Why can't I get secondaries like this?

[joefrompa]

Credit to Pagey I believe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4No-WL1Wmk&feature=fvst

I have the same firebox. I've gotten it up to 725 degrees with a serious coal bed and good fuel in there.

My secondaries don't air-wash the glass, they don't roar, they kinda just mull around near the holes....sometimes the air lights up a few inches below the holes and curls around very nice like.

But no matter how hot I'm burning, my glass is staying hazed/blackened (yes, I have a good amount of not seasoned stuff...nature of my first year).

I realize I don't have fully dry wood, but I thought that with the temperature above 600, I'd be able to get serious air-wash and secondaries firing out like the youtube vid. I'm not able to achieve it.

This is with my damper bypass closed and air control (bottom pull) in ANY position - fully open, half shut, fully shut, and all the variations between. I simply get some low rolling secondaries for maybe 10-30 minutes and then those start to die out.

Joe

 

[thewoodlands]

Credit to Pagey I believe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4No-WL1Wmk&feature=fvst

I have the same firebox. I've gotten it up to 725 degrees with a serious coal bed and good fuel in there.

My secondaries don't air-wash the glass, they don't roar, they kinda just mull around near the holes....sometimes the air lights up a few inches below the holes and curls around very nice like.

But no matter how hot I'm burning, my glass is staying hazed/blackened (yes, I have a good amount of not seasoned stuff...nature of my first year).

I realize I don't have fully dry wood, but I thought that with the temperature above 600, I'd be able to get serious air-wash and secondaries firing out like the youtube vid. I'm not able to achieve it.

This is with my damper bypass closed and air control (bottom pull) in ANY position - fully open, half shut, fully shut, and all the variations between. I simply get some low rolling secondaries for maybe 10-30 minutes and then those start to die out.

Joe

Joe i would say it's your wood, I resplit mine last year so it was smaller and it would burn hotter. Buy some wood from Stewarts or another place that sells it in a bag(kiln dried) then start your fire and build up your coals with some regular wood then once the coals are burned downed some add the dry stuff (poof).


zap

 

[joefrompa]

I think I'm going to try that. Or I'll steal some 6-month (summer-time) seasoned ash from my FIL and see what happens.

I'm also getting like 1.5 cords of pine this weekend. Should be interesting.

The only hardwoods I've had so far have been 2 month seasoned ash and 2 month split ironwood (which had lain dead on the ground for 2 years, but I know that thing was wet).

Joe

 

[thewoodlands]

I think I'm going to try that. Or I'll steal some 6-month (summer-time) seasoned ash from my FIL and see what happens.

I'm also getting like 1.5 cords of pine this weekend. Should be interesting.

The only hardwoods I've had so far have been 2 month seasoned ash and 2 month split ironwood (which had lain dead on the ground for 2 years, but I know that thing was wet).

Joe

Joe in that video is cherry seasoned 6-8 months only, that is one of the reasons I resplit it smaller so it burned hotter. Joe if I was burning wood only seasoned two months my worries would be more about creosote build up and not the secondaries, give it air.


zap

 

[madrone]

It's the wood. 6 months would be an absolute minimum, but 9-12 is more like it.

 

[Pagey]

Joe, keep in mind that the goal is not necessarily to have secondaries like that during the entire burn. Mine will start very strong like that, but they go through phases. After I dial back the air some, they'll die down to more "ghostly" flames that sort of appear out of nowhere and disappear back into nothing. Sometimes they'll roll up from the back of the stove and lick their way up the glass and disappear. Sometimes they'll wrap up over the baffle and front burn tube, disappearing behind the airwash screen at the front of the stove. They do all sorts of things, but the point is they vary.

That video is one of Zap's, and it's in a Liberty, which has a little differently shaped firebox than my stove and yours. My grandmother's Liberty will throw those crazy secondaries out of the front burn tube 2x longer than my Endeavor, easily. I think it's just the configuration of the firebox on the Liberty.

Rather than focusing on the appearance of the secondaries, I would focus more on learning my particular stove. Find its sweet spot. Find the stove top temp that gets you the best heat without overfiring the stove or smoldering a fire. And above all else, focus on regular inspections of your flue until you have truly seasoned wood.

Secondaries are fun and all, but they're just not the end all, be all of heating with wood.

 

[joefrompa]

Thanks Pagey. I thought highly visible and sustained secondaries were part of getting the most heat with the longest burn times.

Regarding inspecting my flue - I'm trying to do a few burns a week where it's hovering around 700 degrees for a few hours to help keep things clean. Are you saying it needs more than that?

 

[thewoodlands]

Thanks Pagey. I thought highly visible and sustained secondaries were part of getting the most heat with the longest burn times.

Regarding inspecting my flue - I'm trying to do a few burns a week where it's hovering around 700 degrees for a few hours to help keep things clean. Are you saying it needs more than that?

Joe I use this product and I think with the wood that your burning this will help out. I bought ours at the local hearth shop.

http://www.chimneysaver.com/anti_creo_soot.html


zap

 

[Pagey]

Thanks Pagey. I thought highly visible and sustained secondaries were part of getting the most heat with the longest burn times.

Regarding inspecting my flue - I'm trying to do a few burns a week where it's hovering around 700 degrees for a few hours to help keep things clean. Are you saying it needs more than that?

Well, secondaries are part of it. I'm just saying don't lose focus on the other things for the sole purpose of getting the most fabulous secondaries possible. I could do so with my stove, but it would lead to an overfire and relatively brief secondaries.

As far as "does it take more than that" with "that" being "running at 700F" I would remind any first year burner to inspect his or her flue monthly the first year.