I doubt it. How are you starting the fire? I like using a top-down fire, criss-crossed kindling on top of the splits or wood briquettes. Heats up the flue super fast.
Air lever on Englander Madison - 50-TRSSW01
- Thread starter Michael Cardillo
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I place two junks of wood parallel, place some paper in middle and then splits across. I wonder if I should remove the tee with the 90 deg and just go straight up? What else should I look for? If I remove the tee and go straight up , it will be about 16 feet total. Running out of ideas?
Oh, so 18ft includes the horizontal run? If so definitely change it so it goes straight up if possible. 16ft is marginal on height I believe.
This is my current setup. Up about 3 feet (approx.), into the tee, then up again for another 6 feet(approx.) , then into about 9 feet of prefab. Total run of about 18 feet. So you are saying I should just go straight up?
The only reason I had the tee was for easy clean-out.
Yes straight-up is best. What you can do for clean-out is remove the burn tubes and baffles from the stove, and clean the chimney from the top so everything ends up inside the stove (with door closed, easy to contain the mess) or optionally do it bottom-up with a Sooteater or similar (probably messier though).
Removing the baffles and burn tubes is a good exercise to do anyway, just so you're familiar with it.
Also for the present situation, be sure the baffles are pushed to the back (they're very lightweight, insulating vermiculite/ceramic 1/2" thick boards, and brittle, think like hard styrofoam that can withstand super high temperatures). Not sure that would affect draft too much but it's worth mentioning.
Overall though, I do believe this stove is a bit "sluggish" to get started if you don't build a bulletproof kindling fire, preferably top-down so the kindling is very close to the baffles + burn tubes at the beginning. Probably something to do with the design and airflow path. All of my perfect turn-key no-fiddling-required fires are top-down fires with at least 2 parallel lines of kindling criss-crossed with newspaper and a quarter supercedar involved (and using very dry poplar split down with an electric 5-ton splitter).
I took out the tee and ran the pipe straight up. I will try and light it tomorrow and see if that makes a difference. Didn't have time to do a good burn before I finished. Anyway I will post back tomorrow with my results. Wish me luck!!
Seems to be working better now.Knock on wood!! It took me between 30-40 mins to get a good fire.Seems that pallet wood burns better than the firewood that I have.
Gotcha. Any wetness in the wood makes starting a real bear... I've experienced it a few times recently with some splits that sizzled. Fire was just lethargic getting to start until I tossed a few extra thin kindling splits on top to invigorate the secondaries better.
Once I got a good starter fire going, I was able to keep the fire burning. I did notice that it ate through the wood. Guess I'll have to play with the damper a bit more. I'm back to work for the next 6 days so probably won't have another fire till then. Hope to get the garage insulated soon so I can keep some of the het in.Thanks Again!!
Yep once the stovetop (in front of the fluepipe a few inches and 4 inches left & right is the "sweet spot") is at least 450F I think it's worth pulling out the draft lever (turning it down) in steps, maybe 1/2 way at first to see how it responds then almost all the way (I pull it out to the hard stop and push back in just a tad, no more than 1/4 inch)
Wood should bake longer with mostly secondary flames in the upper firebox when the draft lever is out. That's where the nice long steady burns happen. So long as there is bluish flame at least before it's down to coals.
I had my second fire tonight. I had a good base fire going, then it took about 35-40 mins to get the main fire going. Once I got it going, I managed to boil the kettle from a solid junk of ice that was left in it. I think once I insulate the roof, I can keep more heat in, thereby keeping the stove pipe warmer. I think this would help with the fire as the stove pipe is still pretty cold, and all of my heat right now is going straight into the attic.
Just a quick question....how can I tell if I got a good draft? Is there a test I can do? The reason I ask is my glass door is really black on the bottom portion and I'm trying to eliminate a few things. I'm hoping it is wet wood, but I have no meter to check it with.
Couple of questions...I noticed that you have a doghole in the bottom of your stove where the OAK is on the back. I don't think mine has this.Why would that be? I do have a hole , it's at the front of the stove by the door on the bottom. Is that the doghole for my stove. It is next to the two thin bricks at the front. Also, is there a way I can test the draft on my stove?
Cheers
Cheers
That's where the doghole is, yes. The tool for checking draft is called a manometer I believe, I don't have one though.
Well after relying on the stove for the past week+, I can certainly say with confidence that the AAS works as advertised. Used it every time now over this snowy weekend and it unlatches somewhere around 450+ with a solid secondary combustion inferno going inside the stove. Had to use some anti-seize grease on the S-bracket a week or 2 ago when I took a closer look at the feature but since then it's worked solidly.
Glad to hear you are enjoying the stove. I think the issue I might be having is not the chimney but the fact that my garage is uninsulated and it takes a long time for the stove to get up to temp.It is colder inside the garage than outside. I still have some adjustments to make on getting the perfect starter fire
Hello all, question, should the ceramic tiles above the burn tubes be all the way back or all the way forward? Hope your stoves are working out for you all. I have not been using the AAS too much. Spring needs to be adjusted. Very cold tonight. Take care
brenndatomu
Minister of Fire
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