Hearthstone Equinox

trettig said:

Just an update on a test from this morning. I found this very interesting...

The top of the stove is running at 350 degrees
The stove pipe (on the T section) is running at 250 degrees

What does that mean????

Click to expand...

It can mean one of two things, either you have 250 degree air cooling the 350 stove top as it heads for the chimney, or you have a measurement error.

This morning I threw in a three dry splits on top of an already hot fire and walked away.... the temps began to run away. I had to close the stove pipe damper and the air control to stop it from rising.
You can get these things hot! I knew it because you could smell it.

trettig said:

Just an update on a test from this morning. I found this very interesting...

The top of the stove is running at 350 degrees
The stove pipe (on the T section) is running at 250 degrees

What does that mean????

Click to expand...

Like Milt said, you could have an error, or that fire is lazy due to poor wood.

I created a thread yesterday on getting a Hearthstone up to temp with good wood showing pictures of what the temps where and what the fire looked like. I had you in mind when I made the thread. Does your firebox look like mine when you have the fire going?


https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/83823/

Just keep us informed as to what you find. Not only is it fun for you, I know I, and quite a few of the people here, enjoy figuring these things out. So be sure to let us know what your results are with whatever you do.

trettig said:

My burn has a lot more flames. More flames at every step you posted. The difference is maybe your stove damper. I am going to install one. I figure it can't hurt to install. I will also try using (Hardware store wood - Dry dry) and see what happens. Again Thanks for all your suggestions. The project is fun to figure-out.

Click to expand...

A lot of flame is good since that does mean your wood isn't sopping wet. Give the damper a try, maybe you are just losing a tone of heat up the chimney. That is an easier, and cheaper, solution than if you were dealing with wet wood supply.

I'm assuming you tried using the air controls with the same method? Did you at least top out at a higher temp, or is 400 still your high?

trettig said:

BrowningBAR said:

trettig said:

My burn has a lot more flames. More flames at every step you posted. The difference is maybe your stove damper. I am going to install one. I figure it can't hurt to install. I will also try using (Hardware store wood - Dry dry) and see what happens. Again Thanks for all your suggestions. The project is fun to figure-out.

Click to expand...

A lot of flame is good since that does mean your wood isn't sopping wet. Give the damper a try, maybe you are just losing a tone of heat up the chimney. That is an easier, and cheaper, solution than if you were dealing with wet wood supply.

I'm assuming you tried using the air controls with the same method? Did you at least top out at a higher temp, or is 400 still your high?

Click to expand...

400 is still the highest temps i achieved. I tried the 20-10-10 thing. It is interesting and seemed to work somewhat. With hot coals in the stove the pipe is cooler than the stove by about 100 degrees (I purchased a second thermostat to check the first). I think the heat is being sucked up the chimney. I will install the damper with high hopes of keeping the heat in the stove box.

Click to expand...

If the heat is being sucked out the chimney the flue temps would be high correct, with my old chimney (worked but no top end) my flue temps were very high and now are much lower.

for the o.p.; i agree with everything said here about dialing back that stove slowly and closing the air control once the fire is burning cleanly. that will get your secondaries dancing and the stove top really hot. i heat about 1,600 sq feet with a much smaller hearthstone weighing 200 pounds less. i think it would be the same on all these non-cat stoves. if that air control is open, i think it sends alot of the heat through the stack, which is consistent with my experimenting with that control. these guys know better about dry wood than me. i doubt the wood bought and not stored for a while is properly dried.

i buy 'mixed hardwoods' that are supposedly seasoned, but it always squirts steam from the ends when it burns at least a little.

well , Ive been having heating issues with my equinox .

Ive worked with the guys on the form for a few years , I think fire walkers stove running directions are spot on .
Before i installed my damper my stove would never get above 350 and would randomly run out of control when ever the mood struck .
With the damper closed off i run with 1/4 to 1/2 air open and can see 400 / 450 for a few hours then the heat drops off .
My problem is at 300 o stove top temp for the other 5 or 6 hours just doesn't throw enough heat .
My house is over 4000 feet 1st and second floor buti close off 1000 feet of unused second floor .
Things ive done to get more heat out of the eq.

