Hi all. I had a Hearthstone Clydesdale installed a little over a week ago. I've had a few fires, but I'm waiting for it to get a little colder to start it up again. Temps have been in the high 50's during the day and low 40's/high 30's at night. I've read a lot on these boards, but I figured I'd share my technique with you all and see if anyone has a pointers. I start with some fatwood and go outside and find a branch for kindling. I've found I need to load the firebox fairly full with the kindling to get the fire going on account of the soapstone taking the heat. Once I get the kindling going, I load a couple small pieces of wood in there and keep the air control open. Then after those logs catch, I'd load it up all the way and leave the door cracked for a bit to get the wood burning. I was leaving the air control full open, trying to get up to ~400 degrees, but I wasn't able to. From reading this website, I now know that I would be better off incrementally closing the air control after the fire is going good. Also, I realized that I'm not able to get a very good temperature reading from my magnetic thermometer. I think it was reading low since I was only seeing temps of ~200 degrees but the secondaries were going, glass was clean, and no smoke was coming from the chimney. I had the thermometer on the side of the stove, near the top. I moved it to the top front, just above the door and I think I was able to get a more accurate reading. So my first question to other Clydesdale owners is what kind of thermometer do you use, and where do you put it. I think according to the instructions, it is supposed to go on the top, underneath the grill. But the magnetic thermometer is too thick to fit under the grill.
Another mistake I realized I was making was I was constantly tossing more wood in. Then I read that I should be letting the burn cycle complete before adding wood. I think this tip will really help.
So, another thing I was wondering is how I should control my heat pump. I recognize that I will not be able to heat my entire house using solely the Clydesdale. The house is probably 2,100 or 2,200 sq. ft. The Clydesdale is in the family room, which is open to the upstairs, where there are three bedrooms. Two other bedrooms are on the first floor through a hallway behind the Clydesdale. If I run the Clydesdale without the heat pump fan, the upstairs bedrooms get too hot and most of the first floor rooms are comfortable, with the exception of the two bedrooms behind the Clydesdale, which are too cold. If I run the heat pump fan then the entire house is a comfortable temperature, but I do seem to lose a lot of the heat from the Clydesdale because the heat pump needs to turn on fairly often. Both installers that we received install quotes from recommended that we put in a ceiling fan in the room with the stove and run it in the summer direction to push the hot air down and keep it on the first floor. That seems to make sense to me, but I was wondering what other people think.
Other beginner questions I have is where does the air come in on the Clydesdale? I see the main one in the front center near the door, but I thought I read somewhere that there is other air vents on the Clydesdale. And how do you know if you have a good draft? Has anyone here had their draft measured?
Thanks for reading. I know this is a lot, I just hope it all makes sense! :coolsmile:
Another mistake I realized I was making was I was constantly tossing more wood in. Then I read that I should be letting the burn cycle complete before adding wood. I think this tip will really help.
So, another thing I was wondering is how I should control my heat pump. I recognize that I will not be able to heat my entire house using solely the Clydesdale. The house is probably 2,100 or 2,200 sq. ft. The Clydesdale is in the family room, which is open to the upstairs, where there are three bedrooms. Two other bedrooms are on the first floor through a hallway behind the Clydesdale. If I run the Clydesdale without the heat pump fan, the upstairs bedrooms get too hot and most of the first floor rooms are comfortable, with the exception of the two bedrooms behind the Clydesdale, which are too cold. If I run the heat pump fan then the entire house is a comfortable temperature, but I do seem to lose a lot of the heat from the Clydesdale because the heat pump needs to turn on fairly often. Both installers that we received install quotes from recommended that we put in a ceiling fan in the room with the stove and run it in the summer direction to push the hot air down and keep it on the first floor. That seems to make sense to me, but I was wondering what other people think.
Other beginner questions I have is where does the air come in on the Clydesdale? I see the main one in the front center near the door, but I thought I read somewhere that there is other air vents on the Clydesdale. And how do you know if you have a good draft? Has anyone here had their draft measured?
Thanks for reading. I know this is a lot, I just hope it all makes sense! :coolsmile:
