Ground Hog Day...

It's Ground Hog Day, cloudy and 12*F out. To be near 0*F evenings all week. So...when is Spring coming?

My draft is really strong, and the fires are burning with good flame, even with the air completely closed. Am burning my coals from last night's fire down a bit, then am going to burn my first all ironwood fire of the season and see how long it lasts with this strong draft, and how quickly the coals burn down. Have 9 smaller rounds weighed...together they weigh 52 pounds, and I think I can get them all in the stove....6", 2x5", 4", 4x3+", one 2" and 1 3"+apple round, all about 18-19"long.

If I get any surprising results, I'll post. Am going to aim for a longish burn at around 420 degrees...we'll see. May burn fast with all the rounds....

No sight of spring here! 3f this morning and the stove is cold, I can hear the furnace running....

Punxatawney Phil did not see his shadow, and that means only four more weeks of winter left. Aw, shucks...

The early spring is as cold as winter frequently.

9:40 and my coals have finally burned down enough to load again. Still have a good bed of coals.

Internal flue thermometer measures 400 degrees, stovetop thermometer at cast next to exit pipe reads 300.

10:00: Have just taken a series of photos...finally closed the curtains to limit reflection...took a while to figure that out..duh!

Engaged the cat 9:47, flue temp 500. Now 10:00, flue temp 620, stove top about 325; fire was extremely active, with very acive secondaries. Closed air completely and within one minute had just ghostly flames. Opened air a crack, and now have moderately active cat flames.

Stove easily took the 9 rounds...could have put several more small ones in. SO: 46 1/2 pounds ironwood, 5 1/2 pounds apple. Cold out and active burn...we'll see.

10:10 Flue temp 700, stovetop 370. Pretty active cat flames. Hope the flue temp goes down. Air is closed all the way.

The fire just got a lot bigger. Going to close the air all the way...

700! This is up there...
I never see anything past 500 in cat mode. Mind you different beast. Different results.

Rideau what happened to your sig?

Phil says early Spring. I laugh. I always think that even 6 weeks from February 2 makes an early Spring in New England. Still traumatized by that snow on Mother's Day some years back...

Correct me if I am wrong, but I always thought the flue temperature was supposed to be about half of the stove top temperature. Otherwise you are sending too much heat up the chimney. Could someone clarify that for me.

Internal flue temp

If the groundhog sees his shadow, it is 6 more weeks of winter.
If he does not see his shadow, that means we'll have spring in 6 weeks.

Ground Hog Day-WTF?

Yes, well, I'm not happy with the flue temps.

With the load of smaller rounds than I usually burn, the PH burned with an active flame for over 5 hours, flue temps too high for me, and stove top temps about 450. I called Woodstock to talk with them. As I suspected (and hoped not), I should install a damper in my pipe. They would like to see internal flue temps of 350 to 400 degrees, and less heat up the chimney, more in the house.

I can achieve this, or close to it, with very large splits, but not with normal size splits. I have a tall ICC chimney, and am on the south end of a lake, high above the lake,. The winds can be fierce.

So, ICC will get a bit of business from me in the next week or two.

It is 7:30, and I have just opened the air all the way to burn down the coals in the stove. At this time, 9 1/2 hours after starting the fire, the stove has a lot of coals in the back half, the stovetop temp is 260 and the flue temp is 350.

So, a worthwhile burn, because I learned something today, and will be correcting my stovepipe so I can regulate the air better when I burn small splits and rounds, and lose less heat up the chimney. I'm not going to like the way the flue looks, but that's life...

For the record, this burn, even with Ironwood, was probably about 2/3 of what I get with the PH on this type of day.