My Madison..

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Update:

The best way I've found to get this stove going is to load N-S, with small spits (kindling) on the bottom (with 1/4 SuperCedar and a few pieces of crumpled newspaper under/inbetween) then the bigger splits on top of everything. I then light off the SuperCedar which sets the rest of it off. I do have to leave the door cracked open (by hooking the door handle latch on the outside part/lip of the firebox instead of the actual part where it is supposed to latch when you close it) for usually 15-20 mins or it will starve out the flames. Once 15-20 mins have passed, there is quite a fire going and I'm able to close the door with the air control pushed all the way in/open. Once I close the door, the secondaries light off really good and temp starts climbing pretty fast. I am usually able to pull the air control out/closed after about 10 mins, and stovetop is usually about 500 by then and fire will stay going with control closed and will cruise that way till I have to reload about 9ish hours later on a pretty full load.

Reloading on hot coals is easier, as no firestarter/kindling is needed. I just load up the stove and use bellows to blow the coals into flames, I still usually leave the door cracked for around 15 mins, but that may be a little longer than needed on hot coals. The rest of the procedure is the same, though I usually keep air open for only 5 mins, then close it.

Overall, I don't have an issue with getting the stove up to temp as long as I leave the door cracked. I've learned the hard way that you don't want to leave the door open all the way with a full-ish load for that amount of time. Did that once, and the stove took off like a rocket, to the point that I had to pull all the flaming wood out of the stove and let it cool, then start over. That was a little too exciting for me, and I'm sure thankful that I got the set of welding gloves, or my stove would be a puddle on the floor right now. So I don't know if pine was the issue, or if you left the door open, or some combo of the two, but all I can figure from my episode was I left the door all the way open for too long (I wanted to get it started really quick- and it did, tooooo quick).

On a separate note, I have found the AAS to be a tad unpredictable. It is supposed to trigger around 550 I believe, but the problem that I have experienced is that the top of the stove is usually all over the map as far as temps, so it depends on what part of the stove heats up the fastest as to where it will cruise after it triggers. Hottest parts of the stovetop are in front of the stack, on either side of it between the pipe and the side of the stove. One side can be 550 and the other 400, so once the AAS triggers, the stove can either cruise at 500ish or 630ish (which is overfire according to Englander). So lately I've been doing everything manually till I get some time to stay with the stove for a few cycles and use the AAS.

Something that came up today also is that I leave for work with the stove cruising (startup procedure done and air control pulled out/closed) and it is something that I am perhaps OCD about as I don't want another runaway situation for my wife to deal with. That being said, when I left for work it was pulled out but when my wife got up about an hour later, it was really cooking and the air control was mostly/all the way in/open. Not cool, so I'm going to call Englander today and ask them about that and the peeling paint, to see if they are seeing any similar problems with these new Madisons.

Overall, I am still pretty happy with the stove, maybe I just need to hone my skills or get more used to the stove. My wood is all sub 25%, most sub 20%, fresh split with Harbor Freight MM. I really am impressed with burn times especially. Oh, and in regards to issues about darkening glass, the only area that doesn't clear up after a good hot fire is the bottom corners of the glass, those areas is where the airwash doesn't quite reach I guess.

Sorry for the ramble, I am just trying to provide some info for other Madison owners/potential owners. I will keep this thread updated as time goes on or in response to other threads regarding the Madison if I have some useful input.
 
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Update:

The best way I've found to get this stove going is to load N-S, with small spits (kindling) on the bottom (with 1/4 SuperCedar and a few pieces of crumpled newspaper under/inbetween) then the bigger splits on top of everything. I then light off the SuperCedar which sets the rest of it off. I do have to leave the door cracked open (by hooking the door handle latch on the outside part/lip of the firebox instead of the actual part where it is supposed to latch when you close it) for usually 15-20 mins or it will starve out the flames. Once 15-20 mins have passed, there is quite a fire going and I'm able to close the door with the air control pushed all the way in/open. Once I close the door, the secondaries light off really good and temp starts climbing pretty fast. I am usually able to pull the air control out/closed after about 10 mins, and stovetop is usually about 500 by then and fire will stay going with control closed and will cruise that way till I have to reload about 9ish hours later on a pretty full load.

