Controlling a wood stove

[48rob]

I'm on year 2 of my Englander 17 that I installed in my shop next to my home.
When I first got it, I spent a lot of time getting to know it; how it worked, how much wood to load, how hot was too hot, etc.
I would load it up, adjust the air, go in, then go back out to the shop to make sure it wasn't over firing.
Worrisome times indeed!

I got the temps up to 90 a couple times...no danger, the stove wasn't too hot (for safety) I just didn't know how to operate/load/adjust it to get the temps I want.

Now, after a winter and a half of learning, I am able to control the stove with precision.

I can, and just did, place two Hickory splits (dry of course thanks to Dennis and others) on a good hot coal bed with other splits burning away (450degree internal stack temp).
Took a few minutes for the splits, which lit almost instantly, to bring the stack temp to redline/900 degrees.

Because of all the practice and experience I didn't get worried or concerned at all, 900 degrees? No problem!
I just adjusted the intake air and within 5 minutes it has settled down to 600 degrees.

Shop temp is a very comfortable 75 degrees with outside temps of 25 and wind at 20+mph.

Life is good when you heat with wood!

Rob

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Right Rob. The best control for a wood stove is how much fuel you put in the thing. Of course it has to be dry wood.

 

[eclecticcottage]

Life is good when you heat with wood!

Rob

Right on! Love the quote!

 

[tfdchief]

Right Rob. The best control for a wood stove is how much fuel you put in the thing. Of course it has to be dry wood.

You know, I have known and practiced that for many, many years, but I think that is the first time I have heard it said that plainly on this forum. Probably has, but I just don't recall.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

See Steve, we do think alike.

 

[tfdchief]

See Steve, we do think alike.

I already knew that :coolsmile:

 

[rdust]

Right Rob. The best control for a wood stove is how much fuel you put in the thing. Of course it has to be dry wood.

If you have a blaze king stove you can load as much as you want at any time and never have to worry about control. Sorry I had to..... :lol:

 

[eclecticcottage]

Right Rob. The best control for a wood stove is how much fuel you put in the thing. Of course it has to be dry wood.

If you have a blaze king stove you can load as much as you want at any time and never have to worry about control. Sorry I had to..... :lol:

*throws unseasoned split at rdust* oh be hushed you!

j/k.

 

[wkpoor]

Right Rob. The best control for a wood stove is how much fuel you put in the thing. Of course it has to be dry wood.

My FIL used to tell me that and my reply was do you control your car with the throttle or how much gas you put in the tank. I control my wood stove with the throttle plate same as my car. That way I can fill the tank if I so choose.

 

[nate379]

I only could wish!

Right Rob. The best control for a wood stove is how much fuel you put in the thing. Of course it has to be dry wood.

If you have a blaze king stove you can load as much as you want at any time and never have to worry about control. Sorry I had to..... :lol:

 

[Martin Strand III]

SNIP
Life is good when you heat with wood!
Rob

Rob:

Thank Ben Franklin.
He invented the first metal
heating stove in 1744.

Think of how many he
made happy who avoided
metal stove mishaps.

Wood fired rocks
preceded heating with
metal much earlier.

Methinks we should have
stayed 'ceramic'.

Aye,
Marty
Ben Franklin used to say,
"Fish and visitors
stink after 3 days."

 

[chvymn99]

Thats great advise...I'm been fiddling with that this whole burn season. Its been a great learning curve...But 900 degrees on the stack that there is hot. I'll tip mine to the top of the yellow, which is like 600 and thats when you start smelling the heat.

 

[rdust]

I only could wish!

Your stove turned down should have around a 300* stove top. I only wish my house was tight enough to over heat with that type of stove top temp. 300* stove top without the blower on keeps this place in the low 70's if it's in the 30's during the day and high 20's at night.

These stoves turned down are hardly more than a 1500w space heater, if you can heat your place with that type of output I'd just smile and be happy opening a window.

 

[Garand06]

... Of course it has to be dry wood.

Preferably, but no it doesn't.

 

[nate379]

Oh no, my stove turned down runs around 450* or so. Truth be told I haven't paid much attention to it other than I know when it's warm out I can't just pack the stove full and expect it to stay comfortable in the house.

The last week has been really warm. (In the mid 30s-low 40s) I ended up just shutting down the stove and kicking on the boiler. After a few days of these temps I got tired trying to keep the stove going with just a couple small splits and not overheating the house. It's tough to get a fire going with a weak draft too (warm and humid).

I only could wish!

