Can't get stove much over 300 degrees.

[stoveguy2esw]

Mine Harbor Freight one is good to at least 1,425. Don't ask.

in the immortal words of Paris Hilton, "that's hot"

 

[BrotherBart]

in the immortal words of Paris Hilton, "that's hot"

You know the story of the old Sierra cracking with a full fresh load in it...

 

[bag of hammers]

Normally its 2 or 3 splits with the first 2 East/West and the other one kind of angled North/South.

This may not be a huge help in addition to the great comments so far, but you might also try loading everything N/S if you can, or at least the bottom row. My stove will burm much lower / slower when I load e/w on the bottom. That's typically what I'll do if i want to extend the burn overnight or if I'm away for a good part of the day. Easy sanity check to try....

 

[Matt93eg]

Yeah I noticed some of the IR guns had a low peak reading when I was in lowes the other day. They had one for I think 40$ that read to 900 degrees.

Bag of hammers, I will try loading N/S and see if that helps. Won't burn another fire until Saturday night by the way it looks right now because its warm.

 

[Matt93eg]

Hey guys, I went ahead and bought an IR gun yesterday, and like soundchasm said I don't see how I was going without it. You can get a reading anywhere on the stove. I usually point the laser on the top of the stove. Right now she is cranking away at 455 degrees. I think I am starting to get a better handle on this EPA stove. I have learned that after a reload I have got to leave the primary air open until the wood gets charred good and then I can slowly start cutting back the primary air.

I would probably be cussing this thing by now if it wasn't for the advice on this forum. I got some wood that was more seasoned and that is making a huge difference. Next year I will be ahead and have some good wood already.

Anyways, its raining outside, about 34 degrees at the moment. Its 78 in the stove room, 75 in the hallway leading to the bedrooms, and 68-70 in the far bedroom. I still need a couple more small fans to distribute the heated air better but overall I am liking this Drolet stove.

Last night I loaded it full at 10:30pm, went to bed, didn't wake up until 6:25am, still felt fine in bedroom but I jumped up to feed the stove. Was still still 68 in the bedroom, 75 in stove room. Had a nice bed of hot coals so I spread them out a bit, put a few splits on there and off she went. I am still a LONG ways from a pro but so far I am grinning.

 

[Swedishchef]

Great news! It sounds you're getting the hang of it. Nothing comes fast in the wood burning world. I can only speak for myself but after 3 years of burning I am still learning!

GOod wood is key to an EPA stove.

Andrew

 

[DanCorcoran]

I still need a couple more small fans to distribute the heated air better

Another tip from this forum: put the fans on the floor and blow the cold air toward the stove room. It'll be twice as effective as trying to blow warm air into the cold rooms.

 

[Matt93eg]

Dancorcoran, Yes I received that advice on this forum as well. I was trying to blow the heated air towards the cool rooms but it works better having a small fan on the floor blowing the cold air towards the stove room, works really good.

 

[bag of hammers]

Great news! It sounds you're getting the hang of it. Nothing comes fast in the wood burning world. I can only speak for myself but after 3 years of burning I am still learning!

GOod wood is key to an EPA stove.

Andrew

+1

I burned an older smoke dragon for @ 10 years or so, then the tube stove for the last 4. Looking forward to one day when maybe I can cut my teeth on a hybrid or cat stove too. It's all about the journey .

My Harbor Freight one is good to at least 1,425. Don't ask.

BB was it you that once recommended keeping a change of clothes near the wood stove?

I happened to walk by a 60% off deal on cheap IR guns in one of the box stores here one day - so I grabbed one. To be honest, I have no idea what the limit is, 'cause I think I probably pointed it at everything except the wood stove.

 

[Matt93eg]

Well guys,

My Wife stayed home from work today so she wanted a lesson on using the new stove. So I showed her what I knew(thanks to you guys) and loaded the stove up before leaving for work. I checked in with her several times throughout the day and I be darned, I think she was running the thing better than I was. I came home from a COLD WET day at work and couldn't wait to get home and relax in the heat, I walked in and man was it nice. She had it 80 in the stove room, far ends of the house were 70.

I told her "darn, your running the new stove better than I have in the week we have had it". That had her smiling from ear to ear. She loves heating with the wood. Doesn't like the mess no more than I do but its worth it. Heat pump hasn't been on once since I started the fire on Saturday evening. I "DO NOT" miss hearing the compressor firing up in the heat pump in the middle of the night.

