Can't hold burn temp above 250F

[snow2water]

I've read everything in the "Start here" sticky at the top of the page and have done searches through the forum, but have not found my solution. If you know of a thread that addresses this, please post it for me.

I just had a Drolet Myriad installed. Inside I have about 5'-6' of welded Duravent stovepipe. Outside I have 12' of Duratech triple wall for the chimney. Everything is brand new. The top of the chimney seems to be 2' above anything within 10' of it from what I can see on the ground. I also had the Drolet air makeup kit installed too. I needed one for my last wood stove at this house so I did this from the get go this time.

My problem is that I can start a nice kindling fire and get the stovepipe temp to 400F if I have the damper open and the door cracked. Before I shut the door, I already have some very nice, dry oak logs with a good burn going. Within minutes of shutting the door, with the damper wide open, the temp drops like a rock to 300F and then eventually 250F, sometimes lower. Draft seems good, no smoke comes from the stove when I reload.
I can not achieve the long burn times that many others with this stove preach.

My house is about 1,450 sq/ft. However, I'm only trying to heat about 900 sq/ft. The house is 12 years old and very airtight. The install of the chimney is straight, no elbows or bends.

Any ideas or thoughts are appreciated.

Snow2water

 

[PLAYS WITH FIRE]

How long has the wood been cut, split and stacked...

 

[snow2water]

How long has the wood been cut, split and stacked...

A year and a half.

 

[BCC_Burner]

Not nearly long enough if it's oak. Needs at least another 12 months.

 

[snow2water]

This isn't my first wood stove. I had one growing up. I had one installed in this same house when I built it 12 years ago. I had an outdoor wood furnace. 1 1/2 years on oak has always worked for me. My friend/neighbor who I got this cord from burns the same wood without problems in his wood stove. I have the same problem with this stove burning kiln dried maple and air dried oak pallet off fall.

Let's pretend it's not a wood issue. Any other idea?

 

[BrowningBAR]

Not nearly long enough if it's oak. Needs at least another 12 months.

You can still get a good hot, long burn. It may just take a little longer.

 

[BrowningBAR]

This isn't my first wood stove. I had one growing up. I had one installed in this same house when I built it 12 years ago. I had an outdoor wood furnace. 1 1/2 years on oak has always worked for me. My friend/neighbor who I got this cord from burns the same wood without problems in his wood stove. I have the same problem with this stove burning kiln dried maple and air dried oak pallet off fall.

Let's pretend it's not a wood issue. Any other idea?

An older stove and an outdoor wood boiler are completely different than a modern EPA stove.

Keep the door cracked longer. Let the stove top hit 500 or wait until the wood is charred more. See what happens.

By "damper" are you talking about a key damper? If so, you usually do not need one unless you have a tall chimney.

You mention your damper but never talk about air controls.

 

[logger]

1 1/2 should be long enough for most oak. I sometimes burn it after a year and never had a problem with that. A lot depends on your location. We have warm summers, cool winters, and live by a lake with a steady breeze coming through the yard. My guess after wood is a draft issue. You say your house is very airtight. That can actually cause draft issues within the home. I always hear people on this forum saying how airtight their house is and how much work they've put into keeping it aritight. Fact is, stoves need a little draft in the house in order to function to the best of their ability. Id try cracking a nearby window or door when first closing the stove door. That should at least tell you if it is a draft issue. Best of luck.

 

[FishKiller]

try closing your door slowly over time when your kindling is roaring... what happens? does it go out? stupid question, but are you opening the damper in the right direction? (i only say this because my stove and my in-laws stove are switched and i have closed theirs more then once thinking it was open all the way) more importantly then stove temps are watching your fire, do you have secondaries? how is the fire acting? you say its not fuel... but have you tried burning bio-bricks? that would be the only sure way to exclude that as the problem... assuming its not fuel, you say you have a good draft with the door open so it sounds like an issue with your damper, possibly not installed correctly. does opening/closing the damper effect the flames?