The damper raise my stove temp from 300 to 400o
A wood shed with a real roof to keep the splits dead dry .
Ive been burning a mix of woods pine really helps get other woods going .
I dont use my ash pan and keep it empty so the stove radiates alot of heat down .
I would get a fan kit to draw the cool air from the floor and circulate the heat .
I have a thin filter fan that stands off the left corner and blows heat off the stove and around the house .
I dont use the side door because the lower gasket is of poor design and leaks draft .
I pack my stove full and burn thru a full cycle , 12 hours if temps are in the upper 20
If its below 20 i burn a 8 hr cycle .
If its 0 out side im stuffing the stove like a steam engine.
Most of the time the house temp is 66/70 and it takes hours to raise the temp 1o
I try to get a good fire going around 5 pm before the house drops its temp.
Im burning around 7 cored a year + - with the eq My old dutch west cat would heat the house OK and the liveing would be 80o rest of the house would be 55/60 and burn 3.5 to 4 coard a year.
I just think a cast stove heats better . John

The EQ has a whole lot of surface area so I would think even at 300° it will give you decent heat but the key is to strip that heat off the stove and get it working for you. I'm going to bite the bullet and get the Hearthstone fan. I already have the rear shield so it won't cost as much.

It's not that cold yet (29° nights) but I found the key to getting heat out of mine is to get the whole house warm for a significant period of time. Once the solid objects warm up it's a lot easier to maintain the heat.

I find during the day with solar radiance helping, I can let my stoves idle back to just burning the coals down with the air open. Right now the EQ is holding 325° with just coals and I just looked at the Clydesdale and saw logs ready for final coal stage so I opened that one up. It's at 280° but will rise now that I opened up the air.

Back to work outside and later in the day I'll probably throw in some maintenance splits before I do the overnight loads.

If I work the EQ I can get it up to 700+° at which point you need to get naked as the radiant heat coming off of it is tremendous. I typically cruise at 500 or just over for a couple of hours before it starts dropping off. It's been a real pleasure to control compared to the Clydesdale but I must say the Clydesdale is getting more behaved now that the temperatures are dropping. That one is easy to get hot.

It will be interesting how they will heat as it gets colder. I save about $30-$40 a day doing this.

I use my side door almost exclusively with no gasket issues.

It's now 40° outside and the house thermostat reads 71° with both stoves idling on coals. It's (tstat) out of the way in a hallway so it's warmer in other parts of the house.

trettig said:

John,
Since posting the original thread (question) I have been able to get the stove up to 400 degrees consistently. One time it got up to 450. Usually sits around 350. I have installed a damper which has helped keep the heat in the stove. I have also brought wood into the house to let it dry before burning. That increased the stove temp. by about 100 degrees. I am happier with the stove now. Although I wish I had gone with the T6. Originally I had a Nashua which burned about the same amount of wood although with far less burn times. I purchased the Nashua for $500 and sold it for $500. I then purchased the Equinox for $4200. The Nashua worked better. In conclusion - I should have stayed with the Nashua or gone with a cast iron or steel stove. To much energy is waisted in heating up the stone. I could have used the money towards a new natural gas boiler.
Tom

Click to expand...

Unless you have heated with a Nashua you cant appreciate the heat they put out, the summit is a very good stove but it cant carry the Nashua's jock strap. At times I wished I would have bought the same stove you had but not sure I would have been happy with it either, the T6 might have been a better choice for me also.

woodmiser said:

The EQ has a whole lot of surface area so I would think even at 300° it will give you decent heat but the key is to strip that heat off the stove and get it working for you. I'm going to bite the bullet and get the Hearthstone fan. I already have the rear shield so it won't cost as much.

It's not that cold yet (29° nights) but I found the key to getting heat out of mine is to get the whole house warm for a significant period of time. Once the solid objects warm up it's a lot easier to maintain the heat.

I find during the day with solar radiance helping, I can let my stoves idle back to just burning the coals down with the air open. Right now the EQ is holding 325° with just coals and I just looked at the Clydesdale and saw logs ready for final coal stage so I opened that one up. It's at 280° but will rise now that I opened up the air.

Back to work outside and later in the day I'll probably throw in some maintenance splits before I do the overnight loads.

If I work the EQ I can get it up to 700+° at which point you need to get naked as the radiant heat coming off of it is tremendous. I typically cruise at 500 or just over for a couple of hours before it starts dropping off. It's been a real pleasure to control compared to the Clydesdale but I must say the Clydesdale is getting more behaved now that the temperatures are dropping. That one is easy to get hot.

It will be interesting how they will heat as it gets colder. I save about $30-$40 a day doing this.

I use my side door almost exclusively with no gasket issues.

It's now 40° outside and the house thermostat reads 71° with both stoves idling on coals. It's (tstat) out of the way in a hallway so it's warmer in other parts of the house.

Click to expand...

