I have a few questions about my Ashford. First, though the wood I'm using is quite dry (14 to 18%), I'm still getting some smoke from the chimney. Last spring, when the install was new, there would be times it would settle down and I'd see only heat waves. Now I consistently get smoke no matter how long the cat has been engaged or how low the stove is turned down. (Finally managed to see the cat glowing so it's definitely doing something.)
Second question is around burn times. Already this season I've had a 24 hour burn. But I have to keep adjusting the thermostat for this to happen. When the box is loaded, I can run it at 1. But then I've got to turn it up and up to maintain the temperature in the active range. By the time the load is done, we're open full throttle, which is about 3 1/2 or 3 3/4 on this stove. Is that normal?
A lot of times I catch the stove wanting to crash and have to turn it up. It's hard to find the sweet spot where it burns low but doesn't crash. Sometimes it seems to want active flames, at least for a time. Am I doing something wrong?
Finally, and of most importance, a neighbor is complaining that when I've got the cat disengaged, he's getting smoked out. One morning they had windows open and their smoke alarms went off. There's just one house close to mine but it's on the side of the house where the chimney lives. He has a second floor deck that's maybe 10 feet below the top of our chimney pipe. Over our houses are very tall Douglas firs so the air often tends to sink rather than rise. Would going another section higher help with this? I'm thinking maybe if the pipe extended above the peak of the roof of the second floor that would make a difference because right now it's exhausting into an area blocked on all four sides (by trees, the neighbor's house and the top of the roof).
I've got a 22 foot long chimney pipe, double wall inside and more insulated on the outside. The last week or so the weather around here has been overcast and humid with some rain.
Second question is around burn times. Already this season I've had a 24 hour burn. But I have to keep adjusting the thermostat for this to happen. When the box is loaded, I can run it at 1. But then I've got to turn it up and up to maintain the temperature in the active range. By the time the load is done, we're open full throttle, which is about 3 1/2 or 3 3/4 on this stove. Is that normal?
A lot of times I catch the stove wanting to crash and have to turn it up. It's hard to find the sweet spot where it burns low but doesn't crash. Sometimes it seems to want active flames, at least for a time. Am I doing something wrong?
Finally, and of most importance, a neighbor is complaining that when I've got the cat disengaged, he's getting smoked out. One morning they had windows open and their smoke alarms went off. There's just one house close to mine but it's on the side of the house where the chimney lives. He has a second floor deck that's maybe 10 feet below the top of our chimney pipe. Over our houses are very tall Douglas firs so the air often tends to sink rather than rise. Would going another section higher help with this? I'm thinking maybe if the pipe extended above the peak of the roof of the second floor that would make a difference because right now it's exhausting into an area blocked on all four sides (by trees, the neighbor's house and the top of the roof).
I've got a 22 foot long chimney pipe, double wall inside and more insulated on the outside. The last week or so the weather around here has been overcast and humid with some rain.
