Hello everyone I'm new to this forum and I'm a new hi300 owner with a question. My stove burns great and I'm getting long burns out of it but the problem I'm having is that it does not seem like my coals are burning down in the back. I know that the air is coming from the front and I do my best to bring the coals up front but it seems like I get a huge bed of coals and then it affects the blower cause it will kick off even when the stove is hot. I burn wood 24-7 and I try to clean the ash out once a day maybe every other day but it seems like I shouldn't have to do it that often cause when I clean out the stove I see a lot of pieces that are not ash. I guess my real question is how do I burn all of my coals to ash to reduce the amount of cleaning?
New hi300
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Tommy said:
It's best to rake those black coals foward and get them burning towards the end of the burn cycle. The coolest part of the stove is the rear and I often come back to a red coal bed in the rear. If you are coming back to a bed of black unburnt coal, try leaving the air open a little more during the burn.
Also, do you have a block off plate? If not, you are loosing heat above the stove and and cooling the firebox resulting in a cooler burn late in the cycle.
no block off plate that I can see. I had my stove "professionally installed" and I did watch the guy install it. I have a terracotta chimney with a stainless steel liner. They did install insulation around the liner at the top and the bottom of the chimney and my chimney is in the middle of my house so I'm not sure if that makes a difference. Should I still install a block off plate?
A blockoff plate should have been installed lest you lose heat.
Why are you cleaning the ashes so often? I ask because when we are at the peak of winter we empty ashes about every 4th day. In the type of weather we are now having it is weekly at most and we live is a colder climate than Maryland. Ashes are not your enemy and having ash in the bottom of the stove is good. When we empty we leave about 2" of ash in the bottom of the stove.
To burn the coals down, before the burn reaches the all coal stage we have our draft set full open and this will burn the coals down before the stove cools. If you need to you can rake the coals towards the draft. You might also try placing a couple sticks of kindling on the top of the coals and with draft full open. If no kindling, use a small split. Also, excessive coaling is a sign of wood that is not properly dried. That is, burning it before it has had time to dry enough. It is a very typical problem with new wood burners and those who buy wood (supposed seasoned wood).
Why are you cleaning the ashes so often? I ask because when we are at the peak of winter we empty ashes about every 4th day. In the type of weather we are now having it is weekly at most and we live is a colder climate than Maryland. Ashes are not your enemy and having ash in the bottom of the stove is good. When we empty we leave about 2" of ash in the bottom of the stove.
To burn the coals down, before the burn reaches the all coal stage we have our draft set full open and this will burn the coals down before the stove cools. If you need to you can rake the coals towards the draft. You might also try placing a couple sticks of kindling on the top of the coals and with draft full open. If no kindling, use a small split. Also, excessive coaling is a sign of wood that is not properly dried. That is, burning it before it has had time to dry enough. It is a very typical problem with new wood burners and those who buy wood (supposed seasoned wood).
Tommy said:
If this is fiberglass insulation, pull it out of the bottom of chimney and stuff some Roxul in there. This stuff is firm and will not seperate and it has a much higher temp rating and will close off the bottom of the chimney. Do a search on Roxul and you will see how others did it with the stove in place.
ironworker
Burning Hunk
Rake coals to the front throw a couple of small splits on top a little to the back of the coals and burn with the air wide open, that's what I do and it seems to do the job; You will most likely find all kinds of ways to burn you coals and in time you will do what works best for you, everyone is different with different set-ups.
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