Well, after months of anticipation, and a huge PITA, my Winterport was finally installed on Friday night. My installer turned out to be a flake, so after he got the 6" SS liner down the chimney, I called it quits with him, and finished the rest of it myself. He seemed to be used to easier installs -- smooth flues, bigger fireboxes, etc. He also had trouble communicating -- he had several no-show/no-calls, and kept alluding to wanting to charge me more money because it was a bigger job than he initially expected. I gave him enough money to pay his guys, and said see ya. It took me 7 hours to get the insert in myself, but it's done now. Thank god.
I went through the break-in fires on Friday and Saturday, and got the standard "paint curing" smell, but it only lasted a few hours. I was pleasantly surprised by how easily the secondaries kick in. The glass and the firebricks inside are staying fairly clean, and after a good fire is established, I see no smoke coming out of the chimney.
There aren't too many spots on the face of the insert where the temp can be taken. I narrowed it down to a part of the insert chassis just to the left of the door handle. That seems to be the hottest spot on the face, so I'll use it as a benchmark. A good temp range in that area seems to be 400F-450F. I'm guessing the true temp is a bit higher. My logic is this: The fire is established, the secondaries are kicking in, the blowers (switched to "auto") are turning on, there's no smoke coming out of the chimney (or into the house), and the stove doesn't seem to be running away with itself getting hotter and hotter. I'll know more about what temp is best when I clean the chimney in late spring. If I have a lot of cresote, I'll try burning a bit hotter in the fall.
The air-wash is working fairly well. The glass is getting a bit dirty in the bottom corners, but I attribute this to the ash fettle that's sitting just inside the firebox along the bottom 1" of glass. I think it's blocking the air-wash. Not a huge deal.
I haven't been getting very long burns -- about 2 hours of flame, 4+ hours of heat, with a reload when the temp gets below 200F. But, it's a very small firebox (1.2 cu ft), and I'm not packing it full just yet. It managed to keep my house nice and toasty all weekend, using about 1/4 of the wood that I would have used in the open fireplace.
Keeping the door cracked until the fire is well established in one of the best tips ever. After a re-load, the door stays cracked for 1-2mins, and the draft takes care of starting everything. After I close the door, I keep the air control wide open for another 10-15 mins. I managed to get a fire going well enough last night, that even with the air control all the way down, there was strong heat coming out, some secondary burning, and no smoke out of the stack.
I will be tweaking the installation a bit in the future, to get more of a flush fit where the surround panel meets the rough uneven stone of my fireplace. I'll be getting a better chimney cap, as the one that came with the liner looks very cheap. I also need to fix my hearth, as it got pretty beaten up during the install, but it's nothing that a coat of paint can't fix.
Overall, I'm very happy with how this is working. Many thanks to everyone here for providing the right knowledge, and answering questions. I'll be posting some pictures once I get the living room cleaned up
I went through the break-in fires on Friday and Saturday, and got the standard "paint curing" smell, but it only lasted a few hours. I was pleasantly surprised by how easily the secondaries kick in. The glass and the firebricks inside are staying fairly clean, and after a good fire is established, I see no smoke coming out of the chimney.
There aren't too many spots on the face of the insert where the temp can be taken. I narrowed it down to a part of the insert chassis just to the left of the door handle. That seems to be the hottest spot on the face, so I'll use it as a benchmark. A good temp range in that area seems to be 400F-450F. I'm guessing the true temp is a bit higher. My logic is this: The fire is established, the secondaries are kicking in, the blowers (switched to "auto") are turning on, there's no smoke coming out of the chimney (or into the house), and the stove doesn't seem to be running away with itself getting hotter and hotter. I'll know more about what temp is best when I clean the chimney in late spring. If I have a lot of cresote, I'll try burning a bit hotter in the fall.
The air-wash is working fairly well. The glass is getting a bit dirty in the bottom corners, but I attribute this to the ash fettle that's sitting just inside the firebox along the bottom 1" of glass. I think it's blocking the air-wash. Not a huge deal.
I haven't been getting very long burns -- about 2 hours of flame, 4+ hours of heat, with a reload when the temp gets below 200F. But, it's a very small firebox (1.2 cu ft), and I'm not packing it full just yet. It managed to keep my house nice and toasty all weekend, using about 1/4 of the wood that I would have used in the open fireplace.
Keeping the door cracked until the fire is well established in one of the best tips ever. After a re-load, the door stays cracked for 1-2mins, and the draft takes care of starting everything. After I close the door, I keep the air control wide open for another 10-15 mins. I managed to get a fire going well enough last night, that even with the air control all the way down, there was strong heat coming out, some secondary burning, and no smoke out of the stack.
I will be tweaking the installation a bit in the future, to get more of a flush fit where the surround panel meets the rough uneven stone of my fireplace. I'll be getting a better chimney cap, as the one that came with the liner looks very cheap. I also need to fix my hearth, as it got pretty beaten up during the install, but it's nothing that a coat of paint can't fix.
Overall, I'm very happy with how this is working. Many thanks to everyone here for providing the right knowledge, and answering questions. I'll be posting some pictures once I get the living room cleaned up
