Need advice on running stove

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Jdog

Jdog

Member
Oct 15, 2013
129
Mineral wells wv
I got a few Questions for the pros here i got braver and ran my stove top up to 525 last night my flue was just over 400 when i shut the air fully off on the stove it stayed right at 500-510 which is good got great heat took my house from 69 to 77 when it was done. My question is while it was staying there the flue was getting colder down around 200 and stayed there how do i keep the flue up with out takeing the stove top way to hot. I also have a damper in the first part of my stove pipe coming out of stove. And when it gets down to 400 is it time to reload or what? to keep it blasting at 500. Or is it better to get hotter on stove top. I only had 3 splits in the stove while this went on. Just need advise how to keep it running good. Thanks in advance
 
Sounds like you are doing fine. With 3 splits you aren't going to have a lot of heat heading up the flue late in the burn. At that point most of the wood gases are burnt up anyway.
 
so should i reload at that point when it drops down some? How many should i put in for a longer burn? will the damper on my stove pipe help any for that matter. Id like to get it up in the 700s like everybody says is best and let it go. When do you start cutting the air to it at 400 or below.
 
it is going to get down in the twentys tonight i used to hate the cold now i cant wait for it so i can play with the stove now i will be able to see just what it will do the last few nights it was in the 50s so i opened the windows but i need to practice working the stove so i didnt care
 
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Jdog said:
so should i reload at that point when it drops down some? How many should i put in for a longer burn? will the damper on my stove pipe help any for that matter. Id like to get it up in the 700s like everybody says is best and let it go. When do you start cutting the air to it at 400 or below.
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Reload when you want more heat. Very little creosote is being developed during the coal stage, so don't worry about flue temps then.

Is there a particular reason that you have a flue damper? Most situations don't call for them at all unless you have a very high draft that you need to tame.

What kind of stove is this? I know a few folks run their stoves in the 700's routinely, but not everybody. 600 - 650 is plenty hot for cruising, although occasional peaks can occur. You can operate efficiently above 400 or 450 depending on the stove.

I start cutting the air down in stages when the secondaries start firing off. That can be a stove top temp of 250 - 300 for me. Flue temp (internal) may be over 800. YMMV.
 
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Is your flue temp measurement a surface thermo or a probe? Assuming surface, that isn't a bad reading. Rule of thumb is to double a surface reading to get actual internal temps. (surface at 200 - internal is ~400).
 
Jags yes that is surface temp
Sprinter i had it put it incase i needed the extra stopping power i guess i made that call being my first stove just eased the mind i guess. The stove is a englander 13-nc the manual says as long as its not glowing its ok so ill turn off the lights when it gets to 500 just to have a look see. its kinda hard for me to tell when the secondary's kick in i mean i can but sometimes it just looks like an inferno to me. Ill try to cut the air down and see what happens. Do you start out with a full box when you do that?
 
That stove can cruise at 700 degrees on the stove top all day. You're nowhere near overfiring it until you're in the 800+ range on the stove top. Don't worry.
 
Jdog said:
The stove is a englander 13-nc the manual says as long as its not glowing its ok so ill turn off the lights when it gets to 500 just to have a look see.
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That's very generous. Most manuals don't tell you that or give an overtemp number. "Glowing" starts at around 850F or so in the dark. Personally, I would be freaking by then...

You really can't see secondary action until you turn the air down. You can go out and see when the chimney stops smoking or when the stove top is over about 300. Do it in stages and you will start to see the secondary action. You'll quickly learn how to get the most out of the stove.
 
You say stages like 1/4 at a time each 100deg or just when ever? is there a certain deg i should be all the way shut?


thanks guys thats awsome i can get alot more heat than what i was at 500 im really starting to get addicted to the wood burning thing. This site has been wonders for me in set up and getting to know the stove if i needed to know something just turn here ill get the answer quickly
 
Whether or not you ever need to shut the primary air completely is dependent on your individual set up, how strong your draft is and the kind of wood you're burning. I personally never have to close my primary air more then 80 or 85 percent. However, I'm hoping that changes once I beef my draft up a bit.
 
I think im going to try those ecobricks tonight. When i shut her all way off last night i still had good flames and the top stayed at 500 or little over for a long time
 
Whats your guys takes on those heat reclaimers that go in the pipe the square box thing do they work?
 
Jdog said:
Whats your guys takes on those heat reclaimers that go in the pipe the square box thing do they work?
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Run Forrest, RUN.
Not good - especially not good on an EPA stove. It will rob what little heat is left in the stack and make a goo factory.
 
Don't use one of those with a new wood stove. Your stove is already extremely efficient at getting the most heat possible out of the wood, those reclaimers just lead to greater creosote production.
 
ok i figured something was up with them b/c i have never seen anyone on here talk about them. Ill just look for a blower then. Or does the fan i have behind my stove be pretty much the same thing?
 
Jdog said:
Whats your guys takes on those heat reclaimers that go in the pipe the square box thing do they work?
Click to expand...

I think in your stove being HE you don't want one. These were from the smoke dragon days. You're not losing that much heat to need reclaiming.
 
Jdog said:
Whats your guys takes on those heat reclaimers that go in the pipe the square box thing do they work?
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We just had a thread on here from a member who was having all kinds of problems with poor draft. Turns out he had one of those things on from a previous stove. Took it off. Problem solved.
 
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Jdog said:
You say stages like 1/4 at a time each 100deg or just when ever? is there a certain deg i should be all the way shut?
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You'll get the hang of it. Everybody operates differently and even each day is different depending on what the weather is like, etc. You find the right balance between stove temp and flue temps.


Jdog said:
. Ill just look for a blower then. Or does the fan i have behind my stove be pretty much the same thing?
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You may want to see if the fan does what you want it to do. Not everyone has a blower on a freestander. Depends on if you want the air heated directly by convection or if you prefer the radiant feel. It's a tradeoff.
 
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dyerkutn said:
Please explain--never could quite get this

Fans also distribute heat, right?
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Sorry if I was unclear. Sure, any fan will move heated air around. It's a matter of whether or not you want a blower (or a fan directed at the stove) to directly transfer some of the stove's surface heat directly to the air or let it mostly radiate. The blower will lower the surface temperature of the stove some so it will radiate less. Kind of like the difference between a fan-driven electric heater and a radiant electric heater like those parabolic heaters but not as dramatic a difference. The blower method may help to establish a convective current to distribute the warm air better.

But many people have no blower at all and prefer the radiant effect. The air will still heat up and you can still distribute the heated air with ceiling fans, small fans at bedroom doorways, etc.

What I was suggesting is that maybe you could try using your fan to mimic a blower, or point it in various ways to see what you like before buying a blower.
 
Hey guys had a couple days cold nights but I seem to be havering some trouble when I load the stove up and get it nice and hot in there the flames are great but when I close the door the flames seem to go down in size and some May go out open door and bang they are back but if I close it they will go down again? Now this morning I started putting logs in fast and got it blazing inferno and it helped when I shut the door but still seemed to go down what could that be and my air is fully open to
 
My first thought would be firewood that is not dry enough . Have you tried the Eco bricks yet ? If so , does the stove react the same way ?
 
I got a moisture meter and split the wood and check it on the fresh split face and they are in the teens now some was 21. The brick when I tried it it wouldn't lite just kinda smoldered I only put one in with some wood. I even have a bag that I got from lowes of kiln dried would and it would do it with that to.
 
Does the chimney cap have a screen? If so, check it for plugging.
 
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