Secondary combustion in old stove

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brooktrout

New Member
Dec 23, 2007
376
Hamden, NY
I have an '87 Buckstove insert- it has no cat, baffle, or tubes. Sometmes I notice flames appearing in mid-air near the top of the firebox, dancing around. Is this the secondary combustion of the gases? If so, how can I achieve this more often, or is it just dumb luck in the case of this kind of stove? Thanks.
 
Only people with choc labs and great luck get that...you might want to consider buying a lottery ticket.
 
swestall said:
Only people with choc labs and great luck get that...you might want to consider buying a lottery ticket.
Huh?
 
Congratulations, you achieved it, that would be the woodburners holy grail. Secondary combustion.

brooktrout said:
I have an '87 Buckstove insert- it has no cat, baffle, or tubes. Sometmes I notice flames appearing in mid-air near the top of the firebox, dancing around. Is this the secondary combustion of the gases? If so, how can I achieve this more often, or is it just dumb luck in the case of this kind of stove? Thanks.
 
Just curious how you see this occurring? I saw your install pics and the doors are solid.
 
when the temps are just right, and the wood is at the right portion of the burn cycle you WILL have secondaries

having a few ours of secondaries is what employs stove designers and engineers.

post some pics of the secondaries.

make sure your flash is off so we can see them.
 
RonB said:
Just curious how you see this occurring? I saw your install pics and the doors are solid.
C,S,I Now W,B,I Wood, Burner, Investigator ;-) I tinks I saw two wittle windows in his photos.
 
swestall said:
Only people with choc labs and great luck get that...you might want to consider buying a lottery ticket.
Why is it that all the Defiant non-cat owners think secondary burn has to do with luck? :-/
 
Because with Defiant Non-CATs that is the only thing that can explain it. (LOL) :lol:
 
RonB said:
Just curious how you see this occurring? I saw your install pics and the doors are solid.
Yes, it has glass- they are just sooty most of the time. They're 9"x6" each. I'll try to post pics of it with a fire going, maybe even catch a few secondaries, if that's what they are. Thanks for the input, guys. Even though it's not a 'modern' stove, I feel proud about installing it mostly myself and it actually working. I've gotten the great room (25'x28') up to 82, not really on purpose, still getting the hang of it. I've found that I can sustain about 72-74 in this half of the house, 68-70 in the rest, mostly because of the blower, I think. Right now I'm completely gutting the stairwell and hallway leading to the upatairs bedrooms. I'm gonna install a ceiling vent leading via duct to the furthest upstairs bedroom with a in-line duct booster fan to increase the heat up there.
 
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