HELP - Runaway Castine

Been having problems keeping the stove under control. Last night the deflector was glowing red with the primary air closed down and raging secondaries. I stuffed some tin foil in the secondary air opening and finally got it under control.

Today I'm flirting again with out of control temperatures. This is with being very careful to close the air down incrementally as the fire got going and very little coal bed when the fire started.

Used to go to sleep at night without worry and the stove burning. Gonna be hard to do that for a while. Any suggestions to gain control over the situation? Thanks.

I've been burning mostly oak and hard maple, seasoned about a year although in a very windy, sunnny, hilltop spot. I do have a stove-top thermo and watch the temperature. I dial the primary air down as much as I can without smoldering the fire. It seems its either smoldering or raging inferno - no in-between. This is my third season with the stove and I've never had these issues before.

As far as a stove-pipe damper, I have the stove in a masonry hearth that used to be a fireplace. I have one of those moveable flue connectors that can be adjusted as the stove sits forward of the masonry chimney opening. Where does the flue damper go?

Maybe there is some air getting in the stove. How often do these stoves need to be re-gasketed? Is it excess air if the fire goes out when I cover the secondary intake?

Thanks guys

I will do some looking around tomorrow when the stove is cool. What is a good way to check for gasket leaks?

My splits are of a size that 4-5 fills the firebox. Chimney is pretty high, maybe 25'.

On thing I've noticed is that even with the incredibly hot fires my glass is getting dirtier than it had in the past on the bottom edge. Does this indicate air leakage? Maybe the gasket on the glass?

The top has never been removed.

I did the dollar-bill test on the door and ash pan and both are tight. Visually inspected the window gasket and it also looks good.

When I use the incense stick I am holding it near the joints inside the stove and looking for smoke coming out? Is this correct?

Duh. OK, thanks Jeffee. I am in the process of doing that right now.

Finished using an incense stick to check for extra air entering the stove. None. Door, ash pan, window, top seal, corners, nothing. I can't find anywhere that air is getting in.

Maybe my draft is just too strong.

Would reducing my air intake by covering half the opening with foil tape be a stupid idea?

It is possible I'm overloading the firebox with the Oak. I never had that problem before in 10 or so years of burning but maybe since this wood is more seasoned than usual. I am going to start loading less and mixing in some lower BTU wood with the oak.

I do slide the stove forward and backward to clean the flue, that's the only movement. It is possible I pulled the top plate out-of-whack by doing so. Any incense smoke near the top seal didn't get drawn in so it made me think it was OK.

It's funny you mention opening the door. I thought of doing that the other day when the deflector was glowing with 750 stove top temps and raging secondaries. I didn't open it but stuffed foil in the air intake instead to get it under control. What would happen if you simply opened the door during an overfire?