Hi to all. I got myself a 1987 jotul #3 TD stove and installed it in front of my fireplace using a 6" flexible stainless steel liner kit up my existing clay flue. I have had about 6 "test" fires now and everything appears to work fine. I have never had any kind of fireplace or stove in the past so I have almost to many questions to list,but I will try. And I find that the local fireplace shops are not all that willing to help so I will ask them here. Welcome to the forum.
1. what is the ideal temp to run my stove at and where should I measure the temp as it varies on different surfaces of the stove? I'm not familiar with your stove so I can't get you a set of temps that are good for your own stove . . . or to tell where you should place a stove thermometer. You might want to see if the Jotul website has a copy of the stove manual on line . . . this may tell you the specific temps and location of thermometers.
2. How much pine is safe with yearly cleanings? Well . . . mixed answer here . . . if this is your first time burning wood I would at least check your chimney every month regardless of what type of wood you burn . . . once folks get a good handle on how to run their stove and have a good source of seasoned wood they tend to clean their chimney 1-3 times during the burning season . . . me . . . I can easily clean my chimney so I tend to do it monthly . . . although I have slacked off in the past couple of months since I am now only burning occasionally. As for pine . . . as long as it is properly seasoned you can burn as much in your woodstove as you want . . . it just tends to burn up quicker than say maple, elm, beech, oak, etc. . . . the key is to make sure the pine is properly seasoned (i.e. has been cut, split and stacked for a long enough time to dry out the moisture.)
3. How much air intake should this stove have? (I have found it will run at a smolder or a blaze,,witch is best)??? No set answer here . . . but in general more air = a more intense fire . . . but a good portion of the heat is going right up the chimney with the draft. Less air = less draft which means more heat is radiated out to the room. Cutting back the air is very important for EPA stoves with secondary burners . . . however, there is a fine line between burning cleanly and efficiently and having a smoldering fire which may produce some heat, but is also gunking up your chimney and not burning efficiently.
4. My home is only 800 square feet and on my test fires with all windows closed the temp goes to 85+ witch is way to hot for me,,what is the best way to regulate this? windows,fans,or adjusting the stove itself? Well if the test fires are being done right now it's hard to gauge whether your stove is too large or not for your own home . . . at least not knowing what size home this stove is rated for. Many folks buy a woodstove and just assume that it's a woodstove and it will heat their home. You really need to size a woodstove to the size of your home, insulation, climate, house layout, etc. in order to get a woodstove that does not either drive you out of the house from too much heat or you end up with a woodstove that struggles to warm up the house since it is too small. Right now it is very easy to have way too much heat from any woodstove since the temp outside is generally not that bad . . . chilly, but not cold on most days . . . even here in Maine. You can help move the air out of the room with the stove by the way and circulate it to other places in the house by having a fan (regular old desk top fan) in an adjoining doorway pointing towards the woodstove.
5. What is the best way to keep the glass clean? Short answer: Assuming this woodstove has an air wash system to keep the glass clear . . . burn at the proper (hot enough) temps, burn seasoned wood and don't cause the fire to smolder. Long answer: Well, I guess there really isn't a long answer . . . except to say that most newbies who have the glass gunk up are either not burning hot enough, are burning unseasoned wood or are turning down the air too much and causing the fire to smolder . . . having a split rest up against the glass can also cause some gunk on the glass. You can buy commercial cleaners for the woodstove glass or simply clean it with damp newspaper . . . if the gunk is pretty bad you can dip the damp newspaper into some of the fine ash . . . or just wait and on your next hot fire the gunk may burn itself off.
6. How often do most sweep my type of liner? What does creasote look like??? As mentioned previously . . . I check and sweep my chimney every month . . . but I think I'm a bit unusual. I do the sweep since a) it is literally a 10-minute job for me and b) if I ever had a chimney fire I would never hear the end of it from my co-workers. Most folks tend to sweep the chimney 1-3 times a year . . . after they've got some experience running the stove and know their wood is good. Newbies are encouraged to inspect every 1-2 months and sweep when there is a build up of 1/4 inch or so. Creosote may be light and fluffy like gray or white ash, it could look like burned popcorn or cornflakes or burned stuffing . . . it could be dry, tarry and sticky or glassy . . . Dry is not so bad, sticky and tarry is not so good and glassy is very bad.
! GREAT HELPERS
