Another FireView up and running.

[charly]

Think I might need a dreaded damper in my pipe,,, ugggg! Pipe temps have been for the most part matching the stove temps. I'm not even straight up, a 90 off the stove, straight up 30 in, a 90 and 12 inches to the wall thimble then into a lined and insulated masonry chimney, 22 ft tall. I guess I should be thankful for too much draft . I had the draft open about .25, that ran the stove at 400 with a 300 pipe temp, 2 hours later the pipe was down to 200 with the stove dropping off. Stove was going out. Has anyone else installed a damper? I just feel a lot of my heat is going up the chimney. Also I see ghost flames inside my screen right before the cat, is that normal or maybe from such a strong draft ? This is at a setting of .5. Talked to Ron at Woodstock today as well, he thought maybe a damper as well. The pipe temp certainly doesn't lower once I close the bypass.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Charly, I don't think you have to worry. But I would like to see you get higher stove top temperatures. With ours, the 300 degree flue temperature is quite normal. Even 350 is not bad and then it will drop from there.

This naturally begs the question of how much wood you are burning but it does not sound to me like you are burning an excessive amount.

 

[charly]

Charly, I don't think you have to worry. But I would like to see you get higher stove top temperatures. With ours, the 300 degree flue temperature is quite normal. Even 350 is not bad and then it will drop from there.

This naturally begs the question of how much wood you are burning but it does not sound to me like you are burning an excessive amount.

Dennis the stove seems to stay around 400 , stack temp the same. This is set at .5. Do you run your draft at 1 or above to see higher temps or pack it full with wood. I have a lot of silver maple I'm burning. We took down two monster silvers last fall. 5 foot diameter trunks.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Sorry for taking so long Charly. Had a phone call.

I definitely would experiment with the draft. That is, giving it more. With the stove top only getting to 400, it sounds as if it needs more air. We generally run at .75 in winter and last night was the first time this year we've had it that low. This time of year it is more like 1 to 1.25 for the draft setting. Also, we do not have to pack the stove with wood to get 500+ degree stove top.

Not sure how you are running but I'd suggest not engaging the cat until stove top is 250 and flue around 400. Then engage the cat and try a setting of 1.25. If the fire is really roaring, then dial it down to 1. Small adjustments with this stove can make big differences.

 

[charly]

Sorry for taking so long Charly. Had a phone call.

I definitely would experiment with the draft. That is, giving it more. With the stove top only getting to 400, it sounds as if it needs more air. We generally run at .75 in winter and last night was the first time this year we've had it that low. This time of year it is more like 1 to 1.25 for the draft setting. Also, we do not have to pack the stove with wood to get 500+ degree stove top.

Not sure how you are running but I'd suggest not engaging the cat until stove top is 250 and flue around 400. Then engage the cat and try a setting of 1.25. If the fire is really roaring, then dial it down to 1. Small adjustments with this stove can make big differences.

Thanks for the info.

 

[dylskee]

I was just reading what causes combustor failure in the Woodstock manual. Poisoning the combustor with non wood products. You might want to check with Woodstock or maybe someone will chime in here, as far as burning the ecobricks. Hate to see you ruin your new combustor.

But the ecobricks are wood, it's pressed kiln dried hardwood sawdust without any glues or additives so I would assume it would be no different than any other wood. I haven't burned any yet but I was going to throw a couple in tonight. I have read a lot of threads here about people using these bricks in their stoves. I guess I'll start reading more threads before I throw these in though.......

 

[charly]

But the ecobricks are wood, it's pressed kiln dried hardwood sawdust without any glues or additives so I would assume it would be no different than any other wood. I haven't burned any yet but I was going to throw a couple in tonight. I have read a lot of threads here about people using these bricks in their stoves. I guess I'll start reading more threads before I throw these in though.......

Just was wondering how clean they were for that cat. They sound like they should be fine.

 

[RandyG]

Nice install Charly, since were on the subject, I too was wondering about the flames inside the cat compartment. Noticed them the other night. I can't find any info on this condition, is this the "Ghost Flames" that everyone refers to? It looks to me like the cat is actually on fire, this is probably normal, but would like to know myself, I don't think anyone answered this question, if they did I missed it!!

 

[charly]

Nice install Charly, since were on the subject, I too was wondering about the flames inside the cat compartment. Noticed them the other night. I can't find any info on this condition, is this the "Ghost Flames" that everyone refers to? It looks to me like the cat is actually on fire, this is probably normal, but would like to know myself, I don't think anyone answered this question, if they did I missed it!!

No they didn't answer about the ghost flames just inside the screen. I had ghost flames over my wood, they would come and go. That's what I think they were referring to. I love my stove, I'm just concerned that I'm wasting heat up my pipe as my pipe temps are not dropping back when I go into bypass mode, Pipe and stove match up. At least I have a good draft, maybe too much. What pipe temps do you see Randy compared to your stove top?

 

[HotCoals]

No they didn't answer about the ghost flames just inside the screen. I had ghost flames over my wood, they would come and go. That's what I think they were referring to. I love my stove, I'm just concerned that I'm wasting heat up my pipe as my pipe temps are not dropping back when I go into bypass mode, Pipe and stove match up. At least I have a good draft, maybe too much. What pipe temps do you see Randy compared to your stove top?

I'm just wondering if your draft is actually slow and the heat from the stove is just hanging around and building up in the pipes right next to the stove.
But reading your post it does sound like you have a good draft..I think you mentioned you could hear it on full air.

 

[charly]

I'm just wondering if your draft is actually slow and the heat from the stove is just hanging around and building up in the pipes right next to the stove.
But reading your post it does sound like you have a good draft..I think you mentioned you could hear it on full air.

No , that wasn't me as far as saying I could hear the draft. I know I have a good draft , as with a cold stove, just placing a stick match inside the loading door, the flame is sucked out.

 

[Todd]

I don't think your internal flue temps are out of line. I use to see anywhere from 400-700 on my Fireview depending on the load and air setting. When we talk about flue temps we all need to make sure that we include internal or external, there's a big difference.

Woodstock told me not to worry about that floating flame inside the scoop. They have tested everyway possible and had a very hard time producing cat flame impingement.

 

[RandyG]

No they didn't answer about the ghost flames just inside the screen. I had ghost flames over my wood, they would come and go. That's what I think they were referring to. I love my stove, I'm just concerned that I'm wasting heat up my pipe as my pipe temps are not dropping back when I go into bypass mode, Pipe and stove match up. At least I have a good draft, maybe too much. What pipe temps do you see Randy compared to your stove top?

Charly , I have a gauge on my pipe about 18" above the outlet of my stove and another on my connector pipe just to monitor the difference from bottom to top and my temps usually run up to about 350 bottom and 300 top before my stovetop gets to 250 and I engage. Then they drop pretty quickly,and usually settle down about 50 degrees less than that. I have never been able to get real high stack temps with my setup. Of course the hottest I've ever had my stove is about 525 and that was very briefly. I've never loaded up to the top, don't need to, at least not down here. But yea, you like I said, your stack temps should drop off fairly quickly once engaged. But as long as your getting your temps on your stove up, I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[RandyG]

Thanks Todd, I didn't think I was hurting anything but wanted to be sure, don't know why my last post is in a quote, couldn't get it out...

 

[charly]

I don't think your internal flue temps are out of line. I use to see anywhere from 400-700 on my Fireview depending on the load and air setting. When we talk about flue temps we all need to make sure that we include internal or external, there's a big difference.

Woodstock told me not to worry about that floating flame inside the scoop. They have tested everyway possible and had a very hard time producing cat flame impingement.

OK, thanks Todd.

