Success!, finally

[bogydave]

I think we got shoulder season fires figured out, finally.
House staying around 70 -72. No smoke alarms

My wife got the "adding wood to the wood stove" down pat.
After a few mornings of smoke alarms, all windows & doors open & fans running.
Basement full of so much smoke you couldn't see. She was trying to get a bright burning fire right away, adding newspaper, kindling.
Sometimes with bypass close, sometimes forgot to open the stove T-stat. sometimes both.

For 2 mornings now, SUCCESS!!
She now turns the stove to high, opens the bypass for 5 - 10 minutes before adding wood.

BK King model.
Shoulder season fires: I add 2-3 splits at night (11PM) , set stove T-stat to 1.75 , no fan.
(I was turning the stove stat to 1, but flu got too cold & quit drafting, (adding to the AM smoke problems)
Wife adds 2 split in the AM (6AM), (smokelessly now), at temp, closes the bypass, set stove T-stat to 2.25, fan on.
I add 2 splits (or one big one) around noon - 2PM, fan off.

As it gets colder, our plan is to add one more split if the house gets colder (to her 72°f, to me 66°f).
OAT has been 22°f at night & mid 30s in the day.
Burning when it was cold last winter, no problem. With a full load at night (11PM) it would last to noon + next day.
Wife just turned up the stove T-stat to 2.5 & turned the fan on. (didn't have to add wood)
I would rake coals to center & finish the burn. (add a few splits if needed. Then load for the night around 11PM)

Getting shoulder season figured out was a little tougher. House at 76° + was too warm.
I think we finally got it.

Pic at 1130 AM today

 

[firefighterjake]

HehHeh. . . I get a kick out of your term "shoulder season" since for most folks . . . even us here in Maine . . . 20s at night and 30s during the day would put us into 24/7 burners and not the shoulder season when we're doing one . . . maybe two . . . fires a day.

Glad things are working out . . . keep warm . . . and keep burning.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Stay warm Dave! I am wondering though why you set the bypass 5-10 minutes before adding wood? Not that it hurts but it should not be necessary. We simply have the habit of whenever the firebox door is opened, the first thing to do is make sure the draft is fully open and the bypass is set. So the cat gets turned on approximately 5-10 minutes after a reload and does not get shut off until the next load.

 

[bogydave]

Yea, it will be getting cold here soon.
6" walls, insulated foundations, 18 to 24" of attic insulation, all that helps keep the heat in.

We turn the stove to high (3.5+) & open the bypass to get the chimney to heat up & "up draft " properly.
Stove is in the basement, 17' of SS metal-bestos flu pipe outside & another 30" drop to the stove top.
That length of flu, it gets cool & quits drafting well, so if we open the stove door before a good
chimney draft is established, we get smoke into the house.

I've ha to go pull the plug on the clean out "T" outside, light some newspaper in it to
get a draft started if the fire goes out in the 0s & below temps.
It is sometimes difficult to move roughly 20' of cold air out of the flu pipe to get an "up draft" moving.

That is the one thing about using a super efficient stove. The exhaust gasses are so much cooler & cool more
as the leave that, in a long flu pipe, get cool enough to not raise up (draft well).

Burning the stove on a hotter setting helps, but if the fire goes almost out, we sometimes smell the
exhaust gases in the house. I'v had it come thru the stove & past the damper & out the inlet air at the bottom of the stove.


I've thought about leaving the "clean out plug" out & see if that would reduce the downward air pressure to the stove.
A 20' pipe full of cold air is heavier & want to enter the basement of the house.
With the plug out, I'd only have a few feet of cold air pushing down.
But would the chimney up-draft with the plug out. ??? I may act like a venturi & cause outer problems
Don' know all the science behind it but am learning to deal with it.

 

[sixman]

Your shoulder season is way different than what we have. Heck low 40's at night and 70's in the day is my shoulder season. You would probably be out in shorts in that kind of weather.

 

[bogydave]

Ha Ha
Above 50 is golf weather.( (& yes shorts if the mosquitoes aren't bad)

Our summer temps are your shoulder season temps.
No fire needed during that time of the year. Getting too hot.

 

[pen]

Congrats! I too am slowly getting my wife trained ;-P

She still won't try a top down fire though.

pen