I would like to know how the fan kit works out for you .
I could have had a heat shield and fan kit for 130 bucks when i bought the stove after the fact they wanted 400 bucks . ( yes kicking my self )
My side door leaks air at the hinges on the bottom .
I can burn up 3 or 4 splits in an hour and never move from 300o .
Im burning up 7 cord of wood a year how much wood are you going thru ?
I am going to try a magic heat heat reclaimer in the flu to boost heat out put .
I hate the way they look but i need to get more heat out put .

trettig said:

John,
Since posting the original thread (question) I have been able to get the stove up to 400 degrees consistently. One time it got up to 450. Usually sits around 350. I have installed a damper which has helped keep the heat in the stove. I have also brought wood into the house to let it dry before burning. That increased the stove temp. by about 100 degrees. I am happier with the stove now. Although I wish I had gone with the T6. Originally I had a Nashua which burned about the same amount of wood although with far less burn times. I purchased the Nashua for $500 and sold it for $500. I then purchased the Equinox for $4200. The Nashua worked better. In conclusion - I should have stayed with the Nashua or gone with a cast iron or steel stove. To much energy is waisted in heating up the stone. I could have used the money towards a new natural gas boiler.
Tom

Click to expand...

ya 400 o is alot better .
Hearth stone really gave the EQ a big build up for such a dud .
I do like the stove it burns great and looks good .
I only use wood heat .
I haven't even test run my gas heat since 06 and it hasn't run for more then 20 min since 95
Im going to try a magic heat heat reclaimer and see if i can boost my output i don't like the way it looks, but i have a friend that is having alot of luck with the MH . John

wellbuilt home said:

I would like to know how the fan kit works out for you .
I could have had a heat shield and fan kit for 130 bucks when i bought the stove after the fact they wanted 400 bucks . ( yes kicking my self )
My side door leaks air at the hinges on the bottom .
I can burn up 3 or 4 splits in an hour and never move from 300o .
Im burning up 7 cord of wood a year how much wood are you going thru ?
I am going to try a magic heat heat reclaimer in the flu to boost heat out put .
I hate the way they look but i need to get more heat out put .

Click to expand...

You can stop the leak in the side door by replacing the gasket. A leaking door gasket can contribute to poor performance by allowing unwanted air in which in turn takes heat up the chimney.
I have a stove pipe damper and find I can run the stove with it shut and the air almost closed or even fully closed and get a good slow burn cruising at 400. This is key to keeping heat in the stove.
If you are continually allowing the stove to get cold and are having to bring it back up to temp, you have the wrong stove for your needs.
When mine is cruising and gets down to hot ashes, if I load 3-4 splits of GOOD wood I can get to 500+ pretty easily at which point the heat is like the sun coming off of it. If I want to go to 600+ I load it with the drier stuff, get it blazing and then choke it down but not as much so I get a hotter fire but still keeping heat from going up the stack.
When I replaced my gaskets I found I needed to install them so they were thicker by not pulling on them. They need to be thick to get a good seal. I also found the front door seems to be designed with the hinge side clamping the gasket less than the latch side. I'm guessing they did this to help with door closure but I found I needed the gasket thicker on the hinge side to get it to seal there. So I re-installed the gasket with it more bunched up on the hinge sides. That worked. Next time I'm going with 3/4" gasket.
Don't know yet how much wood I'll burn. This is the first year.
My blower is on order.

It's going up to 56° today so I'm going to let both stoves cool and do a good cleaning. This wishy-washy weather makes it hard to keep an even keel.

woodmiser said:

wellbuilt home said:

I would like to know how the fan kit works out for you .
I could have had a heat shield and fan kit for 130 bucks when i bought the stove after the fact they wanted 400 bucks . ( yes kicking my self )
My side door leaks air at the hinges on the bottom .
I can burn up 3 or 4 splits in an hour and never move from 300o .
Im burning up 7 cord of wood a year how much wood are you going thru ?
I am going to try a magic heat heat reclaimer in the flu to boost heat out put .
I hate the way they look but i need to get more heat out put .

Click to expand...

