woodstock steel hybrid not making heat

[uncle walt]

Hi, Recently purchased a woodstock steel hybrid stove, initially it put out a ton of heat, as it has gotten colder not so much. The stove is located in a semi finished basement three and a half of the walls have R-19 and 5/8 rock, I also have R-30 stuffed in the end of the the floor joist/ ceiling bays long the outside perimeter of the house, Stove is located on a stone hearth and a stone and brick wall veneered to the exterior block masonry wall behind the stove. Chimney is approx 22 feet vertical, 8 inch double wall through the wall up the exterior of the house.
I am burning a mix of hardwoods, red and white oak, ash, maple, locust that is covered dry (moisture content of around 10%) Stove has a cat, engaged, according to manual at 300-350, have been leaving air at 1/3 and moving it up to 1/2. I stand 4-5 feet away from stove and should be getting blasted away by the heat, however it barely keeps the basement warm let alone the rest of the house. Just ordered a damper to install in the chimney to see if I am losing heat up the chimney pipe. Perhaps I am losing heat through the masonry wall behind the stove? This is a big stove though and I feel results should be better/ different.
looking at a lot of the other posts seems most people are very satisfied with this stove. Reached out to Woodstock and followed the suggestions provided but really no change in performance.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank's

 

[Felix5513]

Is the floor concrete?

 

[quotejso]

Whats the stove top temp maybe shut her dawn more.

 

[jetsam]

Even if he has it installed outside on his patio he should be feeling the heat from 4 feet away. I bet that issue lies in fuel, air supply, or draft.

The house-heating issue is more complicated, but one thing at a time.

What kind of stovetop temperatures do you see when burning?

(And the manual says to put the cat in at 300? Do those stoves come with a steelcat?)

 

[quotejso]

The cat is steel sounds like wet wood I can feel the blast from the progress from a good 15 feet.

 

[Woody Stover]

I bet that issue lies in fuel, air supply, or draft.

Was the moisture checked on a re-split, in the center of the freshly-split face? 10% sounds lower than it should be.

(And the manual says to put the cat in at 300? Do those stoves come with a steelcat?)

Might be stove top temp?

Whats the stove top temp maybe shut her dawn more.

That's one thing that's making me think 'wet wood;' Most guys are cruising with air about 1/4 open...

 

[uncle walt]

Is the floor concrete?

yes, in order to make the install fireproof I poured 4 inches of concrete below the stove to match and existing floating floor, 2X4's on edge with a 3/4 plywood subfloor, 3 inch natural stone was installed on the concrete to raise the hearth above the finished floor

 

[uncle walt]

Whats the stove top temp maybe shut her dawn more.

stove temp directly on top of the stove is 400-450, temp approx 12 inches above on a single wall section of chimney pipe ranges 300-350, (manual states 250 degrees on a single wall pipe

 

[uncle walt]

Even if he has it installed outside on his patio he should be feeling the heat from 4 feet away. I bet that issue lies in fuel, air supply, or draft.

The house-heating issue is more complicated, but one thing at a time.

What kind of stovetop temperatures do you see when burning?

(And the manual says to put the cat in at 300? Do those stoves come with a steelcat?)

see stove temps (top of stove) 400-500, have a second thermometer on the single wall chimney pipe and see 300-350

not familiar with steel cat, manual states cat is stainless steel with honeycomb cells, would figure it is one in the same???

 

[uncle walt]

Might be stove top temp?

Was the moisture checked on a re-split, in the center of the freshly-split face? 10% sounds lower than it should be.
Might be stove top temp?
That's one thing that's making me think 'wet wood;' Most guys are cruising with air about 1/4 open...

checked various places on the wood with a two prong moisture meter, will confirm my findings... I use the same wood in the upstairs fireplace and seem to have no problem creating heat within the room, just throwing it out there..

Thank's

 

[uncle walt]

Whats the stove top temp maybe shut her dawn more.

ok will try, ironically the rep at woodstock suggested opening up the air more to approx 1/2 to make the stove "work" more

Thank's

 

[tarzan]

What are your stove top temps while stove is cruising at 1/3 and 1/2 open?

