Hello, My name is Dave and sometimes Angie joins in, Welcome.
Sharing our journey in our newly constructed home which is literally on top of a mountain. As we are learning it has many challenges, but we are up for anything thrown our way. There is still much to do inside and out of the house and we plan to share those with you.
We have a Kubota Lx2610 tractor to help with the daily tasks around the home, we will be showing my learning curve as a new tractor owner.
We help heat the house with firewood in our Tulikivi masonry stove. We have cut and split all of the wood ourselves from the property.
Thanks for the practical overview. I am currently in design of our house and have picked a Tulikivi for our masonry heater which we are incorporating into the design. Did you have an outside air duct feeding the heater combustion air? If yes does it have a damper? Does the vent have a damper? What model number is your unit?. I am not impressed with my local dealer's installer. Do you have a list of questions for the installer? Should he be certified? I may have to pick another dealer with qualified installer. Any recommendations?
Our model is TTU2700/75 with bake oven. We did not install outside air duct. That is something that may be required for zoning in your area. It may also be necessary if your house will be super tight. As far as installation goes, in my area the dealers get a region to work in and others can not work there. For example, I have a dealer one state over much closer than the dealer who had my territory. My understanding is the dealer I used has one of the largest showrooms in the US. They have been to Finland several times to be trained, that would be my first question. Secondly how many have they installed and can I go see them. I’d be first to open my door to prospective buyers to show it off and talk about it. I don’t know where your location is but if you want to speak to my dealer send me an email and I’ll get there contact information to you.
Wow! Great video. New subscriber. I have an LX2610 on order and can't wait to get it. Any concerns when picking up the last large stone? How do you know when its too big without getting to the point of damaging the arms?
First of all congratulations on the purchase, did you get the 2610 or 2620? As far as lifting, it simply won’t lift it if it can’t. I experience lifting issues from time to time when loading my firewood tote. You will learn and make adjustments for whatever task you have.
@MtTopLiving Thanks, very excited. It's the 2610. It was already on the lot, I had to order in the Grapple and front mounted snowblower, so that's technically what I'm waiting for. He talked about the 2620, but didn't have one on the lot. Saved some money with the older model too.
Great video and that's a fantastic house you built. Thank you. I presume it was installed by the manufacturer or contractors specially trained by them? Is it available as a kit that a homeowner could install themselves? What was the total installed cost? Do you enjoy any savings in the amount of wood that's needed to keep your house comfortable compared to a typical cast iron stove? Regarding the pizza oven, you said it takes a few hours to get it hot enough to cook with it. That doesn't sound too good. More importantly, you said the pizza oven can be used with the heat from the main firebox. How long does it take to get the pizza oven hot enough to cook, say, 350-400 degrees? How long will it hold that temperature? Thank you.
Let’s see if I can answer all these…. No it is not available as a diy kit, it is installed by the people who sell them and are factory trained in Finland. As far as savings I can’t compare bc this is a completely different house than I had for wood stove. As I said it holds heat a long time easily twice as long as any wood stove I’ve had. Getting to 350 can easily be done with just the fire in bottom. When making pizza I get the oven to 500-550 before putting the pizza in. It will continue to rise in temperature for a while then take several hours to cool down. Hope this helps.
@@MtTopLiving Thank you. How much did it cost installed? I understand the price will vary by design, extras and custom finishes, and of course the location would be a big part of the install. My minimum guess would be at least $15,000 but I figure your remote location would have added to that. Are we talking $20,000, $30,000, $50,000? Thanks again.
@@KenYamaguchi-sg5zr the heater was around $25k and it required a foundation which was done with the basement walls. So not inexpensive, but it was our big must have luxury.
@@MtTopLiving Thank you. That seems like a reasonable price, all things considered. I really like masonry heaters and it seems Tulikivi is the top manufacturer. Tempcast is another company that I've been researching and is about the same price, from what I can tell. Congratulations on the house and the heater. Best wishes. Thanks again.
