All or nothing

[agz124]

This is only my 2nd year as a woodburner and this problem or issue has been occurring most of the time. In order to maintain flames in my Quad 4300 I need to keep the secondary air open at least a 1/4 inch. However, than allows my stovetop temp to hangout at around 800F. That seems too hot although nothing is glowing When I close off the secondary to cool it down then I lose flames. Thoughts? Is the wood too wet? This is walnut and oak that has been split and stacked for 14 months and the last 2 months have been under porch roof.

Thanks

 

[struggle]

While I do not have your stove I found in the first year I ran a secondary burn EPA stove was that I to start using larger splits or I would run into what you are experiencing which is the stove would just take off and before I knew it I was looking for more wood to add.

A dampener would help slow this down greatly. Could you be over drafting?

 

[RedRanger]

I`m thinking too many smaller splits. Nice bed of coals and large splits laid east/west should only burn from the front to the back and keep your temps more even. Try it-and report back.

Try and get all the coals raked to the front first-otherwise the whole load seems to burn at the same time. Made the mistake of not doing that last nite :sick: Even so, the larger splits will still char and burn more slowly.

 

[Hogwildz]

After the nasties burn off, towards the latter stages of burn the wood may not have much flame. But will look like a huge glowing coal.
If the temp stays up &/or leveled off at a good temp, your fine and don't necessarily need a flame. Especially at the ending stages of the burn.

Mine goes like this, load a few large splits then fill the rest with whatever fits. Get it flaming like a typical day in hell.
Cut the air back at about 450-500, then secondaries & flames off the wood, then just secondaries and a small amount of flames off the wood, after all the volatiles burned out, then the secondary will die out due to no crap gas to burn anymore, then the rest is glowing splits of wood for several more hours. All the time it rises to about 650 -700 at the beginning, then levels to 6oo-650 for the major part of the burn, then slowly goes down in stages, 550 -500-450 etc etc etc. At 300 about 8 or so hours later, reload and repeat.

 

[branchburner]

The hardest thing for me to get used to with an EPA stove is that the flames go away. I look at the temps and know I'm fine, but my gut tells me something is wrong because I can't see a towering inferno. It's a conditioned expectation - we'll get over it in time.

All my stove burning experience has been in stoves with no glass door, so it's just a hot box that I imagine has flames within it (not a lot of flame in the old Defiant). But much more experience with open fireplaces/grills/burnpits. Feel heat. See flame. Mmmm, fire good! (Yes, Frankenstein, fire good.)

And now... feel heat. No see flame? Arrrrggghhhh (No, Frankenstein, not the bypass damper, no!)

So simple, even a caveman can do it. But not me... yet.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

This is only my 2nd year as a woodburner and this problem or issue has been occurring most of the time. In order to maintain flames in my Quad 4300 I need to keep the secondary air open at least a 1/4 inch. However, than allows my stovetop temp to hangout at around 800F. That seems too hot although nothing is glowing When I close off the secondary to cool it down then I lose flames. Thoughts? Is the wood too wet? This is walnut and oak that has been split and stacked for 14 months and the last 2 months have been under porch roof.

Thanks

Not sure what kind of oak you have, but red oak will need 2 years to season good.

 

[jqgs214]

Backwoods,

I see you always say red oak needs 2 years, I burn almost exclusively red oak and mine is down to 18-20% moisture in 14-18 months, some peices as low as 15%, and that is in a kinda shady spot.

 

[billb3]

I'm in the "oak takes a lot longer to season <thoroughly> than you realize' camp, too.
It may be because of the Gulf-Coast humidity we get here in SE Mass, but any pile I've got that has been left over from the year before burns like gold the second year.
I now keep the oak and pine seperate and if I have to burn something that has been split less than two years it will be anything but the pine and oak. (I have quite a bit of maple and cherry )

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Wxman, is this red oak or in the red oak family? It's just that here we have always noticed it just does not get as dry as other wood in a year. It's like we've noticed that pin oak takes even longer than red oak even though they are in the same family. I believe there are over 50 types of oaks!

Also, we do not go by moisture meters; we just go by how it burns. Thankfully, we can let stuff season longer than needed but have not always been in that situation. Hey, I am getting anxious to start cutting again though!

 

[jqgs214]

to the best of my knowledge is red oak, but I agree 12 months it will burn but not great, really needs 15+ but not necessaryily 2 years, but hey maybe I split mine smaller or shorter than you, long as what works keeps working then keep on keeping on.

 

[Dill]

Oak takes at least 2 years. Maybe a year and half if split and exposed to the sun. White oak can be a bit faster.
I have some pin oak that was cut in dec of last year that I haven't split yet, but I doubt that will be ready to go this year.

 

[SlyFerret]

After the nasties burn off, towards the latter stages of burn the wood may not have much flame. But will look like a huge glowing coal. If the temp stays up &/or leveled off at a good temp, your fine and don't necessarily need a flame. Especially at the ending stages of the burn.

Mine goes like this, load a few large splits then fill the rest with whatever fits. Get it flaming like a typical day in hell.
Cut the air back at about 450-500, then secondaries & flames off the wood, then just secondaries and a small amount of flames off the wood, after all the volatiles burned out, then the secondary will die out due to no crap gas to burn anymore, then the rest is glowing splits of wood for several more hours. All the time it rises to about 650 -700 at the beginning, then levels to 6oo-650 for the major part of the burn, then slowly goes down in stages, 550 -500-450 etc etc etc. At 300 about 8 or so hours later, reload and repeat.

That's a pretty good play-by-play for my 30 also. Well said. The only thing different is that my temps are slightly lower in the 30. Mine rarely gets up to 600, and cruises at ~500-550.

To the OP... I've never operated a quad before, but I would imagine that you want to give the secondary combustion system plenty of air and only cut back on the primary air in order to get the best performance. The behavior from your stove makes sense to me the way you describe it.

-SF

 

[Backwoods Savage]

to the best of my knowledge is red oak, but I agree 12 months it will burn but not great, really needs 15+ but not necessaryily 2 years, but hey maybe I split mine smaller or shorter than you, long as what works keeps working then keep on keeping on.

Perhaps it is because we cut all of our wood in the winter months, mainly December and January. Then give the wood two summers and it would be ready.


Sorry, don't mean to hijack this thread.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Wood cut in the winter starts out with less moisture in it for sure. Have to get it down before early spring when it pumps the sap back up.