So we bought this house in '04, and it has a permanently installed wood stove insert in the fireplace. I've been reluctant to use it since I didn't really know the state of the chimney, didn't want wood stacked on the porch, and a handful of other lame excuses that people who do know wood stoves would laugh at me about.
What I've got is an Appalachian BM-4000 made in 1993. I've contacted them about getting the manual, and all I can get is one for something fairly similar (or so they tell me) for a Gemini-XL. My stove does have a catalytic combustor, and I suspect that it's the original, and was used a good deal. I know the guy who owned the house before told me he'd keep the house warm all winter on a cord of wood. Since I have't used it, that means it's got about 11 years of use on it, and I've read that the useful life is nominally 6 years, and up to 10 if you're fortunate.
So we've got this potential ice-storm bearing down on us, and while I have a 6KW generator, it's not enough to run the heat-pumps, and it's not on a transfer switch. I've laid in some propane for a couple heaters, gas for the generator, food for the dogs, and beer for me. I also decided it would be good idea to get the stove running. I cleaned out the 8 years of ash that's been sitting in there, inspected the flue (which looks pretty clean, but I realize is no substitute for a proper cleaning and inspection by someone who knows what they're doing), purchased some "seasoned" wood, although I'm now having some doubts just how seasoned it is.
Per the Gemini-XL instructions, opened the damper, opened the draft vents, used newspaper and kindling to get some small stuff going (which was hard to light, required a several tries, it just wouldn't catch), and finally got some larger pieces in and burning. Waited 30 minutes, closed the damper, but left the draft vents open for a high burn. Here's where the questions start:
1) I never could get really much of a roaring fire going. Some decent flames, but nothing like burning limbs in a 55 gallon barrel. Closing the damper pretty much put the flames out after a bit, but I had some good solid coals in there, and was throwing a lot of heat out the blower vents. What's a fire with the damper closed and the combustor (supposedly) lit off supposed to look like? Is this likely a sign that the combustor is clogged? And as near as I can tell, this model stove doesn't have a thermocouple port to monitor the combustor temperatures.
2) Sooner or later, you've got to let the fire go out, if nothing else to clean the ash bed. Are you supposed to shut the draft vents and open the damper? Nothing in the manual talks about this, but they do talk about all these great ways you can screw up your combustor. I would *guess* that as the fire quality goes down, you'd want to open the damper to keep as much junk as possible out of the combustor. Pure theorizing on my part.
3) CLR/CSL logs: use them or not? The ones I've seen say they're approved for stoves with catalytic's. What they DON'T say is whether to use it with the damper open or closed. I'm guessing damper open, again, on the basis of keeping anything but heat from clean, dry wood going through the combustor.
After watching some videos that Applied Ceramics has on their website (good videos, too), I think I understand how it works. I'm quite hesitant to drop the damper/combustor arrangement for inspection until after this storm passes. If I can't get it back together or break something, I don't want to leave my self in the position of not being able to use it at all.
Disclaimer: I would have preferred to wait to use the stove until I could get a chimney inspection. I also should have waited until I dropped the catalytic assembly for inspection. However, the prospect of the house freezing up was a major consideration for me, and chimney appears in good shape (light gray, no black or thick accumulations that I could see).
Any and all advice appreciated,
--JC
What I've got is an Appalachian BM-4000 made in 1993. I've contacted them about getting the manual, and all I can get is one for something fairly similar (or so they tell me) for a Gemini-XL. My stove does have a catalytic combustor, and I suspect that it's the original, and was used a good deal. I know the guy who owned the house before told me he'd keep the house warm all winter on a cord of wood. Since I have't used it, that means it's got about 11 years of use on it, and I've read that the useful life is nominally 6 years, and up to 10 if you're fortunate.
So we've got this potential ice-storm bearing down on us, and while I have a 6KW generator, it's not enough to run the heat-pumps, and it's not on a transfer switch. I've laid in some propane for a couple heaters, gas for the generator, food for the dogs, and beer for me. I also decided it would be good idea to get the stove running. I cleaned out the 8 years of ash that's been sitting in there, inspected the flue (which looks pretty clean, but I realize is no substitute for a proper cleaning and inspection by someone who knows what they're doing), purchased some "seasoned" wood, although I'm now having some doubts just how seasoned it is.
Per the Gemini-XL instructions, opened the damper, opened the draft vents, used newspaper and kindling to get some small stuff going (which was hard to light, required a several tries, it just wouldn't catch), and finally got some larger pieces in and burning. Waited 30 minutes, closed the damper, but left the draft vents open for a high burn. Here's where the questions start:
1) I never could get really much of a roaring fire going. Some decent flames, but nothing like burning limbs in a 55 gallon barrel. Closing the damper pretty much put the flames out after a bit, but I had some good solid coals in there, and was throwing a lot of heat out the blower vents. What's a fire with the damper closed and the combustor (supposedly) lit off supposed to look like? Is this likely a sign that the combustor is clogged? And as near as I can tell, this model stove doesn't have a thermocouple port to monitor the combustor temperatures.
2) Sooner or later, you've got to let the fire go out, if nothing else to clean the ash bed. Are you supposed to shut the draft vents and open the damper? Nothing in the manual talks about this, but they do talk about all these great ways you can screw up your combustor. I would *guess* that as the fire quality goes down, you'd want to open the damper to keep as much junk as possible out of the combustor. Pure theorizing on my part.
3) CLR/CSL logs: use them or not? The ones I've seen say they're approved for stoves with catalytic's. What they DON'T say is whether to use it with the damper open or closed. I'm guessing damper open, again, on the basis of keeping anything but heat from clean, dry wood going through the combustor.
After watching some videos that Applied Ceramics has on their website (good videos, too), I think I understand how it works. I'm quite hesitant to drop the damper/combustor arrangement for inspection until after this storm passes. If I can't get it back together or break something, I don't want to leave my self in the position of not being able to use it at all.
Disclaimer: I would have preferred to wait to use the stove until I could get a chimney inspection. I also should have waited until I dropped the catalytic assembly for inspection. However, the prospect of the house freezing up was a major consideration for me, and chimney appears in good shape (light gray, no black or thick accumulations that I could see).
Any and all advice appreciated,
--JC
