Hi all I am a newbie wood burner :)

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Skooter

New Member
Nov 10, 2008
20
MI
Hello to all from SW Michigan!
I started reading this site when we were discussing getting a wood stove. I used this sites reviews to help guide us as to which stove and chimney to buy. You guys are amazing! We purchased a Napolean 1400 and absolutely LOVE it!! We also installed a SuperVent chimney and it works beautifully for a fraction of the price. I am so happy to be warm again! Although it will probably take a little time getting used to the particulars, I have a "couple" of questions... Please bear with me..

We have tried not burning wet wood of any kind but apparently some has snuck in. I went out to feed my chickens this morning and I looked at the chimney pipe and there is a yellowish brown streak that had run down the side...and there is a yellowish tint to the top of the chimney pipe. This is cresote right? Is it solely from burning wet wood, or could it be from not a hot enought fire? I know it's not supposed to smoke (according to my dealer but it does. Not a LOT but .. Any suggestions as to what we may be doing wrong?
Also, the glass gets a rainbow effect in the corners and then gets brown. It cleans easily enough but I am concerned we are doing something wrong.
1 more question then I'll stop for now. How do you know if you need to install a cold air vent? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
Chances are your "dry" wood is still wet inside. Mine is. Very much so! If you hear it hissing in the stove, then it's wet. And there's not a heck of a lot you can do about it right now. You could try getting your hands on a moisture meter and check the just-split surface of a few pieces you consider "dry". That'll tell you whether you have really dry wood or not.

If this is your malady, then there's a good possibility you won't get to really good, high stovetop and flue temps, and certainly won't get nice smoke-free burns. Your blackened glass is another indicator you're possibly not getting things hot enough. Do you have any kind of thermometers you use? If so, let us know where you have them and what temps you read. Are you burning a full load?
 
Firestarter,

This is my first season burning wood and I'll try to respond to some of your questions.

The glass getting dirty. I have a feeling your box is not getting hot enough or the wood you are burning is in fact wet or not seasoned enough. My glass only gets dirty when the fire is smoldering and weak. Once it gets up to the normal HOT range, everything inside the box gets clean. Even the bricks. They return back to their original color, or very close to it. The glass looks like I hit it with windex, honest.

Your piping at the top. I think there will be an unavoidable amount of soot build up. But the yellow tint you are describing. I believe that is a result of the wet wood again. I can only make reference to what mine looks like in comparison to yours.

Are you stuck burning wet/unseasoned wood.
 
Ok I will try answering all the things I remember without having to post several replies. :)

I believe the dry wood is seasoned enough, We have been cutting for a few years now but even though it has the checks and cracks in the ends, and is lighter than the wood we know is wet, it was not split until recently. I have been reading and learning that it could still be wet inside even if the outside shows it is dry. correct? We were not sure how full we could put the firebox without over firing so we try to keep a medium fire going in it. Maybe we are not putting enough in it? The glass only gets colored around the bottom corners and I did notice when hubby put alot of cherry in it and it got really hot then some of the glass cleared up. However he got nervous thinking maybe it was too hot so we backed off. Are we burning too low of a fire? I bought a thermometer yesterday but it would not read on the stove or the pipe(probably because of the shielding and double wall.) I just read in another thread that I am to put it under the trivet. I will try that and see what it says. We are afraid of overfiring, but maybe we are just underfiring. This is our first woodstove so like I said, bear with me. Thanks!
 
Ok the thermometer seems to have stopped at just below the "burn zone" at around 120 degrees. It sure seems hotter than that. When I open the door my face melts. Should I get a different thermometer?
 
From what I have gleaned from this site, the magnetic thermometer placed on the stove pipe is only about 1/2 of what the interal flue temp is. 120 is pretty low though.
 
Too many people are putting way too much faith in those little stove thermometers.

