wellbuilt home said:
FW its must be getting cold at the lake . I just started to burn my EQ Ive been loading around 5 splits and closing the damper after it gets hot . The next day its still warm . I am having a hard time with the side load. The old DW was easy to load from the side . I'm not really liking the heat tubs on the top of the stove , They stop me from loading a third log on top of the pile . The old HI was much higher I could get 3 12" logs in the box . I mite have to become a front load kinda guy. I do like the way the air blows on the bottom of the fire to start it. Last night it was 34o I think i can run at 1/2 to 3/4 capacity when its in the 20s. during the day when its in the 30 it dosnt take much to keep the house warm . This stove really cooks . I need to get used to burn in the new stove. If your wife gets to hot just wash her down with a wet wash cloth . You mite even get some fire wood helpers out of the deal.
It is getting colder up here, I needed a fire all day yesterday as it never made 50. I have now switched to using the side door. When filling the firebox thru the front door on a big coal bed I have had some hot coal spillage. Small fire front door, big fire side door seems to be the way.
You are correct, the ceiling/burn tubes of this stove limit your ability to stack multiple layers of wood inside. Compared with the Duchwest, it's a disappointment as I could stuff a lot of wood in that thing without the risk damaging anything. You need to pay attention to the splits you select when loading the EQ.. Rake coals forward and try to get a good tight double stack at the back and then move forward with the rest of your load. Longer burn times are achieved this way. I put in 4 splits last night before bed and used the side door, when I looked thru the glass I saw that the top corner of one of them was up between the tubes and dangerously close to the top baffle which I understand to be very delicate, not good. Another problem with side door loading is when the split goes in it's hard to hold the far end up so as not to push the coal bed to the far end of the box where they are less efficient in establishing a new fire.
I'm now convinced, this stove likes long fuel and I have two years worth of regular size splits (16" - 18") There is no good layout in this box to take full advantage of my 4.0 cubic feet with 17" wood, you end up with dead air space at the east and west ends. We were in the lower 20's this morning and my 4 split load from 11:00 last night was just a bed of coals at 7:00 this am and it was 70 in the house. The damper was set all the way to low so it's clear when it gets colder outside I'll have to edge up the damper setting and load sometime over the night if I want to maintain 70. I wish I had some longer (24"-26") seasoned wood to experiment with.
Like anything it will take a while to get the hang of it, so far I am very happy
