Fireview Newbie needs some help

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xraydog

Member
Hearth Supporter
Aug 16, 2009
58
Northcentral PA
Hello All,

I have installed a Fireview into my hearth (built for a stove). I am using an outside air kit and the stove vents into a 7"x 7" exterior masonary chimney that is at least 25'. I live on the top of an exposed mountain where it is always windy. I had some issues with run-away fires with my last stove (Avalon Rainer) using the same set up. It is a strong drafting chimney.

I would like to keep the stovetop in the 400-500 deg range, but I am having trouble doing so with anything other than one split or kindling in the stove.

Last evening I put 3 splits (4-5") in the stove which filled it 30%. I had nice gentle flames and noticed the stovetop temps in the 550 range (air intake at 1-2). When I try to close the damper (less than 1), the flames dissappear and I get intermittent bursts of flame in the stove which cause the stove to puff smoke from the air intake.

Is it me? Do you think I should disconnect the oustide air intake? Use the flue damper?

I would love to fill the stove at night and not have to worry about temps going out of control. How do you get sustained low temp (400-500) burns?

Rick D
 
Rick, once you engage the cat., the stove top temperature is going to go up because of the location of the cat.

Everyone must learn which is the best setting for their stove. Determining what is best is done by trial and success (not trial and error). Naturally, this time of the year is one of the most difficult because it just is not that cold outdoors and that will affect the draft a lot. Whether or not you should try to disconnect the OAK is totally up to you. You certainly would not have much to lose by trying as you can always hook it back up.

On the sustained 400-500 degree burns; yes, we can get that but not by filling the stove. Fill the stove and for sure that temperature is going to go up higher. But with what you put in it would seem you should be able to reach that temperature and stay there for a while. We too lose our flame when trying to keep things low but simply do not worry about it and have never had a problem. But your intermittent burst of flames causing puffing, it leads me to believe that your wood may not be dry enough. Also having to keep the draft as open as you do says that the wood is not burning properly.

The reason I say this about the wood and draft is because of how we operate the stove and others do very similar.

Starting the fire new we'll start with small kindling with some larger kindling on the top. When that gets going we'll add one or maybe two small splits. The draft is open full at this point.

Once that is burning we'll put in however much we want which is determined by how much heat we want at the time. When the new stuff gets started we'll turn the draft down to about 2.

When the flue temperature starts climbing up over 400-500 then we'll usually turn the draft down to 1.

When the stovetop reaches 250, the flue temp is usually around 500-600 and we engage the cat. Sometimes at this point we'll leave the draft at 1 but most times we go down to .5 or even to .25. Depending on the amount of wood and what type of wood it is, there may or may not be flame. But as long as the stove temperature keeps going up, all is well.


On the reloads it is not much different. I usually put the fastest lighting and fastest burning piece of wood in the lower front. A larger piece is put in the bottom rear. Then the rest is filled depending upon the need. Even during the cold of the winter months, during the day we rarely fill the stove and only fill it at night. That too is when we use our best wood; at night.

On reloads, it is usually a matter of waiting the 10-15 minutes, engage the cat and set the draft to .25 or .5. Also on the reload, we usually can not keep the draft open full for more than a couple minutes unless we've let the stove cool a lot first. Normally though, put the wood in, look at the clock and set the draft and cat in the allotted time.


When you fill the firebox, the temperature almost always will got over 600 degrees. If you only half fill it or even less, then you may only get 400-500 maximum.


One other hint: Fall and Spring, there are many times when we have just a quick really small fire and we will not engage the cat at all. This has never caused us any problems.


Good luck.
 
Backpuffing! I had that occasionally in my old stove. Got it once in the FV on my second burn but I know why I did it - I had it burning nicely, then when the flames went away I panicked and increased the air to 2-3 range and once it got going it puffed once as the gasses ignited. Looking back I should have expected that one... However I don't think that applies to your situation exactly...

I'm going to bet that an inconsistent draft is likely your problem, but I am curious about why you have been running with your air intake so high? Manual suggests setting it to 1 or less with the cat engaged. To get the sustained long burns with low temps you have to be running it below 1. I have run at .5-.75. Now understand that at this level you won't be seeing any flames in your firebox, but once you have cat light-off it is going to burn on.. and on.. and on.. until the smoke is all gone.