 

[oldspark]

Matt you have a keeper.

 

[Matt93eg]

Oldspark I believe I do!! Only suppose to be a low of 45 tonight with rain, its already 45. Still plenty warm in the house. Nice coal bed in the stove. I had thought about letting it go out but think I will load up a few splits for the night just to keep the stove hot a nice coal bed because its suppose to be 30 tomorrow night and 20 on Wednesday night.

 

[aaron1]

My wife probably runs our stove better than I do too. I always want to damper it down fast to get the secondaries going. She wants to let it run full blast, blazing away. She never get smoke out of the chimney, ever, but she goes through wood faster. I slow the burn some, but I go up to check for smoke when I am wondering if I dampered it down too much, and often, I have a little smoke and have to crank it up again. Still learning how slowly to damper it down. Glad you're getting the stove to work well!

 

[pen]

My wife probably runs our stove better than I do too. I always want to damper it down fast to get the secondaries going. She wants to let it run full blast, blazing away. She never get smoke out of the chimney, ever, but she goes through wood faster. I slow the burn some, but I go up to check for smoke when I am wondering if I dampered it down too much, and often, I have a little smoke and have to crank it up again. Still learning how slowly to damper it down. Glad you're getting the stove to work well!

I lived that same story my first two years running the modern stove. I bought a better chimney thermometer and played around with it's position (it's actually one with basically no numbers on it) so that when that thermometer reaches the noon position, it's time to start decreasing the air. The temp will usually drop to about 11 after the air adjustment, when it's back to 12, time to damper again, do that until I reach where I usually cruise with the air control, and look one more time about 10-15 mins later. If it hasn't gone past 1 at that point, it's perfect where it is for the duration. If it is past 1, then I close things up just a touch more.

Buying that stack thermometer with no (almost none) numbers on it was the best thing I ever did. Made me look for a pattern rather than a certain number. I let the accumulation in the chimney after some experience and cleanings let me know if that practice was right or not.

pen

 

[aaron1]

I had been wondering if a stack thermometer wouldn't be a great solution to this problem of how fast to damper down. My stove is hearth-mounted with little room to get to the stovepipe and no ability to read a thermometer stuck to the pipe. Is there a some way i can rig a temperature probe through the cleanout on the bottom or from the top that has a remote readout?

If this isn't possible, I might be better off just using the flames as a guide if possible or maybe going high-tech and rigging a permanent, quality, wireless surveillance camera to my chimney and monitoring on my laptop (over-engineered, geek solution that appeals to me!)

 

[Matt93eg]

aaron1, I am the same way, I tend to start closing the air to soon. She will run it wide open and hot but burns through wood faster just like you said. I think I am a bit more "wood conscious" I think since I am the one going into the woods, sawing up trees, splitting the logs, and then hauling the splits home. While I am doing that she is in the house with the toasty stove. I enjoy working with the wood for the most part but that doesn't mean its not hard work.

 

[aaron1]

Amen, that's exactly it! And, I'm just frugal by nature (for the most part, though this stove was a luxury item b/c I love burning and watching flames!) I also just love the look of the purple secondaries when they kick in fully on lowest draft setting and just lick the glass for minutes and minutes, awesome complete combustion!

I also noticed that the wife doesn't really want to load her up and pack her tight. I'm always encouraging her to put more in so we can jack up the temp and let the secondaries rip!! We're both going through the learning curve! I'm starting to think that watching the flame pattern is key to figuring out when to damper down the draft (maybe in absence of a stovepipe thermometer or chimney cam )

 

[Matt93eg]

Yeah I for the most part frugal by nature as well. We are going through the learning curve as well and hopefully next year will be in much better shape. On top of getting use to this new modern stove, I also have less than "ideal" wood this year. I got a bit of seasoned stuff and man did that rock. Like swedishchef said above, good seasoned wood is the key. Hopefully next year I will be much more ahead and have much more ideal wood for burning, right now we just have to do the best we can with what we have and keep an eye on the liner for buildup.

 

[aaron1]

I think if you aren't seeing any smoke and you are burning it hot most of the time you won't have a problem with creosote buildup. I ran my "smoke dragon" VC Vigilant last year and went through maybe 2 cords of wood for fires in the evenings and weekends. I didn't have anything in the liner when my sweep checked it this Fall. He was amazed at how clean it was, as was I. i guess since I didn't load it up and let it smolder, it didn't have any problems. Again, I'd rather "waste" a little wood and not get any smoke and buildup in the liner than starve the fire, extend the burn, and have buildup.

