Running Wide Open

['bert]

Interested in some opinions on this,

It has been a touch on the frosty side here in Alberta, this morning it was -44C (-47.2F) to be exact at 9am. Therefore I have been running my stove full open to try and keep the house warm. Is there any problems with this? Does pollution become a factor? I have been careful not to overfire, but I am going though a lot of wood.

Just wondering if anyone else has done this for an extended period and if this is in fact the way to get the maximum BTU from a stove?

just trying to keep warm in Alberrrta.

 

[Robbie]

This is good if you can do it and not over fire. My stove and pipe seems so much cleaner since I started using one or so split at a time and leaving the damper wide open...........you load more but it sure puts off max heat and is much less smoke outside.

My temps here in Tennessee are a little warmer than yours though..... .....right now it's 55 degrees outside.........due to drop to 30 degrees by AM.

Oh, make sure the heaviest part of the load in your stove is farthest away from your stove pipe exit...........it tends to heat my stove more if it has farther to go to exit the stove.

In other words, I use this method when I am trying to get the most heat out of a large split because if I locate it near the stove pipe exit it seems to send most of the good flame (heat) up the pipe.




Robbie

 

[Hogwildz]

Chance of overfire, and sending more heat up the chimney then if closed down some.
Might as well have an open fireplace.

 

[Todd]

I agree with Hog. You will be sending too much heat up the stack. Try running it at 1/2 or 2/3 and monitor your stove top and stack temps.

 

[jpl1nh]

I agree with Hog and Todd, especially if you don't have your unit hooked to an outside air supply. While it does maximize the heat output of the unit, you also are pulling so much air up your chimney that you are pulling in a lot of cold outside air from all those little places in your home where air infiltrates to make up for whats lost up ths stack. I think there is a sweet spot where you have the air reduced yet your insert still is putting out lots of heat. -43 is pretty darn cold for any stove to keep up with!

 

[cmonSTART]

Well, at -47F I guess I'm going to run the stove in any way I can to keep warm, safely mind you. At that temperature, pollution and efficiency go out the window in my book. Wow that's cold.

 

[begreen]

-47F! Truth is, you're in a territory that very few of us has experienced. Is this pretty much average or is this an extraordinarily cold winter for you folks? These are Antarctic conditions.

If it were me, well no, I'd never live in those conditions. But if so, I would treat the house like a thermos bottle, that is completely clad it in 2" of foam and build out the windows to accept the additional insulation. The windows would have to be state of the art, maybe quad pane or something with multiple air cell dividers. I suspect an OAK would be necessary, but it would need to be insulated and with a pre-heating chamber I would think. For now, I think you need to do what you can to survive. Whatever works to get through this period is probably best for you.

 

[bcnu]

I'm with BeGreen. Is it possible that you live in one of those areas with the "dry cold" and -47F really feels warmer.....like maybe -40F :cheese:

 

[Jags]

At -47F I would be throwing used tires and old girlfriends in that stove, if thats what it took to keep warm. :bug: As suggested above, I would try to damper down a bit and monitor the stove temp. You may find that you can end up with almost the same stove temp while using less wood and maintaining your needed heat output.

 

[DriftWood]

If you could install another stove for the high load months and shut one down for the above 20F you could be hotter and shutting down the wood burning fireplace a little.

"The Great White Frozen North"

Coffee at -48F in Prudoe Bay, Alaska
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfMBXVsjJYY

Coffee Snow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRFrjknXuDw&feature=related

 

[swestall]

Can't say a thing about -40's; but as far as wide open I've noticed that I acutally get more heat off the stove when I have it damped down and am burning the smoke/gasses as well as the wood. (someone said that too). Perhaps you could try that and see if it produced more heat for you. Also, I'm not all that familiar with how your actual stove works. If it is a secondary burner, you can get more heat with the secondaries operating...
Hope you find something to keep you warmer....

 

['bert]

Thanks for the opinions! BeGreen, it is usually not that cold here, just a bad cold snap. Has already warmed up to -30C (-22F). Might not seem like much of an improvement, but after yesterday anything is!

I will try both ways of running the stove over the next few days and post back some temps for those that are interested.

BTW this BIS does have it's own outside air supply.

 

[Jimbob]

I would also get a magnetic thermometer, and put it on top of the stove. When it gets that cold here, I normally run the stove top up to 800 to 850 degress F max, which on my stove, is about 1/4 open on the air control. Any more than that is over-firing for my setup. Firing it with the air control half open for too long will make the top of my stove glow red! :O
Chimney draft gets a LOT stronger at those temps.

 

[wood4heat]

hello, i am a little confused, i also have a bis ultima this is no flu damperl on these units. When you talk about dampening down are you refering to draft control? I notice my max heat output with draft about 1/4 closed. Thankyou in advance for helping to clear things up

 

[swestall]

Yes, draft control. You get more heat with it closed down than wide open; at least on most stoves. And, you definately use less wood and get more heat from the wood you use.

 

[Jimbob]

I would also get a magnetic thermometer, and put it on top of the stove. When it gets that cold here, I normally run the stove top up to 800 to 850 degress F max, which on my stove, is about 1/4 open on the air control. Any more than that is over-firing for my setup. Firing it with the air control half open for too long will make the top of my stove glow red! :O
Chimney draft gets a LOT stronger at those temps.

Ok, nevermind what I posted about the thermometer, as there doesn't look like there is a good place to put one.

See section 3.2
http://www.securitychimneys.com/PDF/installation/fireplaces/Inst_BIS-ULTRA.PDF




That looks like a nice fireplace.
http://www.securitychimneys.com/pages/fireplace/high_BisUltra.asp?country=ca

You shouldn't have to overfire the piss out of the bis!

 

[Greg Ray]

That is cold!! Worked in Alaska in those conditons! I would make sure I had the best insulation money could buy, first thing and buy another stove, to save on wood. I f I ran my Revere wide open I"d run thru 6 cords of wood in Tx!