Newb in need of info

[JCass]

Been practicing with the stove during this recent cold snap in preparation for the deep winter. So far so good, but I did have one question.

I am getting fairly good at getting the stove cruising at about 575 degrees with air set between L and 25%. Today, I got up and got the firing going got a good bed of coals, loaded 4 medium to large splits (~half load), monitored air and stove top temp and stepped the air down appropriately to get a stable 570 degrees and no smoke coming out of the chimney.

We left the house for a couple of hours and returned to some decent smoke coming out. Large coals and one smoldering/coaly log where left. The stove temp had dropped to about 375.

What did I do wrong? The wood is well seasoned blue spruce and lodge pole pine with one aspen split.

 

[begreen]

Just guessing here. If the smoke you saw was actually water vapor, it would be white and dissipate quickly. Or, perhaps that remaining log was not seasoned even though the rest of the wood was. This can happen if the log wasn't split.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

BeGreen is correct with the smoke maybe being water vapor. If so, nothing to worry about.

The smoldering/coaly log is the key. At least that one was not dry enough. I know not where you live or what the outdoor temperature was but that sounds like a lot of wood for this time of the year. And 4 medium to large splits I would think the fire would have held longer.

It might be interesting to know how your wood has been handled. That is, when was it cut. When was it split (the big factor), how was it stacked and for how long was it stacked. Wood needs time to dry after it has been split.