Reloading on hot coals is easier, as no firestarter/kindling is needed. I just load up the stove and use bellows to blow the coals into flames, I still usually leave the door cracked for around 15 mins, but that may be a little longer than needed on hot coals. The rest of the procedure is the same, though I usually keep air open for only 5 mins, then close it.

Overall, I don't have an issue with getting the stove up to temp as long as I leave the door cracked. I've learned the hard way that you don't want to leave the door open all the way with a full-ish load for that amount of time. Did that once, and the stove took off like a rocket, to the point that I had to pull all the flaming wood out of the stove and let it cool, then start over. That was a little too exciting for me, and I'm sure thankful that I got the set of welding gloves, or my stove would be a puddle on the floor right now. So I don't know if pine was the issue, or if you left the door open, or some combo of the two, but all I can figure from my episode was I left the door all the way open for too long (I wanted to get it started really quick- and it did, tooooo quick).

On a separate note, I have found the AAS to be a tad unpredictable. It is supposed to trigger around 550 I believe, but the problem that I have experienced is that the top of the stove is usually all over the map as far as temps, so it depends on what part of the stove heats up the fastest as to where it will cruise after it triggers. Hottest parts of the stovetop are in front of the stack, on either side of it between the pipe and the side of the stove. One side can be 550 and the other 400, so once the AAS triggers, the stove can either cruise at 500ish or 630ish (which is overfire according to Englander). So lately I've been doing everything manually till I get some time to stay with the stove for a few cycles and use the AAS.

Something that came up today also is that I leave for work with the stove cruising (startup procedure done and air control pulled out/closed) and it is something that I am perhaps OCD about as I don't want another runaway situation for my wife to deal with. That being said, when I left for work it was pulled out but when my wife got up about an hour later, it was really cooking and the air control was mostly/all the way in/open. Not cool, so I'm going to call Englander today and ask them about that and the peeling paint, to see if they are seeing any similar problems with these new Madisons.

Overall, I am still pretty happy with the stove, maybe I just need to hone my skills or get more used to the stove. My wood is all sub 25%, most sub 20%, fresh split with Harbor Freight MM. I really am impressed with burn times especially. Oh, and in regards to issues about darkening glass, the only area that doesn't clear up after a good hot fire is the bottom corners of the glass, those areas is where the airwash doesn't quite reach I guess.

Sorry for the ramble, I am just trying to provide some info for other Madison owners/potential owners. I will keep this thread updated as time goes on or in response to other threads regarding the Madison if I have some useful input.
Im running it about the same. When it ran away on me i made 3 mistakes. I had too many hot coals. I put pine down first and i left too much space between the wood, for air flow. It took off like a rocket. When it hit 750 and still climing i also removed the wood and let it cool down. It think im still learning. Actually only really been burning for a week.
 
Here is an update on my Madison for those that care.. I figure I am about halfway through the heating season, and have heated my house 100% with this stove, minus the 1 week we were on vacation and had to use the propane. Sure glad those days are over. Anyway, I have burned about 1.3 cords of wood and last weekend decided to use the Soot-eater chimney sweep system that I bought. I have checked the chimney periodically as this is my first winter heating with wood. It has always looked good, but decided that since I hit 1 cord, I'd better clean it, just to guage how I'm burning. I found out that A: the Soot-Eater system works great and is easy to use, and B: the Madison burns super clean, in my opinion. I only got about 1-1.5 cups of very very fine brown sand-like soot from the whole 15ft chimney. There was no black/flakey/anything that looked bad, and the pipe is super clean after using the SootEater. It took us about 45 mins, but that was start to finish with all the prep, etc.