As to the OAK. Personally I would try disconnecting it and run without it for a few burns just to see if that affects anything. I'd disconnect from the stove, then plug the pipe from the outside with something so that the stove has unrestricted OAK input from the room and the hole through the wall is no longer affecting house pressure. Run a few fires this way holding all other functional parameters the same and see if it helps. With your wind outside it may take some careful observations of wind etc before you can get apples to apples comparisons. However, first start with lowering your air controls to 1 or below once you get the Cat engaged. Keep notes on each burn and see what happens.

IF you MUST have your air above 1 to burn then I would start looking at your wood and see if it is really dry.
 
Slow1,

I too made that same mistake of increasing the air intake while not seeing flames last year and got a mini-explosion inside the firebox. The stove actually shook a little. Now I think I have much better control over it and have properly seasoned wood.

xraydog,

It might be worthwhile to note which direction the wind is coming from. It might be blowing directly into the OAK intake. Is there a way to experiment by either turning the intake opening towards another direction or maybe by placing an obstacle a few feet away but in the path of the wind?

Mike
 
MacPB,

"Mini-explosions is exactly how I would describe the events. How exactly did you remedy your situation? The wood I am burning now has been seasoned well over 2 years. It has also been sitting in my house since last for the last 7 months.

Althought I have the OAK installed maybe that is not enough draft to support the fire on the reduced setting. By my calcs the 4" intake on the stove yields 12.6 sqare inches. I'll have to measure the dimensions of the air intake at its origin. Maybe it is not adequate.

In the mean time, I'll disconnect the OAK and plug the tube and see how things work out.

Rick D
 
xraydog,

I did not have the best seasoned wood at the time, so we may be comparing "apples to oranges," but I would suspect that fuel to oxygen ration becoming suddenly changed by adding more oxygen is what caused it. Woodstock has info on their website about "backpuffing." I think it's in the manual as well. It's called "cures for backpuffing."

I would get Woodstock on the phone ASAP to get the solution. They are extremely helpful.

Mike
 
The stove top temp doesn't tell the whole story on how hot this stove is. The cat is right under the top panel so you can have a smouldering fire feeding the cat tons of fuel and the top can go over 600 while the sides and bottom will be much cooler. Then there are times when you have plenty of flame and red hot coals where the stove top is cooler but the whole stove is pumping out much more heat. I think a more accurate way to determine heat output on this stove is with a probe thermometer 2' above the pipe. With mine at low burn I get 400-500 and higher burn 500-600 or sometimes 700.

Sometimes I get smoke if I turn it down too much, usually below .5 I get a hint of smoke in the house. I like to adjust my stove for a long burn where there is just a hint of red in the coals and a little flame (just above.5). This will give me a 12 hour burn with a full load of Oak. If I want more heat like later in the winter with a similar load I'll run her at #1 but the burn time will go down. I gage my air control lever by placing the top of it even with the number. It will take you some time to figure out your settings and the weather and chimney draft will make a difference.
 
I found this on this very informative site: http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/howhuff.htm

Q: I find your site very informative, but still have a question. Last year I was experiencing puff-backs, particularly on cold evenings, when I set back the Vermont Castings Defiant for the evening. The chimney is very tall and oversized for the stove. I intend to install a liner. Will the liner solve the puff-back problem?
Jim Cunningham, Ticonderoga NY

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the kind words! Chances are your back-puffing episodes aren't being caused entirely by the lack of a properly sized liner, although the extreme updraft that can be created by an oversized flue could certainly be a contributing factor. For this and other reasons, you should install a liner that's the same size as the exhaust opening on your stove, extending all the way to the top of the chimney.

When you have a rip-roaring woodstove fire going, your chimney is charged with rising superheated exhaust gases, so the air flow through the firebox is considerable. If you cut down the supply of air too abruptly, the fire instantly consumes the available oxygen, creating a powerful vacuum inside the stove. If strong enough, this vacuum can reverse the flow inside the chimney, pulling a "gulp" of air back down the flue into the firebox. When this pocket of air hits the fire, a mini-explosion occurs, and the resulting sudden extreme pressurization inside the firebox forces smoke out through the draft control, door gasketing and other tiny openings that exist in even the most "airtight" woodstoves. This brief period of pressurization is followed immediately by extreme depressurization (because the explosion consumes all the available oxygen in the firebox), and another gulp of air can be pulled down the chimney, causing the process to repeat. We call this "whuffing", due to the accompanying sound of muffled explosions. In extreme cases, these repeated explosions can cause the stove to actually dance around on the hearth!

