How Small is "small" for Break In Fires in Woodstock Keystone?

[Hestia]

Ok. I'm feeling just like I did when I gave my newborn son his first bath. I had the necessary stuff. Had read the manual. Was feeling fairly confident. But no one really tells you about how slippery wet babies really are. (He's turned out fine!) Now I'm going through this with my Keystone. Got the stuff. Read the manual. I've searched around, read many posts and read the Wiki on firing wood stoves. I've read about break in periods. Everyone recommends a series of "small" fires. I understand all the fire building steps (checking for draft, leaving the damper open then closing it down, various recommendations on how to place kindling, etc.) have also read about all your recommendations on filling the box for overnight burns, and how to achieve them (for later on.) I know I don't want to do that for initial burns, but what should I do?

The manual (Woodstock Keystone) mentions that after break in fires, the stove will emit residual heat.
Not sure how it would do that with just a few pieces of kindling?
By sound, my wood is dry. I was out today splitting some small pieces for kindling. Should I just begin with about 5 pieces of 1 inch diameter kindling, let it catch fire and burn it down?
Should I close the damper a bit once it gets going, even though they are small pieces? I am assuming it will be done burning in 30 minutes or so?
Or, should I add a small log? Try for about an hour?
How long should the break in fires last?
I am assuming that it should not get hot enough to engage the catalytic converter? Manual doesn't mention this.
Last, do I have to let the stove get stone cold before I light a second break in fire?

Feel fairly stupid asking these questions, but it is not obvious - I am the one who used to build the fires in the fireplace, as well as the one to coax it back to life if the flames went out. I know that I will be fine once I get a few fires under my belt. Thank you!
Hestia

 

[webbie]

I usually have the very first fire so that it gets the stove too hot to touch, and then let it cool

After that, I think you can have another one or two with 1/4 full firebox loads, again getting up to fairly hot and then letting it cool.

After that you are probably cool.

 

[Kansasplains]

Hi Hestia,

I am also the proud, new owner of a Keystone and am in the process of doing my break in fires. I noticed that the owners' manual states on page 12, "through a series of small to moderate fires". I took that to mean that a moderate fire won't overtax the stove. Your stove will still feel cold to the touch and you probably won't even get much smell from the stove with 5 pieces of kindling. What I found is that I had to add much more wood on the first fire than I thought I would have to, simply because it takes a while to get the soapstone up to say 150 degrees. I don't know if this helps or not. I guess I'm a newbie too. Where's Backwoods Savage when you need him (or some other Woodstock owners)?

 

[Hestia]

Thanks for the replies. I think I would have an easier time guessing how much wood to use for a cast iron stove, but just don't know with the soapstone.

Hi Kansasplains, would you let me know about how many break in fires you have before you fire the Keystone up enough to engage the catalytic converter? I was imagining two, then a fire high enough to engage it, but not too high, then on to regular fires. Wasn't it just great opening the crate?

Hestia

 

[Flame]

Hi Hestia,
It sounds like you have been doing your homework and some. I wouldn't stress out for details in the break in fire. I think it's hard to find the details on the break in fire because it's more or less just getting your stove warmed up then letting it cool down and repeating. Your basically purging any moisture from your stones and gently stressing the cast Iron. As for my self I put just a few pieces of kindling in and lit her up. I figured that it's better to add some wood later if the stove didn't even get warm (150-200), then to have to try and shut it down if it starts going well beyond that. I did my first fire at night. This way it had all night to cool back down and slowly purge the stones of any moisture. It got up to 150 after having to add a couple more small pieces to what I originally had so I let that burn down as I went to bed. I repeated this in the morning, let it cool all day and came back at it again before bed time. The next morning was a my first half way descent fire that I very slowly coxed to about 400. After that I figured life is good. Good luck and I wish you many great evenings by the fire as I am at this moment.

 

[Kansasplains]

I actually just did one fairly low temp fire, let it cool down, then did one run just into cat range. Today I took it up into cat range a little higher and plan to do one more tomorrow night then let her rip. I don't know if I'm doing it right or not, but that's been my experience. It was great opening the crate, but even better when we got it heaved into place. That's one heavy stove.

Kansasplains

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Our new Fireview got its first fire with about 5 pieces of kindling. After cooling it got another with 5 pieces of kindling and one split. The third fire was more and did get the stove pretty warm. This was done over 2 or 3 days (don't remember which) because it was early last fall. After the third time we then took the stove up to 500 degrees and all has been well since.

 

[Randy S]

Hi,

I do not have the Keystone, but the Fireview. I read the manual and called into the Woodstock office before I fired mine off. They told me first fire to be kindlin, 2nd fire ,kindlin and 1-2 small splits. the 3rd fire could be a real fire. I had no residual odor on mine.

Congrats on your new stove, they're great.

SG

 

[struggle]

Just start a very small kindling fire and keep it going small until you feel the stones to warm. Then shut it won and the next fire little more agressive and then full fire on the third one.

 

[Hestia]

Thanks so much, all! I just started my first break in fire. Very exciting. Hope we have snow in a couple of days. Don't hate me.

Hestia

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We don't hate you, but all the same, it would be nice to get some warm weather for a change. Haven't even seen 50 yet. Thought we did a week or so ago but the official high was 49. Nothing warm forecast yet for us. Just cold, snow, ice and rain on the way.

Good luck with that new stove. You'll love it. Just beware there might be a small learning curve with it because it is different from what you have been accustomed to. Also, do not be afraid to talk to the folks at Woodstock and they will help a lot.