Draft-Low Med Hi

[realstihl]

Is there such a thing on the new EPA stoves that you can run on a medium draft setting? I have a Lexington Forge and it doesnt seem that the draft control is very usable at all. When starting out with a cold stove you leave it on high until the fire gets established and stove temp is around 500 then turn it down to low. It's like the draft control is all or nothing. When the fire is going good I don't have to move lever from low setting and it will still get over 600 easily. Not much control at all. Are all the EPA stoves like this?

 

[cmonSTART]

I'm not familiar with your stove, but almost every EPA stove I encounter has decent air control.

 

[realstihl]

I'm kind of thinking it may be an air leak. It's not the door. If I left it on anything other than low it would definitely get out of control in a hurry. Thanks!

 

[CTYank]

Is there such a thing on the new EPA stoves that you can run on a medium draft setting? I have a Lexington Forge and it doesnt seem that the draft control is very usable at all. When starting out with a cold stove you leave it on high until the fire gets established and stove temp is around 500 then turn it down to low. It's like the draft control is all or nothing. When the fire is going good I don't have to move lever from low setting and it will still get over 600 easily. Not much control at all. Are all the EPA stoves like this?

Definitely not, with my little Morso, nor with some recent VC stoves I've operated.

With the Morso, if I crank the little primary draft control to the lowest (closed) setting, it's obvious that the only incoming air is via the secondaries up on the baffle.

Might be that your chimney is drawing extra effectively for the stove.

 

[realstihl]

Thanks, CTYank. There are so many variables that it's sometimes hard to identify a real problem. I do have a very good draft sometimes too good. This is my second EPA stove and the one I had before this had better control over the burn rate although it was way oversized. This stove keeps the glass much cleaner though and puts on a good light show but not like the ones you see on Youtube. I usually get some secondary burn from the tubes but mostly the flame is down lower. It appears that it may have too much primary air when fully closed. I don't know.

 

[pen]

I notice a similar thing w/ my 30. Because of the transition from primary air (what you control) to unregulated sources, my "throttle" is extremely vague until I the last 1/4 of it being open. In other words, if my air control pulls out 4 inches, the I notice no difference in my fire as I close it from wide open for the first 3 inches. For the last inch however, there is a ton of control. I movement of 1/8' inch can mean the difference between 100 degrees on my chimney probe thermometer.

pen

 

[firefighterjake]

I have a good control . . . you can definitely see a difference in the fire behavior and temps with the flue and stove.

Air open all the way (for starting a fire or doing a reload): Lots of flames, no secondary action, flue is typically hotter than the stove

Air open halfway (as I start to dial down the air): Flames begin to get lazy, some secondary action at the top third of the firebox, flue and stove top temps are close to each other -- typically the flue temp is higher since it seems to react faster to the change in temp -- double wall pipe vs. a hunk of cast iron

Air closed or nearly closed (as I am setting the stove to "cruise control"): Flames are lazy or almost non-existent on wood, good secondary action -- Lucifer is poking his head out of my woodstove to say hi, flue temps are steady and now the stove top temps are often rising slightly

 

[Renovation]

I have a good control . . . you can definitely see a difference in the fire behavior and temps with the flue and stove.

Air open all the way (for starting a fire or doing a reload): Lots of flames, no secondary action, flue is typically hotter than the stove

Air open halfway (as I start to dial down the air): Flames begin to get lazy, some secondary action at the top third of the firebox, flue and stove top temps are close to each other -- typically the flue temp is higher since it seems to react faster to the change in temp -- double wall pipe vs. a hunk of cast iron

Air closed or nearly closed (as I am setting the stove to "cruise control"): Flames are lazy or almost non-existent on wood, good secondary action -- Lucifer is poking his head out of my woodstove to say hi, flue temps are steady and now the stove top temps are often rising slightly

Nicely said!