Essentially, a whuffing woodstove is doing the same thing as a valveless pulse jet engine (read more here.)

Although whuffing usually only occurs for a short time (until the starved-for-air fire dies down, reducing the vacuum effect), it should be avoided, as the repeated pressurization inside the stove caused by the mini-explosions could fill the house with smoke, blow the door open, break the viewing window, disconnect the exhaust pipe, or damage the stove.

Whenever you've had a hot fire going and want to "bank" it down for the night, care must be taken not to cut down the air supply too suddenly. Adjust your draft control to, say, half throttle (you'll have to experiment a bit to find the setting that works best for you) for a few minutes, then, as the flames diminish, continue to turn it down in gradual stages, so the fire can quench down slowly. If the stove starts to whuff, open the draft control just a bit to supply more air to the fire for a few minutes, then resume your gradual reduction of combustion air until you reach your all-night burn setting.

Another cause of whuffing is when you've been burning the woodstove with its door open and then close it while the fire is still burning briskly. The best preventative measure in this case is to NEVER BURN AN AIRTIGHT WOODSTOVE WITH THE DOOR OPEN. If you've already gotten yourself into this situation, let the fire die down before trying to close the stove door. When you do close the door, make sure you open the draft control all the way first, to avoid abrupt air starvation to the fire. Once the fire is under control, commence gradual reduction of combustion air with the draft control as outlined above.

And this is useful too: http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/hooa3.htm
 
The Outdoor Air Myth Exposed

Outdoor combustion air was a good idea . . . until it was studied

Building codes all over North America require that fireplaces, and in some cases wood stoves, be provided with a source of combustion air from outdoors. This mostly takes the form of a four inch hole in an outside wall with a duct attached running to the stove or fireplace, connected either directly to the firebox or to a location where it can be heated by the fire before entering the room. Sometimes the air is just dumped somewhere in the room.

There seem to be three theories behind this outdoor air supply, depending on who is doing the explaining. The first is to replace the air sucked out of the house by the wood burner, based on the idea that houses are airtight and the wood burner will use up all the oxygen. The second is to reduce the risk of smoking into the room, even when the room is depressurized by a big fan like a kitchen range exhaust. The third is to save energy by using outdoor air rather than indoor air that has already been heated.

But it doesn't matter which theory you pick; they're all misguided. It turns out that the most consistently reliable place to take combustion air from is the room where the appliance is installed. Forget about outdoor air supplies as a way to make wood stoves and fireplaces work better or be more efficient. If your local building code forces you to install outdoor air, you will have no choice, but be aware that it will not reliably improve the performance of your wood burning appliance or result in higher efficiency of the system.

The outdoor combustion air myth got started about forty years ago when safety and construction standards were written for mobile homes. Because they were small and factory-built, it was believed that mobile homes were air tight. As a result, all wood, oil and gas furnaces, stoves and fireplaces had to get their air from outdoors. Because these air supplies were invariably routed straight down into the ventilated crawl space under the mobile home, they didn't cause too many problems, so it was assumed that they actually worked.

In the 1980s, when large exhaust systems – like downdraft kitchen range exhausts – began to cause spillage from fireplaces and stoves in reasonably tight houses, a consensus quickly formed around the idea of bringing combustion air from outdoors, just as had been done in mobile homes for decades. Such certainty existed among housing technologists and regulatory authorities on the issue of outdoor combustion air that it was made mandatory in most buildin...

