Silent Flame Retrofit - Secondary Air, Firebrick, etc..

[Corey]

Years ago, I did a time lapse video of the nightly load. Looks like it topped out at about 880ºF that night. This was a bit before I had the full secondary air mod and worked to tighten up the stove a bit. Now I trade a bit cooler temps for a bit longer burn time - unless I'm running full bore to heat up the house.

But, ya, the old iron is probably pretty well seasoned and won't melt until north of 2700ºF, so anything below glowing should be fine. Heck, even glowing isn't terribly an issue, though does exponentially speed up the oxidation of the steel and lead to eventual 'burn-out'.

 

[brenndatomu]

The doors near the top are pushing 650..

No glowing bits... Just much higher temps then I'm used to out of this stove.

the old iron is probably pretty well seasoned and won't melt until north of 2700ºF, so anything below glowing should be fine

Yup, you're fine...even steel stoves don't start glowing until ~950* or so

 

[Mr4btTahoe]

That's good info to have.

It was popping and pinging at those temps but I think it was mostly coming from the thin steel baffle plate.

Anyways... I reloaded this morning at 8am with a hot coal bed and the intention of letting it burn out by noon... It's now 6:15 and the stove is still hot... Automatic blower still running.. House is still 78.

The load this morning was 4 med. splits.

Very happy with the outcome so far.

 

[Mr4btTahoe]

Just a little update...

Stove and mods have been doing great. I took some pics this morning to show the outcome...

Primary air closed... secondaries rolling


Stack output... 0 smoke/haze.


The only negative I can say thus far is that I've managed to warp the outer stove top. I noticed this the other night when I was loading the stove and noticed a slight gap between the flue and the stove top. I took a few steps back and sure enough, the top of the stove has warped. I went on and lit a small fire to check for leaks at the flue mating surface and there doesnt seem to be. As the stove warmed up, the gap between the stack and stovetop closed. I dont believe its going to cause any problems but its odd that it happened.

I typically keep a pot of water on the stove top to put moisture into the air... the pot is pretty large.. could that have caused it?

Anyways... so far we are staying warm. Temps are dropping quickly here.. will be in the low 20s tonight.. House is a comfortable 74.
-Chris