Fireview newbie questions: ash, draft, smoke

[njburner]

Hi, Slow1, Backwoods Savage, Todd, wendell and all other Fireview owners: thanks for all your posts in these forums. As an owner of a new Fireview, I've been lurking for a while and really appreciate all the useful advice on here, especially the photo essays showing what happens in your stoves. This is my first woodstove, although I have had open fires in a variety of houses since I was a kid. So I am often asking "is it supposed to be like this???", and running to these forums to see if I can find the answer. More often than not, I can, but I just wanted to double-check a few things explicitly, so thanks for your patience.

My setup:
My house is a 1-story ranch with a low pitch roof, no attic (just a fir deck on beams). The chimney exits the roof very near the 10.5' high peak; there is ~7' of 6" double-wall stovepipe going straight up from an elbow on the stove flue into a "support box" below the ceiling, where it transitions into the 6" prefabricated metalasbestos chimney which exits the roof. There is about 7.5' chimney above the roof, supported by a brace. So the chimney cap is about 15' above the hearth: recommended minimum height for adequate draft, according to the Woodstock soapstone literature (I sent them a detailed diagram of my installation before installing it; both they and my local township fire / building inspectors said it was fine).

I've only started about 15 fires in my stove so far, with a couple of overnight burns, and am still learning what draft setting to use at different stages in the burn. For the last two fires I've managed to get the stovetop temperature over 500F with just 3 small splits, after reloading at about 350F. My first burn got the stovetop up to 275F, the second to 320, the third to 350, and after that I've been getting peak temperatures between 420 and 550 with 3 splits at a time. I haven't ever put in more than three splits at once. My draft seems excellent: I quickly have flames roaring up into the flue after lighting or reloading. Mostly, I have been leaving the draft at #4 for a few minutes after lighting/reloading, then racking it down to about #2 before engaging the cat, and putting it down to #1 or just under immediately after engaging the cat. However, last night and today, I racked the draft setting down to about 1.25 within a few minutes of reloading, because there were huge sheets of flame shooting up the flue: it's very cold (teens F) and extremely windy. I haven't had to clean my ashes out yet (!): I have less than an inch of ashes after burning maybe 100 2"-5" splits, and the largest embers I have after an overnight burn are smaller than a ping-pong ball. My glass got dirty in the first few burns but is clean lately.

Specific questions:
(1) How much wood do you put in to get the stove to cat-engage temperature from a completely cold start? And how long does this take?

Now that I have a bit of experience with lighting this stove, I am seeing temperatures of 250F on the stovetop about 1.5hr after starting the fire with 2-3 small splits plus some kindling. In fact, I have been burning these 2-3 splits more or less completely to get the stove top to 250F. I then have to add another 3, and wait the requisite 15 minutes before finally engaging the cat.

Am I being too tentative? Woodstock soapstone specifically say not to build a roaring fire in a cold stove, but I am not sure what constitutes "roaring". Could my wood be too wet (see below)?

(2) When should I be concerned about smoking wood?

I sometimes get smoke in the firebox and issuing from my chimney in the first 15 minutes or so of burning from a completely cold start, or when kindling the fire from the few embers left after an overnight burn. The newspaper emits a startlingly large amount of smoke (yes, I am using the ordinary black-and-white kind, nothing colored or glossy), and I get what seems to me to be a lot of smoke when a big piece of kindling or a small split starts burning but falls into the ash bed and gets semi-smothered.

Am I right in thinking that this is because some of my wood is not as dry as it should be, so it really needs to get lots of air at the start or to be put on nice hot coals rather than ash? If I open the damper, open the door, and use my poker to lever the smoking piece back onto something that's burning merrily, it quickly solves the smoke problem. Well before I engage the cat, I get no visible smoke at all from the chimney: just heat shimmers. And when I reload splits onto coals when the stove top is between 300 and 350F, they catch light almost instantly with very little smoke.

I got my wood in September. It is supposedly split last October (i.e. over a year ago) and stacked in the parking lot of the firewood supplier as a "display wall". It is a mix of species: birch, ash, maple. Ends are split, bark is peeling off, exposed faces are silvery grey and cheap moisture meter reads 17-22%.

