Do i always have to have a roaring fire?

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My wife tells me when its too hot. :red:
 
So if I burn at 400 on the rutland I got since its off a little I should be ok then?
 
Chrism said:
Oak, black walnut, maple. I'm guessin my wood isn't seasoned yet

Could be, and still yet not be. Meaning: "seasoned" is not defined, nor measurable; discussing it is a waste of our time.

Get a moisture meter (MM) for ~$10 from Harbor Freight. Learn how to use it, and correlate what it tells you with what you see.

Learn how to get your wood down to as low a moisture content (MC) as possible outdoors.

Bring batches of wood indoors, to near stove, for final dessication. Monitor that.

Learn how to do the above simply and safely, and enjoy it and the results. -> Woodburning Nirvana.
 
as for your roaring fires, I'm kinda in the same boat......what I do is pretty much keep the fire going if it is getting down to the low 30's or lower.....and do a good hot fire every evening....I check the flue often (around once every other week) to be safe.....once the shoulder season is over I check it once a month because I usually have a good hot fire three or four cycles a day.....you will get some black haze in your stove from time to time, esp. with daily "cold start" fires, but that is nothing to be alarmed about....if it burns off during the next hot burn that is pretty indicative of how your flue will be as well.....just don't let that glaze accumulte for days and days......remember these EPA stoves perform at their peak when you are burning them HOT......and shoulder fires are always started out cold, so you will get some black haze now and then....the key is watching your flue, check it often esp. in the shoulder season if you can.....
 
Battenkiller said:
No offense meant, big dude, but if your gonna tell a guy his wood ain't dry, go to his house and test it yourself. Determining the MC in someone's wood stack based on the what he describes inside his firebox is patently absurd IMO.

Except in cases where I make the statement and a few minutes later the response from the OP is that the wood was just split last Spring IMO. When an apple hits me on the head I don't need to fire up Google looking for Newton. :lol:
 
Chrism said:
So if I burn at 400 on the rutland I got since its off a little I should be ok then?

At least you have a guide now Chrism...watch the thermometer as well as the fire....it is a learning curve...trust me I know...woodburning is something you have to learn by experience.....you can read all you want about it but you do not learn how to do it efficiently until you do it yourself..I am still learning everyday..
 
I have an idea but is there a video of how you want the fire to look when the secondaries have kicked in? All I know is there is supposed to be no smoke comin out of the chimney from what I understand .
 
Chrism said:
I have an idea but is there a video of how you want the fire to look when the secondaries have kicked in? All I know is there is supposed to be no smoke comin out of the chimney from what I understand .


There are all types of secondaries. Roaring gates of hell secondaries on one end and the lazier variety at the other end . Don't be afraid of the stove. Experiment. It isn't the end of the world if you see some smoke coming out of your chimney.
 
karl said:
Wow. Everybody's throwing around facts. How about just a plain old observation.

If you have shiny stuff in the stove after a fire, you're not burning hot enough. It could be the wood or it could be burning at too low of a setting. This time of year it's not a big deal. I'm getting a bit of that in my stove with slab wood that's been stacked for over a year.

Two months from now when you're burning that stove for all its worth, you should not see the shiny stuff. If you do then it's a cause for concern. As for cleaning it. Don't be paranoid. There are people who regularly chip 5 gallons of sticky creosote out of a chimney and chimney fires still aren't super commonplace. There are people out there that create chimney fires as a way to clean the chimney. I'm not saying there smart, but they all aren't dying.

Wait until you have a bit of a warm day in mid December or early January and take a look down the chimney and see what's there.

I'm all for being cautious. And I realize I'm still a relative newbie. I have only put 25 or so cords through my Summit, but EPA stoves burn clean. Even when you don't use them correctly, they still burn cleaner than a fireplace for a pre-EPA stove. And if you're install is done properly, at the very least it should handle one chimney fire without destroying the house.

Relax enjoy the stove and learn what you can about burning with wood.

I tend to agree with that assessment. I burn wood that I buy in August to burn that winter. Mostly ash, some oak, maple, and who knows what, in my F3CB. The guy I buy from gets it delivered the previous fall, but I have no idea when he cuts/splits it. Now if you are familiar with that stove, it doesn't hold much wood, so a small fire is all I can do in it, but it does burn hot. However, the inside of the stove is a grey color, and rarely do I have any "black" on the window. The chimney gets cleaned twice a year, at least when I clean it, the other times a couple birds clean it. and it's pretty clean looking. The whole point of this, is that I think these EPA stoves burn well anyway, but when you get to know how it burns, then the fear factor drops considerably.
I am hoping to be in a situation to buy two years supply of wood, next year, and then have a years supply in reserve to have real dry wood. Might have to have a bucket of water handy, just in case.;)
 
Since we are throwing out facts, I have black shiny material in the back of my summit and I burn the stove hot, the fan pulls air off of the back so I think that contributes to it, I turn the fan on and off manually now at a higher temp so that helps but there still is a small amount in there and only in the back of the stove.
 
