Trying to get the hang of it

[Jaugust124]

Being a newbie and all, I had another "practice" fire today and had a little trouble at first. I've burned wood for the past 12 years or so in an open fireplace without much trouble at all. I imagine this is a whole different ballgame.

Today, I had to keep the air open all the way and even had to have the door open quite a while just to get close to 4oo degrees and that took me about 1 1/2 hours. The wood burned up relatively quick, so I reloaded several times with some smallish splits. Finally I git frustrated and loaded it up with 3-4 decent size splits and that seemed to do the trick. I was able to cut the air down to about 1/2 way or a little less and the fire was then cooking along nicely getting up to 500 degrees according to the stove top thermometer. I did not turn the fan on (automatic) until it hit 400 degrees.

It seems like this stove might prefer bigger fires. I did start the fire using 1/3 of a free Super Cedar and numerous pieces of kindling.
Any advice is sure to help.
Thanks

 

[SKIN052]

Some info on you chimney set up would probably help. That and any pics of your stove and chimney. The guys here seem to be able to pin point most any issue but you have to give them the ammo to help. And they like pics!
I almost forgot, placement of your stove seems to matter a bunch as does the age of your home, new construction? Old drafty place?

 

[Bubbavh]

With the temps not being all that cold it will be hard to get a good draft going!

 

[Jaugust124]

Don't have pics right now, but I have about a 15ft chimney plus an additional 4ft that extends above the chimney due to the proximity of the adjacent roof line. I have used the fireplace for two years before the insert and ss chimney liner and had no problems with draft.
The house was built in 1971 and has minimal insulation in the walls, but great insulation in the attic. The windows are original, but we replaced numerous doors including adding a set of French doors replacing the original sliding door in the family room where the stoves is. They are the only glass in that room, so being brand new I would hope they are tight. The room the stove is in is only about 13 x 20 and the house does not have an open floor plan.

I am hoping that the cause is my inexperience with the insert and as Bubbavh mentioned is the fact that it has not been too cold here. Temps. during the day of high 50s-60 and lows in the mid-40s.
I have a feeling that if I keep playing around I WILL get it. I was a bit pleased with myself that I was able to get the temp. up to about 500, so I must be doing at least something correct. Right?

 

[Bubbavh]

With these stoves being so tight. They need a strong draft to pull intake air and this is hard to do on 50-60 degree days.

 

[oldspark]

How seasoned is your wood?

 

[zzr7ky]

The number one issue with starting out is seasoned wood.

In moderate temps like we've had lately you may need to leave a window cracked an inch or two while it's starting up 1/2 hour?).

Breaking up a pallet is a cheap way to try some dry wood.

 

[Jaugust124]

Oldspark,
I think I have a mixture of several cords of well seasoned wood and a couple of cords that need to season until next year. For example, I have some ash that was cut to stove length in May of 2009 and split and stacked in March of 2010. I think this wood is fine. I also have some oak that was cut and split in January and stacked in March and the one piece I burned did not sizzle or pop at all. I know, everyone says it takes a year or two, but it seemed to be fine. I'll have to see what the rest of the oak is like. I did put a piece of cherry in the stove that I thought was seasoned well enough and it popped and sizzled like crazy. It was cut in spring and sat in stove length for several months before I split and stacked it. It seemed to be light (in weight) and dry.

I have ordered a moisture meter so that I can have a better idea. I do tend to split on the small side, so I would think they would season quicker. Also, one thing I have learned is that I don't care much for pallets as a means of seasoning wood. At least not the way I've been stacking it. Instead of making rows on the pallet, I stack it like a jigsaw puzzle. As I was moving wood I noticed that the wood stacked in the center was obviously green and filled with moisture.

Funny, last night my wife complained it was too hot in the family room, tonight she was hinting around for me to get the stove going.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Jaugust, keep at it and you will figure it out.

On the wood, that ash should be ideal for burning this year. Personally I would not even try to burn any of the oak. Cherry is one that usually does not take long to season. If I cut it during the winter, split it during the spring, it could be burned the next fall if necessary. We give all our wood longer though and I just figured it out that we now have 5 years cut, split and stacked with 3 cord moved into the barn. The rest in stacked and under cover of galvanized roofing.

On the criss-cross method, I am not a big fan of that. I do use the criss-cross for the ends of the stacks but then stack the wood so that the wind hits the sides of the piles. Having the wood all stacked alike, except for the ends, it allows for better air flow. The criss-cross blocks the wind. However, if you criss-cross very loosely, then you do have some space which is good. I'd just rather have the air moving through the stack.