(3) Is the stovetop temperature really a reliable guide to firebox temperature?

It seems to me that there is a huge lag between temperatures in the firebox and the stovetop. I can understand the principle of leaving the cat unengaged for 10-15 minutes after reloading (I have been doing this religiously), but when building a fire from cold, I'm pretty sure my firebox is over 500F for quite a time before the top reaches 250F. I have a thermometer on the outside of the double-wall stovepipe about 18" above the flue and this reaches 220-250F well before I engage the cat, after which it drops to around 150-180F. I realize that the figure of 250F is pretty meaningless in specific terms, but qualitatively it would seem to me that for the outside of doublewall stovepipe to be this hot, the inside will be a lot hotter, and the firebox hotter still. The cat typically glows bright when I engage it, suggesting that it is well hot enough (it ceases glowing after an hour or two). Do you ever engage the cat before the top reaches 250F?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Welcome to the forum njburner and congratulations on the new stove and being a new wood burner. You have some excellent questions and thank you.

First, it sounds like your wood is in good shape and I hope you have taken steps towards getting next year's supply already.

It sounds like you have a good install so you should be good there too. (This is sounding too easy!)


Question (1): How much wood do you put in to get the stove to cat-engage temperature from a completely cold start? And how long does this take?

When I start with a cold stove, most times I use newspaper and kindling made of soft maple. I'll use maybe up to six pieces of kindling and then a couple very small splits on top of that. Those are also of soft maple because soft maple lights quickly.

Once the fire is going fairly well and the kindling is about gone, I'll then add another split or perhaps two, depending on what type of a fire I want (how cold is it outdoors).

I usually can get the stovetop to 250 within 45 minutes and many times less. This can be done without a big roaring fire because as you stated, it is not good to make a big roaring fire with cold stone.


Question (2) When should I be concerned about smoking wood?

I sometimes get smoke in the firebox and issuing from my chimney in the first 15 minutes or so of burning from a completely cold start, or when kindling the fire from the few embers left after an overnight burn.

Am I right in thinking that this is because some of my wood is not as dry as it should be, so it really needs to get lots of air at the start or to be put on nice hot coals rather than ash?

Perhaps you are being a bit too concerned about the smoke. Every time you light a fire or even reload the stove you are going to get some smoke. It happens to everyone and we can't seem to fool Mother Nature into letting this happen any other way.

You will usually get smoke until you engage the cat. Also, when you light a fire or reload the stove, yes, open the draft full and have the cat off.

Perhaps a better question might be when to engage the cat. I've been thinking about perhaps starting a thread on this subject but fear I might confuse some folks. The 10-15 minutes which Woodstock recommends is only a guideline. If you have very dry wood and lots of coals so the fire gets started really quick, I have engaged the cat in less than 10 minute (but very rarely. I usually wait at least 10 minutes). However, I have also waited up to a half hour before engaging the cat. I look at the stovetop temperature, the flue temperature and much more by looking at the actual fire or how much the logs have charred. No charring, cat stays off. Lots of charring, cat goes on.

On setting the draft, that can vary quite a bit for different people simply because of the difference in wood, the different weather, the different install, the chimney height, what the wind is like outdoors and what is in the surrounding area. All variables.

Generally we have the draft set full open on new fires and reloads. Sometimes we dial that down to 2 if the flue temperature is going up fast but not the stove top temperature. It is not uncommon, especially with a new fire, to drop to 2 and wait 15-20 minutes or sometimes much longer. Then when we engage the cat we usually set the draft to 1 or thereabouts. Once I am satisfied with the fire I turn it down further. I set as low as .25 and sometimes even to zero. Sometimes it will be at .5 and occasionally stay right at 1. Others find .5 or .75 or even 1 suits them fine.


Question (3) Is the stovetop temperature really a reliable guide to firebox temperature?

Yes.