 

[BrowningBAR]

try closing your door slowly over time when your kindling is roaring

The door is cracked open. Not wide open.

 

[logger]

you say its not fuel... but have you tried burning bio-bricks? that would be the only sure way to exclude that as the problem...

If its the fuel you decide to test, Id suggest a bag of store bought wood from the grocery store before bio bricks. They should be used along with wood and I wouldnt want to use them in a new stove without knowing how the stove and set-up function best, those bricks can put off a ton of heat in a short amount of time.

 

[FishKiller]

i agree the bricks get hot (too hot for me to burn). but he said he can burn kindling without much a problem... i was thinking just as fuel/air test throw a couple in. if they take off and you get a great burn and high temps, then its likely a fuel issue. if it was a draft issue with the house being too airtight, he would still have the draft issue when reloading and would have smoke in the house. still sounds like fuel to me, that was my point.

 

[branchburner]

temp drops like a rock to 300F and then eventually 250F, sometimes lower.

I can not achieve the long burn times that many others with this stove preach.

Exactly what burn times ARE you getting? Quite often, really short burn times and low heat output in are associated with too much air entering the stove, causing rapid combustion and pushing a lot of the heat up the chimney, sometimes seen in high flue temps

Yet you are mentioning low flue temps, and seem to be describing a potentially smoldering or slow fire. Maybe give a more detailed description of how many splits you are loading the stove with, how you are adjusting the primary air for the duration of the burn, and how long the burn is lasting and at what stove top (not flue) temps the stove is running at over the course of the burn.

With an entirely new flue AND a new stove, there are going to be variations from prior experience with temps and burn times and so forth, but it almost sounds like the stove is not getting secondary air and not achieving any secondary combustion. But with primary air opened, I would expect higher flue temps.You haven't mentioned how you are setting air controls, only how you are setting the damper, which I assume is a pipe damper and not part of the stove.

What was your last stove, and what was the flue setup for it?

 

[snow2water]

Wow. First of all, thanks for all the replies. Damper = air intake control. We always called it a damper in our family. It is the control rod below the glass door on the stove, not in the flue.

When I start a fire, I have 4 choices for the opening on the glass door. 1) Wide open, not going to do this for safety reasons. 2) Push the door shut to where the latch on the door handle hits the stove, leaves about 1" gap. 3) Rest the door latch on the hole for the latch, leaves about 1/2" gap. 4) Have door shut and latched, fire does not build. I do either #2 or #3. I don't know how i can close it any slower.

When I close the door, I do get a secondary burn. To me that is where the gases are igniting in the top of the firebox. That is with the air intake control open. If I close the air intake control, the fire gets weaker and weaker until the flames go out. This also drops the stovepipe temp.

I do not know the stove top temp, but I can check that easily with my infrared thermometer. But the wood is charred when i shut the door.

My last stove was not some old stove. It met the EPA standards that it was built to in 2001. 1993 standards?

I did check the air intake/damper direction. Open is pulled out. This I did have correct, but worth looking at.

I would be interested in a name for the bio bricks to make sure we are talking the same thing. The store bought wood here is iffy at best. I'm looking to get my hands on a wood moisture tester to end that issue. My wood is not wet or green. Some of it was standing dead before the 1 1/2 years of being split. My wood does not "hiss" or spit water.

My last stove used a chimney setup that looked identical to this one.

I will try to work up a spreadsheet of times, temps, and load. I would like to do it tonight, but of course I have a holiday party to attend.

Thanks for your input.

 

[begreen]

Your procedure is good so I am going to suggest resplitting the oak and test for dampness on the freshly split face of the wood. You can do this with a moisture meter or press it up against your cheek and feel if it's cool and damp. The resplits will be good anyway, I would do the cold starts with less thick wood and with ash or maple if you have some. You mention that the house is very tight. The next startup, try opening a nearby window a crack and leave it open after you close the stove door and start turning down the air control. If the fire is more responsive it could be that the stove needs an outside air connection.

