another noobie question

[vasten]

my regency FS1100 manual says for max heat output run with the air control fully open, yet what I am finding is if i close it about 1/2 way the temp in the house seems to climb quickly. Since I am new to this I am guessing and here is what I came up with. When it is fully open so much air is getting in there that the secondary combustion does not really occur, and with that much air coming in it is sending a bunch of heat up the flue. When the stove is dampered down it creates embers and coals that radiat heat into the stove, creating a hotter fire box which in turn creates more heat in the room. The manual does say for max effiecieny to run about half, but thinking that is more for wood consumption than heat output.

Also with my wet wood blues, I think I hit a decent stretch of wood, loaded the stove lastnight around 1030, damped it down about half way and came down this AM and had a lot of hot coals, to rekindle the fire, used a piece of cardboard and 1 match and had a hot blaze in there in seconds. It is currently 18 F out not including wind, and the house is a cozy 72

Thoughts?

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

You are correct, the stove runs most efficiently when secondary combustion is taking place.

 

[eernest4]

Too much air just cools down the fire & blows heat up the chimney. At 1/2 setting ,you get good secondary combustion and highest efficiency; therefore the best heat, without wasting wood.

Basically,what mountian stove guy said.

"luke,feel the force flow through you! When your stove is set properly,you will feel the heat flow through you, & the room, too." :lol:

 

[vasten]

woo hoo maybe I am starting to figure this stuff out....

 

[Todd]

By George, I think you've got it. It is true that you would get most heat from running your stove on high, but you would have to keep feeding it too frequently to maintain that high heat, so it would be less efficient doing so.

 

[webbie]

The perfect draft setting depend on the weather, the chimney draft and many other factors. Wood burning is as much an art as a science, so getting the "feel" of the stove is very important.....sounds like you are getting there!

 

[begreen]

Our stove has the same behavior. It gets much hotter once the secondaries get really cooking. For us, that's when the air control is set about midway. The stove will often jump 100-150 degrees once the secondaries really kick in. So our procedure is to get a good coal bed established. At that point, we stoke her up, let char for 5-10 minutes, and then move the air control to about 1/2 to 2/3ds closed and let her rip.