 

[charly]

Fireview is working out fine. 27 degrees out and the house is 74! Plus the draft is set at only " .5 " ! Stove's cruising at 500. Much nicer then the Quad 5700 I had before this. The Fireview is a big stove in a small body! What I really love about this stove is there is no fiddling with the controls. Preheat the stove with the new load, set the draft , close the bypass and see ya later! No running out of control! I love it! A great stove for the better half to run also. So far I've been at the controls, but I'll let the wife solo the stove soon. I'm using half the wood I use to use with the Quad 5700. Amazing, plus a lot warmer and nicer heat.

 

[dylskee]

Fireview is working out fine. 27 degrees out and the house is 74! Plus the draft is set at only " .5 " ! Stove's cruising at 500. Much nicer then the Quad 5700 I had before this. The Fireview is a big stove in a small body! What I really love about this stove is there is no fiddling with the controls. Preheat the stove with the new load, set the draft , close the bypass and see ya later! No running out of control! I love it! A great stove for the better half to run also. So far I've been at the controls, but I'll let the wife solo the stove soon. I'm using half the wood I use to use with the Quad 5700. Amazing, plus a lot warmer and nicer heat.

I agree, great stove and very easy to use. I got a new wood supplier this year and I seem to be using more wood than my old stove so far. It's hard to tell because the wood is split a lot smaller than what I'm used to. I've got 1-1/2 cords from last year but I need to trim the length down a bit, a lot of the wood is 20~22" long but the splits are bigger and will give me a longer burn.

 

[charly]

I agree, great stove and very easy to use. I got a new wood supplier this year and I seem to be using more wood than my old stove so far. It's hard to tell because the wood is split a lot smaller than what I'm used to. I've got 1-1/2 cords from last year but I need to trim the length down a bit, a lot of the wood is 20~22" long but the splits are bigger and will give me a longer burn.

Getting some wild ghost flames tonight, just a solid wave of flame right below the top of the glass. I had to cut some of my older wood that was for my Quad. That use to take 24 in wood. So I cut stuff to 16 and the 8 inch pieces went into the Esse Wood box .Worked out great.

 

[leeave96]

Charly,

Don't think you will ever need a pipe damper. If your flue SURFACE temperatures were the same as the stove top temperature you may have a problem, but from what I am reading/seeing in your posts, it looks like you are reading the flue gas temperatures. Woodstock says the temp in the firebox is double what the stove top thermometer reads, so if you got a 400 degree stove top and 400 degree flue temp, then another way to think about it is you have an 800 degree firebox and the heated air/smoke going through your stove is half of that - and that's OK. You also want warm/hot air moving up your chimney to keep the flue liner warm, preventing creosote condensing in the chimney and helping out with a strong draft.

Another thing is the cat doesn't have to be glowing to be working. My reality check for the cat and if or if it ain't working is smoke out the chimney. No smoke, the cat is working.

I have a Woodstock Keystone and based on what I've read, the Fireview is very similar in control and damper settings. I'll give a little different spin on your damper settings. If your wood is really dry and you damper down to 0.5 or lower, your cat will burn ultra hot as it is totally crunching the smoke (no flames off the wood in the firebox - glowing embers, no flames) and your stove top should be shooting towards 700 degrees and beyond. I would not take the damper to zero unless you are there to keep an eye on it. But the beauty of a cat stove is that you can dial down the damper, snuff out the flames burning off the wood and get some great heat without burning a lot of wood or driving the room temperatures crazy either. Of course if and when you need more heat as the temps plunge, you can open the damper some too. My Keystone generally runs a 500 stove top and the damper is between 0.9 to 1.25 depending on the heat output. However, if you are at 0.5 or less and your stove top is not heading up near 600 to 700 degrees stove top, then your wood might not be as dry as you might think.

Bottom line is you have one of the BEST woodstoves EVER made.

Forget the stove pipe damper, forget the flue gas temperatures, learn your stove's damper settings and enjoy the burn.

