njburner said:
Yeah, clean the ash out if your only burning a single fire per day it will help. My moisture meter does the same thing and my directions state to only push the tines in 3mm. I don't think you need to push them all the way in.
Fireview newbie questions: ash, draft, smoke
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Yeah, clean the ash out if your only burning a single fire per day it will help. My moisture meter does the same thing and my directions state to only push the tines in 3mm. I don't think you need to push them all the way in.
Update: I took note of Todd's tip and removed all the ashes from the stove before lighting my next fire from cold. I also used the top down method (as per Slow1's photo show). I made sure to put the splits at the front of the stove (near the glass), so that the flames were at the front or center of the stove, and less likely to go shooting up the flue. It's cold here again (teens F), so the draft is excellent; to try to prevent all the heat going up the chimney, I set the draft lever at #2 almost immediately after lighting.
Result: my best ever start. Got stovetop to 250F in 50 minutes, a record time for me, using just 3 smallish splits plus kindling. There was much less smoke, and the thermometer on my double wall stovepipe at 18" above the stove never got above 200F (no more sizzling noises, thank goodness!). I didn't have sheets of flame going into the flue.
So thank you all again for the advice.
Result: my best ever start. Got stovetop to 250F in 50 minutes, a record time for me, using just 3 smallish splits plus kindling. There was much less smoke, and the thermometer on my double wall stovepipe at 18" above the stove never got above 200F (no more sizzling noises, thank goodness!). I didn't have sheets of flame going into the flue.
So thank you all again for the advice.
Glad it worked out for you! Not sure that you really needed to pull ALL the ashes out, but I'll bet it didn't hurt anything to do it either.
Keep working with it and observe what seems to work better for you and adjust - you will find your own style that suits your install, wood, and personal tastes soon enough - then something will change and you can adjust again, heh.
We're in 24/7 mode here and have been for quite a while so I wonder what it will be like to be back starting fires from scratch again in the spring shoulder season. I sure don't miss having to think about kindling - but having just come in from refilling the rack on the deck I'm thinking it will be nice come spring to give up that task too... every season has it's pros and cons.
Keep working with it and observe what seems to work better for you and adjust - you will find your own style that suits your install, wood, and personal tastes soon enough - then something will change and you can adjust again, heh.
We're in 24/7 mode here and have been for quite a while so I wonder what it will be like to be back starting fires from scratch again in the spring shoulder season. I sure don't miss having to think about kindling - but having just come in from refilling the rack on the deck I'm thinking it will be nice come spring to give up that task too... every season has it's pros and cons.
njburner,
This is my first year with the Fireview too. I'm not getting the temps that Dennis gets at the low settings either. I'm thinking that maybe my wood is not as dry as I thought it was. Running it at about 1 or 1.25 I am getting several hours at 500+ usually just over 600. At the lower settings I can get about 8 or more hours at about 400, but that is not enough heat for my drafty house when it is less than about 25 outside or windy.
From your posts, I think that you should worry less about the smoke and put more wood in your stove. I suggest, based on my experience, that once you have your few splits going, pack the stove with wood. Leaving the cat bypassed and the air around 1.5 let it burn for 10- 115 minutes, or until all the wood looks charred. Then engage the cat and adjust the air down to 1 ish. I think this will get you higher temps and longer fires. You may also get a little more coal build up, but to deal with that push the coals to the front and run the stove with full air for as long as it takes to burn down the coals. Leave enough coals so that you can reload with regular size splits. With a good bed of coals I jam as much wood as I can and set the air at about 1.5 when I reload and in ten of less minutes I engage the cat and repeat the whole process. Don't be afraid to let the stove make some heat. You can easily run this stove 24/7. We haven't used a match since some time in November.
This is my first year with the Fireview too. I'm not getting the temps that Dennis gets at the low settings either. I'm thinking that maybe my wood is not as dry as I thought it was. Running it at about 1 or 1.25 I am getting several hours at 500+ usually just over 600. At the lower settings I can get about 8 or more hours at about 400, but that is not enough heat for my drafty house when it is less than about 25 outside or windy.
From your posts, I think that you should worry less about the smoke and put more wood in your stove. I suggest, based on my experience, that once you have your few splits going, pack the stove with wood. Leaving the cat bypassed and the air around 1.5 let it burn for 10- 115 minutes, or until all the wood looks charred. Then engage the cat and adjust the air down to 1 ish. I think this will get you higher temps and longer fires. You may also get a little more coal build up, but to deal with that push the coals to the front and run the stove with full air for as long as it takes to burn down the coals. Leave enough coals so that you can reload with regular size splits. With a good bed of coals I jam as much wood as I can and set the air at about 1.5 when I reload and in ten of less minutes I engage the cat and repeat the whole process. Don't be afraid to let the stove make some heat. You can easily run this stove 24/7. We haven't used a match since some time in November.
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