Remember that the stove top will be different than the firebox! With the bypass open, (cat off) a lot of heat is going into the flue. This is good to get the flue warmed up. While this is happening, that big hole above the firebox is also heating up but definitely will lag behind what the actual firebox temperature is. Realize there is a lot of metal between the firebox and the top of the stove so it has to lag behind.

I have a few times engaged below 250 but never below 230 stovetop no matter what the flue temperature reads. Woodstock says you can engage once the flue temperature is at 500 and I've tried that when the stove top was below 250 and just do not like it. Why? I think that is what ruined my first cat! (yes, Woodstock stood behind it.) Once I stopped this we've had no problems.


One more thing is to remind you that the cat does not always glow but it will still be working.

You've asked good questions and as long as you have good fuel you are going to be very happy with this stove. Once again, congratulations.

 

[njburner]

Thanks, Dennis! You've reassured me somewhat about the smoking during early stages of burning.

However, I'm not convinced about the dryness of my wood, even though I've sorted it so that I am only burning the lightest weight pieces that sound the most hollow when clunked together. The fact that you can get your Fireview to temperature in under 45 minutes with just a couple of splits makes me think that my wood could be a lot drier. I haven't heard hissing when I put splits on the coals (it would have to hiss pretty loudly for me to hear it with the door closed, I guess), but there is often a "pop" or crackle, and I can see smoke and/or steam (not sure how to tell the difference) coming out from where the bark is peeling off, and from cracks in the wood, for at least the first 5-10 minutes after adding it. My moisture meter is only a cheap one (30 bucks or so), and it gives variable readings from the same split, so I am not sure how much to trust it. I think I will do what I've seen recommended elsewhere on these forums and get some kiln-dried wood to start the fire with. I have never managed to get the stove top up to 250F in less than 1.5 hour from cold, although I am definitely improving my technique: my first real burns (not break in burns) took a lot longer than 1.5hr, and we will just draw a discreet veil over how smoky my first couple of break-in fires were (when outside temps were in the 50sF and draft was much more sluggish than currently).

Thanks for the recommendation about getting in wood now for next year. One of my New Year's to-do items is indeed to find wood now. I'd rather season it myself than rely on someone else to tell me "oh yes, it's seasoned". We have a maple, an ash and a couple of pines in the yard that I am planning to take down by March, so I was figuring that the pines at least might be dry enough by this time next year. My big challenge is finding somewhere to keep the wood dry. My 0.5 acre lot is mostly shaded, and zoning regs mean I can't build a woodshed within 15 feet of any boundary. So there are very few places in the yard where I can actually hope to stack the wood so it seasons properly, and I will have to experiment. We just moved here in the summer, and what with all the hassle of moving, new jobs etc, I didn't have time to put up a woodshed this year. Currently, I have about 1.5 cord stacked untarped in a fairly sunny, windy place, and about 0.5 cord on my porch. The porch does keep it reasonably dry but it does get wet in driving rain or snow. I bring about 2 days worth of wood into the house at a time, so all wood has been at over 60F for 2 days before burning.

I am pretty concerned about creosote build up, especially given the amount of exposed prefab chimney we have. The spark arrestor under the chimney cap has mostly turned black / brown (but doesn't appear clogged in any way), as has the underside of the chimney cap. Sadly, given its height above the roof it's not ultra-easy for me to check the inside of the chimney pipe, and I can't see far up the flue given the elbow out the back of the stove. To inspect and clean it, I'm either going to have to get a small stepladder up onto the roof -- which will have to wait until it's less cold and windy than today ! -- or to take the stovepipe apart (messy!). We've now had the stove alight for about a fortnight's worth of full-time burning, so perhaps it's time to get a sweep in to take a professional look? (or should I wait until we've burned a bit more?)