There is a lot here and to continue reading click here:http://www.woodheat.org/outdoorair/outdoorairmyth.htm
 
Hello Rick,

It sorta sounded like you're expecting flames. About 75% of the time that FV will not have any visible flame at all, the smoke is feeding the cat instead. Bend down and look up at it and you might see it glowing - though it can still operate at temps low enough to not glow. Visisble flames are usually there during startup, and maybe towards the beginning of the burn cycle on the cat - but not for a lot of the cycle, particularly when running damped down. This is probably the main reason you can get such a long burn cycle. It works great, you'll see. Congrats on your new stove.
 
rickw said:
Hello Rick,

It sorta sounded like you're expecting flames. About 75% of the time that FV will not have any visible flame at all, the smoke is feeding the cat instead. Bend down and look up at it and you might see it glowing - though it can still operate at temps low enough to not glow. Visisble flames are usually there during startup, and maybe towards the beginning of the burn cycle on the cat - but not for a lot of the cycle, particularly when running damped down. This is probably the main reason you can get such a long burn cycle. It works great, you'll see. Congrats on your new stove.

Hey Rick,
Where do you usually have your air set? I get flames on low burn for a good 4 hours. If I turn it down more than .5 the flame goes out as well as the redness in the coals, but can't leave it there or I smell smoke. You must be able to really turn it down?
 
Todd said:
Where do you usually have your air set? I get flames on low burn for a good 4 hours. If I turn it down more than .5 the flame goes out as well as the redness in the coals, but can't leave it there or I smell smoke. You must be able to really turn it down?

This is the second time I've seen you mention smelling smoke I think... Tell me more about this as it simply seems odd to me. Where do you smell the smoke? outside or inside? I don't think you should be smelling smoke inside under any conditions (someone correct me here if I'm off base!).

I've burned with it at .5 with no flames and little to no redness visible (looks like fire is out) a couple times now and I certainly didn't smell any smoke in the house nor did I see any outside. I just got amazing long burn times and somewhat incomplete combustion - i.e. much larger pieces of charcoal left over than other burns (pieces not burning - mostly in corners or back of the stove).

I certainly don't have the length of experience that you have and haven't gone below .5 yet (I just don't think that it is cold enough yet to have the draft to pull that low a setting) but if smoke smell in the house is 'normal' then I want to know about it ahead of time. If it isn't then perhaps someone can help you get that figured out and fixed...
 
Slow1 said:
Todd said:
Where do you usually have your air set? I get flames on low burn for a good 4 hours. If I turn it down more than .5 the flame goes out as well as the redness in the coals, but can't leave it there or I smell smoke. You must be able to really turn it down?

This is the second time I've seen you mention smelling smoke I think... Tell me more about this as it simply seems odd to me. Where do you smell the smoke? outside or inside? I don't think you should be smelling smoke inside under any conditions (someone correct me here if I'm off base!).

I've burned with it at .5 with no flames and little to no redness visible (looks like fire is out) a couple times now and I certainly didn't smell any smoke in the house nor did I see any outside. I just got amazing long burn times and somewhat incomplete combustion - i.e. much larger pieces of charcoal left over than other burns (pieces not burning - mostly in corners or back of the stove).

I certainly don't have the length of experience that you have and haven't gone below .5 yet (I just don't think that it is cold enough yet to have the draft to pull that low a setting) but if smoke smell in the house is 'normal' then I want to know about it ahead of time. If it isn't then perhaps someone can help you get that figured out and fixed...

When I turn it down to where there is no flame or visible red coals I get some smoke spillage. I can put my nose right down next to air controls and get a slight whiff and I can smell it in the corner of the downstairs bedroom as well. I don't know why this happens maybe negative pressure since it's a basement install? Could be the outside chimney and 5.5 liner? I tried outside air but it still happens. Don't know if this is normal or not, that's why I kind a snuck it in a couple threads to see if anyone else experiences this. I have discussed this with Woodstock and they told me it sounded like a draft problem that is typical with other basement installs and to just turn up the air some. They also stated the most efficient burn is to turn it down til the flames start to lift off the logs, you should have some flame, so I always have a little flame going.
 
Todd said:
Slow1 said:
Todd said:
Where do you usually have your air set? I get flames on low burn for a good 4 hours. If I turn it down more than .5 the flame goes out as well as the redness in the coals, but can't leave it there or I smell smoke. You must be able to really turn it down?

This is the second time I've seen you mention smelling smoke I think... Tell me more about this as it simply seems odd to me. Where do you smell the smoke? outside or inside? I don't think you should be smelling smoke inside under any conditions (someone correct me here if I'm off base!).

I've burned with it at .5 with no flames and little to no redness visible (looks like fire is out) a couple times now and I certainly didn't smell any smoke in the house nor did I see any outside. I just got amazing long burn times and somewhat incomplete combustion - i.e. much larger pieces of charcoal left over than other burns (pieces not burning - mostly in corners or back of the stove).