Your stove turned down should have around a 300* stove top. I only wish my house was tight enough to over heat with that type of stove top temp. 300* stove top without the blower on keeps this place in the low 70's if it's in the 30's during the day and high 20's at night.

These stoves turned down are hardly more than a 1500w space heater, if you can heat your place with that type of output I'd just smile and be happy opening a window.

 

[joecool85]

Right Rob. The best control for a wood stove is how much fuel you put in the thing. Of course it has to be dry wood.

My FIL used to tell me that and my reply was do you control your car with the throttle or how much gas you put in the tank. I control my wood stove with the throttle plate same as my car. That way I can fill the tank if I so choose.

That's not a proper analogy though because with a stove, all of the wood is in the combustion chamber and you can only slow it down by deprecating it of oxygen. In a car, the fuel is moved into the combustion chambers as necessary when you push the throttle. In short, the gas tank of a car is comparable to your wood pile not your firebox.

 

[MrWhoopee]

My FIL used to tell me that and my reply was do you control your car with the throttle or how much gas you put in the tank. I control my wood stove with the throttle plate same as my car. That way I can fill the tank if I so choose.

Not quite an accurate analogy. Filling the stove would be equivalent to filling the cylinders, not the tank. If you have sufficient control over the air, then filling the stove is controllable. It seems many of the EPA stoves don't give you full control, resulting in short burns and/or overfiring. Since modifying the primary air control on my Buck 81, I can starve the fire out if I'm not careful. Prior to that, I had to be very careful about the arrangement of coals and wood or it would overfire with no way to slow it down.

 

[begreen]

Correct, filling the tank would be more analogous to filling up a pellet stove.

EPA stove do give control. But unfortunately they are tested to a very narrow spectrum of fixed wood quantity and chimney height. To go back to the car analogy, this is like testing a car's braking performance in Lubbock, TX and then expecting the brakes to perform the same on a steep grade in the Rockies. A tall stack can make a stove harder to control without some adjustment to the air intake or a draft control like a key damper. Real world testing would improve this. Sloppy machining on some stoves doesn't help either. Of course there is the other issue that makes cars somewhat unpredictable - the driver.

 

[bluedogz]

Those of you on the left side of the aircraft can see wkpoor's metaphor slowly bleeding to death after a thorough beating...

 

[wkpoor]

Well I gotta agree there is holes in the analogy. And I did have a few runaways with my previous EPA stove the Magnolia with it typical EPA stove not allowing full primary shutdown and then adding to the problem with my taller than average chimney. In fact when I sold the Mag after we loaded it in the guys truck I noticed the smashed pop can still stuck in the secondary inlet where I had tried to stop the thermal nuclear runaway. The Elm does allow for a full primary shutdown so I can now really fill the tank and control the fire. In my pre EPA days it was the same there too.

 

[eclecticcottage]

The last week has been really warm. (In the mid 30s-low 40s) I ended up just shutting down the stove and kicking on the boiler. After a few days of these temps I got tired trying to keep the stove going with just a couple small splits and not overheating the house. It's tough to get a fire going with a weak draft too (warm and humid).

Lol, it's funny to hear that is "really" warm. I'm surprised the BK isn't controllable at those temps for heating, but maybe it's because your house is more insulated to handle the much lower temps? We heat the Cottage with the Lopi with those temps and I don't think we need to smolder too much to do it...

 

[CTYank]

... Of course it has to be dry wood.

Preferably, but no it doesn't.

Uh, oh yes it does. Ex: in my EPA stove, if I put in a load of splits at ~25% MC, they might as well be asbestos. At least asbestos doesn't just sit there generating smoke to pickle the neighborhood. Loading wet wood is not too bright.

 

[nate379]

I guess my house is insulated better than most on here. I use about 3 cords a winter to keep the place at 70-75*

The last week has been really warm. (In the mid 30s-low 40s) I ended up just shutting down the stove and kicking on the boiler. After a few days of these temps I got tired trying to keep the stove going with just a couple small splits and not overheating the house. It's tough to get a fire going with a weak draft too (warm and humid).

Lol, it's funny to hear that is "really" warm. I'm surprised the BK isn't controllable at those temps for heating, but maybe it's because your house is more insulated to handle the much lower temps? We heat the Cottage with the Lopi with those temps and I don't think we need to smolder too much to do it...

 

[begreen]

Make that MUCH better insulated, and I would guess with less glass area? Good job there.

 

[kettensäge]

Getting back to the analogy, It's more like a diesel than a gas motor. Power (heat) is regulated and only limited by the amount of fuel provided, as long as there is enough air for combustion.