I have two, approximately 2 mm in diameter, holes on the door on the front of my stove. I know they are used for air flow but since my stove doesn't have any air controls I find that I get the best results with blocking them off. Up until now I've blocked them with aluminum foil which works great - until my cats get a hold of the foil. I was thinking of finding temperature resistant silicone plugs/stoppers (not sure where - thoughts?) but wondered if anyone had any other ideas for how to block these holes.
Blocking air
- Thread starter BurningWood
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That sounds like a good solution - just have to figure out where to find magnets the right size.
No pictures - I cannot get anything to upload. This is the stove I have
http://www.usstove.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1938
zenoparadox
New Member
Did you mean 2 cm? Sure does not look like 2 mm in the picture.
Looks like the stove my grampa had in his shop.
This is US Stove's first attempt at cleaning up the output on these stoves. There is a secondary rack inside. I was surprised to see that it has no adjustable air control. How does the stove burn if you don't use the aluminum foil? Are you blocking off both holes or just one?
You're right - I never was good at measuring things.
I always run the stove with both holes blocked. I also have a strip of foil that blocks off the bottom of the door. The strip I put in place about 15 or so minutes after I get the stove running. If I left all of these air entrances open the stove runs very hot and fast, eating wood like a fire monster. It's not so hot and fast with the holes blocked, and much calmer with the strip in place. Since there is no air control the foil is my attempt at putting one in place and it seems to be working so far. I wish I had even more control over the fire since I haven't figured out how to bank it far enough to last through the night. It might not be possible.
You can only access them from the front or outside of the door. The back or inside of the door has a decent sized metal box, open at the bottom, over the holes.
It's crazy that anyone would ship a stove like this. Is there a gasket on the door? Do you normally run the stove with the flue damper closed except when loading?
Wonder if it would be possible to attach a sliding or pivoting metal damper that screws to the front door?
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There is no gasket on the door. I have not been successful with manipulating the flue damper - I think it's either not installed correctly or something is loose. I have tried turning it almost to the opposite of where I found it (the stove was installed when I was not home, so I'm assuming where I found it is fully open) but haven't seen a difference and I often hear a "clunking" like something (possibly the damper) is moving or falling when there's a fire running.
Probably not the best choice of stoves but my landlord had little money to work with, and I'm grateful they installed a stove at all.
Normally the position of the flue damper plate aligns with the handle. It should be in the open position (handle vertical) when starting and in the closed position once the fire is burning well. But for some totally bizarre reason there does not appear to be a handle on the flue damper. That definitely makes it hard to know its position. Oy! I didn't like the pre-EPA version of this stove and don't like this one either.
Before I started it today I fiddled with the damper some more. It feels like it's reliably staying put at what should be halfway so I'm just going to run it at halfway with my other modifications.
Now to find some magnets....any thoughts on where to find those?
jatoxico
Minister of Fire
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/new-updated-stove-of-death.156247/
This member may have some tips. Looks like the earlier version of your stove had no holes in the door for air. I wonder if you could buy the old door from US Stove and replace it.
This member may have some tips. Looks like the earlier version of your stove had no holes in the door for air. I wonder if you could buy the old door from US Stove and replace it.
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The manual states there should be a door gasket. At least it alludes to needing to change it yearly.
jatoxico
Minister of Fire
2broke2ride
Burning Hunk
Dumb question....... why can't someone make one of these stoves that is safe, reliable, and clean burning? I'm sure there would be a market for it with people who like old timey looking things......
2broke2ride
Burning Hunk
My grandparents rented out 6 cabins to summer tourists and hunters in the white mountains when I was a kid. All of the cabins had a "boxwood" stove in them for heat. These where probably from the 40's because they where there already when my grandparents bought the place in the 50's. What was different about the old ones? Who where they made by? What ever happened to them? I was too young to pay much attention to them.