My laser thermometer said 600 last night, while my magnetic thermometer said 500. This reading was taking on the stovetop, about two inches in front of the flue collar. If you can pickup one of those IR thermometers (I got mine at Harbor Freight for about $40), you'll have a much more accurate way to get temperature readings.

The numbers on those little thermometers don't mean much. As long as the motion of the needle is consistent, you can use them to get a rough idea of where you are in your burn cycle.

You mentioned being nervous... I'm going to venture a guess that you're not running the stove hot enough. Get that puppy cranking! Your glass will clear up and your chimney won't get as dirty.

My Englander 30 cruises around 550, but can easily go over 600 if I let it. Most likely, your stove wants (and needs) to run hotter than you're letting it.

-SF
 
ok I made a big newbie mistake.... After staring at the thermometer, I discovered that I was looking at C instead of F!! So it is now running at 400 degrees F (after throwing in some maple and cherry) and the glass cleared to almost perfect... I backed the control knob down and am heading out the door to go get my new contacts. Maybe if I had had them before I would have been able to read it in the first place! :) Don't ya just love newbs???? Just keep your fingers crossed that I come home to a house! (yet another worry)
 
All good info so far. Let me pose this:

Test your thermo in the oven. Set the oven to 400 or 500 and see what the thermo reads. Should give a good idea of accuracy.

Next, if your thermo is on the surface of single wall pipe, you should get the temp to at least 250F for awhile before tuning down the stove.

If you thermo is on the surface of the stove, you will want to see a ~500F temp before tuning the stove down.

Anytime BEFORE coaling stage of a burn, your surface of a single wall pipe should exceed 200F or your stovetop should be ~350 or greater. After coaling stage has been obtained, its your call.

Now if all of this has been done and you still get dirty glass, smoke coming from the chimney (and dripping gooey stuff) its your wood. Plain and simple.

This is a test that I would recommend trying. This test puts you into the "safe" burning zone, and keeps you there for the duration. If this fails to get your stove into a clean burning environment your wood becomes the culprit.

Just a suggestion from someone who has done this wood burning thing for awhile.
 
Jags said:
All good info so far. Let me pose this:

Next, if your thermo is on the surface of single wall pipe, you should get the temp to at least 250F for awhile before tuning down the stove.

Anytime BEFORE coaling stage of a burn, your surface of a single wall pipe should exceed 200F or your stovetop should be ~350 or greater. After coaling stage has been obtained, its your call.
Click to expand...

And those two phrases right there, Mr. Jags, are exactly what I have been looking for and wondering all weekend. Now I really do believe that I am doing things right or close to it.
 
Thank you all so much for the information!!! So apparently we have not been burning near as hot as we should be. I will be checking my thermometer in the oven and hubby is looking for an instant read as well. Right now thermometer is reading 450 and the glass is clean and crisp and it is ohhh so warm... :) Thanks everyone!!!
 
There ya go! Its amazing how much heat these EPA stoves put out when you just let 'em do their thing!

-SF
 
Now your loggin...where you at here in SW Mich? I'm in Kalamamzoo area. welcome aboard!
 
I have been burning for a about 10 year then switched to a Jotul 400 last year. I have founnd there are never too many newbie questions, i enjoyed the read and thanks to all for your replies ....you have answered many questions that all of us have had over the years.
ted
 
Wood Wacker, I am about 20 minutes North of the I69/I94 interchange around Olivet. Small world!

My hubby came home last night and I started telling him about this site. In my discussions with him I now have a couple more questions.

How full can you pack the little bugger before bed without worrying that it will overfire? After the thermometer reaches the "burn zone" I usually lower the draft to 2 (or low) just to keep it flaming well. Is this right?

The last question is from above that probably just got missed with all my babbling about being a newb, but how do you know if you need a fresh air vent ?

Thanks all!!!!
 
Skooter said:
How full can you pack the little bugger before bed without worrying that it will overfire? After the thermometer reaches the "burn zone" I usually lower the draft to 2 (or low) just to keep it flaming well. Is this right?
Click to expand...

