Is this a gas starter on my Hearthstone wood fp?

[Goffredo]

I have always wondered what this contraption on the back of my Hearthstone soap stone fireplace is. There is a horizontal tube with little holes in it that runs along the back of the inside, about halfway up — kinda looks like a burner. On the right exterior side, there is a movable cover over the “burner” pipe, though it sits about 1/4 inch open gap off the soapstone so it certainly doesn’t seal anything. Then there’s some craziness on the back that defies explanation ... a lever to some kind of flapper that lines up with a rectangular box inside, at one end of the “burner” tube. Any ideas??

 

[rwh63]

secondary and primary air intake?

 

[Goffredo]

secondary and primary air intake?

Interesting!

The left side has a complete door (you can see it in the bottom picture) with a spinny damper thing. To damp it down for a longer burn, I typically close up the front doors, and just open this side door spinny damper a few turns. Maybe I should try popping open the lever on the back, which would allow air to flow through the horizontal perforated tube in the back, and see what happens to the burn.

If this horiztonal tube thing is an air intake, though, the right side (middle picture) is a bit odd... there is a little cover that can be flipped up and down, but this cover stands off the side of the fireplace by about a quarter of an inch, so it's not like it's closing tight against the opening to the horizontal tube.

 

[rwh63]

i said what i said because it reminds me of the set up in older VC stoves.

 

[begreen]

It's the secondary air inlet. On the inside middle back is the secondary tube.

 

[coaly]

Interesting!

The left side has a complete door (you can see it in the bottom picture) with a spinny damper thing. To damp it down for a longer burn, I typically close up the front doors, and just open this side door spinny damper a few turns. Maybe I should try popping open the lever on the back, which would allow air to flow through the horizontal perforated tube in the back, and see what happens to the burn.

If this horiztonal tube thing is an air intake, though, the right side (middle picture) is a bit odd... there is a little cover that can be flipped up and down, but this cover stands off the side of the fireplace by about a quarter of an inch, so it's not like it's closing tight against the opening to the horizontal tube.

That is a metered air supply so it can't be closed entirely. That would make it an old polluting stove and not pass EPA emissions criteria.
Close the back air shutter when starting and wait until up to temp. Close the primary air (bottom) and open the back air shutter to allow air to enter through the tube as much as it can. This admits oxygen to the smoke, igniting it. With the logs giving little flame and the smoke is now the fuel for the secondary burn above the fuel load. You will extend burn time and burn smoke free. That's why there is a law only allowing this type of burning in your state. It will smoke when first lit, until up to temp, but you only have a certain amount of time you can pollute legally with smoke. When burned down to coals, open main air and build the next fire with main intake open to get it going again, then shut down when up to temp for secondary burn. If the smoke doesn't ignite above fire and swirl with different colors, it's not hot enough yet.

 

[coaly]

The lever that defies explanation is a thermostatically controlled air intake.
The chain is connected to a bimetallic spring steel coil which means it is two metals with different heat expanding qualities. As it heats, it grows more on one side than the other. Since this bimetallic spring is held in place at its center by friction controlled by the handle position, the flat spring end raises and lowers the flap with the chain with temperature. So when cold, this flap is moved to the open position with handle. That is your starting point. As the stove heats the spring, the flap will close. When more heat is required, moving the handle opens flap door for more air until spring heats more to close it. This make it thermostat controlled. For secondary ignition to light off, using the rear air tube, close flap with handle. Now all air enters stove through secondary inlet. Adjust air shutter for best burn. This depends on chimney and weather conditions as well as how much heat you need.

You really need to read the manual for the entire correct operation.

 

[begreen]

This is a pre-EPA stove with a rudimentary secondary air supply. Normally this would be left open. The thermostatic air supply works reasonably well when the stove is freestanding. The problem with this installation is that it is in a fireplace cavity. That is going to dramatically change the behavior of the bi-metallic thermostat because it is not reading room temp.

 

[fbelec]

by the way this is not a fireplace it is a wood stove. if you didn't know your wood stove is called a hearthstone 1. it's a heating beast.