My New Sedore Stove is Great!

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Hi folks,
I came to this forum earlier in the year to do some research on what to replace my old Fisher with. I wanted just a hot iron box, nothing fancy, no windows or special attachments. Bruce Wolfe saw my question and invited me to check out the Sedore. I'm so glad I did. This stove is a marvel both because of how even it heats and L-o-n-g the burn time is. With my fisher I had to feed it every couple hours and it would blast furnace for half the time and then go cold fast. With the Sedore, I fill it in the evening and then open the draft to get it cranked up again in the morning.

I ended up buying the Sedore 3000 from Bruce. In order to install it my wife and I had to chisel apart a large brick and mortar pedestal that the Fisher sat on. The Sedore is top-loading so it is best if it sits on the floor. Even then, it is a bit too tall for my 5' wife to fee comfortable about. She is just careful and so far so good.

I simply laid out a rug and rolled the new stove into the room, then 'walked' it into position. It is pretty heavy but the weight is well distributed so I was able to handle it on my own.

My house poses some unique challenges. First, it's round with a center-peak roof. About 1000 Round Feet in area, we like to say. This means that the chimney is just stovepipe and it isn't very tall. This makes maintaining a good draft both very important and sometimes hard to do. My initial installation I kept the same chimney height as I had been using with the old Fisher. The Fisher had an 8" throat and the Sedore is 6". Also, the unique design of the Sedore means the chimney temp is much lower than it ever was with the old Fisher. That also makes the draft tricky to maintain.

After some initial trials and tribulations, I have finally settled on a chimney configuration that has been good for the past couple weeks.

First, I took the pipe up an additional 3 feet. Now the chimney is 13' tall from the top of the stove. I know 13' isn't much but even so it is pretty far above my roof. Far enough that I had to tether it down. I may have to strap a length of angle iron onto it to prevent the wind from just bending it sideways but for now I have it secured such that the wind isn't likely to just blow it into Kansas. I don't dare to take the pipe up any higher so if this doesn't work well enough I'm going to have to spend some money to make a better chimney.

Next, I put a new Vacu-Stack chimney topper on. The old one was 8" and the new one is 6". Having the right size has made a huge difference. I've heard people who love the Vacu-stack and those who hate it. I figure it is just a tool and for my location and wind profile, the Vacu-stack is worth 10 times what they cost. I couldn't have a fire when I need it most without that gadget.

I live at 9200 ft elevation and experience up to 110 MPH winds on a regular basis, any time of year. Even when the wind isn't so extreme, it gusts and swirls and rattles the house quite often. The gusts change the air pressure so dramatically and continuously that some days it makes me dizzy. It also pushes water from the toilet bowl down the drain like a plunger. Without the Vacu-stack it is impossible to keep a positive draft under those conditions. With the Vacu-stack, I only have a handful of nights when I have to douse the fire or smoke myself out.

Finally, I fiddled with the stove and fuel. Living in the mountains of Colorado I burn primarily Lodge Pole and Ponderosa Pine and some Douglas Fir and a little Aspen.

These woods smoke more than hardwoods so I had a couple blow-backs into the room when the smoke in the fuel box ignited after just filling the fuel box. I've gotten around this by using smaller splits in the bottom of the fuel box so they burn hotter. I've had to run the stove a bit hotter than Bruce recommended but I've gotten it figured out now so my draft is good and I know how to avoid blow-backs. After the thing is chugging along, the firebox is around 400 degrees and the pipe is about 160 at 2' above the stove. This is with the air intake about 1/4 open. Once this stove gets going I keep closing the intake more and more so the house doesn't over heat.

I can't use much kindling because everything smokes so much. I can't burn aspen except as a small part of a full box. Aspen smokes like crazy.

Lighting the Sedore is interesting because the fuel is loaded from the bottom up then lit from the top down. It is fun and interesting to see how the design makes this all work so well. With my situation as I've described, I set my fire with 1x1 - 3x3 splits of good dry pine in the bottom, then put a couple hands full of chips from around my chopping block, then a couple sticks of fatwood on top of that. Then a few wads of news paper. Then I light the fire per the Sedore's documented lighting procedure. It works like a charm.

Once the main fire is going, I take the stack temp to 450-500 by keeping lid propped up. Then I shut the lid and close the air intake to 1/2. After the stack temp comes down below 300 I close the intake and prop the lid until the smoke in the fuel box clears. Then I open the lid and load the fuel box to the top. Once the fuel is loaded I open the air intake wide open and leave the lid propped up until the stack temp starts going back up. Then I close the lid and throttle back the intake about 1/2 way. Then I keep throttling back until it is comfortable without the doors wide open.

What I like about the Sedore:
1. It is a smart stove. Smart design, efficient burning, it is a stove that makes me feel smart for using it.
2. It holds a LOT of wood.
3. It heats evenly for 14 hours, easily on a full load with outside temp around 30 degrees.
4. It looks way cool!
5. It should last the rest of my life.

