Gotta love it! This morning after 10 hour burn I opened the air and got the stove good and hot again with the coals that were left. An hour later I put 4 splits in for some coffee drinking heat. In the high 30's out but will be mid 60's. Engaged the cat and the cat temps rose nicely cut air to about 30% and the cat was steady in the mid 1300's. For some reason it decided it was backpuff time.
2023/24 VC owners thread general discussion
- Thread starter Woodsplitter67
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Yep it happens..... I had a good one during the Superbowl, actually saw the griddle lift a bit. It was fine for hours and then wham..... opened the air a little bit and it was fine again. We all need a mystery in our lives....
So are you roasting yet? 4 splits in the morning with 60 degrees later in the day usually roasts me out. So I've honestly just been tossing one split in to take the edge off of the morning chill that may be there. By mid day im roasting, mostly due to a large amount of windows in the stove space. Sorry to hear about your backpuff. Ive yet to have another one aside from the one that I had last year thankfully. I wonder if your draft changed dramatically due to the changing weather as it warmed up outside.
My splits are small and it wasn't going to warm up until late afternoon. I hadn't had a backpuff in a while even with the air cut off all of the way and cat running to 1500. Usually, backpuffs happen when the air is cut almost off that's why this one surprised me.
Temp swings go from 20's to 60's this time of year on nice days, rain usually stops the wide swings.
Temp swings go from 20's to 60's this time of year on nice days, rain usually stops the wide swings.
I was wondering the other day if the packing factor might influence the back puffing, like some loads are more tightly packed than others just do to size and shape of the logs / splits.... Just a thought, I do not know the answer.
Maybe a looser pack is better? More surface area for air to get to?
Maybe a looser pack is better? More surface area for air to get to?
AsylumResident
Feeling the Heat
I would think a looser pack would smoke less and have a higher primary combustion temp in the fire box which should result in less gasses building up and less back puffing.
Man.. I haven't gone through so little wood before.. Iv literally opened up the windows a few times this past week
Same here. Stove running as low as it could and had a pizza night. With the stove and oven cranking at 475 it got warm. Lots of open windows. Some cooler weather coming this week which is nice, makes it easier not having to cold start every day
Its been over a week since iv had a fire.. its march?????? I may slow down on splitting.. At the rate im burning im now on a 5 year rotation
Thats a stockpile. We still get in to the 30s at night so I'll light the stove instead of burning oil. It's more enjoyable and I have the wood so might as well use it. I have 6-8 hardwoods coming down in the next few weeks that I'll split and have a few years of wood ready.
It's a win win when the trees are in the way of where my new deck is going to go
20's last night so I fired the stove up yesterday evening. Behaved really well good amount left this AM, reloaded and it's cruising at 1150 as I type this.
20s at night and high 30s maybe 40 during the day. Perfect burn weather for this stove, it just cruises all day. Lit it when I got home and it'll run now straight thru next Tuesday when I go back to the office
Burning all week here. Smaller loads, all ash..... Cat usually levels off at 1400 with the secondary blocked and cracked open an 1/8". Hit 1600 once when I forgot to turn the air down but settled down after 45 minutes or so.
AsylumResident
Feeling the Heat
I have not been burning. Tomorrow and through the weekend looks like snow and highs in the mid to lower 30's. Winter? Can it be? I will be burning this weekend.
I did a overnight burn last night.. been a while.. was nice to wake up with coals and just drop wood in and let it go some more. Looks like a for crap weekend so Ill be burning, I'm going to take it easy and kick back and chill.. I plan on taking my wife out to breakfast tomorrow morning..
Rainy and high 50's today but supposed to be 30 or lower tonight so I'll light the stove for an overnight. Then a high of 70 tomorrow and back down in the 30's tomorrow night for another overnight burn. Then the overnights are supposed to be in the 50's until Thursday nite back to the 30's.
I am having much more black glass on my new Encore compared to the old Encore. Same wood, same burning techniques. My old Encore had no catalyst. It had virtually no buildup on the glass. My wood is dry. Fir split and stored in a shed for two years. Was my old stove leaky enough and uninhibited by the catalyst that this is the sign of a tight slow burning stove. I am having difficulty using a hot fire in the morning with damper open and air open 100% to get the glass to clean itself. Any tips? Is it possible the air wash system is different on the new stove? I do get some of the black to loosen up and come off, but not on the edges and the right side door is much worse than the left side.
So when your cutting the air back alot, your glass will turn black. It happens to my stove I woke up this morning and my glass is somewhat covered. It burns off pretty easily. If your having issues burning it off move the wood up against the anirons closer to the glass.
Right now its harder for me to keep the glass clean as heat demand is low and Im not able to cook the glass clean as often as in the winter
I suspect the new cat stoves run colder primary burn, so glass tends to get coked up. Happens to me to all the time especially when burning low air. I also have trouble burning it clean but @Woodsplitter67 has some good advice above. I clean my glass once a week in the shoulder months, less in the winter. Wet rag and little ash to make a paste makes it pretty easy, usually.
Is the ash used as cleaner better than the stove glass cleaners that are sold? I tried the Rutland glass cleaner and it did not work that well. The hot fires do loosen things up a bit but certainly don't get it back to clear glass. I am worried about how hot I can let it run just for glass cleaning. The rest of the inside are getting quite clean from my morning startup hot fires.
Similar threads
