helpful suggestions for dutchwest non cat 2477

[jvedo]

Hello,
this is my second season heating my home with a dutchwest non cat 2477 stove. It seems to be working well, heats the whole ranch type house. I have acumilated some questions and concerns, and would like to decribe my basic routine for operating the stove. Please post comments or suggestions.

All burns are started with dried kindling leading to seasoned logs. Although last year half my wood supply was only a few months seasoned. Once my fire is in form I load it up and let it burn down to coals a couple of times. Then its loaded again and the damper is closed for 'slow burn'. During the slow burn the thermomiter goes from 350-400 to about 200. The thermomiter is magnetic, are these accurate as the screw in types? Are my tempatures high enough. Pending on the wood, ive seen the temp get up to 500-550 and that stove is steaming hot. But goes down when I slow burn, or if I am only burning a log at a time with the damp open.
I have noticed the paint on the stove is comming off easily. I can wipe it off easily with a rag in some spots. It seems to be the finish only. Whats causing this? Cheap paint, the way i operate the stove?

I also have a whitish substance that seems to be oozing from the chimney. It comes then disapears. I noticed other chimneys in the area have the same thing. I have been getting mixed answers on this.

Overall i think i am running the stove well, but may have caused some issues last year when i was burning semi seasoned wood, and occasionally opening the ash door to help my fires out.

Any input would be great, thanks.

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Welcome! Cool looking stove. Now, I have no answers for you. Don't fret, others will.

 

[rkymtnoffgrid]

I have the same stove and the same problem, in fact after reading a bit on this site, I now realize that have I never been able to get my secondary burn to consistently stabilize in the entire time I have owned the stove. At first I blamed the stove, ( and believe me, the stove is worthy of some blame) However, I now beleive that most of my issues have been operational practices soley on my part. With your fule temps, I bet that you, like me, have always had the secondary burn "stall" at some point after the bypass was closed. These stoves are very paticular, but some, (unlike myself) get very good, long and hot sustained burns while the bypass is closed. I suggest you read the entire thread called "Dutchwest worst stove ever", (dont let the title scare you, there is alot of good info in there paticular to theses stoves.) I wish I knew how to give you the link but I don't, just search for it, and commit to reading the entire thread, theres some trash talk, but in that thread is some excellent info on how to successfully get the "everburn" to sustain properly. Anyways, after you read that thread, you will be much better equipped with what may be your paticualr problem, rather its flue, gaskets, draft, or even the way you load your wood. good luck, you have come to right place to get the answers you seek.

 

[jvedo]

Thanks for the reply rkymtnoffgrid. I have actually seen that thread you mentioned and will definatley go through it. Looking foward to some helpfull information.

 

[sullystull]

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/4188/

try this thread too--a ton of info.

 

[ecocavalier02]

And the list goes on with people having issues with this thing. Don't want to burst your bubble but i have been having the same issues for 3 years now. All my wood 2 years split and dry tall chimney with good draft. same exact problems. I just shut mine down for good. waiting till i get a new stove next year.

 

[jvedo]

i really think its a matter of understanding how the stove is to operate, which I'm trying to figure out. Just with the threads that have people have been giving me has helped as i have been reading through pretty much all day and burning all day aswell. This is a very funtional stove which has been heating my home every day since late november. We dont shut it down. Im just not sure if its being used to its potential, and is it being used properly. For example, I have been burning with the damper shut for about an hour after burning log by log all morning. She got that rumbling going on, you do not see any smoke comming from the chimney, but the thermostat is on 300, not going anywhere. Is that hot enough? What temp should I be at? Are these magnetic thermomiters accurate? Should I have a thermomiter on the stove top? These are things that the manual does not have. Something is going on with the paint aswell. I can pretty much wipe it off. The stove is only a year old! I couldnt imagine shutting her down. I just want to get more at the operations of the stove.


Thanks again for everyones input.

 

[sullystull]

I burned an everburn stove all last season. Sure, it will throw out some heat but who has time to constantly mess with the stove, worry about going thermo-nuclear, or dying out? I replaced it with an oslo and haven't looked back.

 

[rkymtnoffgrid]

Keep reading and playing with the wood, I believe around 400 at 18" up is what I read aprox 2 hours after closing the bypass, don't expect it to climb, or continue to roar, but it should burn clean, (the stove temps climbing when the bypass is closed and buring out of control is an entirely different issue that some of us are struggling with...) I believe that if your wood is not wet, and you make sure your stove internals are clean (all this is well described in the aforementioned thread) you will be successfull. Believe it or not, I have never gotten my everburn to stabilize. I think my issue is with wood though, I have yet to get some good DRY quality hard wood and try it with my stove. I just fire the crap out of it buring crappy wood and I don't worry about the bypass. I will be experminting with it again in 2 days time when I go back up to my cabin. I will report back my findings, please report back as you as learn how to fire yours, theres many of us with similar problems. Using the process of elimation, and adhearing to the practices in the thread, you'll figure it out. However, I don't think the everburn is something where you can load it just and walk away expecting it to work. You can expect a steep learing curve and bit of babysitting, and just when you think you have mastered it, it throws you for a loop...

