Burning at 300° - too cold?

[stek]

We've been burning our new Jotul at around 300° for the last month. Anything hotter than that just cooks us out of the house, even with the short spell of below freezing weather we had last week (it's normally in the 40s here in the winter). Jotul recommends burning between 400-600° and I know that would be cleaner but there is just no way I could stand it, the house is 80° as it is and with the windows open and burning one stick at a time.

Not complaining of course, I am in love with the stove and the heat is awesome. My question: do I need to worry more than usual about creosote buildup burning at this low a temperature? We have a short slanted run in the chimney so we can't easily do a visual inspection to check for creosote, should we do a cleaning soon?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We burn around 300-400 a lot during spring and fall. All it takes is to use smaller amounts of wood and burn it hot. By burning it hot you will take care of the worries of plugged chimneys.

However, if you load the stove and then damper it down to keep the heat down then you can and will have some problems. Just put in less fuel and keep the flame going.

As for cleaning, inspect the chimney monthly for sure in your first couple of years of burning wood. After that you will have a better handle on what it takes to keep the chimney clean.

Above all, the biggest key to burning wood and not having creosote problems is to have good dry wood. That does not mean to buy from a wood seller and burn the wood just because he says it is seasoned. Over time it has been proven that 99.9% of the wood sellers either do not know what seasoned wood is or else they just lie about it. If you buy your wood, buy now for next year. Never buy now and start burning that right away or those problems will be there. Wood needs time after is has been cut to length and split, then stacked out in the sun and wind to dry properly. Anything else will cause the wood burner some major problems.

Good luck.

 

[BrotherBart]

stek please put that 118 Black Bear in your signature line to make answering questions easier