Paint officially cured.

[Woody Stover]

It was getting late so I thought I'd better load the stove, get it cruising and head off to bed. I loaded a bunch of small Shingle Oak splits on a hot coal bed and set the Keystone air at about 2 to get the load going. After about 15 min. I walked over and cut the air back to 1. I decided to have a seat on the couch, watch the fire for a bit and relax. With only 5 hours of sleep the previous night, I got very relaxed in short order...Zzzzz...Mmm...Zzzzzzzz.
When I woke up about an hour later, the first thing I saw was a much smaller load in the box than I recalled putting in there and medium flames over the glowing splits. WHOA!! I jumped, cut the air back and looked at the stove top meter. 500* on the back right corner and 550* on the center stone over the combustor. The baffle screen was glowing (which it often does when I run the stove with flame in the box,) but this time the combustor scoop was also emitting a dull glow. At that point I noticed that I was very warm; Not sure if that was from the huge amount of radiant energy coming through the glass or the adrenalin rush after I woke up.
:bug:

I think I can now consider the stove broken in. The glass is the cleanest it's been since I un-crated it, and 74* is the warmest room temp yet.
:lol:
So, Keystone/Fireview operators, when I hear you speak of 500+ stove top temps, is the combustor scoop glowing? I had to replace the warped scoop on SILs Fireview, but that thing was really running hot until we installed a flue damper, and it could have been warped before she got it. And how long are your loads lasting when you crank the stove like this? I had never seen 500* previously, more like 375/425(over the cat).
All in all, an exciting evening. :lol:

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We regularly take our stove top to 600+ and I've never seen anything glow except the cat itself. How long the fire lasts depends on how you load the stove and how much air you give it, so it can vary a lot.Therefore I can't really answer your question on how long.

 

[Woody Stover]

We regularly take our stove top to 600+ and I've never seen anything glow except the cat itself. How long the fire lasts depends on how you load the stove and how much air you give it, so it can vary a lot.Therefore I can't really answer your question on how long.

Where is your meter, over the combustor or in a corner?
If you're going to sustain a 600* burn, how quickly will the load burn down to where the cat extinguishes, assuming you're using med-high BTU wood like Ash or Red Oak? I'm assuming that when you burn lower, the combustor will stay engaged for several hours...

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Woody, once the cat is engaged, it stays that way until the reload. Some day I guess I'll have to do some timing to see exactly how long some of the burns are. I can tell you that when we get the high temperatures, it takes many hours for the temperature to drop down to the point I want to reload. Of course if we don't really need the heat right away I can just let the coals burn. However, our typical burn is for us to open the draft full just before the wood gets down to all coals. The stove top will be in the 400-500 degree range and usually about 450. When the stove top gets below 400 we are usually ready to put more wood in.

I can also tell you that we can reach those temperatures without having a full load but at night we usually stuff it. It all depends upon how cold it is outside. Sometimes I'll get up, maybe around 3:00 am (have to get up anyway because of Mother Nature) and then I'll put maybe 3 or 4 splits in the stove and then it stays a more even temperature in the house. But if the nights are not below 20, most times when I get up for good in the morning there is still a beautiful bed of coals so reloading gets the stove up to temperature quickly. We've been burning almost all ash with some soft maple for the past several years. Sometimes maybe we'll cut a small cherry or maybe some dead elm but it is still mostly ash.

Over all, I can tell you that if we fill the stove we can go 12 hours and still have plenty of coals to work with.

We use two thermometers; one on the stove top centered and the other on the flue (horizontal flue) about 18" from the stove.

 

[Woody Stover]

get the high temperatures, it takes many hours for the temperature to drop down to the point I want to reload...The stove top will be in the 400-500 degree range and usually about 450.... When the stove top gets below 400 we are usually ready to put more wood in...if we fill the stove we can go 12 hours and still have plenty of coals to work with.
We use two thermometers; one on the stove top centered.

OK, that's pretty much in line with where I usually run my Keystone on the upper end; 425* on the center. Just the baffle screen glows then. The combustor will extinguish in a couple of hours at that burn rate, when the load is in the coaling stage. Part of it may be that I'm using small splits now, Shingle Oak split in June and "Battenkilned" Ash that was dead/down and split a couple of months ago. With larger splits like the Ash I'll have next season, and dry wood, I may be able to get a longer cat burn at a higher temp output. I can get a 10-hour burn now on a low burn, air almost off. With the little firebox, I think I need higher BTU wood to get a longer high-output burn. Got some White Oak and Pignut Hickory in the works, but not for next season...