You can stop the leak in the side door by replacing the gasket. A leaking door gasket can contribute to poor performance by allowing unwanted air in which in turn takes heat up the chimney.
I have a stove pipe damper and find I can run the stove with it shut and the air almost closed or even fully closed and get a good slow burn cruising at 400. This is key to keeping heat in the stove.
If you are continually allowing the stove to get cold and are having to bring it back up to temp, you have the wrong stove for your needs.
When mine is cruising and gets down to hot ashes, if I load 3-4 splits of GOOD wood I can get to 500+ pretty easily at which point the heat is like the sun coming off of it. If I want to go to 600+ I load it with the drier stuff, get it blazing and then choke it down but not as much so I get a hotter fire but still keeping heat from going up the stack.
When I replaced my gaskets I found I needed to install them so they were thicker by not pulling on them. They need to be thick to get a good seal. I also found the front door seems to be designed with the hinge side clamping the gasket less than the latch side. I'm guessing they did this to help with door closure but I found I needed the gasket thicker on the hinge side to get it to seal there. So I re-installed the gasket with it more bunched up on the hinge sides. That worked. Next time I'm going with 3/4" gasket.
Don't know yet how much wood I'll burn. This is the first year.
My blower is on order.

It's going up to 56° today so I'm going to let both stoves cool and do a good cleaning. This wishy-washy weather makes it hard to keep an even keel.

Click to expand...

I wish i could get to 500o but it just dosent happen ?
My gasket's seem tight cant see any smoke get sucked in around the doors .
3/4 splits wont even get me warm i pack in 8 or 10 splits at a time

Yesterday I let my EQ go cold since we had some unseasonably warm weather. Gave me a chance to do a good cleaning. Next time I fire it I'll do a video and show how I get mine hot in a hurry. (No guarantees) Maybe tonight.

WBHome, nice to hear your still kicking. Good to see you got the damper installed! Getting ready for a cold one tonight up here they say around 10! Bring on the snow making!

I don't have any new tricks for you this year but I can tell you my wood supply this year is mostly oak and maple and the splits are big. I got a good deal on cut, split and it was delivered stacked and covered during the fall of 2010. I asked the guy to split them big.........up to 9" rounds, anything bigger are split in half only. He was glad to do it as it was less work for him, I am loving it. Last season I had the same wood but smaller splits and I think I could make a slightly hotter fire with them but these big pieces just work great and go a long time. It's also nice to have all your wood the same length, I think the guy uses a processor. All told I wish I could have left this supply 2 full years of seasoning as it will sizzle a bit when loading but the fire takes right off so........

Something I have noticed here........lots of folks don't like their ash pans. I find this strange, I use mine once a week or less during cold spells and yea, it drops a little ash on the floor but it holds a lot and I think it works great. I noted that you keep yours empty, I don't. My ashpan is always full. I empty the ashpan then rake a fresh load of ash into the pan thru the grate where it stays until the following week. My thinking here is a full pan insulates the bottom of the stove thus forcing heat up so my tile hearth doesn't get so damn hot. Something else I have learned is when you do use the ashpan, the door gets ash spilled on the gasket and if you try to close it without brushing off the spilled ash the ashpan door closes hard and won't seal well. You may want to look at yours and also experiment with running with a full ashpan.

Did a video today starting my EQ from 61° room and stove temp. Stay tuned. I have to do the lights on the tree then I'll edit the video and get it up on YouTube.

FireWalker said:

WBHome, nice to hear your still kicking. Good to see you got the damper installed! Getting ready for a cold one tonight up here they say around 10! Bring on the snow making!

I don't have any new tricks for you this year but I can tell you my wood supply this year is mostly oak and maple and the splits are big. I got a good deal on cut, split and it was delivered stacked and covered during the fall of 2010. I asked the guy to split them big.........up to 9" rounds, anything bigger are split in half only. He was glad to do it as it was less work for him, I am loving it. Last season I had the same wood but smaller splits and I think I could make a slightly hotter fire with them but these big pieces just work great and go a long time. It's also nice to have all your wood the same length, I think the guy uses a processor. All told I wish I could have left this supply 2 full years of seasoning as it will sizzle a bit when loading but the fire takes right off so........

Something I have noticed here........lots of folks don't like their ash pans. I find this strange, I use mine once a week or less during cold spells and yea, it drops a little ash on the floor but it holds a lot and I think it works great. I noted that you keep yours empty, I don't. My ashpan is always full. I empty the ashpan then rake a fresh load of ash into the pan thru the grate where it stays until the following week. My thinking here is a full pan insulates the bottom of the stove thus forcing heat up so my tile hearth doesn't get so damn hot. Something else I have learned is when you do use the ashpan, the door gets ash spilled on the gasket and if you try to close it without brushing off the spilled ash the ashpan door closes hard and won't seal well. You may want to look at yours and also experiment with running with a full ashpan.

Click to expand...

