Well I broke down and replaced an old kindlewood insert with a new buck 91, good news it holds a fire for 6 or 7 hrs, bad news it still won't come close to heating my 2300 sq ft ,10 ft ceiling insulated with new windows farmhouse. Despite what people have said my old wonderwood in the other room feels like its throwing more heat. Its a slammer install and plan on putting in liner before next burning season. Idk if that will help a lot or a little, my wood has been anywhere between 15 and some over 30%. Is it really true a stove like this will heat an entire house of my size to over 65? If I shut air down to try and get over 8 hr burns, just feels like standing in front of an electric heater with cat temp about 800. It has to be above 40 degrees for this stove to keep up.
Buck 91 not cutting it.
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Put a liner and block-off plate in (https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/make-a-damper-sealing-block-off-plate/), that will improve the heating efficiency of the Buck tremendously. Drier wood is also mandatory. How do you measure moisture content? Do you resplit some pieces and press the pins in the center of the fresh surface?
Well, the 10' ceilings are a challenge (9.5' where I have the 91) but if the stove is centrally located in the house and you have decent insulation and air sealing, that stove should do great in there. I'm also fighting...stove room on one end of the house, and no wall insulation...and the stove is still doing pretty well on a 12-hr. load cycle. What's probably killin' ya there is the slammer install and wet wood. With a full-length stainless liner you'll get much better draft, add dry wood and you'll see cat probe temps of 1500 or so, stove meter (which I have on the front, left of the bypass rod) will be 450+ and you can't hold your hand in front of the center blower outlet for more than a few seconds before it starts to burn. Are you testing your wood moisture with a meter, on a freshly-split piece? If you don't have dry wood for next season, pass on the Oak, instead get some soft Maple, Cherry and dead White Ash. Split medium (not large,) stack (now) in the wind and top-cover...hopefully it will get pretty dry by next fall.
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Yeah, resplit then test, getting hard up now for dry wood, had some ash that was bucked and quartered in barn for probably 4 years, burned pretty good. I'm down to ash that has been laying in woods bucking and splitting now, some say 15% some 35% . I can get my cat to 15 or 16 hundred but that's at about 3 hr burns. I have a magnet thermometer about 4in to left of bypass rod, hard to get it above 250 to 300. I have about 7 cord css for next year, ash, oak, walnut, that I know is high moisture
You ain't going to heat shitz with 30% moisture. The Ash may be ready by next year, but the Oak won't, and the Walnut will be questionable.
I hope that slammer has a block off plate, and when you reline, install a block off plate.
By all means run the Wonderwood, but expect to go through a hellovalot more wood.
Start saving for that replacement cat now if you're going to continue burning that wet stuff.
It ain't the Buck, it is the operator burning the same as the Wonderwood and expecting the same results.
I hope that slammer has a block off plate, and when you reline, install a block off plate.
By all means run the Wonderwood, but expect to go through a hellovalot more wood.
Start saving for that replacement cat now if you're going to continue burning that wet stuff.
It ain't the Buck, it is the operator burning the same as the Wonderwood and expecting the same results.
WoodpileOCD
Minister of Fire
You sound exactly like me 5 years ago when I first installed my 91. Scrounging for whatever wood I could get my hands on and ecstatic if I could get the cat to 1000*. I had replaced a smoke dragon with it and had a slammer install (user guide even showed it as an option) and expected this new beast to solve all my problems. Then I found this place called hearth.com. Since then I have installed my own liner, added a block off plate, learned about moisture meters and gotten 3 years ahead on my wood so I can burn wood I know is properly seasoned. From a cold start I now can have the cat reading 1500 in about 45 minutes. The stove front thermometer lags the cat but gets to the 500 range shortly after. Like Woody says, you can't hold your hand in front of the fan output for long without getting scorched. I heat a fairly drafty 2400 sq ft house with no trouble down to about 20* with 12 hour burns. I do have 8'ceilings however. Any colder and I'm on an 8 hr cycle. Stick with this monster because I can assure you it isn't the stove. Take the advice given here and implement the steps and I think you will be a happy camper. Nice to see another 91 owner here. Not that many of us but we're in love with our stoves for the most part. Good luck.
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WoodpileOCD
Minister of Fire
[quote="Is it really true a stove like this will heat an entire house of my size to over 65? .[/quote]
I wouldn't expect any stove to heat your entire house to 70* unless you have something like a masonry chimney in the center of the house. My upstairs bedrooms get down to the low 60s at night which is fine by me. The stove room runs about 75 and the two adjoining rooms are usually about 70.
I wouldn't expect any stove to heat your entire house to 70* unless you have something like a masonry chimney in the center of the house. My upstairs bedrooms get down to the low 60s at night which is fine by me. The stove room runs about 75 and the two adjoining rooms are usually about 70.
I can understand I'm going to have trouble with 30% wood, the ash that was in barn burned better, it was under 15%, but still no 10 hr burns with high heat. I'm thinking my install may be big problem. I also have very leaky foundation, maybe more insulation
Went to barn, got some 30 yr old rough cut 4x4s sawed up , cat went to 2k magnet thermo at 350. I think I need an energy audit of house to see where I'm losing heat
Slammer install without block-off plate: Up the chimney (at least a good portion of it).
isnt the OD of the pipe blocked off at the top? where a draft cant just run up/out from around the pipe? Mine is capped at the top around the pipe, 12"x12" square flue tiles with my 8" insulated round sticking out the middle with a top block off plate, how would any heat escape from there??
Also, Can seasoned pine be burned in a cat stove? any resin issues??
Also, Can seasoned pine be burned in a cat stove? any resin issues??
By heating up the steel plate which will release it quickly to the outside. Same for the entire brick wall of the chimney. You are running a giant heat exchanger that warms your yard.
Yes it can be burned. No issues as long as it is dry. (See all those cat stove owners on the west-coast.)
Insulation is always good, but not all insulation stops air leakage. Might want to concentrate on sealing air leaks, along with insulated liner and block off plate, may help a little or a lot. Layout of home also depends on how well a stove will or won't heat as much as you would hope.
That's what dry wood will do for ya. I don't want the cat getting much above 1600 when cruising. 1800 for short periods won't hurt it, but is to be avoided. With the liner installed, cat will be cruising about 1500 with the air cut almost all the way. I have the left slider closed and right air wash slider open maybe 1/8". After about an hour, heat really starts to build and the stove meter will go to 450+, depending how much wood you got burning early.
For sure, make it a priority to seal all the air leaks you can find. A free energy audit would be great. I've just been working on my own, sealing the worst leaks first, and I can heat my place with the little Dutchwest, even in this cold. That would not have been the case a couple winters ago. I've got a ways to go, but making headway...
Just wondering?, how tight can you seal a house before you have to worry about lack of combustion air?
I would think it'd be pretty hard to seal a farmhouse enough to where you'd have to worry. I'm no expert, though...
Well my temp on my magnet on front of stove still runs 250 to 300, with cat at about 1500. If I put my hand in front of it about 2 ft away, it will burn you in a couple secs, my magnet thermo may be off.
If that becomes an issue you would have to get an insert that will allow an outside air kit to be installed to it, that solves that problem. The Buck 91 does not allow for an OAK.
I am really new and have a lot of questions myself. I have two magnet thermo's on the front of mine and they read pretty much the same. However, I have found using a IR thermo they are off by as much as 100 degrees. Try to get one before you keep trying to get the magnet ones up to temp and maybe have a overfire.....Just my .02 worth.
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