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Woody, don't forget that although the cat may not glow red, it is still working. There just is not much smoke to burn off and that is why you don't get the glowing red, but it is still doing its thing.

One trick I like to use for long burn times is to have at least one fair sized round and we place that bottom rear. Rounds will just burn longer so that will help to extend your time.

 

[Woody Stover]

One trick I like to use for long burn times is to have at least one fair sized round and we place that bottom rear. Rounds will just burn longer so that will help to extend your time.

Rounds are several years off for me. Right now, I'm trying to stack enough stuff that'll burn for next season. :-/
I'd still like to hear from some other Keystoners about this glowing combustor scoop. Seem like to get the stove top up to 500, I'd have to have substantial flame in the box. I looked at the pan today when the fire was out...no visible damage, warping.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Woddy, once you get to the point of having 2-3 years ahead on your wood you will notice a huge difference in how the stove burns. It pleases me when others report they have finally reached the 2-3 year point or more and they can all attest to the fact they burn less wood and don't have problems with their stove.

I thought about cutting more wood but it is still snowing. Will this ever end this year?

 

[Woody Stover]

once you get to the point of having 2-3 years ahead on your wood you will notice a huge difference in how the stove burns

I'm starting to think that next season might be pretty good for me. This will be the earliest I've ever gotten my wood split and stacked. I'm armed with a new moisture tester, so I can make decisions as to where in the rotation the wood should go as I cut. The dead standing Black Oak that I'm working now is coming in at 14-16% MC on some smaller limbs. I can pretty much tell by the heft how dry it is. If it's 18-20%, it will be split smaller and stacked in the windy spot and I'll test it periodically. The big stuff is going in the 2012 area, which will be filled very soon. I've got some dead Ash I'll split bigger, giving me the option of loading some big, long-burning chunks. I've got another standing dead Red Oak, so I'll see if that has a chance of burning this coming Winter. I've got a blown over White Oak trunk that's been sitting up off the ground for a few years.
I was cutting the Black yesterday, pretty windy, when I heard a "crack" and looked over to see a limb coming out of the top of a Maple that I'm also getting from the owner. Some of that's gotta be pretty dry. I'm really looking forward to burning dry wood. It's possible that I'll get more heat with lower flame, and won't have the glowing combustor scoop problem any more.

I thought about cutting more wood but it is still snowing. Will this ever end this year?

It won't be long now...

 

[leeave96]

I can't say the scoop on mine has glowed red, but the expanded metal has looked orange on the hotter burns.

Knock on wood - we can pretty much load ours up and set it at 1 and walk away from it, no problems. We get cat activity and flame. My guess is if you were set at 1, your stove top didn't spin out of control as the stove top where the thermoter is supposed to be located - that temp is really driven by the cat. If you have active flames, which you should at 1, then there is not as much smoke for the cat to chew-on and it's temps will be lower. I have never had an out of control cat driven stove top as has been reported on some Fireviews, but I attribute that to less firebox capacity and therefore less smoke.

Crank the stove-up! Relax and enjoy the view.

Bill

 

[Woody Stover]

I can't say the scoop on mine has glowed red, but the expanded metal has looked orange on the hotter burns.

Mine too. I figure that's inevitable, as all the heat is going through that thin metal.

we can pretty much load ours up and set it at 1 and walk away from it, no problems. We get cat activity and flame. My guess is if you were set at 1, your stove top didn't spin out of control as the stove top where the thermoter is supposed to be located - that temp is really driven by the cat.

I don't think the stove could have been much hotter in that hour than what I saw when I woke up. If so, I was well under the recommended temp limit. I get active flame down to about .3, and lazy flame/intermittent flash-over in the box even lower than that. I've got a 7-6" reducer, a 90* at the tee and only 16' of stack so I don't think I have excessive draft. However, I think I might have a slight air leak on the left side, maybe around a gasket that looks like it may not be fully seated. There is a little more flame over there. Not real thrilled about that on a new stove. I'll have a look at it this summer. Hopefully I can get at it without taking anything apart...

Crank the stove-up! Relax and enjoy the view.

I'm kinda glad this happened; I'm more comfortable now with letting the stove eat and I think it'll toss enough heat when it gets really cold outside.
I was very relaxed, and enjoyed the view until my eyelids got in the way.
:lol:

 

[leeave96]

Don't forget that there is a hole in the ash pan housing. This will allow a little flame too. I get some flame from time to time on the left side of the stove too. Don't think to much of it.

Bill