Progress Hybrid back puff - help!

Coalescent said:

I do not have a key damper installed. I've been leery of trying to turn the air down after my backpuffing incident last night, but it sounds like I need to jump back on that horse and give 'er a whirl again...

One thing I will say, this stove is putting out the heat. The family room is toasty warm all the time, and the rest of my home is warmer than it's been with these outside temps with the MUCH more expensive propane/electric heat we've been using all winter.

Family room on the first floor (where lies the stove) is 79 degrees, far side of the finished attic (3rd floor) is 70 degrees.

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Are there flames in the box the whole time?

My Ideal Steel runs with a black box just about always.

Coalescent said:

My chimney is 30 feet, but it is getting insulated next week--not insulated yet. Smooth heavy-duty SS liner, chimney is in the exact center of the main structure.

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Oh well your draft should be plenty maybe too much. Just make sure the gauge is in active zone before you shut it down all the way.

Coalescent, if you could get around six or seven cords now and have them drying, that would probably keep you going for a couple of years. Next year could be problematic in that hardwood will not have time to dry. Thankfully I had a neighbor with a stall full of wood in his barn and he let me use whatever I needed my first year. Also, what I do during the shoulder season is to burn hemlock, poplar, and pine (softwood). These wood types provide a hot and fast fire which gets the stove up to operating temperature and then go out. I use the hardwood for when I need to keep a constant fire going throughout the day and night. My experience thus far is that it takes hardwood two to three years to season properly. I currently have white oak, red oak, maple, and hickory in my hardwood stacks. The red oak takes around three years to season whereas the maple and hickory take around two years. If you have room to get nine or ten cords now, do it! That will put you probably about three years ahead.

Even if the woods is (or seems) totally dry, if it's not going to be used this winter/spring I'd stack it on pallets and leave at least a little space around the stacks for air flow, since the wood could pick up moisture in a humid summer. My barn has become a great wood shed.

Make sure the burp hole centered below the bottom of the glass is not covered with ash. The hole is there to help prevent backpuffs. I'm surprised with a liner as tall as yours you had a backpuff.

I had frequent puffs until I added 2 feet to my 16' liner.

Coalescent said:

I am in the process of starting my own supply, but I have no illusions about it being ready for next winter....I have 5 heavily wooded acres and a lot of deadwood, both standing and dropped.

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The driest stuff you can get is gonna be what is dead-standing, with the bark fallen off. The exception is Oak; Upper branches may be dry enough this fall, if split and stacked now, but the trunk wood will have to go a couple years. The smaller the dead-standers are, the drier they will be.

Should I still build a structure under the kiln dried wood I'll be placing in the barn first, or can I just stack that tightly into a stall since it's already dry? I'm making some 2x4 wood holders to dry the cords I'll be harvesting and cutting in the coming weeks.[/QUOTE]
I would not stack the wood tightly in the stall. You need to make sure that air can move around your stacks and not allow moisture to get into the wood. Wish I had a barn