Wow. I love this place, but sometimes I think a few get a little carried away. Burning wood has so many variables. There are consistencies of course, but you really have to figure out your situation. Even scientific studies have to be considered in light of the controlled situation, which we may not have at home. I have successfully burned wood for 40 years, and in about everything you can burn wood in, and I just don't think it can all be boiled down to some of the simplistic statements that get made here sometimes. Just sayin.
 
tfdchief said:
Wow. I love this place, but sometimes I think a few get a little carried away. Burning wood has so many variables. There are consistencies of course, but you really have to figure out your situation. Even scientific studies have to be considered in light of the controlled situation, which we may not have at home. I have successfully burned wood for 40 years, and in about everything you can burn wood in, and I just don't think it can all be boiled down to some of the simplistic statements that get made here sometimes. Just sayin.
chief I agree to an extent, but look at the other side of the coin.....if this guy didn't have multiple opinions (which I assume is why he posted on here) then he would be stabbing a pig in the dark.....just giving him some different ideas and options....but I agree 100% that there are a ton of variables that THE USER will have to figure out for his/her particular situation, that could take him/her a year or more....it doesn't hurt to have some starting points though.....one of the things that I like about this forum.....
 
Scotty Overkill said:
tfdchief said:
Wow. I love this place, but sometimes I think a few get a little carried away. Burning wood has so many variables. There are consistencies of course, but you really have to figure out your situation. Even scientific studies have to be considered in light of the controlled situation, which we may not have at home. I have successfully burned wood for 40 years, and in about everything you can burn wood in, and I just don't think it can all be boiled down to some of the simplistic statements that get made here sometimes. Just sayin.
chief I agree to an extent, but look at the other side of the coin.....if this guy didn't have multiple opinions (which I assume is why he posted on here) then he would be stabbing a pig in the dark.....just giving him some different ideas and options....but I agree 100% that there are a ton of variables that THE USER will have to figure out for his/her particular situation, that could take him/her a year or more....it doesn't hurt to have some starting points though.....one of the things that I like about this forum.....
Agreed, all I am saying is the "different ideas and options" don't always sound like different ideas and options.

I will apologize now before this goes to the Ash Can.
 
tfdchief said:
Agreed, all I am saying is the "different ideas and options" don't always sound like different ideas and options.

I will apologize now before this goes to the Ash Can.
Relax, hey we all have our opinions, that's what makes the world go round....lol....
 
Wow I didn't realize this thread I started would start this much of a SH#* storm !!
 
Chrism said:
I have an idea but is there a video of how you want the fire to look when the secondaries have kicked in? All I know is there is supposed to be no smoke comin out of the chimney from what I understand .

Returning to our regularly scheduled program:

You have three things that tell you how your stove is operating. A stove top thermometer, the condition of the fire as you see it in the stove and the chimney.

Using those three and information you can glean from our sometimes over-exuberant advise here you will learn how to get the most from that great wood stove. It takes time and it takes practice. And something will be a little different with every load of wood you put in the stove. Wood burning is about as inexact a science as you will find because of all the variables tfdchief alluded to. It is proven out by testimony of dozens of people here over the years that it takes a season's burning in a new stove to get it down. And that season can be frustrating. But well worth it once that night arrives where you say to yourself "By George I think I've got it.". Then the next night something else weird will happen. :)

And don't let the goofy directions that threads can head off in here discourage you from asking questions. We all still have them and this is a good place to get the answers as best as people can give them.
 
BrotherBart said:
Chrism said:
I have an idea but is there a video of how you want the fire to look when the secondaries have kicked in? All I know is there is supposed to be no smoke comin out of the chimney from what I understand .

Returning to our regularly scheduled program:

You have three things that tell you how your stove is operating. A stove top thermometer, the condition of the fire as you see it in the stove and the chimney.

