Secondary Burns on Hearthstone Shelburne

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vixster

Member
Nov 20, 2010
148
Rockland Co , ny
Do secondary burns only happen when the air flow is closed (even partially)?
 
Depends a bit on the wood and flue draft, but generally I would expect decreasing the primary air to encourage secondary burning with this stove.
 
Keep in mind, the best way to tell if the stove is doing its thing is by looking at your chimney cap. If you see no smoke, its doin ok. You can have a very clean burning fire in an epa stove without seeing anything going on inside the firebox, especially in the coaling stages.
 
I only get a secondary burn if the air is partially closed. If I leave the air fully open, the fire rages and all the heat goes up the chimney. The air can't be totally closed on Shelburne...if you look underneath at the air intake with a mirror, you'll see there is a 1/4" opening when the lever is all the way in the "-" position.
 
Thanks for response... I've done a test, if I close air to about 10/20% open, I get clean burn, no smoke, if I close all the way, I do get smoke! smoke=no secondary burns.. I understand now, thanks.
 
I only get secondary when i close down my primary air, unless i have the stove stuffed to the gills. In which case, after i close the door after letting the load catch i get secondaries for a minute or so, and then it turns into an inferno and my flue temp shoots up.
After getting a good fire going and closing down the primary in incremental steps i can usually close primary all the way and still get plenty of secondaries (and no smoke from chimney). Seasoning of wood plays a big part in this. I'm burning some marginal stuff now, and i have to leave primary open a bit to burn clean (and get good secondaries).
 
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