country s210 owner needs advice

[HighHeat22]

Have a country s210 stove and am looking to talk to any other owners out there with this stove on advise on how they clean stove and operate. Just cleaned out entire stove and still not operating like did before. Close but still not there. So I am looking for advice and experience with this type of stove. On a previous post FireWalker said to blow not to suck as I said I used a vacuum to clean I am not sure what he meant I thought blowing would make a big mess. I PM'd him no response yet.

 

[gerry100]

I'm sitting a few by a Country Canyon as I write this.

What do you mean regarding operation?

 

[HighHeat22]

Well, I cleaned out the stove this time when I cleaned out the chimney and I must of blocked an air passage because stove is not running the same as before it needs more air. How do you clean out your stove and where does the primary air run into the stove. This is my second season with this stove and I have learned the operation OK. But, the cleaning I need to learn better. I used a vacuum but someone on forum said to use a blower instead. I thought this would make a big mess. Just trying to get any advice and experience from country owners.

 

[RNLA]

So I PM'ed you too. But for the other's benefit I'll post here too. If you clean out your stack it is recommended to pull your bricks and blanket out so the stack debris fall into the fire box. I have found this to be difficult to do but you know you get it all out. The air on this unit comes in below the ash tray at the front door. It flows up the sides of the door way, then down over the glass to create the air wash on the glass. The best I could guess is you either have not built up enough ash to insulate the floor of the fire box or you have a pile of debris on top of the baffle bricks and blanket.

 

[HighHeat22]

RNLA- thanks for information. I did take out top fire bricks and blanket and clean out good. I was trying to figure out how the air system worked now I understand better. On your primary air control what do you usually run at. How do you like your stove. How long of burns do you get.

 

[HighHeat22]

RNLA- I just returned your PM.

 

[RNLA]

Me too lets go to the forum to finish this so we aren't hopping back-n-forth...So if you pulled the bricks and blanket there is no chance of getting debris caught up. I would say you got a bit of not so dry wood. I use to think it would burn at 9-12 months. Now I know that a year is minimum, the glass gets little more than a haze compared to last year. It would go black last year. I have been burning for about 16 years and this is the first year with no visible smoke. The wood has got to be dry and seasoned. You may have bunched up your blanket when you put it back in.... :long:

 

[HighHeat22]

My wood this year is reading 15 to 16% on moisture meter. Last year my first year of burning wood was definitely not dry enough and yes last year my glass got black and this year I just have a haze on my glass. You might have something on bucking up the blanket I never thought of that I will check. Stove still is not running right makes me very hesitant to clean again I did not clean out all of last year just cleaned chimney twice. Wow, 16 years is a long time of burning you have seen alot. I will let you know if blanket is right. Take care.

 

[gerry100]

Somewhat related -

I've been burning for over 30 years BUT only 3 with an EPA stove. My first mistake when I got it was thinking that I knew everything about how to burn wood for heat.

Driving a new EPA stove well is a learning experience that takes a few years.

While definitely more efficient the new units are more sensitive to moisture content and are less responsive to changes to incoming air. It's more like turning a sailboat than a car.

Learn while you burn.

 

[RNLA]

Yeah until I actually burned seasoned wood I had no idea you could burn with no smoke; sometimes when my stove top reads 500-575 there is no visible anything. I have been trying to burn as clean as possible so I don't piss off the neighbors. I see it as my responsibility to burn clean, to keep the resource a usable one.