 

[bsa0021]

Hello,
this is my second season heating my home with a dutchwest non cat 2477 stove. It seems to be working well, heats the whole ranch type house. I have acumilated some questions and concerns, and would like to decribe my basic routine for operating the stove. Please post comments or suggestions.

All burns are started with dried kindling leading to seasoned logs. Although last year half my wood supply was only a few months seasoned. Once my fire is in form I load it up and let it burn down to coals a couple of times. Then its loaded again and the damper is closed for 'slow burn'. During the slow burn the thermomiter goes from 350-400 to about 200. The thermomiter is magnetic, are these accurate as the screw in types? Are my tempatures high enough. Pending on the wood, ive seen the temp get up to 500-550 and that stove is steaming hot. But goes down when I slow burn, or if I am only burning a log at a time with the damp open.
I have noticed the paint on the stove is comming off easily. I can wipe it off easily with a rag in some spots. It seems to be the finish only. Whats causing this? Cheap paint, the way i operate the stove?

I also have a whitish substance that seems to be oozing from the chimney. It comes then disapears. I noticed other chimneys in the area have the same thing. I have been getting mixed answers on this.

Overall i think i am running the stove well, but may have caused some issues last year when i was burning semi seasoned wood, and occasionally opening the ash door to help my fires out.

Any input would be great, thanks.

Ok, here we go again! Good info here and keep reading the posts. Others should be along to help as well (HANKO??). Your paint issue may be curing issues. Did you start with a small fire let cool and build progressively bigger fires to cure the paint?? I don't recommend adding only one piece of wood at a time. If you have hot coals fill the stove and burn w/damper open and once burn is strong and flue temp is 300-400 close damper. The whiteish substance from chimmney...?? ...are you sure your wood is dry? Do you see hear the wood sizzling in the box. Most important, have you cleaned the system since last year??

 

[jvedo]

Thats the thing, i'm pretty sure I did not properly break in the stove last year, I mixed unseasoned wood and from time to time would open the ash pan to get the fires going which I know now is not good. I hope I didnt cause to much if any damage. I burn single logs because I'm hesitant to use the damper as the temp starts to settle around 200, I feel im creating creosote. But today was good, we were cooking at 300 for a while with the damper on and has been down to 200 for the last couple of hours with the same load of wood since 3:00, not bad, and my house is a nice 75 degrees. Should I be so concerned? I will take a pic of the chimney next time that white stuff comes back.

 

[bsa0021]

Thats the thing, i'm pretty sure I did not properly break in the stove last year, I mixed unseasoned wood and from time to time would open the ash pan to get the fires going which I know now is not good. I hope I didnt cause to much if any damage. I burn single logs because I'm hesitant to use the damper as the temp starts to settle around 200, I feel im creating creosote. But today was good, we were cooking at 300 for a while with the damper on and has been down to 200 for the last couple of hours with the same load of wood since 3:00, not bad, and my house is a nice 75 degrees. Should I be so concerned? I will take a pic of the chimney next time that white stuff comes back.

If you have been running at 200 flue temp for several hrs. your creating creosote. Did you get the chimney cleaned before this years burning season?

 

[jvedo]

It was cleaned at the end of last years season. After burning with the damper closed I allways run open for a while to burn off the creosote at 300-350. I have a feeling the magnetic devices are not as accurate and I could be running hotter. Cant get any response on that issue.??

 

[jmichigan]

The paint came off our dutchwest just like yours is and we did the paint cure. We repainted it this summer and it hasn't happened since. I think it's just their cheap paint and I'm beginning to think this stove is an absolute lemon. I'm going to have to look up Michigan's lemon law because I'm thinking I may have some rights with all the crap going wrong with our stove.

 

[jvedo]

How did the paint job come out? Any pics? Looks like i will be doing that in the spring. A lot of people seem down about this stove. Guess I'm just green. Its pumping out heat though. Oil man wont be back until the spring, and my wood is free!

 

[jmichigan]

Stove heats great & looks great but it's literally falling apart.

 

[jmichigan]

Forgot to tell you that we used the paint that is also intended for outside grills.

 

[bsa0021]

It was cleaned at the end of last years season. After burning with the damper closed I allways run open for a while to burn off the creosote at 300-350. I have a feeling the magnetic devices are not as accurate and I could be running hotter. Cant get any response on that issue.??

Did you get much creosote out of it? Put your thermometer in the oven (on a cookie sheet) to check accuracy. At 300-350 your at the low range to prevent creosote (if this is flue temp. 450 -500 would be better.

 

[jvedo]

I set the oven at 350-the thermometer read 425
On the stove pipe reads 280 (double wall pipe)
On the wood stove top reads 420

Damper is shut, air control setting is on high.

Just looked online at my thermometer, not intended for double wall pipe, or stove top.

I'll touchbase tomorrow after i pick up a new thermometer :-(

 

[Hanko]

Hello,
this is my second season heating my home with a dutchwest non cat 2477 stove. It seems to be working well, heats the whole ranch type house. I have acumilated some questions and concerns, and would like to decribe my basic routine for operating the stove. Please post comments or suggestions.

