We've been having extremly high winds here the last few days. Sustained winds at 30 to35 mph with gusts up to 50 mph. I was almost afraid to start a fire yesterday because you could here the air being sucked thru the stove and up the flue like there was a fan in there or something. I did anyways just making sure I didnt overload the stove. First 2 loads were no more than 4 splits 4" in diameter and all was well. Since alot of heat was being sucked up the chimney due to the high winds, the forth load I placed a large split on the top of some VERY dry wood in addition to the 4 smaller splits hopein for some more heat. Well, I got it. After an hour the stove top temp was 750° and stack temp on 20ga. single wall pipe was at 600°. Probably not as high as many of you have seen but with the winds we were getting I thought I better get it under control before things really got bad.
Question is, did i do this right?
I was afraid to crack the side door to let some cool air up the stack so I didnt touch it. I closed the primary air all the way down and of coarse immediatly opened the portals of hell in the stove. That didnt sit well with me so I opened the primary to where the fire looked as calm as I could get it. Then I shoved a ball of tin foil into the main air supply. In about 10 minutes the temps all went back to normal operating temps so I removed the foil. All was well the rest of the burn. The next load before bed I went back to the 4- 4" split loading and had to more trouble. Is there something eles I shoulda done or not done? Thanks.
Question is, did i do this right?
I was afraid to crack the side door to let some cool air up the stack so I didnt touch it. I closed the primary air all the way down and of coarse immediatly opened the portals of hell in the stove. That didnt sit well with me so I opened the primary to where the fire looked as calm as I could get it. Then I shoved a ball of tin foil into the main air supply. In about 10 minutes the temps all went back to normal operating temps so I removed the foil. All was well the rest of the burn. The next load before bed I went back to the 4- 4" split loading and had to more trouble. Is there something eles I shoulda done or not done? Thanks.