Good luck,
Bill

 

[charly]

Charly,

Don't think you will ever need a pipe damper. If your flue SURFACE temperatures were the same as the stove top temperature you may have a problem, but from what I am reading/seeing in your posts, it looks like you are reading the flue gas temperatures. Woodstock says the temp in the firebox is double what the stove top thermometer reads, so if you got a 400 degree stove top and 400 degree flue temp, then another way to think about it is you have an 800 degree firebox and the heated air/smoke going through your stove is half of that - and that's OK. You also want warm/hot air moving up your chimney to keep the flue liner warm, preventing creosote condensing in the chimney and helping out with a strong draft.

Another thing is the cat doesn't have to be glowing to be working. My reality check for the cat and if or if it ain't working is smoke out the chimney. No smoke, the cat is working.

I have a Woodstock Keystone and based on what I've read, the Fireview is very similar in control and damper settings. I'll give a little different spin on your damper settings. If your wood is really dry and you damper down to 0.5 or lower, your cat will burn ultra hot as it is totally crunching the smoke (no flames off the wood in the firebox - glowing embers, no flames) and your stove top should be shooting towards 700 degrees and beyond. I would not take the damper to zero unless you are there to keep an eye on it. But the beauty of a cat stove is that you can dial down the damper, snuff out the flames burning off the wood and get some great heat without burning a lot of wood or driving the room temperatures crazy either. Of course if and when you need more heat as the temps plunge, you can open the damper some too. My Keystone generally runs a 500 stove top and the damper is between 0.9 to 1.25 depending on the heat output. However, if you are at 0.5 or less and your stove top is not heading up near 600 to 700 degrees stove top, then your wood might not be as dry as you might think.

Bottom line is you have one of the BEST woodstoves EVER made.

Forget the stove pipe damper, forget the flue gas temperatures, learn your stove's damper settings and enjoy the burn.

Good luck,
Bill

Bill, that's about what I'm seeing is 500 stove top at about 1 on my draft setting. Thanks for your feed back, it's nice to hear how everyone runs their Woodstocks. These are like the Harley Davidsons of the wood stove world. A little throttle and a lot of low end torque! Without a doubt,,, money well spent!

 

[Woody Stover]

Bottom line is you have one of the BEST woodstoves EVER made.

Yeah, now I'm stuck with two of them. First I bought the Keystone on the 30% rebate deal, then later I picked up the FIreview. Now I can't bring myself to part with either one. Never been up to the 600-700 range with them, though.
I like the idea of having a solid backup stove but I consider the Dutchwest just a worthy backup to a backup. Nice that the Woodstocks swap out easily, with the same rear-exit flue height...

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Fireview is working out fine. 27 degrees out and the house is 74! Plus the draft is set at only " .5 " ! Stove's cruising at 500. Much nicer then the Quad 5700 I had before this. The Fireview is a big stove in a small body! What I really love about this stove is there is no fiddling with the controls. Preheat the stove with the new load, set the draft , close the bypass and see ya later! No running out of control! I love it! A great stove for the better half to run also. So far I've been at the controls, but I'll let the wife solo the stove soon. I'm using half the wood I use to use with the Quad 5700. Amazing, plus a lot warmer and nicer heat.

And to think we had members saying the cat stove is too complicated to operate. I always asked if moving 2 levers is complicated... Sometimes it makes one wonder how folks ever learned how to drive a car; especially in the old days when almost all had standard transmissions.

 

[charly]

And to think we had members saying the cat stove is too complicated to operate. I always asked if moving 2 levers is complicated... Sometimes it makes one wonder how folks ever learned how to drive a car; especially in the old days when almost all had standard transmissions.

Dennis, I'm laughing! I never imagined the Fireview being so easy to run . Before I burned the Fireview I figured you'd have to keep fooling with the draft, closing it more and more as the burn mode changed,,,,,, no sir, you get your start up temps were they need to be ,,, and like you said, close two levers and your done! It's like the stove knows what it needs to do! Absolutely 100% easier to run the my EPA Quad 5700 was.. I love that no matter what wood you burn, soft or hard, your always getting that nice constant stone heat! It's like charging a deep cycle battery. These stoves are in a league of their own.