Another Hearthstone Shelburne Question

[sheepdog000]

OK, I know some of the wood I have been burning is greener that I would like to burn (18-28% MC). I mix it in with the ash that I have. Last night I loaded up my stove over a good bed of coals. It was rock n rolling & according to my Chimguard thermostat, I hit about 625 degrees in the stove. I was only there for about 10 minutes or so as I was keeping a very close eye on it. I wanted to clean out my chimney. I then closed the flue and let it cool off a bit. Weird thing is, my house filled up with some smoke for a short time and it smelled funny. I went outside and looked at the chimney, no smoke there. I went up in the attic, no smoke there either. My class a triple wall still looked new like it was professionally installed in the beginning of October. The gasket on the bottom of my door came loose when I opened the door in the middle of that burn. I stuffed back in and was business as usual.

That brings me to my next question. Does everyone clean their glass doors after every burn? I have been and using "Woodstove Glass Cleaner" by Meeco's Red Devil that I purchased from Menards. Did this stuff eat the glue holding my gasket in place? The glass is about black right now. I can see a red glow from the coals, but that's about it.

The smoke that was produced last night, could that have been from the high stove temperatures burning the creosote out of my pipe?

 

[DanCorcoran]

You say you closed the flue. Do you have a damper, or do you mean you closed the air intake lever? In either case, I'm not sure how you'd get visible smoke in the house, unless you had a dryer or exhaust fan on at the time, which might have reversed the flow and sucked the smoke down the flue.

If you have soot on your door, it is probably related to burning less than dry wood. I almost never get any soot on my Shelburne window and if I do, I burns off with the next hot fire. Occasionally I'll wipe the glass with a damp paper towel dipped in ashes, but have never used a razor blade (which would scratch it) or any liquid cleaner.

 

[begreen]

Just a guess, it might have been that you got the stove hotter than usual and finally really broke in the finish. Pick up some stove gasket adhesive and reglue the loose door gasket in place.

I don't know of anyone that cleans the glass after each burn. If the stove is being run properly the glass should stay pretty clean by itself. I only clean our glass when I clean out the ashes. That is maybe every week or two during the shoulder seasons. When burning 24/7 I often let it go longer. It develops a light haze over time, but nothing that won't clean off pretty easily when the stove is cool.

 

[sheepdog000]

I was cleaning out the ashes, which there was ALLOT of them. One of the pieces began to burn real good again and then I smelled that smell again. It was like burning plastic or burning paint. SO nasty I had to open the windows. This IS a huge learning curve, lol. I can't explain the smoke though.

 

[begreen]

This may be the paint breaking in, but there could be other causes. Where are you measuring the stove temperature? Is there any silicone on the pipe joints or the stove flue collar?

 

[DanCorcoran]

I was cleaning out the ashes, which there was ALLOT of them. One of the pieces began to burn real good again and then I smelled that smell again. It was like burning plastic or burning paint. SO nasty I had to open the windows. This IS a huge learning curve, lol. I can't explain the smoke though.

Does your stove have an enamel finish or a matte finish? Is there a damper in your flue?

 

[sheepdog000]

The thermostat is on the top of the stove right next to the flue. It's a double wall, so I didn't want to stick it on the pipe. I was advised to do it this way by the store that sold me the stove, Emmett's Energy. They have not done me wrong yet, great customer service. If I had to take a guess, I figured that it was pain and the stove breaking in. I still cannot explain the smoke though unless it snuck out the door via the bottom part of the gasket.

My Slelburne is a Porcelain Enamel. My stove has one switch, the flue control, and it's on the side of the stove. There's not a huge range for it to move either. I usually get er ripping til I have coals, about 300-400 degrees, then load it up again, close the flue about 90%, then go to bed.