Sounds about right. Turn the air down in small steps. You'll be able to get a better feel for how the stove behaves and where the air needs to be set when your stove is cruising. Weekends are great for playing with the air control because you can witness the entire burn cycle.

Like I said before... Use the thermometer as a rough way to gauge how the burn cycle is progressing. None of the markings are going to be hard and fast.

-SF
 
Skooter, you might also split those logs into small pieces to help them season faster. They will also assist you in getting a good hot fire, which you will need if that wood is not properly seasoned. Also, that cherry should be seasoned as that is not a high moisture wood so that should work great for you right now.

It's good that you've been cutting for a few years. That is the very best way. We do all (or at least 99%) of our cutting during the winter months and then come March we do the splitting and stacking. We leave our wood piles uncovered for at least the first summer. Don't cover until late fall or if you get heavy rain in the fall as we do some years here in MI, then you could cover it then. Otherwise, you can wait until snow flies. Then cover only the top of the piles. We use mostly old steel roofing and some old tarps.

Speaking of cutting wood, we'll be starting that task in about 2-3 weeks. That wood will not be burned until the year 2015. We have about a 7 year supply on hand but we do also give some away so our pile may not last quite that long. So far this year we've given only about 1/3 cord or a face cord, but we've promised more to some needy folks.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Speaking of cutting wood, we'll be starting that task in about 2-3 weeks. That wood will not be burned until the year 2015.
Click to expand...

Wow! Now you are truly a man who gets things done ahead of time! I hope to work up to a couple of years ahead.

Ken
 
Wow not burning it until 2015? That would be so nice!! I wish we had that much. I was looking at our wood pile this morning and I am thinking we may not have enough. I am heading to the wood shed in a minute and see if anyone can tell me how much I will need.

Well I think I've finally got it figured out a little. For the last 2 nights I have been getting the stove to around 400-450 and letting the house heat up. Then around 10:30 I put another chunk on and turn the air knob down to 2 or low and go to bed. Wake up in the morning and it's still 70 - 72 in the house at 6 am. Woo Hoo! Take THAT propane company!
 
Skooter, just a word of warning. The amount of wood you are burning right now doesn't come close to the amount of wood you'll be burning in January and February! To be safe, why not figure on having 6 full cords split and stacked?! Then do the same next year. Soon, you'll have a couple years supply on hand at all times.
 
SlyFerret said:
Too many people are putting way too much faith in those little stove thermometers.

My laser thermometer said 600 last night, while my magnetic thermometer said 500. This reading was taking on the stovetop, about two inches in front of the flue collar. If you can pickup one of those IR thermometers (I got mine at Harbor Freight for about $40), you'll have a much more accurate way to get temperature readings.

The numbers on those little thermometers don't mean much. As long as the motion of the needle is consistent, you can use them to get a rough idea of where you are in your burn cycle.

You mentioned being nervous... I'm going to venture a guess that you're not running the stove hot enough. Get that puppy cranking! Your glass will clear up and your chimney won't get as dirty.

My Englander 30 cruises around 550, but can easily go over 600 if I let it. Most likely, your stove wants (and needs) to run hotter than you're letting it.

-SF
Click to expand...

You should not completely trust IR unless you have confirmed the Emissivity of the material you are measuring. In most (of our stove/fireplace application) cases you are measuring the surface temperature of dull black stove paint (over steel), in which case the measurement is fairly accurate...... However, you should not necessarily believe measurements taken on "shiny" or polished materials because of their reflective properties. A correct method if unsure of the Emissivity of a particular material is to correlate the measurement of your IR with a (much more expensive!!) probe-type thermal sensor. A quick & dirty method (for a measurement under 500 deg. F) is to take a measurement at a specific point first, and then place a piece of masking tape on that same point and take another measurement. Some (more expensive)IR allow you to make a compensation adjustment. Point is, you can't necessarily trust the IR any more than a conventional thermometer.

kev
 
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