Thanks for sharing David! Will have a danish/Swedish version of this masonry oven installed in my energy house this fall! Glad to join the masonry club! :) Cheers from Sweden, Johan
I did notice in your previous video exactly what u r now talking about. With every drag from your mail box to your home you could see that all you did was drag up rocks that got dropped into the pothole which gave the appearance that the pothole was now taken care of when in all actuality it was just rocks dumped in it that will eventually get pushed out. You have to tear out the walls in order to get rid of that hole. Good Luck and love the videos!i
I did notice in your previous video exactly what u r now talking about. With every drag from your mail box to your home you could see that all you did was drag up rocks that got dropped into the pothole which gave the appearance that the pothole was now taken care of when in all actuality it was just rocks dumped in it that will eventually get pushed out. You have to tear out the walls in order to get rid of that hole. Good Luck and love the videos!
If you don't really want a grapple, you can just widen out the forks a bit. It makes it easier to pick up and carry around the longer logs like you said without them falling off. Great video and hope thad can help you out.
Larry, Darryl & Darryl. Nice to have the extra help😆 I have a 60" HLA root rake version like GP Outdoors first grapple and it handles logs fine but it's about 400lbs. My primary use is rootin/ripping and it's awesome for that purpose with its weight. I think GP is using a Pinnacle now and although lighter, it looks very well-built.
Ahhh yes the list...we all have one. I have only managed to complete 2 things on mine and then the truck decided it wanted some love as well. The truck was on the list anyway, but it just couldn't waite its turn...lol. Your tractor makes rock moving look easy. Great job, check off another one. Cheers,
Good review. Yea, this works just like a Russian Stove. Even in -30 degrees they just burn them twice a day and the heat is "let out" over the other 10 to 12 hours when there is no fire. Yes, to maintain draft everything must be kept warm and the stove needs to be fired every day or in most designs, there can be a draft problem if it goes cold. Russians install bypasses and dampers to assist this "reheat." By the way, I don't think fires should ever be "lit" in the top oven. The top oven is completely secondary to the bottom and the "heat for the house." With the idea being... it's already hot by "me heating the house," so.... I may as well take advantage and cook something. The stove is 99% for heat, and 1% for food.
The top oven has its own firebrick, and is designed to have a fire in it. It is not intended to replace to bottom firebox. Most all of my cooking does not require a fire in the top oven, when I’m make pizza I fire the top and get it close to 500F. I use the bottom 99% of the time also.
I change my oil twice a year spring and fall. Usually get between 50 and 75 hrs in that time. Oil is cheap compared to a motor. A good used mini excavator will hold its value if it's kept in good condition. But when things brake on it. it gets expensive fast. I bought a backhoe with my tractor it does a good job but does take longer. But it would be nice to have a mini.
Ive had my LX2610 for 3 years now and have 360 hours on it, Won't hurt to change oil after 2 years.. It's cheap enough peace of mind! I would agree on buying a separate mini ex vs buying a backhoe for your tractor Ive had both and the Mini does cost more but is equally more robust and works a lot faster
Wow, 30 hours in two years. It's been nice here and i put that on in the past week. I do my engine oil spring and fall because I like keeping it fresh.
Wow, that heater has travelled a long way to get there! By the way, a literal translation of Tulikivi is firestone. The type of stone, soapstone, they use is known for being able to absorb heat for long time which also makes it ideal for slow cooking. The stone is easier to cut than hard stone which makes it possible to use it also in the internal parts of the heater and not just in the cover so more mass to store the heat. It's maybe not designed to be a pizza oven as such, but more like for bread and stew that would take a longer time in a constant heat. A pizza oven would probably need to have more direct access to flames to get hot enough.
By the manual but also at least once a year. I disagree on the Stewarts coffee😁...well sort of...it does does taste good but once it goes into one of their cups all I can taste is paper, try bringing your own mug sometime, much better!
Sounds like a good idea. I have a min 6months on all of my rigs regardless of miles/hours. It’s just cheap insurance and makes sure that I am paying attention to all of the other miscellaneous maintenance items to noot.