 

[Hardrockmaple]

I've read everything in the "Start here" sticky at the top of the page and have done searches through the forum, but have not found my solution. If you know of a thread that addresses this, please post it for me.

I just had a Drolet Myriad installed. Inside I have about 5'-6' of welded Duravent stovepipe. Outside I have 12' of Duratech triple wall for the chimney. Everything is brand new. The top of the chimney seems to be 2' above anything within 10' of it from what I can see on the ground. I also had the Drolet air makeup kit installed too. I needed one for my last wood stove at this house so I did this from the get go this time.

My problem is that I can start a nice kindling fire and get the stovepipe temp to 400F if I have the damper open and the door cracked. Before I shut the door, I already have some very nice, dry oak logs with a good burn going. Within minutes of shutting the door, with the damper wide open, the temp drops like a rock to 300F and then eventually 250F, sometimes lower. Draft seems good, no smoke comes from the stove when I reload.
I can not achieve the long burn times that many others with this stove preach.

My house is about 1,450 sq/ft. However, I'm only trying to heat about 900 sq/ft. The house is 12 years old and very airtight. The install of the chimney is straight, no elbows or bends.

Any ideas or thoughts are appreciated.

Snow2water

""I see you have defined "damper", the procedure I describe below is the only way I can get a successful burn, Good luck

Assuming in this case "damper" means the stove damper that comes with the Drolets and not a stove pipe damper.

When your pipe temps close in on 400 try closing the damper first with the door still cracked open and the primary air wide open. Then, if you have a stove top thermometer, watch for it to keep climbing up to 400-500, then shut the door and watch to see that your temps are still rising. At 500+ start cutting the primary air in 1/4 increments. I cannot shut down the primary completely, I have to leave it open a 'tiny' bit.

This is the only way I can get my Austral to reach those temps and maintain a fire. I just checked my stove, stove top at 200 from a 3/4 refill 9 hrs. ago.

Hope this helps.

 

[snow2water]

begreen, that's a good idea about splitting the wood for the moisture test. I'll have to do that. However, everything here in west Michigan is cold and damp right now!

I do have the Drolet outside air intake kit installed. It goes from the back of the stove to an insulated flex pipe thru the outside wall and then has a grill on the outside of the house. I did take that flex pipe off and I could feel cold air and see daylight. One of my buddies is a smoker and while we were testing the stove he put a cigarette up to the intake from the outside. You could see the smoke being pulled into the intake.

 

[snow2water]

Hardrockmaple, I'll give your suggestion a try. Thanks.

 

[PLAYS WITH FIRE]

Could be the size of the splits and possible a plugged chimney cap?

 

[mikepinto65]

You can still get a good hot, long burn. It may just take a little longer.

This. My Oak was split this past year and I have no problems burning. I did limit the log diameter to around 3" max though.

 

[brenndatomu]

Just so we aren't overlooking the basics here, it sounds like this is a new stove, and you have never been able to get it to burn right? Check to make sure there is not something plugging the air intake holes/passages. Visually, compressed air, smoke test, I dunno, I guess it depends on how your stove is made and how well you can access all sides of it. I say this because when I installed my Defender, I just happened to notice a piece of Styrofoam packaging stuck in one of the secondary air intakes when I had the stove laying on it's back to install the legs. I pulled it out and thought, that would have drove me insane trying to figure out why the secondary action sucked so bad on my new stove! I suppose it would have melted out eventually? Anyways, I know I have read of others that have had their ceramic wool baffle blanket thingy out of place partially blocking the flue hole. Also, someone had a contractor leave a towel stuffed in their flue from when they plugged the hole overnite, came back the next day, installed the stove and forgot to pull their plug. Just sayin, check the basics first, the ole combustion pyramid, gotta have oxygen (in adequate quantity) and quality fuel.
That brings up my second thought, dry wood. Oak is notorious for not drying clear through for a long time. As others have said, try throwing a bio brick or two in with your wood, see what it does. Or even burn some kiln dried lumber, 2x4s, busted up pallet wood, whatever. It's just the ole process of elimination thing...