Hi FW Im still kicken
My stove is still not performing very well ?
I guess it is. what it is .
I dont get much over 425 and with my fan blowing on the rear left corner the top reads 300 or so .
Next year i will start burning north/ south as you suggested but for now i have all long splits 24" +-
I have 20 /25 cord in the drive way split very large and 20" for N S burn .
I just installed a magic heat heat reclaimer with a fan in my flue.
The MH is kind of ugly but if it helps with the heat out put and cuts down on wood usage its not to bad .
Im sitting 8 feet from the stove in shorts and a tee shirt and its 25o outside and 71 in the kitchen area .
When it gets below 15o its hard to keep the house @ 60 or above .
below 0 outside and we need blankets to watch tv .

As far as the ash pan gos my shaker doesn't move freely and the knob is very stiff to open the door and my wife cleans the stove most of the time .
I burn full loads of wood down to coals so she just scoops a few ashes when its convenient .
I have burned with the ash pan full, but dont worry about the heat on the floor ( concrete and stone)
With a full ash pan it could keep the fire box hotter and cause a better seconder burn .
I just cleaned my flu and didn't get more then 2/3 coffee cans of creosote so i must be burning ok
I will check my flue new years day and see if the magic heat is cooling the flue and causing more creosote. John

BrowningBAR said:

shawneyboy said:

BTW I don't even look at the stove temps to decide when to adjust the air controls. I use my flue gas temps. Stove temps are irrelevant to the timing.because of the mass of stone that needs to be heated. I have started to push my air controls back when the stove was at 200 degrees before. If you really want a signal, you need to go by the flue gas temps, IMHO.

Click to expand...

I don't have a flue thermometer. I base my air control decisions on the look of the fire.

Click to expand...

Sounds about right for me to. I judge based on smoke. I can't have smokey fires with my Heritage. Mine in installed in an office condominium. The neighbors would complain if they saw a massive smokey plume descend across the parking lot. When that thing starts burning clean, I dial down the air control. By the final air adjustment, I have lots of blue seondaries and surface temps rise.

woodmiser said:

Did a video today starting my EQ from 61° room and stove temp. Stay tuned. I have to do the lights on the tree then I'll edit the video and get it up on YouTube.

Click to expand...

Posted the video here https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/86224/

WBH, check to see if the ash door is stiff because ash is mashed up between the gasket and the mating surface........get your gloved finger on the surfaces and clean off the ash. Mine does the same thing. I dont use the shaker to shake the ash into the pan, I just use the handle to open and close the grate. Works for me.

I was thinking about loading these stoves last night........with big long splits there is really no way to get more than 3 or 4 of them in there at a time especially if you have an inch or more bed of ash. The problem is, you always go for a big split all the way in the back and if you lay another in front, it's hard to get another on top of the first two because your now up against the burn tubes so now your stuck trying to get a third big piece in front of the other two which starts getting close to the glass. Now maybe you can fit a smaller split on top but my point is if these stoves hold 80lbs of wood, there is really no way to get that kind of load in there EW unless you have a real good selection of split sizes. Most folks make their splits roughly the same size. If your splits are standard 16" they will fit NS and you can easily fit 2 stacked splits tight to each side and then fill in the middle with as much as 4 more medium to big splits which I do believe is at least 80lbs of wood......no doubt if your using oak. Now, not only will this load burn like a SOB for a good 3-4 hours, the middle will go first and leave twin fires on the sides which last at least 4 more. There you have it, the holy grail of wood heating......at least 8 hours of actual wood burning and beyond that is hours more of dying coals. So grab your saw and go cut a few wheel barrels of 16" splits for cold night NS fires and see what happens!

Now watching Woodmisers docudrama (nice job!) I can see that he has some real split size selection and I'll bet he hand picked a basket load of pieces to get the desired hot burn which is great for a one time photo-op but for day-in, day-out burning we tend to take the wood off the pile and use it as it comes. Point being, you can't always get as much as you want in there, you stuck sometimes with only 3 splits in the stove! When I load EW which by the way I'll be doing all next season because that wood is longer, I'll have a harder time getting long hot burns. But I took this into account, my next years wood which I scavenged from my neighbors property came in all different sizes which was separated into about 2 full cords of 4" to 6" rounds and 3 full cords of mixed hardwood splits. When that wood goes to the shed next fall I'll mix it all up so with each armload I'll get a nice mix of rounds and splits. We shall see...........

What setting are you using for burns both when you are hanging with the stove and then for overnight burns.

I ask because lately I have been really burning hard after work......getting the stove hot while burning a whole load between 5:30 and 9:30 with the pipe damper closed and primary air set to around 1/4 open. This gets a jump on overnight heating, the rocks are hot, I load up for the night and set the air to near full off......works great!