can someone help me?

[mini]

I need a little help learning to burn my stove at lower temperatures. I bought a new Quadrafire 5700. I love the stove and it seems very simple to use. The problem is my stove top thermometer (centered on the lower step) is always around 600 or 650 with the burn rate control all the way closed. At this point I panic and turn the fan on to cool the stove. The probe thermometer is always between 400 and 600. The stove puts out alot of heat and keeps cools for a long time but I think I could do a little better if i wasn't burning so hot.

My process is load small splits to get coals. Then I load a few big peices into the stove to activate the ACC and let it climb to about 3 or 350. I cut the air back at to half then let it climb to 450 then cut I back the whole way. It climbs all the way up to 600 or 650 for about an hour with he fan on high then starts to fall. I have tried loading NS and EW with similar results. Some of my splits are a little small but I have tried using larger ones. Fact is the stove doesn't seem happy unless everything is gasing off and the temps are climbing. I have tried turning the air down sooner but then I have smoke from the chimney and the flue is only around 350. Any help or suggestions would be great. thank guys.

Eric

 

[Pagey]

Most of today's EPA, non-cat plate steel stoves (like yours) are happiest when cruising at 600 to 650F. In order for the secondary combustion to occur in a non-cat stove, the smoke needs to be heated to around 1,100F. This naturally translates into higher stove top temps. You could, in theory, run a bit cooler by burning smaller loads or experimenting with east/west loads as opposed to north/south loads.

If you try to run it too cool, however, you'll be burning "dirty" and negate the purpose of the clean secondary combustion technology.

 

['bert]

Pagey has given you very good advice. Most people here have the opposite problem. They are only burning the 300 - 350 range and can't get enough heat or have creosote problems etc. If you read a bit here you will see that most often the advice to burn hotter. The type of temps you are at. Refer to owners manual to see what temps it suggests. Be cautious not to over fire. Relax and enjoy. And Welcome to the site!!

 

[snowtime]

I reread your post and I misjudged your problem. I thought you were over heating but that does not seem the case. As others said let the stove work for you. The "high" temps are just normal for loading a stove. Yoiu could check the gaskets just to be sure they are sealing.

 

[Fsappo]

less wood = less heat for the most part. The suggestions of using less wood make the most sense to me. Don't micro manage a wood stove. N/S, top bottom and all that jazz will drive you nuts. 600 degree surface temps are fine on that stove. Just build a fire to your comfort level and enjoy your big ole stove.

 

[Jags]

And if you already have an established fire/coals try your reload without the ACC. That is start up air (mine is old school where I actually have to move the lever myself %-P ) and should not be needed with a reload.

 

[SlyFerret]

Hi Mini!
I'm in my second full season with my 30. It's an EPA non-cat stove also. It's oversized for my house, and it wants to burn hot and clean.

If I'm not careful, It'll heat my first floor (where the stove is) to 95 degrees without too much effort.

I'm still trying to learn how to hold it back a bit, but still let it burn clean. This year, I've been able to keep the house much more comfortable than last year. Last year, we spent most of the time in the mid to high 80's. This year, we've been mostly high 70's low 80's on the first floor. (The way the house is built, the peaked ceiling funnels the warm air right up the stairs to the bedrooms. It really works great here).

There are a number of things that I've found that I need to balance.

1) Type of wood.
Last year, I had quite a bit of oak, which is great firewood, and coals great, but gave me too much heat output (burned too hot for too long). This year, I have a mix that is mostly ash, with some oak and some maple and locust. The ash lights and burns very easily, but it doesn't burn as long or coal the same way the harder woods do, which in my case is good.

2) Selecting wood for the load.
If I know that I'm not going to be reloading for a while (over night load, or in the morning before work), I try and make sure I grab a nice oak/locust split to put on the bottom of the load in the stove. The ash burns off more quickly and doesn't overheat the house, and the piece of harder wood will give me some coals to relight with when I get back.