One of the reasons I asked about the firebox temperature getting well above 500F while the stovetop is below 250F is that my double-wall stovepipe seems to be getting pretty darn hot before I engage the catalyst (after first lighting and after reloading), and I would hate for any creosote in there to light up! The last few burns I have heard what sounds like "sizzling" from inside the pipe as flames go shooting up into the flue (it's very cold and windy out, so draft is strong), and the surface stovepipe temperature at 18" above the stove rapidly climbs above 220F. Nothing like the "jet engine" that other people have reported for a chimney fire, more like a steak on the BBQ. But I have to admit I got pretty scared at this, and dropped the draft immediately (down to 1.25 from 2), and re-engaged the catalyst a prompt 10 minutes after reload. Reducing the draft reduced the sizzling, and engaging the cat stopped it entirely. The temperature on the outside of the pipe dropped below 200 after engaging the catalyst (stove top temps over 400). Again, I realize that temps on the surface of a double wall pipe are pretty meaningless in quantitative terms, but this would suggest to me that the flue is getting very hot until I seriously drop the draft (and risk smoke) or engage the catalyst.

Thanks again for your patience with all these questions!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

It does sound like your pipe may be getting pretty hot and do not worry if you do have to decrease the draft at that point. What you will find when you decrease the draft is that the stove top will heat faster and there is one of the keys to getting the stove top temperature up when starting cold. Get some heat into the flue and then cut back so all the heat doesn't go up the chimney.

Perhaps your wood is not really as dry as you thought and it is a good idea to get someone to check that chimney. I usually recommend new burners to clean their chimney monthly at least for the first year. If you are hiring it done, go by their recommendation because they will actually see what the inside of the chimney looks like and can use their judgment from there.

As for black on the cap, that is nothing to be concerned about unless it starts building up. Just face the fact that over time that cap will turn black; it is the nature of the thing. That is the coolest part of the heating process so will be the dirtiest.

On the hissing wood, I doubt you would ever hear it with the door closed. Just open the door a crack after or as the wood gets started burning. Wet wood = hissing and many times you can actually see moisture coming out of the ends of the wood.

I do not own a moisture meter and have never used one. Perhaps they are of some help to some folks though. As for us, we will burn good dry wood. We cut our own wood on our own place, then split and stack it. Normally we will be burning wood that has been split and stacked at least 3 years. The first summer we do not cover the wood but do cover it in late fall or early winter and then cover the top of the wood only. Tarps do not work well for covering wood though. Some rubber roofing works great but most of ours is covered with some old galvanized roofing. We never worry about the sides of the piles getting wet. If they do, it dries super fast. Wood is not a sponge....unless it is already punky.

Wood is best stacked where the prevailing wind will hit the sides of the piles. Sun is good but wind is better. Both are best. Here are a couple of pictures of our wood.

First, a picture taken on Christmas Day 2008. This is the stack we are burning at present and we are pretty much done with our six and seven year old wood. Heck, I guess we are down to 4 year old wood at present.

Another old stack.

Finally the wood we cut last winter. It was split and stacked in April. I covered that wood in late November.

On the wood you are talking about for next year, get it cut and split as soon as you can. That ash will make probably your best wood next year and you will like it. That stack from last year in the picture is 98% ash. It is ready to burn now but it will be next year or later before we get to it. (Depends on how much we sell or give away.)

 

[njburner]

Wow, Dennis, that is a serious amount of wood! I stand in awe...

I think I will get a sweep in soon. My family all think I am being paranoid given how little we have burned the stove, but I'd rather be on the safe side.

I'm going to keep the least obviously-seasoned part of this year's wood until next year. Will give me something about next winter to look forward to (I am not a winter person, hence the attraction of a nice warm soapstone stove).

 

[njburner]

I should also say that I have never seen moisture coming out of the ends of the splits: just the smoke / steam from under the bark and some of the cracks on the ends.

I had the door slightly open for a couple of minutes after starting the fire today and didn't hear any hissing. Haven't dared have it open any longer than necessary on reload because the draft is so strong. Will have to check it on a mild day!

Really appreciate all the advice.

 

[Todd]

Welome to the forum and Fireview club. Dennis pretty much nailed everything but I'll add a couple things. A probe thermometer would be a great tool for you to see what your internal temps are at during both bypass and cat mode, it will help you fine tune your burns. I use mine more than the stove top. As far as engaging before the stove top hit 250, I will do it at 200 at times as long as I know my flue temps are up over 500, I have a good coal bed, and the firewood is good and charred for at least 10 minutes.

