Lacking air intake??

[SoutherWis]

Is that possible with the air wide open?
As mentioned here I'm running a newly installed Atlanta Homesteader. Model 2410-GU to be exact.

I'll crack the ash pan door when initially starting a fire. The damper is wide open and the air intake door is wide open.
After flue temps (according to Rutland thermometer) reach 350, I'll close the ash door and leave the air intake open and the damper open at first.
The fire usually smolders down to lazy flames if any at all, and shortly after becomes flameless smoldering after an hour or so.
She's cranking out heat but it's short lived due to those conditions.
If I take a lookey see...there's all my fuel (wood) and it's badly burned and charred but it's still there. If I crack the ash door, she comes to life.
Is it possible my air intake is too small? That seems NOT so logical since they sold these things for years. It's not plugged or blocked in anyway.
Or am I closing things up way to soon.?
Flue temps dump down to 150-200 range, but it's still putting out good heat. FYI I can only say that cause my house is so small I'm sure.

Do you guys really ignore the damper and regulate flow with the intake? It doesnt seem to help me.
Is it possible my intake is too small? I'm doubting it. Pictured below.
Is this shoulder burning blues I'm experiencing?
Maybe the stove is simply TOO tight?

 

[DexterDay]

Even when fully closed it gets some air.

How long has your Wood been Cut/Split/Stacked?? What type of wood?

Should burn well.with Primary Full Open.

 

[SoutherWis]

I'm using kiln dried 2x6 cut offs to get things going. The real fuel is 1 year old split, and stacked, oak, and red elm.

 

[begreen]

The wood is not dry I think, but check the flue and flue cap to make sure they are not clogging up. Definitely don't make a habit of opening the ash door to keep the fire going. When things are setup right you should get plenty of air to keep the fire going via the factory air control.

 

[SoutherWis]

I think your right begreen. Got home from work tonight, it's 58 degrees in the house.
I filled the box with some 16" pieces of kiln dried 2x6 , fired it up, and after a short bit of blazing the flue reached 300°
I left the damper open and cut the primary in half. It burned for a good half hour before I cut it to a 1/4.
Still burning over an hour later.

Question...since I cant find a manual for this old goat maybe someone can tell me. Is it possible or even a good idea to run this thing using the primary only? Or is the damper typically needed / recommended / wanted?
I ask that because I grew up watching Dad turn down the damper and the primary all the time and I'm reading around here that most of you either dont use them or leave them wide open during the burn season. Or is that only for EPA stoves?

 

[begreen]

Actually it's the opposite. A flue damper is more common on pre-EPA stoves. How tall is the flue on the stove? If it's short, you probably don't need a damper.

Oak takes at least a couple years to season. Maybe bring some of that wood inside and resplit it to help dry it out faster?

 

[SoutherWis]

The flue...on the outside of the house anyway...is a total of 13 feet.
I've got 16" to 20" below that inside, which does include 2 90's, and it's all connected with a 24" through the wall horizontal.

Splitting the oaks down again wont be a problem, but I should mention the ones I was using so far were 6 and 7 inch rounds, and I'm doubting those were even oak. Thats probably part of my problem right there, aint it.

 

[begreen]

Yup, unsplit rounds dry out very slowly. Based on the description I would focus on dry wood and not worry about the damper.

 

[SoutherWis]

I'm greener then the rounds arn't I?
Thanks begreen

 

[begreen]

No problem, we've all made this mistake at some point unless we were fortunate to have someone mentor us from the beginning.

 

[Woody Stover]

I'm using kiln dried 2x6 cut offs to get things going. The real fuel is 1 year old split, and stacked, oak, and red elm.

If it was standing dead when cut and stacked, with no bark, the Red Elm is probably going to be the driest. Smaller splits dry faster. A couple of years ago, I ran out of wood, cut a down White Ash and split it small. I stacked about half a cord in the house and had fans blowing on it for a couple of weeks. I got that wood from 25%+ down to low 20s moisture content. It burned OK but really needs to be drier if possible. You should be able to tell how dry you different types of wood are, when you toss a split onto the fire. Once it heats up and starts burning, very wet wood will bubble out the ends, damp wood will only hiss, not bubble. If all your wood is wet, you could cut some dead standing wood (even Oak if long-dead,) and the top portions of the tree might be fairly dry. Getting late to be cutting wood in So WI, though...

 

[SoutherWis]

. Getting late to be cutting wood in So WI, though...

You got that right. but I'm not cutting much of anything right now.

With this being my first season with a stove in the house, I have a ways to go yet. In other words...no saw, and no land yet. I've bought and hauled everything I have stacked.
Baby steps.
Heck I'm still trying to master the wood identification.

 

[Woody Stover]

You got that right. but I'm not cutting much of anything right now.

With this being my first season with a stove in the house, I have a ways to go yet. In other words...no saw, and no land yet. I've bought and hauled everything I have stacked.
Baby steps.
Heck I'm still trying to master the wood identification.

Yep, when I lived up there, Nov. 1 was usually when I went into hibernation.
You don't need land, you just need to know someone with land.
Keep an eye on craigslist...you might stumble onto someone who's moved into a new home and wants to get rid of a stack of dry wood that was left there.
The Wood Shed forum here is a great place to get up to speed on your wood IDs.

 

[SoutherWis]

Good info Woody, thanks.