Purchased kiln dry wood, still have an issue.

I wanted to wait a while before trying some kiln dry wood and become more familar with the stove before posting again. Well yesterday I went to Lowes and got some dry wood and tried a load. I still have a few issues. For the most part I can get the stove to burn pretty well but.....I have to make multiple adjustments during the burn to get through the whole load. From reload I leave the door cracked and shut in in stages until the fire is going well, flue about 350 stove about 400. I leave the primary open for a bit to let things get cookin. I then shut it in stages and the stove gets to about 530 good right? Well then it starts to slowly climb and the fire gets larger and larger, at about 580 and a large fire I push in the primary 1/4" and it stalls out and goes to 450 stove top. If I don't stay on top of it she will overfire (been really close a few times while expirimenting). What would cause such a drastic change in the fire with such a small air adjustment? Remember kiln dry wood, flue is clean and cap, straight up flue 15', 2ft higher than ridge, outside temp last night 20-25F. I've checked all gaskets and the stove for cracks or holes, and the ash plug is seated well. Since I can kill the fire I can only assume the box is tight with no air leaks. It seems that I have to let it rip, kill it, let it rip, kill it a few times before she stabilizes. I've tried taking it up to 600 and higher before closing the primary also with the same effects. Flue temps reflect whats going on inside the box, more air = hotter gases.

Things go really well up to that last air adjustment to get it to cruise closer to 500-550 not 600-625. She loves to cruise at 600 or higher, (really 650-675) great for really cold days but not for burn times. I was told that this stove is best at 500-550 so thats my target temp, plus I don't need 600-650 to heat my house, 550 for hours is plenty, stove room gets to 77 and the farthest room gets to about 68-70 with our avg outside temps of 20's, of course this is after hours of burning. I do a lot of cold starts due to work and the wife and kids don't run the stove.


Thanks,

Charlie

last night I put in 4 medium splits of kiln dry oak with a maple starter. Stove is on the first floor by the front door, opening a window doesn't seem to make a big impact. The house is 50 years old and I know the insulation could be better in the walls, so it's possible that I have and air lock issue but I would say not probable.

pen said:

Your chimney also is the minimum height. My friend had a similar setup and found that with his stove, one more section of pipe made a world of difference. That extra 3 feet went from him not being able to close the air down less than 1/2, to being able to close all the way and maintain a secondary burn.

pen

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This sounds a lot like what I've got going on. When things get settled in the primary is open under half as well.

I just assumed it was kiln dried. I thought all the big box stores had "kiln" dried. Maybe I should try to find another batch and try again before any mods take place. How about Home Depot??

Well I had some black pipe left over so I stuffed it in the chimney to add some length before a purchase. All I had was about 20" so I thought lets see what happens. It's hard to judge after one load but I was able to close the primary further than before and got some dancing whispy flames that came from nowhere in front of the glass, very cool. I couldn't close it all the way (it would go out) but a much more controlled (temp) burn.

I found a piece of pipe local, Simpson triple wall, but after my results tonight at a 20" increase could 36" be too much?? Plus the outside temp right now is 28* that is our average for this month.

Charlie

added three feet of pipe today but wasn't home to really play around. So far I do see significant improvement. I've ran two loads today and both were better than a few days ago. I will post detailed results after a few days.

Thanks guys

davidv said:

I'm a bit confused...did you go up on the roof and add 3 feet? or put another 3 fot section up the chimney? I have a 2 story house with attic. my flue is 7x14 and I had lazy burns until I lined the chimney. That made all the difference in the world. My hunting buddy had a one story place and an old airtight with lazy fires and terrible glazing every year. I confinced him to get a liner and we put it in one saturday instead of hunting the afternoon. When I got home my phone rang and he thanked me and said he was sitting in the stove room with his family and everyone had taken off their sweatshirts and was enjoying the best fire they had had in years. Draft makes the difference.

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I added 3ft up on the roof. The setup is an independent flue, the stove sits in the corner of our front room. Things seem to be alot better. I can get better burns with more control. I can now close the air down more without losing the heat output. I can now cruise at 530 no problem before it was really hot or not hot enough. Big improvement even with marginal wood.

Final report, this morning I woke to a warm/cold stove, not a problem i loaded it at 1100 last night with about a half load and went to bed (long day). This morning it was 10-13* outside, the coldest it's been since the added length. Things took right off from some kindling and a starter and with the cold weather she came up to temp quick. I managed to close the primary almost all the way and with the blower running she cruised great about 480-500 on top, so it's about 530-550.

This seems to fix all the issues I've had. More control, better burns and an amazing amount of heat.

Another case closed by the detectives at Hearth.com

Thanks all,
Charlie