I certainly don't have the length of experience that you have and haven't gone below .5 yet (I just don't think that it is cold enough yet to have the draft to pull that low a setting) but if smoke smell in the house is 'normal' then I want to know about it ahead of time. If it isn't then perhaps someone can help you get that figured out and fixed...

When I turn it down to where there is no flame or visible red coals I get some smoke spillage. I can put my nose right down next to air controls and get a slight whiff and I can smell it in the corner of the downstairs bedroom as well. I don't know why this happens maybe negative pressure since it's a basement install? Could be the outside chimney and 5.5 liner? I tried outside air but it still happens. Don't know if this is normal or not, that's why I kind a snuck it in a couple threads to see if anyone else experiences this. I have discussed this with Woodstock and they told me it sounded like a draft problem that is typical with other basement installs and to just turn up the air some. They also stated the most efficient burn is to turn it down til the flames start to lift off the logs, you should have some flame, so I always have a little flame going.

Now you got me nosing around my stove and it seems to spill somewhere around the door, I'll have to check the gasket or tighten the latch.
 
Well, it seems to me, given the significantly lower stack temps the Fireview runs, that it would be plausible for these stoves to be a bit more apt to suffer from weak drafts - i.e. if you turn the air down low enough perhaps you stop sending enough heat up the chimney to keep the draft going, then I could imagine that given the restriction on inbound air at the stove perhaps it could stall the draft. Then the expected result would be smoke hanging about the stove and leaking from wherever it could find a way out - not a good thing as that smoke would carry CO as well as odors. Perhaps you simply need to increase the air setting for your configuration. If you have a weaker draft then you aren't actually going to have more air headed through the stove than someone with a stronger draft since the velocity of the air will be lower.

I expect that I'm giving my stove a higher setting now than I will once it gets really cold since my draft is weaker - I'll bet an additional 30* temp difference between inside and outside will make a large difference and thus the amount of suction up the pipe will increase significantly.
 
Slow1 said:
Well, it seems to me, given the significantly lower stack temps the Fireview runs, that it would be plausible for these stoves to be a bit more apt to suffer from weak drafts - i.e. if you turn the air down low enough perhaps you stop sending enough heat up the chimney to keep the draft going, then I could imagine that given the restriction on inbound air at the stove perhaps it could stall the draft. Then the expected result would be smoke hanging about the stove and leaking from wherever it could find a way out - not a good thing as that smoke would carry CO as well as odors. Perhaps you simply need to increase the air setting for your configuration. If you have a weaker draft then you aren't actually going to have more air headed through the stove than someone with a stronger draft since the velocity of the air will be lower.

I expect that I'm giving my stove a higher setting now than I will once it gets really cold since my draft is weaker - I'll bet an additional 30* temp difference between inside and outside will make a large difference and thus the amount of suction up the pipe will increase significantly.

Makes sence, but I think I'm going to replace the door gasket and see what happens, I got an extra gasket might as well use it. Not a big fan of the door on these stoves I think they could of done better.
 
My outside air runs throught the floor of my masonary chimney and out the side.

I realized the opening of the side of the chimney is only the size of one brick. I have to measure but it looks like slightly less than the 12.5sq in of the area of the 4" pipe. Maybe I'll get out the masonary bits and cold chisel and make this opening larger and see if that helps.

I ran the stove last night without the outside air. It rand well, however, it wasn't as cold of a night and I kept the fire small.

xraydog
 
xraydog said:
My outside air runs throught the floor of my masonary chimney and out the side.

I realized the opening of the side of the chimney is only the size of one brick. I have to measure but it looks like slightly less than the 12.5sq in of the area of the 4" pipe. Maybe I'll get out the masonary bits and cold chisel and make this opening larger and see if that helps.

I ran the stove last night without the outside air. It rand well, however, it wasn't as cold of a night and I kept the fire small.

xraydog

You know, the Fireview really doesn't need a whole lot of air so I doubt the size of the hole is the issue. More likely in my opinion (based on all those wonderful pro/con OAK threads and related readings) is something related to the air pressure around your home. Specifically since you mentioned high winds I'm working with the theory that your issues are showing when the wind is blowing such that the OAK inlet is on the downwind side of the house - thus in a negative pressure region relative to the rest of the outside. Not knowing where the chimney is etc it is hard to really diagram the flows in my head but it seems to make sense.

