and only used seasoned firewood. I modified the furnace by adding an upper baffle in the smoke chamber and welded secondary burn tubes into the furnace. I also tripled the amount of firebrick in the furnace. If you have read about wood furnaces you will note that this furnace puts out great heat but lacks long burn times and really eats the wood. The modifications I made has netted me 10-12 hour burns and cut the amount wood used to less than half. I also installed the automatic honeywell fan control. I currently have the wood furnace installed in conjunction with my central air. And will remove it once I have it sold. If you need any advice on installing this in conjunction with your central air I'd be willing to give you advice. I am willing to deliver the furnace, plus 40 cents mileage outside of 20 miles. As any wood burning furnace goes they all have their own way of operating. I can give you a good run through on how to operate the furnace. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have.

http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/secondary-burn-achieved-on-hot-blast-1500.246357/


http://fortwayne.craigslist.org/app/5743224963.html

 

[brenndatomu]

Ah, yeah, I remember your thread. Will you still be heating with wood? If so what stove/furnace are you installing?

 

[crewchief264]

Ah, yeah, I remember your thread. Will you still be heating with wood? If so what stove/furnace are you installing?

I am still heating with wood. (And Heat pump) I am selling the hot blast for a couple reasons. I have my wood furnace in my man cave and I would like a glass door, I would also like even better efficiency. I also have about $150 in Menards rebates to use. So I figured I would sell the hot blast and upgrade to the Drolet Tundra... I have had my eye on it since they showed up on here and at the local Menards... I am happy with my hot blast once I modified it, but from what I researched the Drolet is even better and is a simple drop in installation.

 

[brenndatomu]

I am still heating with wood. (And Heat pump) I am selling the hot blast for a couple reasons. I have my wood furnace in my man cave and I would like a glass door, I would also like even better efficiency. I also have about $150 in Menards rebates to use. So I figured I would sell the hot blast and upgrade to the Drolet Tundra... I have had my eye on it since they showed up on here and at the local Menards... I am happy with my hot blast once I modified it, but from what I researched the Drolet is even better and is a simple drop in installation.

I wondered if it wasn't something like that. I like my Tundra well enough...now that I have it straightened out (it was a first year model with some issues. FYI, there is a HUGE ongoing Tundra thread over on that Hearth site where I have chronicled my adventures) Menards had 'em on sale a few weeks back, looks like they are not now. I expect them to put a really good sale on 'em in the next few months to move out the inventory of the original Tundras to make way for they Tundra II that Drolet has out now (~$500 more) My sister bought one for $1250 or so after rebates last February I think it was, not sure if they will get that low again or not.

 

[crewchief264]

I wondered if it wasn't something like that. I like my Tundra well enough...now that I have it straightened out (it was a first year model with some issues. FYI, there is a HUGE ongoing Tundra thread over on that Hearth site where I have chronicled my adventures) Menards had 'em on sale a few weeks back, looks like they are not now. I expect them to put a really good sale on 'em in the next few months to move out the inventory of the original Tundras to make way for they Tundra II that Drolet has out now (~$500 more) My sister bought one for $1250 or so after rebates last February I think it was, not sure if they will get that low again or not.

Great news. Do you have any advice on the Tundra.... or would you wait for the Tundra 2? Thanks I'm reading this thread now... 60+pages... Cracks? SO so far I need to look for in the tundra I get:

Higher serial number
damper mod
whats different with the ash door?

I am still reading so some of these may be answered by the time you read this

 

[JeffHK454]

Not to turn a for sale add into tech but what about the Tundra makes it better than the Hotblast?

 

[brenndatomu]

Not to turn a for sale add into tech but what about the Tundra makes it better than the Hotblast?

Well, comparing the two as they come out of the box, the Tundra will be much more efficient and cleaner burning. The HB is known to be a dirty burner with a healthy appetite for more wood! With that said, it sounds like the mods CC has done to his has helped those two issues greatly. But comparing the two as his HB stands now...I would suspect the HB still requires more user input (adjustments) than the Tundra (Tundra is pretty much load and go) Basically the Tundra has been designed ground up to be a secondary burn firebox with a "air washed" window in the door...hard to duplicate that after the fact, especially the window, that would have to be dang near impossible to keep clean if added to a HB due to the angle of the door.
The one thing that the HB does have over the Tundra is raw firepower...you can only push EPA type fireboxes so much if they are "too small" to keep up with your heat load (they just tend to coal up, unless you are burning softwoods) But the HB can be "pushed" hard and will make some serious heat...if you don't mind reloading every 4 hours!
I'd say the Tundra is only good for heating maybe 2000 sq ft, (maybe a bit less in extreme northern states) unless you have exceptional air sealing/insulation...any bigger than that, IMO better move up to the Heatpro.

