Cawley-Lemay 600 can't break 250 degrees..

[bkatzman]

Greetings Everybody,
I finally got the Cawley-Lemay 600 that a buddy of mine gave me and for some reason I can't the thing to go over 250 degrees (according to the Chimgard stovepipe thermometer which is about

I can get a good size fire going (and sustained for a while) but the thermometer doesn't seem to break 250. I leave the flue completely open and the airtake wheel on the front on 10 (the widest opening). I can hear the suction when I have it open this far to about setting 6.

The wood is mixed hardwoods from someone I know (and trust).

Any ideas?

Thanks!
Bryce

 

[pen]

it doesn't sound like the wood is seasoned yet.

OR

you aren't building a big enough fire in the stove.

OR

you haven't tried loading wood (no less than 3-4 med-large pieces) on a stove full of HOT coals.

pen

 

[oconnor]

Question - single wall pipe or double wall pipe? The magnetic thermo is meant for single wall only. Just a gross error check.

Could also be the thermometer is not accurate.

 

[bkatzman]

Thanks Pen! I am trying option 3 as we speak. I will invite the guy I bought the wood from for a demo of option 1 and try option 2 tomorrow.

I was getting confused because I saw people saying that after the fire starts thriving cut the intake down otherwise the heat is going right up the chimney, but I don't think they were talking about the kind of stove I have...

Also I think my thermometer is not accurate as it was a hand me down.. I will grab a new one this weekend. Any recommendations?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Is there creosote on the walls of the stove?

 

[pen]

W/ turkey day tomorrow I'd assume something will be in your oven? If so, stick that thermometer in there w/ that nasty ol' bird and see how close it reads to your oven's thermometer.

pen

 

[bkatzman]

Single wall...

Our house is at 70 (usually 56) so perhaps the thermometer is off..

My main concern is buring too low (and causing creosote). The one good thing is that my chimney is not smoking at all (it's just expelling heat)....

Thanks guys!

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Why would he put the turkey in the woodstove? It doesn't even get to 350 degrees?


:lol:

Matt

 

[bkatzman]

As far as the creosote on the inside wall of the stove. If it's sticky looking stuff yes I saw one spot of it.
I have only been burning for three-four days so I don't expect to see much, but I plan to look down the chimney this weekend to be sure....

I will definitely try your suggestion of the throwing the thermometer in the oven!

Thanks!

 

[pen]

As far as the creosote on the inside wall of the stove. If it's sticky looking stuff yes I saw one spot of it.
I have only been burning for three-four days so I don't expect to see much, but I plan to look down the chimney this weekend to be sure....

I will definitely try your suggestion of the throwing the thermometer in the oven!

Thanks!

Don't look at the inside of the chimney yet. They ALL look that way with the amount of burning you've done. Pay attention to the exhaust gasses from the chimney, the heat output of the stove, and quality of the wood you are using.

Until you've gone through at least a face cord, your chimney is just naturally going to have some stuff sticking. After that is when you start to see what it is you are going to be accumulating and can make a better judgment of how things are going.

pen

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Sticky black looking stuff is bad. If the stove was burning hot you wouldn't have that. The thermometer probably isn't the issue.

Can you describe the setup? Something like there is ____ feet of chimney pipe coming out the top of the stove. Then it makes a right angle and goes ___ feet. Then it makes another right angle up the chimney and goes _____ feet up to the top.

When you burn, do you notice any sizzle in the wood?

Matt

 

[bkatzman]

Sticky black looking stuff is bad. If the stove was burning hot you wouldn't have that. The thermometer probably isn't the issue.

Can you describe the setup? Something like there is ____ feet of chimney pipe coming out the top of the stove. Then it makes a right angle and goes ___ feet. Then it makes another right angle up the chimney and goes _____ feet up to the top.

When you burn, do you notice any sizzle in the wood?

Matt

Thanks for the inquiry.. Here is my setup:

Cawley Lemay 600
From the back of the stove 90 degree up, 5 feet of single wall, into 90, 20 inches of single wall going into a clay thimble (surrounded by triple wall as a "safety cuff") into the chimney. The chimney is partially in my mud room and is about 12-15 feet tall, clean and good shape (as far as I can tell)...

