Hunting an Oakwood <sigh!>

[MANIAC]

I top vent into 30" of DSP to a 90 then 26" of DSP into a 8X8Xss="spellchecked_word">20'</SPAN>clay lined external masonry chimney.
What are your normal operating stove-top temps?

I hate the owners manual it is like a 12 year old wrote it for a book report.

I bet an insulated liner would definitely help on an external masonry chimney.

I agree. Cracking the ash door might help warm it up, but that is going to be a cold stack.

With a nice load of small dry stuff I go to 600 very quickly, it want to go 700 if I don't shut the air. With AB engaged I cruise around 500 with little or no primary air. Right now I am using bone dry wood.[/quote]

Branch,

Where and how are you measuring your temps again? Just curious

 

[branchburner]

Branch,

Where and how are you measuring your temps again? Just curious

Top-load door, a few inches behind the handle.

 

[PS3696]

On Sunday it was 24 F outside and with the stove 2/3 of the way full the damper shut and full primary air I could not get the stove-top temp over 425-450. I usually use the ash door trick to get things moving. it usually takes me a little bit to get the stove up to 500 or so before I close the damper.

How dry and what size is your wood? Have you been checking your chimney outside for smoke? Next cold day try to check at different stages of your burn - with the damper closed you should have no visible smoke. I usually wait for 600 to shut down, and then I rarely get below 450. At 400 and below I always get smoke if I try the AB (unless I'm down to just coals - then no smoke).

The wood I'm using has been seasoning for 2 1/2 yrs 1 1/2year as 4' length's and then since may split and stacked in the sun. I've tried 2"-3" splits 3"-4"rounds and even tried a few good size splits in the 4"-5"range. I have been checking the chimney (but not often) and I still have smoke when the damper is shut But I think that's from not getting the temp hot enough. I will try to get it up to 600 and kick off the Damper.

How long does it take you to get your stove to 600?

 

[branchburner]

I knew I would be short on wood this winter so I've been scrounging pallets and a lot of dry, dead limb wood - saving my splits. This morning the house was about 60, so my quick fire was: crumpled newspaper and a half-full firebox of half-inch to two-inch branch wood at full air for 5 min.; a few 1x4 and 2x4 hardwood pallet scraps at half air for 5 min; shut air down to 1/8. At this point, after 10-15 min, the top is around 500 and slowly climbs to 600 over the next 10-15 min.
So I get to temp very quickly with small, dry wood. Today I just let it die, but to burn smoke with deeper coals I will normally add a few more scraps with my splits. I let that go for a bit on low air, then open the air to full to get it cranking before I shut the damper. By using lots of small stuff I can get a coal bed sooner, but I also burn pretty hot, so I keep a close eye on temps.

 

[BJN644]

Just remeber that some of the smoke you are seeing could be steam. If it's light colored that's problably what it is, a blue haze to it then it's the bad stuff.

I think you will find once cold weather settles in your chimney will draft better and the stove run better.

 

[branchburner]

On Sunday it was 24 F outside and with the stove 2/3 of the way full the damper shut and full primary air I could not get the stove-top temp over 425-450.

As the weather gets colder, if you find your draft issue getting worse instead of better, think about an insulated liner.
Meanwhile, you might get you hands on some small dry stuff and experiment with draft and getting your temps up.