A lot of times my fires look windy like does this mean i have good draft?
Edit. Except for my aviator pic.
Edit. Except for my aviator pic.
Draft ?
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Good draft should have your smoke going out the chimney, instead of rolling out of the stove, unless its warm outside. Do you have a probe thermometer? Your typical stove with the air intake, airwash, just air moving all over in the stove, so the flame will bounce around.
Yep got a probe about 2 foot up pipe.
Cruising temps are around 500 sometimes 600.
Those stack temps are similar to mine. How many ft chimney do you have again? Straight up from stove?
I once thought i have 12 foot of chimney but remeasured from floor up and found i have 14 foot and it is straight up.
I remember the thread now. Your flames will bounce around, especially when your secondaries are going, sometimes ghostlike. Theres alot of air being pushed and pulled in all directions in that stove. A chimney, straight up, you should be good with draft.
What temp do you all get on start up or reload the reason i ask is it takes a bit to even get up to those temps?
I let the flue get to 400 then back the air down about 1/4 then the stove top starts to climb. At about 500 flue temp I go down another 1/4 then it jumps to 600-800 range I can pretty much forget it at that point. By that point the stove top should be between 300 and 450 as the coal bed develops it will clime stove top up into the 600F range. Keep in mind this is a different stove but the concept should remain the same.
Pete
Pete
Stove top will take anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes, starting from a cold stove. If there its a bed of coals, and the ST temp is low enough for a reload, it really only takes 10 to 20 minutes to get back up to cruising again. Cast iron takes alot longer to heat up/cool down compared to a steel stove, which is faster.
Flue is as pallet pete mentioned. Your flue is like your rpm's and the stove top is your mph in a car. Both play a role in explaining whats happening and where. Use your eyes too. Sometimes you can gauge whats going to happen before your thermos show it.
That sounds like how i do it but i try and let the stove get to 400 stove top before first air adjustment but it don't always workout.
The only way my stove starts heating up is if i close air a bit But some times i can wait till stove top hits 400.
But i have never hit 800 on the probe.
I find that the stove will warm up eventually but the chimney can very easily super heat so watching the chimney is how I do it. You dont want the flue to cruz off on you while your firing the stove because it can be hard to cool and slow the draft by that point. It is asking for trouble usually.
Pete
I used to only go by the stove top, through most of last year. I got a probe finally, and this year, I use that as a guide first. How is your wood? I had perfectly seasoned wood last year until the end of the season, when I was forced to cut standing dead, which was less than 30% mc, but not where it should have been for these new epa stoves. That plays a huge role in how fast, or slow a stove will heat up.
I think that snow from Sandy got my wood wet Cause before things were easier operation.
Relative humidity means there will always be moister in your wood because it is like a sponge to some extent. After rain or snow you will notice this a lot as well harder to start and maintain a fire. To get around this I put it up on the porch a weeks worth at a time out of the rain and snow. The piles are covered with a tarp on top through the winter and spring and the winter heat supply goes in a covered wood shed. What I am getting at is find a dry spot to put a couple days worth if possible and it should help a lot. You want your wood to be in the 20% and under range to burn.
Pete
Pete
Maybe, if it hasn't dried in a windy location, I can see that. I have oak that I c/s/s from last october, and resplit a piece, and its still at 40% mc. Hopefully will be ready by next year. Oak takes 2-3 yrs to season, as I'm sure you've read here quite a few times, but if any of that is mixed in, it could be the culprit.
If you have to put a basket in the stove room not to close to the stove with firewood in it. It will really help dry the wood for the next load. NOT TO CLOSE to the stove or you could have a 
outside the stove.
Pete
outside the stove. Pete
Been burning oak with black gum and birch.
If you have to put a basket in the stove room not to close to the stove with firewood in it. It will really help dry the wood for the next load. NOT TO CLOSE to the stove or you could have a
Pete
I have a blue tote thing from walmart.
I should also mention were i put my wood on car port it is open to the weather.
Edit i I don't have a shed yet.
I think when you are adding the oak..... If its not 2-3 yrs seasoned, that is the culprit. Try not putting the oak in, and let us know.
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