Questions after first burns.

[Blackop555]

Hello all. Long time lurker. Been following this forums for a couple years while deciding if wood heat was for me. After my first few burns i have a few questions and i cant seem to find the answers by searching.

Set up: lopi endeavor. 13 foot chimney 4 foot double wall then class a straight through second floor and out roof.

Questions
I burn the top down method daily and that's enough for me. Gets house warm all day. I don't get much smoke. Shortly after lighting i can go out and i see no smoke out of chimney, but some days i can still smell smoke. Is that normal.

My bricks are black except on roof of firebox. I have no thermometer yet on stove, but it is in the mail. I get good secondary combustion for atleast an hour. Wood is 18 percent moisture or lower on fresh split side. My guess is if i was burning a second load it would clean up the bricks. I'm just curious if the black bricks and light haze on corners of glass is common with just one start up fire a day.

Last question. Sometimes towards the coal stage i start to see light smoke and one of the splits in the back side isn't coal yet and i move it to the middle and it burns up. Is that normal to have to move some pieces into the center of firebox. They are heavily charred and burn up quickly.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance

 

[kennyp2339]

Sounds like your on your way to good burns, the key indication that things are going correctly is the no smoke coming out of the chimney during the height of your burn cycle.
Things can be tinkered with once you get your stove top thermometer (*make sure its a stove top and not chimney) aim to keep the stove cruising at 600 deg range.
Take note of your chimney cap, if you start to notice build up you may need to burn a little hotter, good luck and btw, nice stove.

 

[moresnow]

Sounds as if your getting a handle on it. If you are around during the tail end of the cycle. You might try adding secondary air to use up the remaining charred pieces. Without opening the stove move them. This might reduce ash buildup as well. Have fun!

 

[yooper08]

Agreed, sounds like you're doing things right and can be tweaked as you get the thermometer up and running.

Some haze on glass is sort of inevitable, you'll have to clean it every once in while, but it shouldn't be a dark glaze all over the glass.

Once we get into winter, moving pieces around at the end of burn will become less of an issue. Not to say eliminated, but you'll probably do it less often. A lot of times I just open up the air to burn down those pieces or if I have a coal bed to burn down before reloading, I'll move it.

As for smelling smoke, as long as you're not seeing it coming out of the chimney, you're doing pretty good. That's really the tell if you're burning well or not. Things can look good in the stove but still have smoke coming out, which is fixed by increasing air for at least a little while.

 

[Dobish]

overall, I would say you are looking really good. i would not worry about the wood that is not burning all the way through, when you have more reloads, that issue will go away. It seems like that might be a spot that is not getting the same amount of airflow, and that part of the wood is just not burning as quickly as the stuff closer to the center of the fire where it is hotter.

Black bricks and window glaze are going to happen with only 1 burn a day. I find that even at all the proper temps, I will still find a bit of haze on the windows. It also depends on the type of wood. A newspaper dipped in water and then in ash on cold glass will clean that right up!

 

[Blackop555]

Thank you all for your fast responses. Any other advice is appreciated. Thanks again

 

[BlankBlankBlank]

Sounds like you're doing things right. As was said earlier, be sure to get a stove thermometer, so you can run the stove at 600F.

 

[firefighterjake]

Hello all. Long time lurker. Been following this forums for a couple years while deciding if wood heat was for me. After my first few burns i have a few questions and i cant seem to find the answers by searching.

Set up: lopi endeavor. 13 foot chimney 4 foot double wall then class a straight through second floor and out roof.

Questions
I burn the top down method daily and that's enough for me. Gets house warm all day. I don't get much smoke. Shortly after lighting i can go out and i see no smoke out of chimney, but some days i can still smell smoke. Is that normal. Normal . . . actually it sounds as if you've already got a pretty good handle on how to run the stove since a) there is no smoke seen coming out of the chimney once up and running and b) you are resisting the urge to keep loading wood into the stove which often leads to a too warm home. Later on in the year you may begin to smell what some describe as a chemical like or metallic like smell which may also indicate that you are burning cleanly.