 

[rdust]

Isn't the IS made for a 6" chimney? Are you getting good secondaries with the air 1/2 open. Like the others I'm interested in the STT.

Heating from a basement is a mixed bag. Some people do it with great success, others with great frustration!

 

[vasten]

When in doubt go to your local gas station and buy a couple bundles of kiln dried wood and run the stove exactly the same as you are now. And see if that makes a difference.

Also you mentioned that when it was warmer out it did a great job, but as it is getting colder out it is not performing as well... have you increased the air intake, and left it there? If it is only running 1/3 of the way open and you are not getting the heat out of it that you need, try running it 1/2-3/4 way open and leaving it there for a while. to see if the heat out put increases.

Before I installed the flue pipe damper, which that stove really shouldn't need, I would be monitoring my flue temps, if they are in the 250-350 range then you aren't loosing excessive heat up the chimney.

"Most guys are cruising with air about 1/4 open"... that is impressive

 

[Deano31]

My IS is running on a 8 class a chimney basement installed I have no problem with it I know everyone's install and house layout is totally different my stove will run you out of the room it gets so hot sometimes I run it on 2nd notch I would have to agree split a few of your pieces and check the moisture inside good luck

 

[Isaiah53]

I suspect that masonry wall behind the stove is removing a lot of the heat from the stove. Being a cold surface so close to the stove, it is going to absorb a lot of radiant heat. ..

 

[Babaganoosh]

I suspect that masonry wall behind the stove is removing a lot of the heat from the stove. Being a cold surface so close to the stove, it is going to absorb a lot of radiant heat. ..

The IS doesn't throw a lot of heat out the back.

 

[quotejso]

When did you clean the cat last?

 

[Isaiah53]

The IS doesn't throw a lot of heat out the back.

Keep in mind it does not necessarily have to come from the back. Any surface that can see the wall such as the sides and top will radiate to it. The concrete floor is probably not helping either. It just seems to me that the measured stove temperatures are reasonably high, but the room is not getting warm - although I agree that standing 4-5 feet away he should be feel plenty of heat at those temperatures.

 

[begreen]

Surface flue temps of 300-350F are high for a cat stove. Actually they would be high for my non-cat stove too. We typically run around 500F probe flue temp with a ~ 600-650F stove top.

 

[Woody Stover]

When in doubt go to your local gas station and buy a couple bundles of kiln dried wood and run the stove exactly the same as you are now. And see if that makes a difference.

Gas station wood can be a crap shoot; I've seen some that was tossed on a campfire and was hissing, bubbling out the ends, and smoking....could barely get it to burn! It's mostly Red Oak here so I can tell by hefting a bundle if it's reasonably dry, but not everyone has handled wood enough to have a feel for it.

When did you clean the cat last?

That's something that should be checked...

Isn't the IS made for a 6" chimney? Are you getting good secondaries with the air 1/2 open. Like the others I'm interested in the STT. Heating from a basement is a mixed bag.

Yeah, should be good secondary with him having the air half open. I wonder about the draft. Basement install could be problematic, then the 8" pipe, through the wall with no chase. He did say it was throwing more heat when it wasn't as cold out. I'm not sure but maybe with an exposed chimney, draft can actually get worse the colder it gets outside?

 

[Deano31]

I wonder if he could've gunked up the cat burning cardboard or firestarters or something because something does not seem right I have a 8 inch exterior chimney class a and have absolutely no problems with mine

 

[mellow]

Can you upload some pics of your setup?

 

[uncle walt]

What are your stove top temps while stove is cruising at 1/3 and 1/2 open?

at 1/3 350 at 1/2 450-500, don't want to over fire the stove as it is steel not cast and this is its first season.. thank's

 

[uncle walt]

Isn't the IS made for a 6" chimney? Are you getting good secondaries with the air 1/2 open. Like the others I'm interested in the STT.

Heating from a basement is a mixed bag. Some people do it with great success, others with great frustration!

yes I am finding that out, the rep sent me some info about uninsulated basements and it stated that the heat loss through the exterior walls is close to 1 million btu's per day

The stove is 6" inch, confirmed with woodstock prior to purchase that the 8" double wall metalbestos pipe would not be an issue, they confirmed the setup is ok