Looking for Answers about Drolet Wood Stove - 95,000 BTU, Model# HT2000?

Top mount. It is 6" round diameter.

My answer is DO NOT. I find it is so fast and easier to simply use a ash shovel and clean the firebox directly and leave the ash box below alone. Maybe end of season remove it once to empty any partucles that may be in it, but if you leave plug in place on stove floor from the start, you will find it easier and quicker to empty ashes inside into steel bucket and dispose of them accordingly outside.

MAKE SURE you do not empty ashes in any plastic bucket or cardboard box either as there may be some smoldering pieces and it will melt or ignite them. And depending on your use, you may not need to empty the bottom but once every 2 weeks too. Mfgr suggests once you accumulate like 3" or 4 " of ashes, then clean out the firebox to keep it working as efficient as possible.

You will find, this being a "combustion chamber" type product, it actually burns the ash so finely, you will not accumulate ashes like you would in say a regular fireplace. You will be surprised how little ash you will have froom so much wood.

This door has welded hinges. The door is cast iron due to the glass insert & gasket design.

The door will open a little better than 90 degrees but has "stops" on the hinges for a reason. But as I have instructed my wife, this is a HOT combustion chamber inside. You have HOT plate steel sides & top and refractor bricks inside. The mfgr and common sense indicates the use of gloves as it is VERY hot inside if you load this or ANY woodstove under fire and you have to exercise caution always. I have loaded many large logs into this once I had a heavy bed of hot coals on the floor and never had problem. The door opens past the width opening of the stove front so this is all that matters. I find logs say around 20" work very easily but it will take larger even.

But, understand, any woodstove when under fire and heating the metal is warm or hot depending where you are on the unit. Open all doors normally and carefully. To simply fling open any door (welded hinge or bolted hinge) wiht any force, you WILL bend and alter the hinge and lose your airtight seal- So use common sense openign any woodstove door and you will be fine.

Yes, build it directly on the firebrick floor. You DO NOT need grates like in a fireplace (grates are for getting air under logs to create upflow burn). These woodstoves are "combustion chambers" and very airtight. All air is drawn in ONLY through the front vent control and how it "washes" glass to keep smoke or smolder gases/creosotes from dirtying glass. A small pile of very dry cardboard pieces first laid on the floor, then some shredded kindle of sorts on top the cardboard pieces is excellent in a teepee fashion. Get that done or ready for your next firing up, light it, and it will burn fast and heat flue quickly.

Mfgr reco's you leave door ajar with damper wide open for 20 minutes or so on a first firing, adding wood to your kindle fire, then close door tightly thereafter and adjust your damper control accordingly.

We have flue thermometer on ours, and mfgr recos a range on it for best combusting verses BTU output, and we hardly put our damper control above medium to achieve this! It is that efficient once you get your fire burning. If you leave damper wide open, it will go off the chart and could cause over-firing, so you need to be aware fo this, get used to your stove, and realize what burining with wood is about and how to do it safely and without problem. GO slowly with wood. This is not an electric appliance you can turn on and off in seconds!

There really is no need for that if your chimney is installed properly. Ours has a great draw on it! We just adjust the top front air control and it changes the burn rate immediately.

No. This is made in Quebec, Canada sold in USA through registered distributors like Northern Tool only.

This re-burns gases using (3) special stainless steel air baffel tubes in upper inside of burn chamber working with the air-wash air intake control above the door to re-burn initial gases and get the most BTU performance out of your wood BEFORE any waste product actually goes up the chimney. It is fully welded plate steel similar to the older US stoves many may be familiar with. The door is the only cast iron part for a reason.

This is all part of the USA Federal EPA requirement for any woodstoves sold in USA today. The only way to get away from that, is to buy an older 70's type woodstove or such.

But as I posted before, if installed and utilized correctly, you will find using this stove, you hardly use any wood at all. I am not kidding here. What I burn in this in say a week's time, our upstairs fireplace would go through in one cold night itself!

I know this stove is not a "catalyst" per se, but it does have an interesting way of introducing the intake air in a circular rotating fashion, washing the smoke down past the window and back under the burning logs. I don't know all the details of how or why, but it seems pretty efficient to me.

This might be one question you need to contact manufacturer in Quebec, Canada directly about. To my knowledge, this is the only way their door opens as they used solid welded hinges on the left side- no bolt-on hinges. I love this stove, but this is my only negative (if you want to call it that), as I am right-handed, and with locking handle mechanism on right, on larger logs, I have to insert them inward from the right side first, then straighten them out inside the firebox, as opposed to going in left side first which I prefer to do. Now, my wife being left handed, finds it no problem. It is NOT an issue at all regardless.

Yes . Read the online instructions manual , it explains the clearance's needed .

Less is best. This Drolet stove (many on market today in fact) are a top venting style. Ideally, you should simply have (1) 90 degree elbow max used to connect this top mount flue into your chimney flue. There may be cases where you may need another elbow, but the ideal install is less degrees/bends used, the better, for your topdraft flue flow for the stove. Mfgr also recommends, the straight pipe connector that runs horizontal from your elbow into the chimney liner should be run with a slight upward angle as best as possible. Again, this, much like vent piping in a plumbing scenario, allows for upward unobstructed airflow whereas a pipe run level at the horizontal will not have as best airflow movement through it as a pipe with upward slope.