3) Size of load.
I've found that I need to make sure I build a big enough fire to get the stove up to temperature so that it burns cleanly, but not so big that it keeps everything hot for hours and hours. A small fire with larger splits usually doesn't burn well unless you have a good coal bed established. Since my coal bed is usually relatively small, I use 4 or 5 small splits to build a smaller fire that burns hot and fast in order to heat up the stove, burn clean, but not overheat the house.

4) Reload timing
I have to time my reloads so that the house has had enough time to cool back down from the previous load, but there are still enough coals to relight again. This has gotten easier as I've gotten better at the first 3 items.

-SF

 

[madrone]

Most of the magnetic thermometers out there have "zones" indicated on them for use on single-wall pipe. They don't apply to the top of the stove. I'm guessing that's why you're concerned about being at 600.

I've seen thermometers without the "OVERFIRE" freakout zones printed on them, but does anybody make one for EPA II stoves specifically? There's a product you could sell here.

 

[BrotherBart]

With that big firebox, try this. When the stove gets down to around three hundred degrees on the top plate rake the coals to the front creating about a six inch band of coals across the front with no hot coals behind that. Then load three big splits N/S with a inch or so of space between them. When the front of the splts have started burning start easing the intake air down at about three hundred degrees stove top temp. By the time it gets to 450 or so have the air cut down to where you are just maintaining nice flames off of the splits. Don't worry about the banzi run up to five hundred, shut it down and be dazzled by the secondary burn stuff. Just get ya a nice three big split five hundred degree burn going.

Go outside and check, it should be burning clean with no visible smoke. If it is smoking that wood ain't dry enough.

Do all of this without the ACC. As stated above that ACC is for starting up a cold stove.

 

[mini]

Well guys thanks for all of the help. I guess everything is working ok then, I just was worried being new into all of this.

So let me make sure I understand this. With the air the whole way closed it's ok and just relax. For a cooler fire I need to try and get larger splits and let her rip. If this is true I guess I'll just try to leave the blower down a little and see where it goes. That is the biggest problem I'm having is that when the stove gets hot I panic and turn the blower on high which is great but it cools the stove very quickly after the fireshow is over. I have lots of coals left after 8 or so hours so I can't say my burntimes are really all that bad but I think I could get more useable heat if I could leave the blower on a little lower. Does that make any sense?


Also guys is it ok to see alittle smoke from the flue or should it always have absolutley none? And what is safe for my stove top temp. ? I get panicked at about 650 and the burn tubes are glowing (which I found is ok). I know from the infra red gun that my thermometer is in the hottest spot on the stove but when should I start to panick or am i ok to trun the burn rate up a little and wee what it does. I'm just trying to learn the stove pretty good before i am completely comfortable leaving it. It is awesome to look at but can be kinda scary when things are fully "gassin" off.

Thnak guys, This place is great.

 

[SlyFerret]

You'll get some smoke on start-up. Once the stove is rockin', you might see some steam if it's really cold out. As the stove reaches the coaling stage, you probably won't see much smoke then, because there isn't much produced.

-SF

 

[staplebox]

Once the air is down all the way, unless your gaskets are leaking, you can't do much except relax. Check the gaskets if your worried about an over fire. If they're fine you are good to go.
It sounds like you are running just fine - 600*, coals after 8 hours and a warm house are what most people are trying to do.
Sounds like you could try backing down the air a bit earlier to keep it from peaking as quickly, but that is fine tuning.

Once you get this down it'll be time to start learning to fine tune for outside temperature, wood type, barometric pressure, wind speed, and solar flares. :coolsmile:

 

[savageactor7]

mini sounds to me like you have some well seasoned wood there...good for you. There's a learning curve to that stove and it sounds like your almost there.

 

[Jags]

Six fitty ain't gonna hurt that stove.

 

[soupy1957]

I've learned a LOT, just by reading through the various comments. Thanks gang! I guess the one thing I still am a bit fuzzy about in all this discussion is, how do you do a quick "kill it" in these new EPA rated stoves if things get TOO hot. Just shut the air off/on? Just how fast does a wood stove cool down, anyway (Avalon Rainier 90 here)??
-Soupy1957