Summary: I am very happy so far with the Madison. As mentioned in previous posts, I don't think the AAS works on my stove anymore, as it doesn't trip before I get panicked and turn the air down manually at 600-650 (when I'm trying to get the AAS to work, usually I cut air back much sooner). I just operate the stove as a normal stove, not using the AAS. This isn't a huge deal to me, as I have learned the stove enough to get it from startup to air closed in about a half hour. I can load the stove full at 6am and can reload on hot coals at 630pm and only have to use bellows for a couple minutes to get raging flames. Stovetop after 12.5 hrs is around 170 usually. In extreme cold obviously times/temps go down, but this is in mid/high 20's, low 30's. That is much longer burn times than I was hoping for when I bought the stove, so I am also extremely satisfied with that aspect. I had feared I'd have to get up in the middle of the night to load wood, but that is not an issue at all obviously. Overall, this is a Very clean burning, great 'bang for the buck' stove. Any questions, feel free to ask!
 
Thanks for the update.
 
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Good info. We're eager to hear about how this stove performs. Have you been in touch with Englander about the AAS operation? They are probably also eager to hear about real world experience.
 
Good info. We're eager to hear about how this stove performs. Have you been in touch with Englander about the AAS operation? They are probably also eager to hear about real world experience.

I tried contacting them when I first noticed it wasn't working anymore, and that the paint was peeling on one side of it. I couldn't get through to their Tech Service dept after days of trying, it was just a busy signal constantly. Also no response to my email regarding the problems, so I gave up. Neither one is really a big deal to me (hence why I gave up trying to contact them), but it did/does make me wonder about the rave reviews on here of their customer service dept..
 
I tried contacting them when I first noticed it wasn't working anymore, and that the paint was peeling on one side of it. I couldn't get through to their Tech Service dept after days of trying, it was just a busy signal constantly. Also no response to my email regarding the problems, so I gave up. Neither one is really a big deal to me (hence why I gave up trying to contact them), but it did/does make me wonder about the rave reviews on here of their customer service dept..
Hmm, sorry to hear that. It sounds like they got overwhelmed. I would contact Mike Holton directly then. He is on this site as stoveguy2esw. Or email him at [email protected] and point him to your thread listing the issues.
 
Hmm, sorry to hear that. It sounds like they got overwhelmed. I would contact Mike Holton directly then. He is on this site as stoveguy2esw. Or email him at [email protected] and point him to your thread listing the issues.

I have talked to Mike a few times through here (not about these issues) and he does help as best he can and is a great asset to ESW. I am somewhat torn as to how or even if I'll pursue the matter, as now it would be more of an FYI to them about the issues, as I'm surely not going to ship the stove back to them to look at/fix the AAS. Neither the paint peel or manually controlling the air is really a big deal for me, and I'm completely happy with the stove besides those two issues. In fact, I think even if the AAS was working, I would probably still control it manually as I prefer to shut the air down completely at around 600 vs. the 550 that the AAS is supposed to trip at. That is just based on my experience with this stove and how/when the secondaries light and keep burning, etc.
 
I have talked to Mike a few times through here (not about these issues) and he does help as best he can and is a great asset to ESW. I am somewhat torn as to how or even if I'll pursue the matter, as now it would be more of an FYI to them about the issues, as I'm surely not going to ship the stove back to them to look at/fix the AAS. Neither the paint peel or manually controlling the air is really a big deal for me, and I'm completely happy with the stove besides those two issues. In fact, I think even if the AAS was working, I would probably still control it manually as I prefer to shut the air down completely at around 600 vs. the 550 that the AAS is supposed to trip at. That is just based on my experience with this stove and how/when the secondaries light and keep burning, etc.
Glad to hear its going good for you. My AAS doesnt seam to work properly either. Its really erratic. But that doesnt matter to me. Its been alittle over a month since i added more pipe( needed more draft). I cleaned the pipe saturday and got less than 2 cups cresote/ash. I talked to Mike about the temps. And he said he tought it was ok to spike up to 750 or more as long as it wasnt burning there for long time. He also told me the one in his burn trailor got waaaayyyy hotter than that.
Thanks for the update.
 
It's good that you folks are understanding and flexible, but still let Englander support know about the AAS issues. They need this real world feedback to refine the design and work out these issues.
 
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