 

[crewchief264]

Not to turn a for sale add into tech but what about the Tundra makes it better than the Hotblast?

namely the ability to control the fire, glass door, and spa designed firebox. My hot blast is super easy to operate, basically get it up to about 500-600 degrees on the front gauge. close the ash door. The temp will fall to about 300 in about 15-20 minutes... then open the ash door and get the temp back up may throw another log in..... and get temp back up and then its good to go for about 10-11 hours. I also ground the tits off the ash door vent and welded up the vent in the hot blast door. The hot blast was designed to throw way too much air at the fire.. most the heat goes up the stack if you don't modify it as I and others have. The tundra looks to be able to outperform the HB hands down. I also have a regency insert, it has secondary and is great.. you just can't get more than 8 hours out of it because of the firebox size... you also cont distribute the heat to the whole house.....

 

[JeffHK454]

namely the ability to control the fire, glass door, and spa designed firebox. My hot blast is super easy to operate, basically get it up to about 500-600 degrees on the front gauge. close the ash door. The temp will fall to about 300 in about 15-20 minutes... then open the ash door and get the temp back up may throw another log in..... and get temp back up and then its good to go for about 10-11 hours. I also ground the tits off the ash door vent and welded up the vent in the hot blast door. The hot blast was designed to throw way too much air at the fire.. most the heat goes up the stack if you don't modify it as I and others have. The tundra looks to be able to outperform the HB hands down. I also have a regency insert, it has secondary and is great.. you just can't get more than 8 hours out of it because of the firebox size... you also cont distribute the heat to the whole house.....

That's good info , thanks.

I've been using a USSC 1600 for a bunch a year's now and I've been wanting to ether improve it or replace it with something more efficient. Since $4K + for a Kuuma furnace is out of my budget it looks like I'm gonna try and use the improvements you made to the HB on my 1600.

 

[crewchief264]

Bump Price is now $950.00

 

[Rachel P]

Well, comparing the two as they come out of the box, the Tundra will be much more efficient and cleaner burning. The HB is known to be a dirty burner with a healthy appetite for more wood! With that said, it sounds like the mods CC has done to his has helped those two issues greatly. But comparing the two as his HB stands now...I would suspect the HB still requires more user input (adjustments) than the Tundra (Tundra is pretty much load and go) Basically the Tundra has been designed ground up to be a secondary burn firebox with a "air washed" window in the door...hard to duplicate that after the fact, especially the window, that would have to be dang near impossible to keep clean if added to a HB due to the angle of the door.
The one thing that the HB does have over the Tundra is raw firepower...you can only push EPA type fireboxes so much if they are "too small" to keep up with your heat load (they just tend to coal up, unless you are burning softwoods) But the HB can be "pushed" hard and will make some serious heat...if you don't mind reloading every 4 hours!
I'd say the Tundra is only good for heating maybe 2000 sq ft, (maybe a bit less in extreme northern states) unless you have exceptional air sealing/insulation...any bigger than that, IMO better move up to the Heatpro.

What does coal up mean? Just purchased a hot blast furnace, installed outside and can only get a 2hr burn out of it. It eats the wood. Any advise on how to get a longer burn time? Thank You. Rachel

 

[brenndatomu]

What does coal up mean? Just purchased a hot blast furnace, installed outside and can only get a 2hr burn out of it. It eats the wood. Any advise on how to get a longer burn time? Thank You. Rachel

Coal up, as in a pile of red hot coals. The Tundra heats better with active flame than it does with just hot coals.
You installed the HB outside? Describe your setup please...and exactly how you are operating the furnace.

 

[Rachel P]

Coal up, as in a pile of red hot coals. The Tundra heats better with active flame than it does with just hot coals.
You installed the HB outside? Describe your setup please...and exactly how you are operating the furnace.

The unit is in a shed we built for it, fully insulated, duct running into the existing duct that also is for the central heat and air unit. I now have removed the rear plug and that seems to have helped. I hate the grate thing, it always turns sideways on me and I loose coals. Plus it seems the gaps in it are to big. Got it worker pretty good now, but it is a hungry hippo. Every few hours it needs wood. And I am still looking for the new blower. That will be changed before next winter.

 

[brenndatomu]

Yeah they are pretty widely known for their healthy appetites.
2 hours sounds pretty bad though...does the house ever get up to temp so the furnace can go into "standby" or idle mode? Or is it constantly running wide open...if it is non stop WFO, that will give short burn times for sure

 

[Rachel P]

Yeah they are pretty widely known for their healthy appetites.
2 hours sounds pretty bad though...does the house ever get up to temp so the furnace can go into "standby" or idle mode? Or is it constantly running wide open...if it is non stop WFO, that will give short burn times for sure

The central air unit kicks on. I only have it set on 65. Got a bigger blower yesterday. Hope to get it on tomorrow. I know that will help with heat but still working on the burn time.

 

[Mustang71]

I have a daka furnace and I am also thinking get about switching to the tundra when the time comes. I'm always messing with the furnace to get it to heat. The wood has to be adjusted a lot the damper has to be messed with soft wood has to be added sometimes to get the hard wood to burn hot. I just wanna load it and heat and look at the flame too.

I added more fire bricks cause the back warped and it fixed that issue but the amount of heat that goes up the flu is stupid. I also put fire bricks on the top plate to stop the flames going up the flu.

 

[anlrolfe]

Getting your secondary air preheated is important. Many designs loop around the top, some up into the flue then back down.
Either way, cold air or too much air and you won't get the desired effect.
Creating a baffle is a must as I see it.