Cold starts I use the top down method with 2 small/medium splits on bottom and a lot of kindling on top. I let that burn good for 30 minutes wich gives me a good coal bed and the stove top temp is always well over 250. After that I'll load whatever amount I need, wait 10-15 minutes and engage the cat at #1 and adjust from there.

 

[njburner]

Thanks, Todd. I will get a flue probe thermometer: it sounds like a good idea.

I tried the top down method of starting: still took me over 1.5 hr to get to 250F.

I think I need better wood.

 

[Todd]

Also check the size of your splits. Use smaller splits when starting and after you establish a good coal bed you can throw a couple bigger ones in there. Most of my splits are all 2-5 inches diameter. I still have a few larger splits I like to stuff in the lower back for a long burn.

 

[rickw]

Congrats on new stove, you're going to love it. A few things...

- The FV can run at a very low wood consumption (12+ hour reload times), typically at an air setting below 1 - maybe .5 to .75. Not as much heat is produced, so right now you'll probably load more like 3 times a day using an air setting of 1 or more to make sufficient heat to heat your home. It is easy to get into a runaway coal buildup with the more frequent reloading schedule, try to be sure to burn out most of the coals before reloading (open the air up towards the end of the burn cycle). There has been a (very) long thread on this recently.

- I tried the top-down, and now instead use a side-oriented fire starting scheme. I put the paper and kindling next to the door and crack it for a couple of minutes (NEVER leave the stove with the door open). This blowtorches the load quite nicely and gets things going. Kind of academic with the FV, as you very seldom need to start a new fire. A butane torch is also really handy here.

- Scratches on soapstone can be sandpapered out pretty easily.

- I'm removing ashes every other week. This is about the only time I've needed to start a fire; and even then sometimes I can leave in a few coals to get going with.

- Don't stress! Just throw in some wood, let it get hot, engage the cat and relax. Its going to be just fine.

 

[HollowHill]

Welome to the forum and Fireview club. Dennis pretty much nailed everything but I'll add a couple things. A probe thermometer would be a great tool for you to see what your internal temps are at during both bypass and cat mode, it will help you fine tune your burns. I use mine more than the stove top. As far as engaging before the stove top hit 250, I will do it at 200 at times as long as I know my flue temps are up over 500, I have a good coal bed, and the firewood is good and charred for at least 10 minutes.

Cold starts I use the top down method with 2 small/medium splits on bottom and a lot of kindling on top. I let that burn good for 30 minutes wich gives me a good coal bed and the stove top temp is always well over 250. After that I'll load whatever amount I need, wait 10-15 minutes and engage the cat at #1 and adjust from there.

Do you stay and watch the start up fire for the entire 30 minutes or just check it occasionally during that time?

 

[Slow1]

Congrats on the new stove. Looks like most of your questions have been answered. I too have been learning this season and it has been quite interesting. I think we are all in awe of Dennis' wood stash - it would certainly be nice to know my fuel is not at all in question!

Right now I'm experimenting with my own burning methods. I've been burning hot by running with flames in the box pretty much the whole burn on the theory that this will get more heat out. However, having read Dennis/Backwoods Savage's posts I'm trying to break the routine I've become so comfortable with and turn the air down more and see if that can eek out more heat. In fact I just did it (somewhat) - burned it open much longer before engaging the cat, then turned air down to .5 (lowest I've done in a LONG time) after running at 1 for a little while. It had peaked at 550 and was on the way down when I put it at .5. It held the same temp there for a good hour (more actually) before falling slightly lower (temp was 500 surface). Interesting thing was the flue temp plummeted to 150 on my external mount thermometer which normally runs 1/2 the surface temp. Clearly I need to keep working with this method eh? My point here being that you are likely to figure out how to burn your stove pretty quickly, but then if you keep listening to the more experienced ones here you are likely to keep learning even more good pointers if you are willing to try some new things once in a while...

Enjoy!

