yes, air intake lever. i find that if i dont choke it off as quick as possible, a lot of the split is already burned down.
12 hours? when you say 12 hours, how long before it turns to coal? on a full load my wood burns down to coal in around 4 hours. then ill get another few hours of heat out of coal bed (3-5).. but it doesn't stay above 500 degrees once its coal. it usually hangs around 300-325. and keep in mind...it hasnt even been that cold yet.
the highest ive seen it go is 600 and didnt hang there for very long. it hits around 560-600 within 20-25 minutes of loading it up. once i choke it off and kick the blower on it drops to around 500. it stays in that area for as long as there is a visible flame. once that is gone, it goes down to 300-350. does the blower affect the temps?
im not 100% sure how tall the liner is. im gonna say somewhere between 15-20'. i do not have a block off plate. they stuffed roxul where the old damper was and more right by the chimney cap.
the insert is in the great room and my house is a ranch. maybe 40' L x 14' W with catherdral ceiling peaking around 13'. i also have 3 skylights and 2 sliding glass doors. the doors are definitely drafty. not too sure about the skylights. off the great room is my living room and then a hallway leading to my bedroom area. the heat barely reaches the bedrooms. as it is, it wont be enough for me to make the insert my main source of heat for the winter. i will definitely need to kick my boiler on, which really sucks.
There is no exact science, or timing as each load differs and varies, that said, Typically, you should get at least a couple hours secondary action if good dry wood and temps over 400-450 and higher.
Here is my typical scenario.
I load a full load, usually 3-4 large splits on the bottom, then fill in the top with mediums to almost large, whatever fits. I load it tight. but do try to spread the splits a little so there is a small channel for air to get through, which equated to flames as it gets going.
Usually, In about 15 minutes I am at 300-350(reload at about 200-250, sometimes higher. The stove sometimes will drop 50-100 degrees while new load is firing up.
At 350, depending on how much the load is charred, and what the secondaries are doing, I will either cut it back to 50% air, or sometimes cut it all the way low.
If I cut it to 50%, and the load is not as charred as other times, I'll set my timer for 10 minutes, then when the timer chimes, I cut the air all the way low. Other times when it looks charred well and secondaries going fairly good, I'll cut it to 50 for a minute for two, then all the way low.
After that it does all the work. It will climb to 500-600-700 sometimes 750. At this point it does its own thing. It will cruise at about 700 for an hour or two, then settle in at 650ish for a few hours. The slowly drop. I load at midnight, and at 9:00AM or 10:00AM it is still at anywhere from 300-400. It slowly declines. At about 12 hours it will be 200-250 sometimes a little higher. I scoop the ash from the front, then spread the coals over the entire firebox floor. I have changed my practices over the years, and this is my current method.
After several hours cruising as it's sweet spot, the stove will slowly decline as the fuel source diminishes. That is how these stoves burn.
Realistically, once the secondaries burn off the nasties, your looking at the coaling stage. May be full glowing splits looking like coals, but there is plenty of fuel yet.
These stoves burn from the top down. Yes there will be flames on the bottom at the beginning, but the baffle jets do a major part of burning the load.
I'll bet the skylights are not insulated as well as they should be, if at all. I have two stories with a huge loft and two upper bedrooms, approx 22' of cathedral ceiling with ceiling fan in the stove room, and also have skylights.
I am in the process of air sealing my ceiling as it is T&G with no drywall behind it, and just tar paper based FG insulation behind the T&G, Talk about heat loss. The one thing i have going is an awesome convection loop. And only 1 room is cold. Opposite corner of the house.
With your set up, you prolly have squat for a convection loop, and heating those bedrooms is going to be challenging. Dixie gave the only advice you may see anyone give, a fan blowing the cooler air from the bedroom area, toward the stove room. That great room should be no problem to heat, and would think it would heat you out of there.
The HVAC fan usually doesn't work in circulating the heat, but maybe you will have different results.
That room should be well into the 80s, possibly 90 with a good hot burn going on.
Here are the things we have to look at to figure out what is going on.
These things come to mind:
1. Draft, are you getting good draft from your flue system? Does the stove billow smoke in the room while the door is open? Or does it seem like there is a good draft.
I can actually hear the air being pulled into the stove when I have the air intake open. with 27' of liner, I have a strong draft, and may be why my stove runs hot and needs air all the way low.
2. Wood supply. It appears your wood is dry, but wet wood is the number 1 culprit to poor burning, and inability to achieve upper burn temps.
What species are you burning? What are the true sizes of the splits? Take a few photos of the wood sizes you're burning and post.
What makes no sense it the load burning away prematurely, and not achieving higher temps. Usually if the load burns away quickly, there is a too strong of draft, too much air, or too little splits sizing.
Usually, not achieving high enough temps, is poor draft, wet wood, too little air, or a combo of some or all three of those. And the load burning too quickly is not conducive of this scenario. Usually the opposite, smoldering, low temps, incomplete burn.
I would say there are many that fail to realize a stove is a space heater, and many homes are not set up to achieve complete house heating from a stove. Many of us are fortunate enough to have a type of layout, that we can heat the whole home or majority with the stove. But just because one puts a wood burning stove in, is not a given that it will heat the entire home.
Expectations need to be realistic for the layout of a given home.
The thing that stands out to me, is that room should be hot, and higher than 75, unless you have a serious heat loss issue.
The first thing I would do, is install a proper metal block off plate closing off the damper area of the old fireplace. There can be some serious heat loss and draft issues without one. Which may be a big part, or at least some of your troubles.
where in the NE are you?