Good morning, Dave. Can't go wrong with an oil change, especially after 2 yrs. I did 200hr service on my 1025R @ 180 hr mark Jan/23, Light snow plow season with less winter than even upstate NY had/ 4 plow days of 3-4" last winter. With mowing, fertilizing, Cyclone rake use last fall, have 225 hrs now. May complete oil change this fall, or at least before next Spring. Can't advise re excavator; only you know what use you would need it for from your property needs; easy for me. On 2.5-3 acres, including 1/2 acre of woods, I wouldn't have any use for that category of equipment. Sunny morning here in Ontario until light rain in afternoon-have to head outside to enjoy it. Cheers
@@MtTopLivinglol I just noticed that in your title 😂. Thank you for the reply. Do you have any more vids on the use of the oven ? I would imagine that a person would be able to make use of the different temperatures throughout the day to cook and bake a variety of things
Thanks for the tulikivi review. Great house and excellent video. I rent a house that has one, in milder climate than you for sure (N. California). We’ve been with the tulikivi for three winters now. We typically have one fire each night. One thing I have not been able to figure out is what the small tab above the firebox door is used for. Any idea about that?
Hiya Dave, Great to see you trip the 1K subscribers! Your content is well worth the time. PS generators are great (we finally got one wired in here in the Tetons) but the super nice thing is that you have a way to heat your house, melt snow and even roast your dinner with that great stone stove!
Thanks Rob, our need for a generator is becoming increasingly. Power out again last night, really just need to run the well pump in the winter, however if this continues through summer A/C becomes part of the equation.
Beautiful! Wish I would of went with a Tulikivi when I built our log cabin a few years ago. Cold air is denser and easier to move. Try placing a fan on the floor pushing the cool air from that bedroom into the main heated space then the warmer air will fill in behind it heating that bedroom.
Hey Dave. That was not a fun storm. We lost power for about 18 hours but thankfully we put in a whole house generator a few years ago. I wish I hadn't switched my snowblower over but the bucket and rear blade got the job done. A lot easier to when it's paved. Let's hope it's our last one. Have a happy Easter my friend.
Hey Dave, I did my switch to early the first year I have since waited longer. It’s hard not to switch with the snow all gone but if I do I’m sure another storm will come in. We are considering the generator, we aren’t worried about heat it’s the well water pump. Happy Easter and here’s to hoping for dryer days ahead.
Audio sounds great. Old Man winter sure doesn't seem to want to let up yet and although I'm looking at dirt in my driveway, he still gave us a bit more here as well. The snow blower did a great job as usual. Cheers from Sask, Canada.
A healthy mix of snow and aggergrate coming out of the chute. Pretty much how my snowblowing went as well. Our last forecasted snowmagedon ended up being a rain event. I took my blower off yesterday and put the loader back on. Your audio sounds much better with your new mic.
Great video! Thanks for posting. Currently going thru our first winter in our new home with new tulikivi 2450/92. Been ogling and researching them for years and agree that there’s limited online content from users. One question for you - how high do your surface temps get when fired up to 500+ for pizzas? I’ve read that surface temps shouldn’t exceed 180F - not an option wheh this thing gets cooking.
I don’t know the exact surface temperature. Since you can only burn in one at a time, and the bake oven has its own firebrick I don’t think it’s necessarily any hotter to the touch. It’s still very hot to the touch, more than likely above 180F. Hopefully you’re getting yours figured out and enjoying it.
Congratulations on hitting 1000 subscribers! We're in full mud season in eastern Canada as well. Winter was mostly a bust but I'm going to leave my blower on for another week or two just in case we get a late storm and I can't do any loader work anyway until things firm up.
Thanks! I agree the ground is too soft to be able n it with a tractor right now. Might be one more storm in the mix, good thing about this time of year is you know the snow isn’t sticking around long.
Do not be scared to use the scarafiers. Also when you are clearing land it can scrape grass off the top . Leave it hooked to your tractor as the back counterweight for your loader. The more you pull it the more you will love it
@@MtTopLiving I start with the recommended bolt grade, and add the relief in the correct spot. Its exactly what you can buy, just 10% of the cost. On my Honda 928HS blower the fan shear is a strange double step one and I make those also. I hate spending the big bucks on trinkets.
