Question on reloads

[Wilbursan]

This is my first year burning a wood stove so I'm a newbie. I don't heat with wood as my primary heat, usually just evenings and maybe weekends (i.e., when I'm home). So I don't usually need to reload. The other day I did and did not get a good result. There was a pretty hot bed of coals left and I put a large, single split right on top. It lit right up, I let it go a few minutes and turned the air down as the temperature reached about 400 or so. I thought everything was fine, lots of flames shooting out from the bottom of the wood which I took to be a good thing. After about 15-20 minutes on a lark I went outside and checked the chimney and there was a ton of smoke coming out. I quickly turned the front and back air up and got a really good rolling flame going, filling the whole firebox. I checked the chimney again and it's still smoking, about 1/2 as much. I eventually got it down to a minimal amount of smoke with stove top well over 500 and the fan blowing on medium, but it wasn't cold enough for me to keep running it like that.

So what's a good strategy for reloads with minimal smoke?

 

[pen]

You loaded on too hot a coal bed, and you'll get that as the piece you threw on had a ton of heat to pyrolize it. You have it figured out already, either wait till that coal bed died down to add more, or use that single split to help burn down the coal bed and give you heat by giving it enough air to get the job done (don't close the air down so far).

Also, are you certain what you were seeing from the chimney was smoke? Or was it just condensation? You'll start to notice a certain odor from your chimney if you load things up and shut it down too early. Good on you for being out there the other day and watching. Let your nose / keep playing around, to help you decipher what's going on as well.

I can't tell you the number of times I've adjusted the stove, then gone outside with the dog, just to want to kick myself in the rear for closing things down too far by what I'm smelling, and rushing the dog to get his business taken care of so I can get back to fixing what I screwed up!

Keep playing, and you'll keep learning.

 

[Wilbursan]

Well I assume it was smoke. It was dark outside and I was using a flashlight. I considered it might be too wet of wood so I bought a moisture gauge and checked it - it's all below 20%. What would cause condensation besides wet wood?

 

[pen]

Well I assume it was smoke. It was dark outside and I was using a flashlight. I considered it might be too wet of wood so I bought a moisture gauge and checked it - it's all below 20%. What would cause condensation besides wet wood?

water is a product of fire. And when the water in the exhaust cools as it hits the cold air outside, it condenses...... like the exhaust from the tailpipe of a car when it's cold.