Castine up and Running

[f700]

Well its finally installed and running. As a new stove owner, I am looking for woodburning "advice". The manual says to run at 400-600 degrees. I have tried to target running at 500, but am having a hard time keeping it here. I get a nice small fire started and then slowly add wood, 3-4 splits, leave the air open for 5 minutes or so until I see some flames catch then I damper it down. I have found that I open it up a 1/4"-1/2 I can stay under 600, but I seem to constantly adjust it, within 1/2 hour or so. Am I missing something? I have only seen secondary burn once. Advice. So far even with the fiddling, my house is toasty warm with only the stove heating.

Again, advice is appreciated.

 

[jpl1nh]

Your fire will go through natural cycles with each load you put in. It will take a few minutes to start to ignite, then the load really begins to warm up making it more and more combustible and your stove will get hotter and hotter. Eventually it reaches it's maximum burn state and then slowly starts to convert to hot coals which will then slowly reduce to ash and your stove will cool. While it may theoretically be possible to get your stove to 500 and keep it there through much of that cycle, it's not practicle since you'd have to constantly be adjusting the air flow, shutting the air down slowly as the load heats then slowly opening it back up as more and more of the load becomes coals. Some stoves, such as VC have thermostatic air control mechanisms that expand with heat and close off the air then contract as the stove cools opening up the air as a means to try to accomplish that steady temperature. What I think you'll quickly learn is to ignite your load, adjust your air once or twice to a setting that keeps your temps within or close to that temp range and accept the natural heat and cool cycle that your stove provides. As it coals you might open the air a bit for the last hour or so to get more heat from the coals and burn them down a bit more, then you'll load and start the cycle over. It definately is a learning curve. Read, try things out, observe, and you'll become a master in a few months. You'll find that in addition to using the air to control the heat output, you can also load loosely or tightly, burn large splits or small splits, burn rounds or splits, fill the stove partly full or completely full, use high BTU wood or low BTU wood. In a larger firebox than yours, you might also load straight in from the front (N - S?) or length wise like your stove dictates (E-W). When you combine all those different possibilities, there's lots of things you can do to influence how a load burns. Where are you in NH? Good luck and enjoy!

 

[whphel]

Not a pro yet but I would recomend after adding wood let it burn longer than 5 min. Try 10 or so untill the wood is chared and slowly close down the draft. Dont just close it down, slowly close it down untill the stove gets to 550-600 and once it gets there you should be able to maintain for hours. You will notice that at a halfway point the flames should be consuming the top part of the stove and the temps will come up quick to the point you want.

I can maintain a secondary for hours and the stove stays at 550-600 for 3-4 hours with 3-4 4x4 size spits.

I may not have helped but thats what works for me to get the stove back up to temp fast and get the wood into a good burn. I'm sure others will help you out as well.

I love this site!

 

[f700]

I will try these ideas. No sure about this statement "close it down until the stove gets to 550-600 and once it gets there you should be able to maintain for hours" Do I keep it open or partly open until 550, and then close it down? How much to close it? I tried that last nigh and it ran up past 650. Little worried about that?

 

[whphel]

I will try these ideas. No sure about this statement "close it down until the stove gets to 550-600 and once it gets there you should be able to maintain for hours" Do I keep it open or partly open until 550, and then close it down? How much to close it? I tried that last nigh and it ran up past 650. Little worried about that?

just the damper down slowly as you reach your d

Sorry, I missed a coma. I meant adjust the damper down slowly untill you reach your desired operating temperature than it should maintain.

 

[begreen]

I think you may need to get the stove hotter first. Try not throttling her down so soon, wait another 5-10 minutes until you have a roiling secondary burn, stove top temp about 450. Then close off the air control until the flames seem to float at the top of the firebox, almost pure secondary burning. It should settle in at about 500-600 doing that.

 

[f700]

Thanks for all the input. Right now she is running with a bed of coals and I have just been putting in one log every hour or so... Running about 500 - 550 with a nice secondary burn going. Now what happens when I load her up for the night? With more fuel, my thinking is it will get hotter, so I need to cut the air down? What do most do out there, load it up and get ithe secondary buring and then cut the air right down all the way or slightly cracked open? I am assuming that where I am at 500-550 this would be the thing to do? If I was starting a new fire, then I assume, get her to 450 then cut the air down? I just don't want to overfire while I sleep.

 

[BrotherBart]

Thanks for all the input. Right now she is running with a bed of coals and I have just been putting in one log every hour or so... Running about 500 - 550 with a nice secondary burn going. Now what happens when I load her up for the night? With more fuel, my thinking is it will get hotter, so I need to cut the air down? What do most do out there, load it up and get ithe secondary buring and then cut the air right down all the way or slightly cracked open? I am assuming that where I am at 500-550 this would be the thing to do? If I was starting a new fire, then I assume, get her to 450 then cut the air down? I just don't want to overfire while I sleep.

My advice always is to never load a stove that is new to you and toddle off to bed. Load the stove tomorrow in the daytime and establish the burn and observe how it progresses through the burn cycle. While you are awake and there to observe it.

 

[begreen]

I would recommend you not try for a big overnight fire the first time. Learn how the stove behaves by practicing long burns during the daytime. But yes, you will need to turn it down a bit more for the long burn. Depending on the wood and the flue's draft the air control may be between 1/4 to all the way closed.

 

[f700]

Well, I think I figured out my problem, I was taking the instructions a little to literaly. When I was loading the stove after having it running at 450 or so, I would leave the air open for 5-10 minutes and then try to throttle her down. Now I get her going, and when I add the wood, I open the air, open door, load with wood close door and then put air lever back where it was. Seems to be working. Sound right. Air is about is between closed and open between 1/4" to 1/2"

Thanks for all the help.

 

[jbrown56]

Hi, Congrats on your new stove and I hope you like it as much as I like mine. It is just a learning curve and in a few days you will be fine. Everyones stove and situation is unique. These guys are right in saying that your first full loads should be done during the day. When I load up, I get the stove to about 500* and damper down to a little less than 1/2. The secondaries then start and I will let it run that way for 15 - 20 min.. At that point I will close it down all the way then tap back towards open until I hear a little air flow. This load will last 8 - 9 hrs. with a bed of coals left to start the cycle all over again. Hope this helps.

Jim

 

[f700]

Okay. another newbie question. Prior to the cold shot, I would have to keep the air almost all the way shut down to keep it at 450 -500. Now with it cold,it seems I have to open her up more and I seem to have a harder time keeping the temp up. What could be causing this? I meant to check my ash pan, but with only 3 days of running, iI don't think it is full yet and that wouldn't be causing this would it?

 

[begreen]

Each load of wood is a variable. Could be the thickness of the splits. A bit damper piece of wood. Less wood?

 

[f700]

Thank you for the advice. As I was "getting" the hang of, I have been putting bigger split in and loading it up, maybe I am closing the damper down too fast now in fear o of overfiring as well. I noticed, I have a lot more coals when I load as well. Should I be letting them burn down more?

 

[begreen]

Yes, you are a ways away from overfiring. Sometimes mine rages like a bandit (you can hear the muffled roar sometimes) before I start closing the air control down. Bigger splits take a bit longer to get really blazing, but they are good for slower, longer burns at a bit cooler temp. There is no perfect setting for all wood, take it one load at a time and you will see a pattern developing.

The trick with the coals is to rake them from the back to the front of the stove. Then put a small split on them and let it burn out to ashes. Then refill on the greatly reduced coals. Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it. Takes practice.