On the fire. Believe it or not, dialing down that draft after you get a flame established and the wood charred will raise the stove temperature much faster. The reason for this is that with the draft open full (and sometimes the firebox door open) you are taking almost all the heat right straight up the chimney. An example is our soapstone stove that is also a cat stove. People talk about how long it takes to raise the temperature in this stove but I found that not to be the case. However, if I leave the draft full open, then it does take a really long time to get the temperature up. As soon as the wood is charred and there is decent flame, I dial the draft down to about 1/2 at least. You have to experiment with your individual setup to get it right but do experiment.

Good luck.

 

[vvvv]

epa stove wants a full firebox of wood to start with. too much? = downsize firebox by adding firebrix within,,,,,,,,,ithinx

 

[Jack Straw]

If you can get some pieces of scrap KD pine lumber (2x4s etc.) and try them. I think they work great this time of year to give you a quick fire and you can also experiment easier with them.

 

[clr8ter]

Someone here said a pallet is a quick way to get some dry wood. Be careful, not all of them are dry, we get some pretty wet new ones at work.....

I know some things about Pallets, but not so much about wood stoves, apparently. Not to hijack the post, but, last night we burned our wood stove for the 2nd time and had a hard time controlling the temp. Every time I threw in wood, the temp would drop, to around 250F. (Magnetic thermometer on front right corner.) I then turned up the damper, and it would rise out of control. The wife said she saw it get to 550F, manual says no more than 600. Today after I came home from work, I noticed it rocks on the hearth. 1/4" on one leg or so. When it was installed, I'm pretty sure it didn't rock at all.
Am I just being too anal about how much the temp drops when I load it up? Should I just leave it set, and let the temp fluctuate between 250 & 3-450 or so? And, I'm going to be horribly disapointed in myself if I screwed up this stove already....

We're talking a Jotul Oslo, about 8 cords burned by previous owner, installed on a fireplace hearth, single wall 304 Stainless from stove to chimney cap. It's in a room about 16" sq. Burning maple cut May '09.

 

[kenny chaos]

This is a good time of year for me to use the oil boiler.
It uses very little oil to maintain a comfortable temp.
I'm processing and handling much, much, less wood, so I save it for
the cold season when I get a good draft and can get it hot.

 

[Jaugust124]

If you can get some pieces of scrap KD pine lumber (2x4s etc.) and try them. I think they work great this time of year to give you a quick fire and you can also experiment easier with them.

That's exactly what I've been using as my kindling.

 

[Jaugust124]

This is a good time of year for me to use the oil boiler.
It uses very little oil to maintain a comfortable temp.
I'm processing and handling much, much, less wood, so I save it for
the cold season when I get a good draft and can get it hot.

Really just experimenting so that when it is cold I'll have the process down flat.

 

[Jaugust124]

On the fire. Believe it or not, dialing down that draft after you get a flame established and the wood charred will raise the stove temperature much faster. The reason for this is that with the draft open full (and sometimes the firebox door open) you are taking almost all the heat right straight up the chimney. An example is our soapstone stove that is also a cat stove. People talk about how long it takes to raise the temperature in this stove but I found that not to be the case. However, if I leave the draft full open, then it does take a really long time to get the temperature up. As soon as the wood is charred and there is decent flame, I dial the draft down to about 1/2 at least. You have to experiment with your individual setup to get it right but do experiment.

Good luck.

First off,
Sorry about the multiple posts. I'm still trying to figure out how to do multiple quotes in the same post.

Thank you Backwoods Savage (and everyone else who posted) I feel like I should call you Mr. Savage out of respect.
It didn't really hit me about the draft being open too much that the heat will go directly up the chimney. Good point. Kind of reminds me of the fireplace that was there before. Unless you were sitting directly in front of it, you didn't get much heat. In fact. one of the reasons I wanted an insert was because every time we used the fireplace the oil burner would kick on every 15 minutes. All that heat going straight up the chimney. Same principle as keeping the air wide open. I figured the air wide open would cause the temp. to go up. It almost seems counter-intuitive.

As far as the wood I have, I think I have close to 6 cords right now. I won't be burning 24/7, so I was hoping to go through 3 cords at the most. The oak is included in the count, which sounds like it is unsuitable. From what I've read on the forum I may be able to mix in with the seasoned stuff for better results. Not ideal, but passable, again according to what I've read. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Thank you for the vote of confidence. I know I will get better at it. I feel I've already made some strides with the help of everyone here. I have to say I am already addicted to wood and to this forum. There is not a day that goes by in the last couple of months that I don't spend time on here checking out countless threads. However, its one thing to be book smart and another to be street smart. Now I just have to take what I've read and put into practice.

Thanks again,
Jamie