Using those three and information you can glean from our sometimes over-exuberant advise here you will learn how to get the most from that great wood stove. It takes time and it takes practice. And something will be a little different with every load of wood you put in the stove. Wood burning is about as inexact a science as you will find because of all the variables tfdchief alluded to. It is proven out by testimony of dozens of people here over the years that it takes a season's burning in a new stove to get it down. And that season can be frustrating. But well worth it once that night arrives where you say to yourself "By George I think I've got it.". Then the next night something else weird will happen. :)

And don't let the goofy directions that threads can head off in here discourage you from asking questions. We all still have them and this is a good place to get the answers as best as people can give them.
+ 100, Hurah! Now we are talkin!
 
ok, i'll toss in my 2 cents worth FWIW

1. virtually all stoves have their own little quirks so what is "gospel" for one stove type or construction may not be completely true for all.

2. seasoned wood can still cause "creo laquer" in some stoves with a small load due to lower temps in some places in the firebox especially in larger ones or more rectanglar "long skinny" fireboxes and such.

3. i agree totally with smaller fires being shorter hotter ones rather than a slow and low with fewer splits. make your fires with wood split much smaller and add more of the smaller splits , they will burn hot but for shorter durations and the stove itself should heat up enough to radiate after the fire has died back assuming the wood load gets the metal hot enough.

4. when burning most of the emissions do occur in the coaling stage as even dried wood has some moisture which causes less complete combustion and internal temps are not up to reburning temperatures so the gent from OMNI is very much correct in his statement. this however should not be looked at as a hinderance to small load firings but tells us as i said above , smaller splits creating more surface area to be impinged on by the fire makes short very hot fires which get you out of coaling stage faster and starts secondaries faster as well so the shellacking of creo isnt as likely to accumulate. think about a russian fireplace , its method is to burn a short very hot fire to transfer heat to the thermal mass of the stone around the fireplace for slow bleeding of heat into the room , a similar fire would do so in any stove though the "bleed" of heat would not last as long being warmer outside the temps wouldnt be lost as quickly so plain and simple , burn short very hot fires and allow the heat to dissipate then repeat then once it gets truly cold out use normal loads and the the big dog eat.
 
When I bought my EPA stove second hand earlier this yr it had some shiny residue in the fire box. Reading advice here in an effort to keep any evil glazed creosote to a minimum I decided to buy a bottle, 2 actually, of Anti Creosote Spray. Ive been using it for 2 weeks now and my box is full of dried up, grayish pieces of crumbled up ash which I assume is the result of using a few sprays a day. Cheap insurance if you ask me.
 
Loco Gringo said:
When I bought my EPA stove second hand earlier this yr it had some shiny residue in the fire box. Reading advice here in an effort to keep any evil glazed creosote to a minimum I decided to buy a bottle, 2 actually, of Anti Creosote Spray. Ive been using it for 2 weeks now and my box is full of dried up, grayish pieces of crumbled up ash which I assume is the result of using a few sprays a day. Cheap insurance if you ask me.


Been using it since we started burning, great product.


zap
 
Stove guy worded it in a way that a new wood stove owner can understand, I get it . And one more thing when you guys load a stove for the night do u fill it as much as you can? And what do you look for as far as air control , do u turn it down to where it almost goes out then open it up a crack to give it enough air to see a faint bluish flame or do you keep the rolling orange flame goin ??
 
Where do you get Anti Creosote Spray from ??
 
Loco Gringo said:
When I bought my EPA stove second hand earlier this yr it had some shiny residue in the fire box. Reading advice here in an effort to keep any evil glazed creosote to a minimum I decided to buy a bottle, 2 actually, of Anti Creosote Spray. Ive been using it for 2 weeks now and my box is full of dried up, grayish pieces of crumbled up ash which I assume is the result of using a few sprays a day. Cheap insurance if you ask me.

Loco, curious about this poduct. Do you apply directly to fire bricks and all? Is the product supposed to help keep the liner clean as well?
 
Chrism said:
Stove guy worded it in a way that a new wood stove owner can understand, I get it . And one more thing when you guys load a stove for the night do u fill it as much as you can? And what do you look for as far as air control , do u turn it down to where it almost goes out then open it up a crack to give it enough air to see a faint bluish flame or do you keep the rolling orange flame goin ??

I try to time my last load for an hour before going to bed. That allows enough time for me to get the primary air closed to the point where
the temperatures have stabilized--just kind of hanging out around 600 to 650 on my stove/thermometer.

I load the stove according to my heat needs. If it's ten below zero, then, yes, it's loaded up full. If it's 40, then it might be only half full.
Anything more than half-full, and it's an easy re-start on the next morning, if needed. This time of year, I'm usually burning only one
evening fire. But that's changing rapidly. Lows tonight in the mid 20's with high's tomorrow in the 30's. 24/7 fires aren't far away.
 
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