My Madison..

So I got the Englander Madison back in the first week of July, but have just put the finishing touches on my install. Everything is complete and the inspector is scheduled to come out this Wednesday. I'm really itching to fire this baby up! Did everything myself, and the hardest/most time consuming part was the hearth. Oh well, I think it turned out great, and even my wife loves the way it looks.. I've been scrounging like crazy and have about 9 full cords CSS. 3.5 or so of them are dry and ready to burn. Everything I know I learned through this forum and I really appreciate the community here, though most of my time is spent lurking and reading past threads for countless hours. Any questions/thoughts/advice/comments are surely welcome! I will try to keep this thread updated as the fall/winter progresses.

Just to throw this out there since there have been a few threads looking for places to buy these stoves: I got the stove though AM-FM Energy. Great people to work with, and I recommend them highly.

Well here is my first update. Let me start by saying that this is my first stove and first time heating with wood, outside of a bonfire.. So far I have completed all the break in fires (actually did 4 of them). I have found, similar to numerous other threads here a couple days ago, that after starting the fire, it dies out once the door is shut. The manual says just to leave the intake open all the way until the fire gets going good, but this is not enough, at least at these temps (50ish degrees). I have sub 20% MM reading on fresh splits, and was using that and pallet wood that has been stored inside, that was measuring 10% on MM, so I know wood is not the issue. I have 15'2" of pipe above the stove, going straight through the attic and roof, 2'2" over peak, so I'm thinking it's either the nature of the beast, being an EPA stove, or the temperature outside or perhaps both. If I leave the door cracked for 20 mins or so, everything catches good and then I can close the door without it getting snuffed out.

As far as burning/heating goes, I have no complaints. Of course, the highest I have gotten the stove is around 400, so I haven't even really gotten it up to normal operating temps yet, but seems to warm the place up pretty good. The house is only 950 square feet, and heating the bedrooms is going to be the hardest challenge, as they are down a short hallway, but I am going to try the fan idea, and shouldn't have much problem, as I'm sure this stove will throw plenty of heat once it's cranked up. One thing I am a little worried about though, is the manual says the max operating temp of this stove is 600 degrees, but really should be around 550. I'm sure I will have a learning curve here, but I really don't want to overfire the stove, and will have to find the best way/setting to keep the temps below 600. Any input/suggestions/comments/questions welcomed!

P.S. SuperCedars are pretty great!

I've only put a couple splits in at a time, with some pallet kindling, So time will tell for me too. Do you pull the air control all the way out until it stops then, 38? I only have about 1-1.5 inches of travel from that rod, is that the same as yours? I haven't gotten the secondaries to light off yet really, but it hasn't gotten that hot either. The paint curing smell is not as bad as expected though which is good..

Yeah that sounds right I guess. I had it all the way open because I think I've read here that the stove heats up more with the secondaries going, and I didn't want to go over break-in temps. I'm really curious what it's going to do on a full load. Hopefully it'll cruise at 550ish..

Hogwildz said:

When starting from a cold stove & flue, especially when it is still fairly warm outside, you may have a very sluggish draft.
The first fire from cold, basically gets the stove temp up, and creates a nice bed of coals to put the next load on.
Are you having the issue from cold start up, or does it still happen with each reload also?
After getting a first cold load fired up, try adding more than a couple splits upon reload.

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It really only happens on initial startups, which with this milder temps has been every burn pretty much. Did one reload on hot coals and only needed the door cracked for a couple minutes if that. I'm pretty sure it's just the milder temps with a cold stove. Other than that, I really like this stove. Still haven't gotten it up to it's full potential, but I did load 4 bigger splits in it the other night, and stovetop was still hot after 9 hours, so overnight burns are going to be easy for sure. My only complaint so far is that on the right side of the stove, the paint is bubbling/peeling/flaking off in a small area, looks like there may have been some dirt or grease under the paint. I'm sure it doesn't affect performance, but just worth a mention. May sand and repaint the area next spring/summer if it bothers me too much.

jeff_t said:

Why is the max temp on this steel stove only 600°?

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Good question, that I haven't asked anyone. The manual says it's steel and cast iron, so maybe that plays a role? Not sure what part is cast on it either..

BrotherBart said:

The door.

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Duh.. lol. I don't see it going above 600 degrees anyway, it's plenty hot at 550. Finally had a big enough fire to get to 550, which is when it tripped the AAS trigger and shut the air down. After that, it settled into about a 475-500 degree burn. I really think I'm going to love that feature on this stove.

Silenced38 said:

Cool. It hasnt been cold enough here. To get that hot. Did you have it fully loaded?

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I had it loaded with 4 big splits and a smallish one. Could have fit probably 2 more medium size splits in it, so it was probably around 2/3 full or so. Heat output and burn time with this stove are great. I can't wait till it's really cold here so I can keep her going.. Much better than last year when I spent $700 a month on propane just to keep the house 55 degrees. The wifey is much happier so far too.