 

[Todd]

Welome to the forum and Fireview club. Dennis pretty much nailed everything but I'll add a couple things. A probe thermometer would be a great tool for you to see what your internal temps are at during both bypass and cat mode, it will help you fine tune your burns. I use mine more than the stove top. As far as engaging before the stove top hit 250, I will do it at 200 at times as long as I know my flue temps are up over 500, I have a good coal bed, and the firewood is good and charred for at least 10 minutes.

Cold starts I use the top down method with 2 small/medium splits on bottom and a lot of kindling on top. I let that burn good for 30 minutes wich gives me a good coal bed and the stove top temp is always well over 250. After that I'll load whatever amount I need, wait 10-15 minutes and engage the cat at #1 and adjust from there.

Do you stay and watch the start up fire for the entire 30 minutes or just check it occasionally during that time?

After it gets going maybe 10-15 minutes I'll set the air down to about #1 and I can either go about my buisness or sit down and watch the fire. Come to think about it, I haven't had a cold start my stove since mid Nov.

 

[Todd]

Watch out for the weather too guys. It's been very cold here with some wind as well and lately my usual burn around #1 has to be adjusted down to more like .75. The draft really increased with the extreme weather.

 

[wendell]

Congratulations on the new stove. It looks like you have most of your questions answered but since you mentioned me, I figured I had better say something. ;-)

For your wood, are you splitting a piece before you measure the moisture content? If not, the readings you get are not accurate. Also, be sure you are pushing the probes in the same distance to get more consistent readings.

Also, the flue probe thermometer will be a great investment. Like Todd, I use it much more than the stove top. According to Woodstock, you can engage the cat after it reaches 500 (but I usually wait until 6-700 to be sure. But, always wait at least the 10-15 minutes so that any residual moisture is driven off before engaging the cat.

Why are you still only using 3 splits? Time to fill up the firebox and see what the stove can do. I have only needed to start 1 fire since the beginning of November when we got back from being gone for Christmas.

Good luck!

 

[njburner]

Once again, thanks all for the accumulated wisdom. It is such a boon to have knowledgeable people willing to share their experiences and expertise.

In answer to the various questions:

- My splits are mostly between 3" and 5" on a side. A few are 2" or 6" (none larger). Length is between 14" and 18": mostly 16" or 17". Woodstock recommend 16" so I haven't been burning anything longer than 18".

- I've only put in 3 splits at once because given the draft and smoke issues I wanted to burn hot with just 3 rather than cooler with more. Until I work out the vagaries of my draft, I don't want to be in the situation of having 650F+ stovetop temperatures without knowing precisely how to stop the temperature going higher (having read some of Dennis's posts, I now think I know how to do that). Also, if I put 3 splits in lengthwise side by side, they can produce a lot of smoke, unless I tilt them at angles to expose more surface area to the draft. This is one of the reasons I think they are less seasoned than claimed by the person who sold them to me.

In the cold windy weather we've been having this week, I have noticed that my draft is way stronger than when the temperature is above freezing and the wind is calm.

 

[njburner]

Forgot to answer a question... yes, I have been measuring moisture content after splitting: 17-22% typically, at about 60F ambient (I have been bringing the pieces into the basement to measure them, because it's so cold outside that I don't trust the moisture meter to work at all out there). But I suspect that moisture content of a fair few of the splits is actually higher than that, based on their weight. The moisture meter is about as cheap as you can get, so maybe it's time to invest in a reasonable one. There's a whole mix of species in the cord I bought as "seasoned" (haha) back in September, and while the birch and maple does actually seem fairly dry (light, lots of cracks, bark falling off), I haven't even tried to burn any of the oak (heavy, bark still firmly stuck on). Maybe it's old-fashioned of me, but I tend to think that I ought to be able to tell when wood is seasoned without relying on any electronic meter....

 

[Slow1]

Don't worry about burning splits larger than 18" - if you can fit it in, burn it. Just be sure it will fit before sticking it into a hot stove or you may have a smoking/flaming stick to dispose of in a hurry - snowbanks outside are handy I've heard. Same goes for that "one last split I'm sure I can fit in that odd space there on top"

 

[njburner]

Hehe, remind me only to try long splits when there are snowbanks outside...

