I'm a couple of months into running my first wood stove and getting to know it's idiosyncrasies pretty well but one problem has me stumped. When running well my main concern is keeping it from getting too hot, a problem that I can live with, but after it has been burning through several cycles of loads it has a tendency to start choking up.
The air vents on this stove are located about 4 inches back from the front of the door and I suspect that coal and ash buildup are blocking the air supply. I let it burn down well before reloading and under good circumstances I can load it, close the door and watch the temperatures rise. When it gets in a funk the wood will not ignite when reloading and the stove will remain in a coaling stage for the duration. I then have a choice of-
(A) Shoveling out a stove full of ash and coals
(B) Letting the stove sit at 300 degrees or less (stove top temp) for many hours until it burns down, or
(C) Leaving the door cracked which will burn them down in about an hour.
I have read the advice here of adding a couple of dry pine splits to burn them down and tried it but when the stove starts acting up like this no wood, not even the driest kiln dried lumber will ignite.
No matter how carefully I try to manage the fire it seems impossible to avoid ash clogging these front vents. I have never had another stove but it seems these air vents would be better placed farther to the front of the stove.
Just wondering if anyone here has any experience with this stove or another with a similar problem and how best to deal with it.
The air vents on this stove are located about 4 inches back from the front of the door and I suspect that coal and ash buildup are blocking the air supply. I let it burn down well before reloading and under good circumstances I can load it, close the door and watch the temperatures rise. When it gets in a funk the wood will not ignite when reloading and the stove will remain in a coaling stage for the duration. I then have a choice of-
(A) Shoveling out a stove full of ash and coals
(B) Letting the stove sit at 300 degrees or less (stove top temp) for many hours until it burns down, or
(C) Leaving the door cracked which will burn them down in about an hour.
I have read the advice here of adding a couple of dry pine splits to burn them down and tried it but when the stove starts acting up like this no wood, not even the driest kiln dried lumber will ignite.
No matter how carefully I try to manage the fire it seems impossible to avoid ash clogging these front vents. I have never had another stove but it seems these air vents would be better placed farther to the front of the stove.
Just wondering if anyone here has any experience with this stove or another with a similar problem and how best to deal with it.
