Clean burn help questions

[Welderman85]

Thank you for all your help so far in my new wood burning journey. Second load of the day. 500 on the stove top dry wood. I get it were I think is good and then I check the chimney and theres smoke. So I open the air just a touch and it takes off to an inferno.

 

[Welderman85]

I gave it some air and it took off and theres no smoke now but I cant seem to find a happy medium

 

[Welderman85]

When you open it up the flames it the secondary tube then wrap around the baffle and the seem to allmost reach the flue opening

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Some stoves are better than other in producing ZERO visible smoke once up to temp. My Harman TL-300 , once its in solid afterburn produces ZERO visible smoke even after a hot reload. All my other burn tube stoves produce some smoke on and off and during a hot reload. I would imagine a CAT stove is very good at zero smoke operation.

 

[moresnow]

Don't sweat it.

Run it below inferno setting as described. Go watch the game. Give it 30 or 40 minutes and go have a look. Might clean up significantly. Real easy to adjust/scrutinize into insanity. Keep your full head of hair. Doubt you're producing enough smoke/emissions to worry about.

My 2 cents.

 

[Highbeam]

That inferno fire show is what noncats are good at and is how they burn clean. It’s supposed to burn hot at the beginning. Smoldering the fire to slow it down will send raw fuel up the chimney as smoke and pollution.

 

[Welderman85]

I think my problem is I fiddle with it to much. I set let it sit for a minute then go check the chimney. Then I play with if for another 15-20 min then just say good enough and walk away lol

 

[Welderman85]

It seems like anything less than half air it starts to smoke. This is where it is now. But she's smoking a little. Theres more flames then in the pic. It hard to get a good picture of fire.lol also stove top is around 500 if that means anything

 

[fvhowler]

Fiddling with the stove is how you learn. Some smoke is to be expected. These EPA stoves are high maintenance and there is a learning curve to get the most out of the stove. When you get it cruising you get the reward of a hot fire, a clean burn and brilliant flames in the firebox. In time, you'll know if you're producing a lot of smoke without even looking at chimney outside.

Dry/seasoned wood makes all the difference.

 

[NoGoodAtScreenNames]

Can you define what you see as smoke? If it’s white, whispy and disappears it’s probably steam. If it looks dirty and kind of hangs around in the air then it’s smoke. Don’t worry about steam. I drove myself crazy for a while trying to get rid of steam before I recognized the difference.


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[Ludlow]

Add one more split than you normally do next time and see. If you dont fill the box you cant get it hot enough when turned down to get good secondaries. They eat up the smoke. Sort of like adjusting a carburetor.

 

[moresnow]

Sort of like adjusting a carburetor.

Agreed. Thank gawd for F.I.

 

[4fire]

What's the stove top temp get to in the inferno stage? What you call the inferno stage might be the normal cruising condition. 600 is still a very normal temp.

 

[mar13]

I'm still at the fiddling/learning stage on my new non-cat epa stove. Haven't quite nailed down how to consistently get secondaries while at low air. This morning I thought I had figured it all out - let the stove gain momentum until stove top was 600+ and flue probe was 700+, then it was able to burn away at its lowest air setting with mostly secondaries and some primary flames, while maintaining those stove and flue temps. I admired how there was more flame floating near the stove box top than coming directly off of the wood, which I proudly pointed out to my young kids. I felt like I finally now knew how to run this stove.

This late afternoon, however, I thought I'd finish the day off with 4 more splits in the stove. Perhaps how I stacked them on top of each other and on the raked forward coals , or not enough wood, but it struggled to do much with anything less than half air. The flue probe never got much above 600 and the stove top struggled to get to 500. The secondaries were never very impressive. OK, not yet master of the stove...

Still learning.... (Next time, more wood and let it run hot enough to take off on its own momentum.)

 

[Welderman85]

What's the stove top temp get to in the inferno stage? What you call the inferno stage might be the normal cruising condition. 600 is still a very normal temp.

Around 500 to 550 with the blower on medium so probably around 600

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Takes a little while to burn off moisture and get a fresh reload up to temp for clean burning. Be patient ,dont turn the air down too fast too soon.

 

[4fire]

Wait a minute. Is there one one secondary burn tube in this stove?

 

[Welderman85]

Wait a minute. Is there one one secondary burn tube in this stove?

Yes one tube across the front by the door

 

[4fire]

I wonder if this stove isn't designed to be turned down as much as others to maximize burn time.
My parents have what I believe is a pre-EPA avalon with one reburn tube. That tube cleans up the emissions some, but it won't run primarily on secondary burn with the air turned down real low.

 

[Welderman85]

I wonder if this stove isn't designed to be turned down as much as others to maximize burn time.
My parents have what I believe is a pre-EPA avalon with one reburn tube. That tube cleans up the emissions some, but it won't run primarily on secondary burn with the air turned down real low.

This all I could find on the back of the insert. Ut it was hard to read cramed in there upside down lol from what I get it complys with the 1990 standard and was build in 2006.

 

[Welderman85]

I still cant fund a sweet spot.lol if I get it turned down nice and check out side theres smoke. If I open it up I kinda have to baby sit so the temps don't get crazy

 

[Welderman85]

Once I get it like this with good secondary burns. It smokes out of the chimney. If I open the air it turns into an inferno

 

[begreen]

Don't drive yourself crazy. You may be up against a limitation of the stove design with the single tube at the front. If you look at the slightly larger Lopi Answer you will see that there are 3 secondary tubes. The only thing I might change is to pack in more wood.

 

[Welderman85]

Don't drive yourself crazy. You may be up against a limitation of the stove design with the single tube at the front. If you look at the slightly larger Lopi Answer you will see that there are 3 secondary tubes. The only thing I might change is to pack in more wood.

Ok so I shouldn't worry about the smoke so much? Thank.you

 

[begreen]

So far from what you have posted, you are doing ok. You are ahead of the game with having dry wood. When you do the first chimney cleaning you will get a better idea of how the stove is burning. Maybe clean it after burning a cord of wood.