Temps questions

[NSDave]

I've been giving my stove a good workout the past few days; experimenting with loads , ns, ew, combinations etc My stove seems to prefer a ns load.

I inherited some wood when we bough the house but it was sized for the old VC acclaim, which burned e/w. I've got some spruce that I cut back in may that I cut short to load ns. I've checked with my MM , its below 20% moisture.

Last reload last night; I reloaded around 320 f stove top ( IR meter ) put 2 short splits of spruce ns, a piece of maple across the back to fill in the gap the spruce left and a few 3-4 in splits ew on top of the spruce. lots of air space.

Anyway all went well but my stove top went up around 715; not a huge deal; I cut the air down to about 1/4 open and it eventually cruised for an hour around 660 ish, great flames, great heat; but I know from the probe that I'm sending a ton of heat up the stack. AND I'm just chewing through wood

* edit* It was a bit windy yesterday.

I guess my long winded question(s) are

Did the spruce burn too quickly and bring the temps up ?
Should I reload on a cooler bed?
Shut the air down quicker?

My manual says best time/heat ratio occurs @ 550 f ( I assume stove top )

Appreciate any thoughts

 

[Huntindog1]

If your loading for a all night burn dont know if you need the splits N/S in the bottom to lift up your E/W splits for more air flow.
I load all the time East/West with no N/S splits to lift up for air flow and my stove burns fine.
350 stove top temp can be ok reload temp, maybe a little hot, just keep an eye on it and get a feel for how fast you shut the air back down in 1/4 way increments to let the fire stabilize. For each quarter ways adjustment the fire will have less air but with the less air flow there should be an increase in stove top heat as less heat is being flushed up the flue.

Just know the hotter the coals on reload you will need to watch it and get the air shut down a little sooner than you normally do.

With scenario you gave the stove cruising at 660 with the air at 1/4 ways open , I would think you could have went a head and shut it all the ways down and gotten that 550 stove top temp. As these stoves are never fully shut down when the air control is at its lowest setting.

Are you getting all night burns as in having enough coals for starting a reload in the morning?

You are chewing thru the wood most likely as your letting the stove get too hot before you start shutting the air down. With good dry wood you can start easing the air input down at 400 stove top temp on a hot bed of coals. Also watch for when those secondary flames start. Not long after that you can start thinking about turning the air down depends on how good of wood you got. Good dry oak with alot of heat energy is going to give you lots of heat to keep your fire box temps up. Lesser wood with low btu's will be a little harder to keep the heat up so you have to let it burn longer to get temps up.

The extra air flow your creating by lifting the wood up off the bottom with the N/S splits plus loading on 350F coals is getting everything burn fast and your not shutting the air down quick enough as your getting up over 700F, thats going to burn your wood up really fast with that type of procedure.

Its kind of like this , you say ok I can go ahead and shut the air down early even tho the stove isnt looking like its ready as I know I loaded extra dry wood on a hot coal bed with lots of air space between the splits that will counter the fact I am shutting down the air more aggressively this load. But make sure you shut the air down in increments. 1/4 , 1/2 , 3/4, 4/4

 

[NSDave]

Thanks Huntingdog1

I'm still working on the longer burn times, during the day when I'm around; haven't fully loaded either; right now I'm getting 3ish hours between loads depending on the reload temps.

So I can reload and when stovetop gets to 400 ish , start shutting down the air. I'll try that

 

[Huntindog1]

Thanks Huntingdog1

I'm still working on the longer burn times, during the day when I'm around; haven't fully loaded either; right now I'm getting 3ish hours between loads depending on the reload temps.

So I can reload and when stovetop gets to 400 ish , start shutting down the air. I'll try that

Try that as as you close down the air you should see more secondaries. It will get easier as you learn the stove's characteristics, you have to get a feel for it.

I am on my second year and still making improvements but I have to say this year its all working really well for me with knowing my stove now and good dry wood 18% moisture or less. Good Dry wood solves alot of problems.

Did you split those pieces of wood before you checked the moisture?

With Dry wood I am getting longer burn times, sounds ironic but its true, longer burn times with dry wood. As people used to think green wood burned longer but no in these stoves.
Dry wood gets the temps up quicker, lets you get the stove air shut down sooner before burning up too much of the load for the all night burn. Plus lets you get the stove shut down farther. With moisture in the wood you have to keep the air opened more to compensate for boiling the moisture out of the wood to keep the fire going.

 

[NSDave]

So what should I look for between adjustments? more secondaries? wait 10 min or so between adjustments?

Yep; split the wood for a fresh split before checking the moisture. I check randomly as I go along.

thanks again

 

[corey21]

So what should I look for between adjustments? more secondaries? wait 10 min or so between adjustments?

Yep; split the wood for a fresh split before checking the moisture. I check randomly as I go along.

thanks again

You should see the stove get hotter as you shut the air down more.

I find sometimes i have better results if i get it burning then shut the air down to half then go down in small steps to just a smudge open. If my wood is good and dry the temp will climb to about 650 sometimes 550.

 

[NSDave]

Thanks Corey21; I tried this tonight and after about 3 hours I still have some flames and 450 stove top; thats on about 4 splits.

thanks for the tips!

 

[corey21]

Thanks Corey21; I tried this tonight and after about 3 hours I still have some flames and 450 stove top; thats on about 4 splits.

thanks for the tips!

What did the temp peak at before it started dropping?

 

[NSDave]

around 600

cruised around 530 ish for a good while