Like I said I seem to be getting a good draft, relatively no smoke out of the chimney...

No sizzling...

 

[bkatzman]

Good morning folks. Happy Thanksgiving.

So I am trying an experiment this morning. I cut all of my pieces a lot skinnier, started the fire (using that Texas whatever method where you make a box out of the wood and fill it with paper), opened the flue and air intake to max (10) and left the door slightly ajar to get the temps to climb. I am indeed hearing sizzling and a few pops. So probably the wood is wet even though it doesn't appear to be...

Once I burn the "frame" that was used to start the fire and am left with a bed of glowing embers I will fill the stove 1/2-3/4 full with skinny pieces and leave the flue/air intake full bore. Hopefully I will break 250 degrees. Otherwise I plan on getting a "bag of wood" at the supermarket which seemed to burn a lot hotter, give it a try and see what happens to figure out if it is the wood (hopefully) or something else...

Thanks!
Bryce

 

[pen]

i'm betting it's the wood if the thing doesn't really take off after you load it up on some good, big, hot, coals.

good luck

gobble gobble

pen

 

[bkatzman]

I spoke to my friend who used to own the stove and was told that he did NOT have damper on the stove pipe. He regulated the air only by using the air-intake wheel on the front. I am going to try messing with the damper tonight to see if that has any effect on things.

 

[schwaggly]

did I miss how high up the stack your themometer is?

 

[pgmr]

Sounds like too much air flow through the stove - all your heat is going up the flue. Once fire is well established, start closing down the air and/or damper to increase the dwell time of the hot gases in the stove.

 

[bkatzman]

Will try tonight

I have the Condar thermostat on the stovepipe about 12 inches from the stove to pipe collar..

 

[XX78]

We had a smaller size cawley growing up. Now I have a epa high efficiency fireplace insert. So I guess you can say I've battled the best of both worlds. When I went to the fancy insert in my new home, I bought the same thermometer. Well it is meant for a stove pipe but I use it on my insert. Anyways one observation while burning last year with my insert is that the thermometer may not be that accurate. How do I know that? One evening I was burning with the therm on the insert and not the pipe cause it is in the wall, and I was watching a hot fire and was smelling "hot". I went over to the insert top an look at the thermometer and it was around 300 degrees. Something told me this was not right so I flicked the "arrow" portion of the therm and the thing suddenly jumped up to 600. Make sure the therm is not sticking.

 

[bkatzman]

Thanks for the info. I am starting to suspect that it's the thermometer as I can get the fire cranking and start smelling that "hot" smell but the thermometer never reads over 250. The wood is also somewhat suspect (although it looks, feels, and sounds good), so I am going to buy some bagged wood (super dry and super seasoned) from the supermarket to give it a try.

I suspected that I wasn't getting good temps because I had the air intake and damper all the way open, but I tried reducing the damper (almost to the point of causing smoke to come back in) without any result. I talked to the previous owner who said that he didn't even have a damper on the thing (because it has the air intake wheel on the front).

It was nice to hear from a fellow Cawley Lemay owner. I love the old thing and it was free so I am going to give it a go for this season and maybe go with something more effecient and low maintenance next season.

Thanks All. It's nice to have access to so many kind and knowledgeable folks. We (probably like many of you) live in the boons of the Finger Lakes, NY and have a heck of a time finding anyone (good) that will come out to assess things..

Bryce

 

[bkatzman]

Just an update-

Replaced the very old Condar stove pipe thermometer with a new Rutland one and filled the firebox with about five skinny pieces of kiln dried wood and was able to get it around 400 degrees! While the kiln dried stuff was cooking I put some of the problematic wood that I had just bought around the stove to dry it off. When I threw that stuff in it also was able to get near 400. So I guess it was a combo of bad thermometer and wood that wasn't quite dry. I am also experimenting with setting the air intake and damper at around 6/60% to see if I can keep as much of the heat in the stove>house as possible.

I don't expect the stove could go too much higher considering the firebox itself is about 18" long by 12" wide. As long as it gets hot enough to burn the nasties off (and I don't expect to burn pine).

Thanks folks!
Bryce