My bricks are black except on roof of firebox. I have no thermometer yet on stove, but it is in the mail. I get good secondary combustion for atleast an hour. Wood is 18 percent moisture or lower on fresh split side. My guess is if i was burning a second load it would clean up the bricks. I'm just curious if the black bricks and light haze on corners of glass is common with just one start up fire a day. Again, normal . . . especially with a one and done type of fire. The haze is pretty normal as well . . . I periodically clean the "glass" depending on how dirty it is, how lazy I am feeling, if we have guests, etc.

Last question. Sometimes towards the coal stage i start to see light smoke and one of the splits in the back side isn't coal yet and i move it to the middle and it burns up. Is that normal to have to move some pieces into the center of firebox. They are heavily charred and burn up quickly. Yup . . . normal. Me . . . I just start the fire, get it to its cruising altitude and then let it go this time of year until it is just coals and ash . . . or just ash. If there is any unburned wood it generally will burn in the next fire.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance

 

[yooper08]

Thank you all for your fast responses. Any other advice is appreciated. Thanks again

Stay away from Lake Superior? Maybe a little late to give that advice.

 

[Dobish]

Stay away from Lake Superior? Maybe a little late to give that advice.

Don't run with scissors

 

[Michael Sean]

Don’t pee in the wind, never turns out good for your shoes or pants....

 

[Blackop555]

Stay away from Lake Superior? Maybe a little late to give that advice.

I'm on the south side of upper peninsula so all good. Barely got any wind

 

[Blackop555]

I lit fire this morning. Just atop down. It was coaling by 1230. I got home tonight at 11 there was still some hot coals and stovetop was warm. My thermo came today and i started another top down. Started shutting air down at 400. Cruised at 590. Just wanted to provide an update. I think it probably would have cruised a little lower in temp if the coals didn't light the bottom logs 20 minutes after I lit the match.

 

[begreen]

As it gets colder outside draft will increase. Try starting to close the air down earlier, say at 300 or 350º on the stove top. Close it down just to the point where the flames start to get lazy, but not out. Let it warm up some more and the fire to regain strength, then turn it down some more. Repeat again until either it can't be turned down more or the flames want to go out.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

As it gets colder outside draft will increase. .

Im concerned about this cuz i did my first burn yesterday on a brand new 35Ft masonry chimney. At first draft was just OK , expected when outside temps are almost 60 ,but when the flue warmed up! I walked away from the 30 for a few minutes and came back to a raging inferno. Luckily it is a very controllable stove and a quick air adjustment brought the fire under complete control. Going to have to keep an eye on it when it gets very cold.

 

[begreen]

Is there a stove pipe damper in place?

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Is there a stove pipe damper in place?

No not yet we just finished the chimney the other day and hooked up the stove, So far im very impressed with the stoves ability to quickly control the fire with the air rod. I know on a good cold day that flue ,once hot, will pull like a freight train. Ill see if the stove is still as controllable. I still didnt seal up the pipe in to the thimble yet so there is a space between the pipe and the thimble about 1/8 in avg ,letting air into the chimney from the outside of the pipe. ill do that before the next fire.

 

[xman23]

You smell smoke outside? that's normally when loading. But inside smoke does happen. Smoke smell when opening it for reload the following can be your issue and solution. Open the primary air fully for some time before opening the door. If this is the first year for you, the wood is much less seasoned than you think. If your cap has a screen it can be plugged in few weeks. Another source of smoke smell is a window open anywhere. We get this when we reload. The smoke rolls over the house and into our loft bedroom window that is cracked open.

Its early in the season so drafts are week due to warm outside temps. If your burning without blacking the glass your doing good. To avoid smoldering fires in the shoulder season I burn small hot fires and let them go out. A pain to do with all the relighting. Its been the warmest Oct. ever. Yes I admit it, the heat on but no stove yet.

 

[Manly]

Thank you all for your fast responses. Any other advice is appreciated. Thanks again

Breath deep. Relax. It will work out.

 

[begreen]

ath deep. Relax. It will work out.

Yes, the first season is all about learning the art of burning and/or a new stove. Even when a veteran burner gets a new stove it's a new learning chapter.