All burns are started with dried kindling leading to seasoned logs. Although last year half my wood supply was only a few months seasoned. Once my fire is in form I load it up and let it burn down to coals a couple of times. Then its loaded again and the damper is closed for 'slow burn'. During the slow burn the thermomiter goes from 350-400 to about 200. The thermomiter is magnetic, are these accurate as the screw in types? Are my tempatures high enough. Pending on the wood, ive seen the temp get up to 500-550 and that stove is steaming hot. But goes down when I slow burn, or if I am only burning a log at a time with the damp open.
I have noticed the paint on the stove is comming off easily. I can wipe it off easily with a rag in some spots. It seems to be the finish only. Whats causing this? Cheap paint, the way i operate the stove?

I also have a whitish substance that seems to be oozing from the chimney. It comes then disapears. I noticed other chimneys in the area have the same thing. I have been getting mixed answers on this.

Overall i think i am running the stove well, but may have caused some issues last year when i was burning semi seasoned wood, and occasionally opening the ash door to help my fires out.

Any input would be great, thanks.

Ok, here we go again! Good info here and keep reading the posts. Others should be along to help as well (HANKO??). Your paint issue may be curing issues. Did you start with a small fire let cool and build progressively bigger fires to cure the paint?? I don't recommend adding only one piece of wood at a time. If you have hot coals fill the stove and burn w/damper open and once burn is strong and flue temp is 300-400 close damper. The whiteish substance from chimmney...?? ...are you sure your wood is dry? Do you see hear the wood sizzling in the box. Most important, have you cleaned the system since last year??

Im not really sure why my name is typed in large print. Bsa, I dont know why you and a few other people are having issues. For as many reasons I can say they are decent stoves, it can be disputed on the other end and vice versa. My feeling is to chit can the stove, and go with something else. I wish i could look at your installation or Eco's, but Im no expert on wood stoves. I did my own install 4 years ago and I allways thought it worked like a stove should work. I read on this site that every stove mentioned, someone has had some sort of problem. Jotul air levers, soapstone cracks, you know what I mean. All these post on DW stoves is really getting boring, and no one really has a good answer. we can only speculate on Ecos issues. It has been asked (is your chimney install done correct) and ( is your wood dry) I will say this if it makes you feel better. If I ever have the chance to replace this stove, I WONT go with a douche west. I really didnt know much about the newer EPA type stoves when i bought it. So once again, I feel bad you guys have problems. If its broke and you cant fix it, get rid of it and move on. Have a good Christmas

 

[ecocavalier02]

no hard feelings hanko. i need to get around to taking some pictures. I really don't know what could be wrong with my chimney. it really is mostly all internal and where it passes through the garage its always above freezing snow melts right off the car and then it goes through the attic. like i said i can get it to work. but its about 45 min of baby sitting and opening the door a few times poke the logs to set on the coals just right then it takes off. sometimes its like no matter what you do it wont work. then by that time you have sat in front of the stove for hour or more straight so hot and tired out its like holy crap.. also my wood is split and dried 2 years!! don't know. your right i will move on and call it a day. if i have numerous problems with my new stove, then ill know it's me. so will just have to wait and find out.... till then oh well

 

[ecocavalier02]

no hard feelings hanko. i need to get around to taking some pictures. I really don't know what could be wrong with my chimney. it really is mostly all internal and where it passes through the garage its always above freezing snow melts right off the car and then it goes through the attic. like i said i can get it to work. but its about 45 min of baby sitting and opening the door a few times poke the logs to set on the coals just right then it takes off. sometimes its like no matter what you do it wont work. then by that time you have sat in front of the stove for hour or more straight so hot and tired out its like holy crap.. also my wood is split and dried 2 years!! don't know. your right i will move on and call it a day. if i have numerous problems with my new stove, then ill know it's me. so will just have to wait and find out.... till then oh well

 

[rkymtnoffgrid]

So Jevdo, did you get a new thermoeter? What are your pipe temps after you closed your damper, do they stay there or do they drop? Does your chimeny burn clean, any smoke?. My problem with is stove is that at first the everburn seems to catch, but slowly and surely, the stove temps consistently drop forceing me to open the damper back up to get the stove hot again, I've yet to see no smoke coming from my chimney. I've stopped using it in this fashion for fear of the creasote building, hopefully once I get some good wood it will be different story. Also did you look into how clean your stove internals are?

 

[jvedo]

Nobody carries these in stock, will order on line. One dealer told me to place the magnetic thermometer on the back elevated corner of the stove top. Thats been running 500-550 very clean, hardly any smoke at all. He also told me since my system is new its very efficient so a pipe thermoeter isnt needed, but i will get one any way. Now dropping the damper is a different issue. If the stove rummbles when i drop the damper it will run super clean, no smoke but still drop down to 420-440 which is border line. When the load starts to dwindle down it drops to 400. With the damper dropped I have never seen it over 450 after an hour or so has gone by. Damper is definatley sensitive. Somestimes it roars like a furnace othertimes you wouldnt know its on. When it dosnt roar you tend to notice a smoke scent. Wood has been mixed hard and softwoods. Should I be concerned? Make adjustments?