I put in our new Century in our vacation cabin over the summer, and finally gave it a workout for a few days before New Year's. Here's a shot of when I really got it going, with the primary air shut down and secondary air giving a good blast. I was surprised how far down the secondary air was blowing into the firebox; it was over halfway down the door glass.
Century First Burn
- Thread starter KWillets
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![[Hearth.com] Century First Burn](/talk/data/attachments/14/14315-b0e38f37213d3bb001f48bb0ad80e342.jpg?hash=vanbK62xfg)
Thanks, it was worth it after a lot of weekend installing work, with a new chimney and everything up to spec.
I forgot to mention that the place was at about 80 when I took the pic. The year before we were struggling to keep it at 65
.
I forgot to mention that the place was at about 80 when I took the pic. The year before we were struggling to keep it at 65
.
That's a nice burn. Was it slow and rolling or fast and flashy? I believe that your stove is equipped with an airwash system for the glass to keep it clean. Most all EPA stoves now have this feature and it runs the lion's share of the primary air from the top of the stove above the window, down the glass (since this air is colder than the firebox), and then the air joins up with the rest of the primary air being fed through a doghouse into the fire. This shields the glass from the smoke. I believe that when your secondaries are really raging that they steal some of the air from the airwash and combust with it. Really makes a waterfall of fire effect when it is purple.
It was rolling pretty fast through the secondary -- overall there was a lot of air going through there. At the time I was just trying to get the stove up to temperature quickly, and I had just burned some kindling to get a coal bed.
As I recall the trick to get it going was to open up a big N-S channel in the coal bed, so the splits have air going all the way under them. Then the airwash comes down the front, goes under and back via the channel, and comes up around the back and sides to meet the secondary air and wash down the front partway. That's where you see the flames coming over the top of the load like a waterfall.
This worked better than a front-to-back burn, since the stove is small and there isn't much room in the front to keep the fire up. It quickly got up to 550 on the stovetop (the top end of the "safe" range on the thermometer), and the draft got the secondary air going so fast that it started primary-combusting in some spots.
It didn't overfire, though, and that load kept going for several hours until I had to reload for bedtime.
As I recall the trick to get it going was to open up a big N-S channel in the coal bed, so the splits have air going all the way under them. Then the airwash comes down the front, goes under and back via the channel, and comes up around the back and sides to meet the secondary air and wash down the front partway. That's where you see the flames coming over the top of the load like a waterfall.
This worked better than a front-to-back burn, since the stove is small and there isn't much room in the front to keep the fire up. It quickly got up to 550 on the stovetop (the top end of the "safe" range on the thermometer), and the draft got the secondary air going so fast that it started primary-combusting in some spots.
It didn't overfire, though, and that load kept going for several hours until I had to reload for bedtime.
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