Travis Industries Large Flush Insert Questions

[The Man]

Last year I purchased a new flush wood insert hybrid stove and had it installed. I didn't have the best wood last year, as some of it was pretty newly cut, and I struggled all year keeping the house warm. The stove boasts a 3 cu ft. firebox and 10 hour burn times(to usable coals for relighting) and heats up to 2800 sqft. I was never able to achieve more than 8 hour burns and struggled to heat the house from the 50-55 degree morning temps to a typical 72 degree comfort temp. Usually by the evening I could maintain 70's in the house, except when it was -10 outside, and then I could only keep it at 62 tops. It just doesn't seem to put out the heat. It takes about an hour from lighting the fire for the blower to kick on, and then it takes at least 3 hours at full burn(and 2 or 3 loads of wood) to get the house even remotely warm. I see friends with tiny little freestanding stoves toss in a log or 2 every 4 hours and their house bakes them out at 80 degrees until they have to open windows to cool off.

You have to understand that when I say "the house" I am only talking about the room that the stove is located in which is probably 750 sqft. with a 12ft vaulted ceiling. I have a ceiling fan blowing the air around, and a stairwell that the heat doesn't like to travel up very much to the rest of the home ~1000sqft. I'm not too worried about the upstairs, as they are all bedrooms and we prefer to sleep cold, but we like to have the family room HOT if possible and I have not been able to figure out how to do that. This year I collected some of my own wood, and purchased a bunch of wood as well, and I haven't noticed any difference in heat output so far. Its only getting down to the 20's at night now, but we are already struggling to have the house warm by Noon. Any advice?

I've talked to the dealer about this as I've had problems with the snap disc and the reliability of the fan, but he still claims that given dry wood this thing will heat my house with no problems.

The way I've been burning so far is to burn wide open(full air) until the house is warm and then fill it up with wood and burn it mostly closed to get the long burn times and maintain temps until we wake up in the morning.

 

[USMC80]

How many square is the insert rated for? How long has your wood supply been split and stacked? What wood are you burning?

 

[Grisu]

Could certainly be a wood problem. Maybe get a few bundles of kiln-dried wood from the store and try that.

Do you have an idea how hot your stove gets? An IR thermometer may be best for a flush insert. If necessary pull off the surround for a day or two and take readings from the top for more accurate measurements. I would also suggest to adjust your burning strategy: Since you leave the air fully open until the room is warm you loose most of the heat up the chimney. Light the fire and let it burn for maybe 10 min with the door open. You should have a full fire going then. Close door, wait ~5 min until wood is fully engulfed again, then stepwise close the air supply over the next 15 to 20 min until the air is almost or completely closed. You should have nice secondaries in the top of the firebox then. If the fire starts smoldering open the air again a little bit, wait a few minutes and then try closing down again. Takes some practice. Stove top should be over 500 F when you have closed the air down to make sure you get full combustion.

Other questions: What are your outside temps and how tall is your chimney? Maybe there is also a draft problem.

 

[The Man]

I'll see if I can pick up an IR thermometer this week and give that a shot. So the stove should be able to get to ~500 degrees within 45 minutes or so, and then be putting off the most heat that it can? The chimney is 20' I believe, it goes through 2 stories and is 4 feet above the peak of my roof.

 

[Grisu]

From a cold start it can take a bit longer and I would also not try to push it too hard to get those temps. When you start with a cold stove get a quick hot fire going with smaller splits and kindling. Close the air some but not all the way once the fire is burning briskly. Wait until the flames are down but you still have lots of hot coals. Rake them to the front, add lots of medium to large splits (really fill up the box to the top of the firebricks) and then do as I described above. Now, the stove should throw nice heat within 20 to 30 min and you should have great secondaries.

 

[yukiginger]

Pretty big house. What's your location? How well is the house insulated? If you are burning good, dry wood you can damper the stove down, not burn it wide open. This should slow your wood consumption and add to the heat your stove is producing. Wide open is just allowing more air into the house and up the flue.