Maybe the recommendation for shorter splits is to ensure that there is good air circulation in the firebox?

Having said that, the ash bed stops any kind of circulation under the splits. A lot of the smoke I've seen in my early-stage fires comes from smoldering kindling that's toppled into the ash, and the ends of logs dug into the ash.

 

[wendell]

I'm a little confused how ash is coming into contact with your wood. Before I load, I stir up the coals in the front so the ash sinks down and then rake the coals forward so the new wood is only touching the hot coals.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Congrats on new stove, you're going to love it. A few things...

- The FV can run at a very low wood consumption (12+ hour reload times), typically at an air setting below 1 - maybe .5 to .75. Not as much heat is produced, so right now you'll probably load more like 3 times a day using an air setting of 1 or more to make sufficient heat to heat your home. It is easy to get into a runaway coal buildup with the more frequent reloading schedule, try to be sure to burn out most of the coals before reloading (open the air up towards the end of the burn cycle). There has been a (very) long thread on this recently.

- I tried the top-down, and now instead use a side-oriented fire starting scheme. I put the paper and kindling next to the door and crack it for a couple of minutes (NEVER leave the stove with the door open). This blowtorches the load quite nicely and gets things going. Kind of academic with the FV, as you very seldom need to start a new fire. A butane torch is also really handy here.

- Scratches on soapstone can be sandpapered out pretty easily.

- I'm removing ashes every other week. This is about the only time I've needed to start a fire; and even then sometimes I can leave in a few coals to get going with.

- Don't stress! Just throw in some wood, let it get hot, engage the cat and relax. Its going to be just fine.

Just one word of caution. Woodstock recommends 0000 steel wool for rubbing out any scratches. 4 zeros I believe is the finest steel wool you can buy.

 

[njburner]

I don't have many coals currently, and the ones I do have are small (typically less than a ping-pong ball in size). Everything burns down extremely well when I let the fire burn overnight (about 10-11hr) or let it go out. I have burned more than 100 splits and still haven't cleaned out any ash, although it's getting to the point where I need to. Currently the ash bed is well below the bottom edge of the door: it's a bit less than an inch thick.

Therefore, when I am lighting a fire from cold, or starting up after an overnight burn there's not a lot of coals to balance the wood on (I try!). It's obviously much different if I reload during the day. Then I typically have lots of hot coals, and the new splits catch light almost instantly and smoke much less.

I'm not aiming to use this stove as the main heat source for the house this season, although I would like to next year once I have some decent wood. We have been lighting it mainly at the weekend, keeping it in overnight on Saturday.

 

[Slow1]

I have burned more than 100 splits and still haven't cleaned out any ash, although it's getting to the point where I need to. Currently the ash bed is well below the bottom edge of the door: it's a bit less than an inch thick.

Hey - good or bad news for you - depending on how much you look forward to cleaning out ashes....

Recommendation is to keep about an inch of ashes on the bottom of the stove. So... if you just now have about 1" there then you just hit your base of ash and there is no need to pull any out anytime soon. Go burn another 100 splits, then take out an inch of ashes

 

[Todd]

When I burn in the shoulder season and burn 1 or 2 fires per day I keep the fire box relatively clean, just a little ash. That way your wood won't disappear into the ash on a cold restart and you will have better air circulation throughout the load. When you burn 24/7 you don't have to worry about the ash since the coal bed rides on top and keeps your fresh wood on top of that.

 

[njburner]

Thanks for the info, Todd: that's interesting.

I have been leaving the ash in because the Fireview manual recommends an inch of ash. But I may well go your route and clean out the ash: that would certainly help mitigate some of the problems I've been experiencing with smoking wood.

I did a bit more splitting today (of large existing splits: 4"-6"), and none of the new splits had moisture content over 20% according to my moisture meter. But the reading fluctuates wildly within a given split depending on how hard I push the tines in, and the range of readings is the same over all kinds of wood (birch, maple, ash, oak), so I suspect I am not getting accurate info about the true moisture content.