Finally got our wood stove insert installed in our cape a few months ago after wanting one since we bought it. Both the wife and I grew up with 'regular' or old school wood stoves, i.e. damper up top and air on bottom, so we're not total greenhorns when it comes to running wood stoves. I think we're getting the hang of it pretty well but we're far from being experts at this thing as of yet, obviously. We have about 2 cords of fairly dry wood, and a half of 5-6 year dry wood, and lots of green. Wish I had really gotten on top of getting more dry wood earlier, but the battle has begun! Doing lots of great reading here and getting tons of invaluable info, thanx!
Anyways, I've searched and can't quite seem to get a straight answer about two things. First, wide open, 'throttle' or air control all the way in, is this the equivalent of running an old school stove with the damper open?? I understand more air when all in and less when all the way out, but what is the relationship of the damper (if this stove has a comparable part) and the air control? Does the damper close when the air control is pulled out just a hair? Or is it not quite that simple?? Wish I could find a good diagram of my Avalon Rainier or any similar stove with explanation of operation, etc.
Second Q, secondary burn. I found a video on youtube of a guy cranking his rainier wide open and then pulling the lever all the way out, at which point the flames on the logs die down and flames in the firebox shoot out of the tubes, red, orange, and blue. I can reproduce this, but can't keep it going with pure flame in the air and none on the logs for very long....again, bulk of what I'm burning is moderately well seasoned but not bone dry, no MM, yet. Basically, am I only getting secondary burn when I pull the throttle all the way out?? What about when I have it cruising at 350-650 F stove top temps (magnetic thermo verified with infrared thermo)? I see flames dancing around the tubes, but not always all over the tubes and not always blue. I can go outside and see shimmering heat coming out of the chimney and very little to no smoke. Doesn't this mean that I'm both losing heat up the pipe and getting secondary burn (even though I don't necessarily see it)???
Thanx for reading my long post and thank you in advance for your help!!
Anyways, I've searched and can't quite seem to get a straight answer about two things. First, wide open, 'throttle' or air control all the way in, is this the equivalent of running an old school stove with the damper open?? I understand more air when all in and less when all the way out, but what is the relationship of the damper (if this stove has a comparable part) and the air control? Does the damper close when the air control is pulled out just a hair? Or is it not quite that simple?? Wish I could find a good diagram of my Avalon Rainier or any similar stove with explanation of operation, etc.
Second Q, secondary burn. I found a video on youtube of a guy cranking his rainier wide open and then pulling the lever all the way out, at which point the flames on the logs die down and flames in the firebox shoot out of the tubes, red, orange, and blue. I can reproduce this, but can't keep it going with pure flame in the air and none on the logs for very long....again, bulk of what I'm burning is moderately well seasoned but not bone dry, no MM, yet. Basically, am I only getting secondary burn when I pull the throttle all the way out?? What about when I have it cruising at 350-650 F stove top temps (magnetic thermo verified with infrared thermo)? I see flames dancing around the tubes, but not always all over the tubes and not always blue. I can go outside and see shimmering heat coming out of the chimney and very little to no smoke. Doesn't this mean that I'm both losing heat up the pipe and getting secondary burn (even though I don't necessarily see it)???
Thanx for reading my long post and thank you in advance for your help!!