Do i always have to have a roaring fire?

[Chrism]

My Isle Royale is an animal !! When I put a couple logs in and get a bed of hot coals in it after 1 to 2 hrs my house is 80. Sometimes I would like to have a small fire just to take the chill out of the air but I see a thin shiny black coating on the inside of my stove in some spots. Any infor about this and what to do ?? Thank you.

 

[NH_Wood]

For the small fires on warmer days, get a hot fire going with small splits and keep the primary air open for a longer time - I rarely shut the air completely for this type of burn - perhaps 1/3 open. I assume you have good dry wood. Cheers!

 

[BrotherBart]

Fact of life. If a small fire deposits black stuff in your stove, the wood ain't dry.

 

[Chrism]

My wood was split since april ?????

 

[Chrism]

Ok Bart so how often should I inspect my chimney to clean it ? I have metalbestos double insulated chimney.

 

[pen]

My wood was split since april ?????

I've burned ash (which comes off the stump drier than many species) seasoned for 7 mo's and it wasn't ready yet. That stuff sat for a year in rounds prior to that. Really takes at LEAST a full year for most species, 2 or more if OAK.

pen

 

[North of 60]

My wood was split since april ?????

Thats only 8 months max. What type of wood. Pine=yes, Oak=No

 

[pen]

Ok Bart so how often should I inspect my chimney to clean it ? I have metalbestos double insulated chimney.

I'm not BB, but inspection should happen monthly until you get a grip on things. Clean as necessary. Perhaps monthly until you know how much accumulation you have vs what you are looking at.

pen

 

[Chrism]

Oak, black walnut, maple. I'm guessin my wood isn't seasoned yet

 

[NH_Wood]

Oak, black walnut, maple. I'm guessin my wood isn't seasoned yet

Bingo! As other's stated - be careful with the flue - check often and clean often if needed. If possible, order next year's wood now - best way to get quality wood is to put time on your side. Cheers!

 

[pen]

Doesn't make you a bad guy. Just puts you where most of us were at one point in history.

What sort of stove top temps are you seeing?

pen

 

[Chrism]

Don't know yet the local stove shop didn't have the stove thermometer in stock will be in this week. I was told to run my isle royale at 500 to 600 ???

 

[North of 60]

If you don't have the room to store a few years of that fancy wood on your property, try collecting all the unwanted pine and such. At least it will be ready when needed. ;-)

 

[Chrism]

Well I have the room but its all I have this year. If I monitor my chimney once a month and clean it will I be ok to burn it ?

 

[BrowningBAR]

Don't know yet the local stove shop didn't have the stove thermometer in stock will be in this week. I was told to run my isle royale at 500 to 600 ???

You can get a stove top thermometer at ACE, Lowes, Home Depot.

A thermometer during your first year really helps take the guess work out of things.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Well I have the room but its all I have this year. If I monitor my chimney once a month and clean it will I be ok to burn it ?

You should be just fine. You'll probably just have a little more build up than normal, but sometimes things happen where the build up is a lot worse for whatever reason. The additional checking and cleaning is precautionary and a piece of mind.

 

[NH_Wood]

Well I have the room but its all I have this year. If I monitor my chimney once a month and clean it will I be ok to burn it ?

Yes, you'll be okay - just be safe and monitor often. Cheers!

 

[North of 60]

Well I have the room but its all I have this year. If I monitor my chimney once a month and clean it will I be ok to burn it ?

Hell ya you can burn it. As Browning & NH says, keep an eye on it more often. Lots of people just cut their wood yesterday and are starting it with gasoline today. Looks like you are paying lots of attention to it. Lots dont and they still live. :lol:
Cheers

 

[Chrism]

Yeah I'm sure people don't pay attention, I love my wife and son too much not to!! God for bid if something happen cause of me being lazy ! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure words to live by when it comes to fire while your sleeping!!

 

[Battenkiller]

Fact of life. If a small fire deposits black stuff in your stove, the wood ain't dry.

Fact of life. Small startup fires are the least efficient and dirtiest burns in any stove. Especially an EPA stove, which only achieves it's clean burning by the introduction of hot secondary combustion air. No secondaries, no clean burn.

From Paul Tiegs at OMNI:

Method 28 for woodstoves is a hot-to-hot test-burn cycle: a hot coal bed is established in a hot stove; a specified fuel load is then added to begin the test; and completion of the test is at the point in time when the added fuel is totally consumed back to the original, hot coal bed. This cycle is conducted at 4 different, and specified burn rates to make a complete certification test series.

It is important to realize the difference between testing an RWH appliance using a hot-to-hot test cycle as opposed to using a cold-to-cold test cycle. In 1986, Jay Shelton of Shelton Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico (personal communication) did a woodstove research project for the State of Colorado and found that emissions discharged during the cold start up phase of a woodstove equals 50 percent of the emissions discharged during a whole hot-to-hot test cycle. This means that the standard EPA test method misses up to 33 percent of the total emissions actually discharged by a regulated RWH appliance during cold startup operations.

No offense meant, big dude, but if your gonna tell a guy his wood ain't dry, go to his house and test it yourself. Determining the MC in someone's wood stack based on the what he describes inside his firebox is patently absurd IMO.

 

[northwinds]

Smaller fires behave differently and usually happen when the temperatures are higher outside.

It will be easier for you to dial in efficient smaller fires when you get your thermometer.

 

[oldspark]

BK- this forum tells everyone their wood is not dry enough and its right most of the time. ;-)

 

[Milton Findley]

BK- this forum tells everyone their wood is not dry enough and its right most of the time. ;-)

Wouldn't argue with the statement, but I am burning dry pellets in my stove, very dry pellets. If I don't burn it hot enough or long enough, it looks just like I have been burning poorly seasoned wood. BK has a point, I mean, other than the one on the top of his head. ;-)

 

[pen]

W/ dry wood 3 med pieces will get great secondary action and a hot stove top. I don't see any problem w/ having a small fire and a clean burn.

pen

 

[oldspark]

W/ dry wood 3 med pieces will get great secondary action and a hot stove top. I don't see any problem w/ having a small fire and a clean burn.

pen

I agree but that is the dirtiest part of the burn, the cold startup.