So just finished refreshing the stove, we have owned it 13 years (was in the house when we moved in, stove was installed in 1992). First time having the stove with a new combustor, any tips I should know about this stove I replaced the warped upper fireback, new refractory box, new combuster and some gaskets. I also installed a pyrometer in the back just above the fresh air feed/probe thingy (existing hole, just tapped and voila, running a big rig exhaust temp guage and probe from wreckers). We managed 14 years on the last combustor, it was all cracked up and turned to dust the minute I touched it this year, no chance of cleaning it this time! We burn very dry hardwood mix, lots of ash. It is the primary heat source in a 1600sq ft house, 3 floors so it works hard when it is really cold out. January gets real cold around here, -20 -30C easy.
The last couple winters the overnight burn was usually gone in the morning, sometimes a coal or two but not much, cannot wait to try it out and see the improvement (I hope!). We had a tough time controling the heat last year, it would overfire real easy and get hot, near the end of the winter the cable for the air feed snapped from being "forced" shut so many times trying to control the burn (my wife would snap it closed until she heard the door in the back make contact). The refractory box was finished, the combustor full of openings, there was a reason for it to burn hot.
Any thoughts or tips, love the stove, hate fixing it but nobody else around hear seems into the task so I take the time to do it and make sure it is clean and sound. I have no idea what the EGT guage/pyrometer is going to tell me being beneath the combustor in the refractory box, should be fun figuring it out.
The last couple winters the overnight burn was usually gone in the morning, sometimes a coal or two but not much, cannot wait to try it out and see the improvement (I hope!). We had a tough time controling the heat last year, it would overfire real easy and get hot, near the end of the winter the cable for the air feed snapped from being "forced" shut so many times trying to control the burn (my wife would snap it closed until she heard the door in the back make contact). The refractory box was finished, the combustor full of openings, there was a reason for it to burn hot.
Any thoughts or tips, love the stove, hate fixing it but nobody else around hear seems into the task so I take the time to do it and make sure it is clean and sound. I have no idea what the EGT guage/pyrometer is going to tell me being beneath the combustor in the refractory box, should be fun figuring it out.