I have the big brother of this, the 2469E. I had the stove as well as a chimney installed two weeks ago. It's my first stove, and while I'm not a stranger to fire, this had a bit of a learning curve. 1/8" gap at the bottom of the door, and 3 holes at the center of the door ducted downward. I didn't wish to modify the intake, as I assumed the stove was engineered to its logical limits (cheap as they come and a band-aid secondary system at best) and a slight alteration in air flow from a certain area may not be wise. I had a damper installed as well, and was apprehensive to use it at first, as the manual states to never use one. I simply controlled the burn by the amount of wood, size, positioning, etc. Fires got bigger and bigger as I got a handle on its limits, then it went nuclear. 750-775 singlewall pipe temp, and about all I could do was push the fuel further into the firebox to limit the air (baffle redirects exhaust back to the front). This was not safe. So I started playing with the damper. At first it seemed to make it worse. If I only closed it somewhat, it retained more heat and continued the positive feedback loop(more heat, more draft) and goes deep in the red. Even going to where I felt resistance (20-30 degrees from closed) wasn't enough. It slowed down, but it still crept into the red. I've gotten to the point where I start dampening at 300-fully closed at 400. If it seems to be rising a little fast, or if I have some smaller pieces, I'll close it closer to 300. It'll peak at 450-600 after a while, anyway, occasionally 650. I've only been using the damper for a week, still fine tuning it. What scares me now is the gap on the bottom of the door, as a little ember could fly out of there. It has additional hearth than what is required on all four sides, I needed 9 layers of durock for the r-factor (I used 11 layers, 2 sheets per layer) and sheet metal sandwiched in there for ember protection. The wood that I'm using is in an old grain bin that came with the farm, it's powder dry. Not ideal, but I have other wood seasoning and this wood needs to be burned, either in a stove or in a brushfire. 
I have the big brother of this, the 2469E. I had the stove as well as a chimney installed two weeks ago. It's my first stove, and while I'm not a stranger to fire, this had a bit of a learning curve. 1/8" gap at the bottom of the door, and 3 holes at the center of the door ducted downward. I didn't wish to modify the intake, as I assumed the stove was engineered to its logical limits (cheap as they come and a band-aid secondary system at best) and a slight alteration in air flow from a certain area may not be wise. I had a damper installed as well, and was apprehensive to use it at first, as the manual states to never use one. I simply controlled the burn by the amount of wood, size, positioning, etc. Fires got bigger and bigger as I got a handle on its limits, then it went nuclear. 750-775 singlewall pipe temp, and about all I could do was push the fuel further into the firebox to limit the air (baffle redirects exhaust back to the front). This was not safe. So I started playing with the damper. At first it seemed to make it worse. If I only closed it somewhat, it retained more heat and continued the positive feedback loop(more heat, more draft) and goes deep in the red. Even going to where I felt resistance (20-30 degrees from closed) wasn't enough. It slowed down, but it still crept into the red. I've gotten to the point where I start dampening at 300-fully closed at 400. If it seems to be rising a little fast, or if I have some smaller pieces, I'll close it closer to 300. It'll peak at 450-600 after a while, anyway, occasionally 650. I've only been using the damper for a week, still fine tuning it. What scares me now is the gap on the bottom of the door, as a little ember could fly out of there. It has additional hearth than what is required on all four sides, I needed 9 layers of durock for the r-factor (I used 11 layers, 2 sheets per layer) and sheet metal sandwiched in there for ember protection. The wood that I'm using is in an old grain bin that came with the farm, it's powder dry. Not ideal, but I have other wood seasoning and this wood needs to be burned, either in a stove or in a brushfire.
This is why I block the gap at the bottom of the door and plug the holes in the door. The stove will take off on its own if I don't. I'm still getting temps in the house of 70+ with this setup and the damper at half. I don't have a stovetop thermometer (unfortunately) so I'm not sure how hot the stove itself is getting but I'm sure if I let it take off I'd see the same results you are.
I may end up doing so, worst case scenario it ends up smoking and I open it in increments. On another note, I've only seen the secondary tube flame once, and that's when it was very hot. But I have noticed the sound of the air rushing in changes when warming up after reloading. At first there is a steady "wind" sound, that grows louder as more air is pulled in. At a certain point, it becomes unsteady, somewhat like a car with a racing cam. My theory is the secondaries are starting, but I could be wrong. And this isn't even at a high pipe temp, around 300-350.
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Hard to see how the secondaries would kick in aggressively when there is so much primary air entering through the door holes and gap under it.
This may be a stupid question, but why is that? Is the excess primary air causing the smoke to be burned closer to the heart of the fire, so you wouldn't see the tube flames? The smoke is being burned somehow, there is very little to no smoke coming out of the chimney, except for a short while after a reload.
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