Stove temp. Creosote?

[dcouture29]

Just bought a new Non Cat VC Encore for my new house. I'm new to the wood thing. I've had it going for 2-3 weeks. I've been burning medium fires. My issues are that it takes 1 to 1 1/2 hours to get the thermometer to read 250-275 deg. (I had it get to 450-500 once and it's because the stove was full and the damper was open for a long time.) If I shut the damper the stove hovers around 175-200 deg. I'm not really looking for more heat. The house gets warm. the only reason I care is that I'm worried about Creosote. The last thing I want is a chimney fire. What is the likelyhood that the thermometer isn't working properly or that I'm not getting a true reading? It's on the flume.

I'm burning hardwood that has been seasoned a year and a half so that's not an issue.

 

[Diabel]

Hi 29,

If it takes this long to get to 275 then you have wood that is not seasoned (100%). Search "everburn" or "neverburn" there is much info. on how to get it going....

 

[thewoodlands]

Just bought a new Non Cat VC Encore for my new house. I'm new to the wood thing. I've had it going for 2-3 weeks. I've been burning medium fires. My issues are that it takes 1 to 1 1/2 hours to get the thermometer to read 250-275 deg. (I had it get to 450-500 once and it's because the stove was full and the damper was open for a long time.) If I shut the damper the stove hovers around 175-200 deg. I'm not really looking for more heat. The house gets warm. the only reason I care is that I'm worried about Creosote. The last thing I want is a chimney fire. What is the likelyhood that the thermometer isn't working properly or that I'm not getting a true reading? It's on the flume.

I'm burning hardwood that has been seasoned a year and a half so that's not an issue.

Has your wood been split and stacked in a good sunny and windy location for over a year? Last year because our wood was not seasoned for a full year we split it smaller and burned that way.

zap

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Just bought a new Non Cat VC Encore for my new house. I'm new to the wood thing. I've had it going for 2-3 weeks. I've been burning medium fires. My issues are that it takes 1 to 1 1/2 hours to get the thermometer to read 250-275 deg. (I had it get to 450-500 once and it's because the stove was full and the damper was open for a long time.) If I shut the damper the stove hovers around 175-200 deg. I'm not really looking for more heat. The house gets warm. the only reason I care is that I'm worried about Creosote. The last thing I want is a chimney fire. What is the likelyhood that the thermometer isn't working properly or that I'm not getting a true reading? It's on the flume.

I'm burning hardwood that has been seasoned a year and a half so that's not an issue.

Welcome to the forum dcouture29.

Perhaps one thing you are doing is to shut the damper down and then the stove hovers around that 175-200 range. Rather than shutting the damper down, only shut it part way.

For example, on ours (which is different than yours) we will shut the draft about 50% when the flue temperature rises. This will keep more heat in the firebox where it is needed. It is at this point that the stove top temperature begins to rise much better. We then engage the cat at 250 stove top temperature and at that point we also drop the draft to 1 (on a 0-4 setting) and then the stovetop temperature soars.

 

[dcouture29]

Thanks gents.

I failed to mention that I have an outside air kit. My house is foam insulation and is air tight. I think that the box just might not be getting enough air to get it burning hot.

The other day there was a storm with strong winds. The draft caused the fire to get roaring hot. That's why I think I might have a draft of air intake issue.

Im going to try adjusting the damper too.

 

[Slow1]

Greetings and welcome!

When I had my Encore NC I found that I could get it up to temp fairly quickly - IF I had good dry wood in there. With marginal wood it was very difficult.

Now the other thing that I recall as being very helpful when starting from a cold stove was to use smaller splits etc to burn a 'first fire' that is smaller and with the damper open for the most part. This initial fire would burn hot and fast and do two things - 1) it heats things up a bit; establishing a solid draft and getting the stove components good and hot, 2) Established a bed of coals on which to actually build the 'cruising' fire.

To answer your question about creosote build-up - check your chimney for smoke during your burn. If it is putting out a lot of smoke then you are more likely gunking up your flue. If it is 'nothing but heatwaves' then I wouldn't worry a bit. Keep in mind that you will always have some smoke on startup, but... once you are cruising along there should be no smoke visible out of the stack. No smoke, no creosote!

 

[dcouture29]

Thanks Pyro,

I'm still trying to figure things out. I'm getting there. I like the stove, the only thing is that It's a little bit oversized, the house is 2000 sq ft but it's a new place with foam insulation. The area with the stove gets real hot preventing me from keeping the fire burning high all the time. I'm pretty sure i'll figure things out. One thought is to let it burn out every day, then start back up and get it hot before closing the damper. It hasn't been that cold yet so this probably won't end up being an issue anyway.

 

[Slow1]

Well, the generalization is that for a non-cat stove to burn clean it has to burn hot. Shoulder season is more of a challenge to plan until you get used to it. I suspect that your home may well have a much lower heat requirement than the average and thus for you your shoulder season may last much longer....

The every other day approach may work well for you if you can bear the temperature swings. You can read up here on ways to move the heat around but the summary will be "move cold air to the stove" so if you just stick a fan blowing the coldest air you can find toward the stove (at floor level) that may help cool the stove room and heat the other areas.

Best of luck - I"m sure you will figure something out that works for you.