Check them out at www.SedoreUSA.com.
I recommend the Sedore.
 
it is a different looking stove. i figure if it will work at 9200 feet up it should work fine for anybody else.

Id be happy with it too.
 
Jahfre Fire Eater said:
...I burn primarily Lodge Pole and Ponderosa Pine and some Douglas Fir and a little Aspen.

These woods smoke more than hardwoods so I had a couple blow-backs into the room when the smoke in the fuel box ignited after just filling the fuel box.

Huh? Softwoods "smoke" more than hardwoods?

I can't use much kindling because everything smokes so much. I can't burn aspen except as a small part of a full box. Aspen smokes like crazy.

I would say that something else is the problem.
 
Jahfre Fire Eater needs to season his wood. I burn mostly pine and you cannot see smoke from my stack except for the first 2 minutes of being lit.
 
precaud said:
Jahfre Fire Eater said:
...I burn primarily Lodge Pole and Ponderosa Pine and some Douglas Fir and a little Aspen.

These woods smoke more than hardwoods so I had a couple blow-backs into the room when the smoke in the fuel box ignited after just filling the fuel box.

Huh? Softwoods "smoke" more than hardwoods?

I can't use much kindling because everything smokes so much. I can't burn aspen except as a small part of a full box. Aspen smokes like crazy.

I would say that something else is the problem.

Well? Don't tease me. Say what you think is the problem or what is wrong with how I solved it. The short chimney and subsequent weak draft are the root of the problem but I've managed to compensate. If you have suggestions for making it better don't hold back.
-Jahfre fire eater
 
Sorry Jafre but no wood should smoke if its seasoned properly and burnt in an efficient stove. Seeing smoke means your wasting fuel and showing that the stove is operating or being operated inefficient. A new stove today should be able to operate with no visible smoke out the chimney once its up to temp. EDIT: IF A bad draft is causing this ,yes you gotta try more than 14ft.
Where is your combustion air coming from? Had a look at the web site.
 
Jahfre Fire Eater said:
Well? Don't tease me. Say what you think is the problem or what is wrong with how I solved it. The short chimney and subsequent weak draft are the root of the problem but I've managed to compensate. If you have suggestions for making it better don't hold back.

I'm not teasing - there aren't that many variables here. An adequate stack + dry fuel + a good stove + proper operation are all that's necessary. Tackle them in that order - one can't make up for another.

I'm at 7000 ft with a 15 foot insulated stack with two 90º bends and have very strong draft.

The 8 in. diameter single wall pipe used with a stove designed for 6" pipe is likely part of the problem. Your stack temps aren't getting high enough to maintain a good draft. I'd replace the chimney with a 6" system, and use insulated pipe for the top half of the length. Seal all the pipe joints. And do whatever roof bracing is necessary to get a minimum of 15 feet height, stove top to chimney top.
 
Sedore has no entries on the EPA list of approved stoves.
 
It is a very interesting stove design. It's just lacking a good fireview, I like to see fire!

Are you saying you just use stove pipe for your chimney? Or is that just up to your ceiling? Work on your chimney and your draft will improve. Proper height and diameter is key.
 
Softwoods contain more pitch and resins than hardwoods, and these do have more tendency to "flash back" or create more gases than can be burned at certain times. I'm amazed that the stove is working well at that altitude with a short chimney - as Todd says....the chimney is the key. That stove seems to use a downdraft or cross draft design similar to early Riteways, etc......and ALL downdraft and crossdraft stoves require a decent chimney to function at the top of their game. They also work best once a good bed of hot coals is established (most stoves do!)

Also, a stove like this is designed for relatively hard use - more of a furnace in some ways - like the riteway. Not exactly the one you want to put in the kitchen of your home in South Carolina... I guess that is why it was designed in Canada.

I think the stoves are UL/ULC listed.

Anyway, to be clear, softwoods CAN produce more smoke....that is why your BBQ uses Hardwood Charcoal. Hardwoods have more fixed carbon or "coaling" qualities, whereas softwoods have more gases.
 
Rapid River said:
precaud said:
Sedore has no entries on the EPA list of approved stoves.

Maybe that's why it smokes so much.

This is a small mom and pop stove manufacture. It takes big bucks to get a stove tested and listed. I'm sure if the stove is set up and operated proper it would burn clean. The EPA drove many of these small business stove guys out of the market, and I for one like to see more and wish Bruce luck with his endevor.
 
If I had a big enough place in a cold enough climate, I would have looked really close at the Sedore.
 
Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions. I've been heating with wood only, no back-up, since 1984 so there isn't much I've not seen before. Despite some start-up problems caused by my unique situation, I've gotten my stove dialed in now.

Bruce Wolfe was a great help and always responsive to my questions and concerns.

I recommend the Sedore stove; it is by far the best heating unit I've ever used in my 20+ years of full-time wood burning.

Regards,
Jahfre Fire Eater
 
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