Secondary Burn Tubes or Just A Baffle Plate

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jadm

jadm

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Dec 31, 2007
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colorado
Just read a thread with a picture of an insert that had a baffle plate but no secondary burn tubes. It got me thinking....

My current insert has both a baffle plate and the burn tubes. My old insert had only the baffle plate....

Why are burn tubes necessary when there is a baffle plate?
 
My guess is that a baffle plate helps re-direct the heat to slow the draft/burn rate down to keep the heat in the stove longer. Almost like an extra pass for the exhaust gasses to give off heat at the stove. The burn tubes give the secondary superheated air for the secondary combustion. Id take it that your first stove was not an epa unit. Some stoves that are EPA and only have a baffle are still more complex than just a plate of steel. They also are hollow and supply secondary air via a bunch of holes called a burner baffle. Thats my angle anyways. Not written in stone. Just an opinion. Probably not the right terms either.
N of 60
 
First was EPA. IT was a Napoleon 1101. Just had the baffle plates and I did get secondary flames off of it.

Current insert has the burn tubes - 3 of them that flames do shoot out of but I don't know why it has them and the other did not when both do/did the secondary rolling flame thing. Are you saying the tubes add air that is superheated and my old unit was just re-directing the air to slow it down.

I guess what I want to know is if the air tubes make a difference in how hot my fire box gets. Does a unit with tubes burn hotter than one that doesn't have the tubes therefore making it cleaner?
 
Well my old stove (Napoleon) to had a baffle. But it had holes in it that supplied secondary air down the middle. So I call it a burner baffle. Now if I went back to my older stove(The Fisher) it had just a 1/4" plate that the book called it a baffle. Now have I got you Baffled. :) I bet one of the mods can clear this up better when they get to it.
Cheers N of 60
 
My Century has this. It's about 8 or 9 years old, and the current model of the same size has the tubes. Mine has a plate with holes it that the secondary burn shoots out of. Above the plate are baffle bricks that need replacing every 3 years or so........Seems to work well enough..........
 
Baffle forces unburned gases to linger a while. Secondary air provides hot oxygen to burn those gases. A baffle with no secondary air doesn't provide that extra oxygen. I'd venture a guess that any EPA stove would have some kind of secondary air if there's no cat. But the limit is like 7.5 grams/hour so maybe there's a stove that can do that with just higher internal temps.
 
north of 60 said:
Well my old stove (Napoleon) to had a baffle. But it had holes in it that supplied secondary air down the middle. So I call it a burner baffle. Now have I got you Baffled. :)
Click to expand...

Nope. I'm not baffled as you have cleared up my conundrum. When you mentioned your Napoleon's baffle I suddenly had a flash back to mine and I do recall that it had the same baffling set up.

I was truly baffled when I had our Napoleon because I hadn't found this forum yet.

Since finding this forum I now know more about wood burning, wood and wood burning accessories than anybody in my family cares to hear about. I still do suffer from baffling moments from time to time but they don't last very long because I know I can always get an answer here to just about any question I have.

Thanks for your help. :coolsmile:
 
Mine says EPA certified/approved on the back plate.......Can you tell me what the purpose of the bricks are ? Thnx......Paul
 
Madrone- Thanks for the above info. Very interesting and well written so that even I can understand it.

Answered all my questions and ones I didn't even know I had yet. ;-)
 
And to your next question, the answer is "blue". :)
 
BeGreen said:
And to your next question, the answer is "blue". :)
Click to expand...

You ARE good. No wonder you are a mod. Thank-you so, so much. :lol:
 
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