I have the FPX large flush insert. For about the past week I have not been able to get the temp up at all. Prior to this week I was consistently getting the room it's in to the mid 70s and now I have a hard time getting it up past 70 usually around 67/68. Any thoughts or suggestions to help get back to where I was a couple weeks ago?
Insert output?
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Ram 1500 with an axe...
Minister of Fire
Lots of things will affect your output, operator error, poor MC of wood, type of wood, you will get a long list from all here, try to be specific on how and what your doing, like what wood are you using, how dry is it, how much are you filling the box, etc.... How long have you been burning?
The wood is about 18% mc, using a mix of oak and ash seasoned for over a year. I will get a nice hot fire going and then add a couple of logs to keep it going
well if the temp dropped 15 degrees outside that could account for you drop in inside temps as well. But it could be allot of other things as well how long since your last cleaning?. Are you following the burning procedure that are in the manual?
Ram 1500 with an axe...
Minister of Fire
A couple of pieces may be one of your issues, try filling the box up after getting a good hot bed of coals. Also do you cut off other rooms that u don't want to heat by closing doors? You may be bringing cold air in from those rooms if they are not cut off, I had this problem.....
I have a kind of open floor plan. It seems like when I load it full it the temp will drop and takes awhile to heat back up
Ram 1500 with an axe...
Minister of Fire
The bigger the area that your trying to heat, the longer it will take to warm up sufficiently with good full loads, do you cold start everyday?
Do you have a lot of windows? Cathedral ceiling? Poor insulation?
Do you have a lot of windows? Cathedral ceiling? Poor insulation?
I try to keep the fire going, it's been a pain to cold start. I do have some drafts but I haven't seen anything like this before
That was what i was getting at when i asked about following burning procedure because that is not the proper burning procedure.
Did you clean the whole liner and cap? Is the drop in output after that cleaning?
Ram 1500 with an axe...
Minister of Fire
If your not burning 24/7 then your fighting a losing battle in extreme low temps, you are better off using your house heat to get the room comfortable and then let your insert maintain as long as your feeding it. The colder the room, the longer it takes to get warmer in cold weather like this, the insert will struggle for many hours.....and you will become dissatisfied with it.....
That's normal; You are tossing a bunch of room-temperature mass into the stove and it will take a while to get back up to temp. Once it gets rolling, though, a full load will obviously maintain stove operating temp longer. How long will it go on a full load, running at a low burn rate?
Hope you have a block off plate installed, or else your heat is going up and wicking out the great outdoors.
john11756
Member
You have a damper on the stove?
I load up damper 100% open then close back asthe stove temps go up
Don't suppose you have any type of thermometer / stove temp readout? The ideal indicator here would be some type of stove temperature reading. Unfortunately, you'd need readings from back when things were 'good' as well as now. If the stove is hitting the same temps, then the difference might just be the weather, but if the stove is not getting up to the same temp, something might have changed.
I do have to burn notably harder when the temp goes from say 30F to 15F, and even harder 15F to 0F. Though in some instances it's almost a case of "less is more". By that, I mean draft. You want to supply enough air to burn the fire hot and give good heat output, but excess air can actually cool the stove off ...plus pull extra cold air into your house as make-up air. Cutting the air BACK to 'just the right amount' will actually make a hotter fire and minimize the cold air pulled into the house.
I do have to burn notably harder when the temp goes from say 30F to 15F, and even harder 15F to 0F. Though in some instances it's almost a case of "less is more". By that, I mean draft. You want to supply enough air to burn the fire hot and give good heat output, but excess air can actually cool the stove off ...plus pull extra cold air into your house as make-up air. Cutting the air BACK to 'just the right amount' will actually make a hotter fire and minimize the cold air pulled into the house.
So on a full load with a slow overnight burn I am getting about 8 hrs out of it. That is with the outside temp being in the mid to high 20's at night. I will fully load it and let it burn on high for about 30 min before I put it on low
The difference in burning ash vs oak will be notable. Ash seasons quickly and will burn well right away. Oak requires a couple years to season. I'm wondering if you just ran into a batch of oak in the pile. Also, outside temps have dropped considerably. Are you loading the fireplace fairly full now?
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