kmindcl said:
We just had our Isle Royale Wood Stove installed Friday. We did two break in fires per a video we got. Wood seems to be good quality, dry & split. Once the fire is established, our Primary Air Lever is slid to the Right for a low fire. The problem is, when we bought this, we were told by the store and all research we did ourselves indicated that we could get by for close to 8 hours without refilling it with wood. But we are filling it every 3-4 hours. What are we doing wrong? The second question is that the store told us they'd be surprised if we'd be able to sit in our great room (where it is) without sweating, and we are finding the opposite. All the heat is rising to the loft/second floor and there is a noticeable chill as soon as you back away from the stove 3 feet. That said, we are installing a ceiling fan in the loft area in hopes it will push the heat back down, but we are concerned that the area where the stove sits is not warm enough to take off the chill. This is a 2009 model, but brand new. It is installed in front of a zero clearance fireplace in the great room. Can attach photo if needed. Any help is appreciated. Spent 7k on this, plus had to extend the hearth ourselves and still have to close in the back and we had to buy our propane tank for 3k because we wouldn't meet minimum requirements. We were pretty much guaranteed we'd be able to use this as our primary heat source and are really disappointed. Hopefully we are doing something wrong. Thanks.
Let me ask a few questions. A few things aren't adding up, so I think you can assume that you will be able to fix the underperforming stove. You should
not be able to exhaust your fuel in 3 to 4 hours with the primary at low.
Do you have a stovetop thermometer? If not, you should get one, so that we can talk about what temperatures the stove is reaching. If you have one,
what is the stovetop temperature when you start dialing the primary air to the right. Also, are you using the start-up air? (the knob that pushes in and
out to the far right of the stove). Are you sure it's closed? That would be an easy explanation for burning up the wood so fast and having all the heat leave
through your chimney without heating your house.
What kind of wood are you using? Is the fire catching easily in the beginning. What happens when you start to close off the primary air? Is your stove
window staying clean? Do you see dark smoke coming out of the chimney when the fire has settled in to its main stage? Do your secondary burn tubes
light off when you start closing off the air? How long do they stay lit?
What is your chimney set-up? How many feet up and with what bends/turns? How many square feet are you trying to heat?
A stove cycle varies over an eight to ten hour period. When the Isle Royale is running properly, fully loaded, it will run several hours in the 550 to
650 range, and then it will start dropping off. By eight hours, the stovetop may only be 200 or so with plenty of coals inside for a re-start.
Others will chime in. The board will get it figured out. No need to worry. I heat 2300 feet with much colder temperatures than you.