 

[Matt93eg]

I think if you aren't seeing any smoke and you are burning it hot most of the time you won't have a problem with creosote buildup. I ran my "smoke dragon" VC Vigilant last year and went through maybe 2 cords of wood for fires in the evenings and weekends. I didn't have anything in the liner when my sweep checked it this Fall. He was amazed at how clean it was, as was I. i guess since I didn't load it up and let it smolder, it didn't have any problems. Again, I'd rather "waste" a little wood and not get any smoke and buildup in the liner than starve the fire, extend the burn, and have buildup.

I agree, I don't want build up in the liner if at all possible, right now with this less than ideal wood I am having to leave the primary air open more to get it to burn nice and hot where with that dry stuff I had I could close the primary and I was enjoying secondary's for quite some time. I have next week off of work so I plan to be in the woods several of those days sawing logs and splitting, trying to get myself ahead for next year. Suppose to be 27 here tonight so I will have it blazing.

 

[bag of hammers]

Matt, Aaron while you find your groove, don't drive yourselves crazy over the possibility that you might burn up a few extra splits. Efficient burning is a good thing, of course, but not loading it up enough, trying to dial it down too soon, etc - just adds to frustration while you're trying to learn your setup. Once you're comfortable with the basics, then fine tune for optimum efficiency, when the pressure is off. You might find you're already there, without having done too much worrying along the way. Just my 2c fwiw...

 

[aaron1]

Thanks, BoH, that's a good point. I'm just OCD, so I want it to be perfect, now! In the grand scheme it's probably not a lot of extra wood to just let it burn longer.

 

[pen]

You can do almost anything in the world with a stove so long as you keep up with chimney inspections and cleanings if you have a solid (by the book) installation.

My grandfather cleaned his exterior masonry chimney once per month, no matter what (fisher mama bear). As a kid, I spent a lot of time there and he was great about letting me load the stove, adjust the air, and explain why what I did was a good choice or not at the time. It sounds romantic, but it mostly was (so, do you plan on sleeping with blankets, a sheet, or walking out to the garage to cool off????) He had a system but was willing to let me mess with it. I'll forever thank him for his willingness to let me play,,,,, he had the unique ability to let me make a decision then sneak in knowledge and let me feel like me changing what I did was my idea.

When it came to the chimney, I helped there too and he never had much accumulation as he burned good wood, and burned it good and hot consistently but years as a firefighter and chief just couldn't get him do less. When cancer decided to kick him in the ass, the duties came back to me in keeping gram safe as she still burns about a cord a winter, when things get really cold. When I took over these duties, I wasn't burning in my own home and the seriousness of the whole thing hit me and I was searching the old memory bank for things he told me to make sure I was doing it right. Funny how responsibility sneaks up and makes one wish they took more advantage of situations they had in the past.

With my own house, even after lining and insulating the exterior masonry chimney, I kept up monthly cleanings for a year just to be certain I knew how things were operating. Then, with experience, I knew I could cut back to less. Now, I'll clean around Christmas/new years then again sometime in March, then again at the end of the season.

I could get away with once per year I'm certain, maybe someday I'll feel confident to do that, but in the meantime, I find the peace of mind worth the effort.

Moral of the story, you are doing it right. You are playing and being cognizant of the possible consequences, learning and asking questions.

Keep it up.

Well done.

pen

 

[aaron1]

Well, pen, I for one should have tested my chimney sooner. I just got lucky that it was really clean. I think your cautious approach of cleaning more often is much better advice. That's a nice memory of your grand dad. I have a lot of fond memories of my dad stoking our inefficient old Sears stove from the 80s as a kid. That baby could really crank, but I still remember the horrible smell it emitted as I played in the snow in the back yard! He taught me a lot about building fires though.

 

[bag of hammers]

Thanks, BoH, that's a good point. I'm just OCD, so I want it to be perfect, now! In the grand scheme it's probably not a lot of extra wood to just let it burn longer.

As am I - I'd drive myself nuts worrying about burning a bit more than "necessary". Don't let it bug you too much.

Pen, the way you described your grandfather's approach to showing you the ropes - that's the hallmark of a great teacher. Great story, sounds like he was a great man.