Please keep updating with results - run w/o the OAK for a while and update I'm really curious how it will work out. Then if it all does work well I'd like to have you re-connect it and verify the issues come back - then if you disconnect again and issues are really gone you will have confidence the OAK was the issue. (QA engineer in me likes to have multiple positive and negative test cases to prove the point - call me anal if you wish but once the result is there I don't like revising the conclusion!)
 
I could be wrong, but I have a hard time buying into all this negative info on OAKs. I've used them on many stoves and boilers and not once have I ever experienced any negative effects (no pun intended). I've noticed no improvement in a couple of cases, I've seen some stoves burn better in tight houses and basement installs, but I've not once have I seen the OAK cause issues, and I live in a windy area (direct shoreline). I'd be AMAZED if the OAK was the root of your problem, unless it's restrictive in size or configuration.

Just my 2 cents.

I'd like to hear more about the wood being used and if it has been resplit and tested with a meter?
 
You know Wet1 I don't disagree with you entirely. I am just the curious sort who doesn't rule anything out until proven.

Seems to me that "insufficient draft" or at least "Inconsistent draft" is likely the issue here just from the description.. then again if it is wet wood, then more air might fix the problem so "Insufficient draft" might fit that scenario as well - just "Insufficient for the green wood". However, I am doubtful about the wood being too wet since it is 2 years old and has been stored indoors for 7 months. Seems unlikely to not have dried out enough - but stranger things have happened eh?

Constricted air intake could make sense - maybe something crawled into that OAK pipe and built a nest in there? But I would expect that to cause troubles starting up as well.

In any case, I don't see a harm in running W/O the OAK. IF it appears to fix the problem, then the next step in my opinion would be to figure out WHY the OAK is causing the problem... Look for obstructions - perhaps hook up a fan to it (blowing out I'd say) and see how well the air is flowing through? Do the calculations on the area to see if the hole on outside is indeed big enough, etc. I'd just hate to go breaking out brickwork before knowing that it has anything to do with the issue.
 
This was an issue for us when we installed our first Woodstock stove in 1991. Our home was brand, spankin' new and "tight". When we contacted Woodstock they suggested cracking a window and sure enough, that was the ticket. Whenever we start the stove we crack the slider to the deck until the fire is at the point where the combustor can be engaged.

The only time backpuffing can be an issue is in the fall and early spring when a low overcast and very still conditions conicides with raw conditions and resultant chilly temperatures.

I haven't read the entire thread but I'm going to because this has been an issue for us historically and is forefront with the new stove in my studio.
 
Bobbin

Thanks for the reply. The first few fires were cool (not cold) nights (temps in the high 40's). Wind was relatively still for my mountain. My house is relatively new (1999) and relatively "tight". This only happened when I tried for burns below 1. Since then I have kept the air intake between 1-2 and it has worked fine.

Looking forward to the cold windy nights that are the norm for me.

There is a little learning curve compared to the non-cat Avalon stove which you pretty much threw the wood in and set the air controls. I had problems getting a low sustained burn with that stove due to the wind and chimney draft, so I think once the real cold weather arrives I should be fine.

I am impressed how much less wood I burn. May just be the smaller firebox, but, I do know my room is warm in the morning while when I had the Avalon, the heat would be on by 3-4AM.

Rick D
 
Problem Solved thanks to all your help,

The problem with my stove was indeed inadequate draft from the OAK. What I found was the exterior opening was adequate and had a larger cross sectional diameter than the 4" pipe that connects to the stove. The problem (self inflicted) was that I placed a sofet type vent over the exterior opening to keep 'critters' out. This had a louvered / fenstrated front that actually reduced the cross sectional area of the opening and and must have restricted air flow. I took out a pair of pliers and bent the louvers so that they were horizontal to the ground and VOILA! the stove burns beautifully.

Thanks again for your help.

Rick D (xraydog)

P.S. I'll get some photos with a nice fire going soon.
 
Glad to hear you got that one solved Rick. Happy burning time now.
 
Good deal! Glad you got to the bottom of it.
 
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