Dovre 500 SS Horizon

[RDCrazy]

Has any one in the forum had any expierence with them.

My Dovre seems to choke out and not be able to get enough air unless I have the front air open all the way and the side door air open all the way.

Any one have any information at all on this stove I bought it used and rebuilt it. (New Gaskets).

Thanks

 

[oconnor]

Give us some info on the entire setup, especially what your chimney config is. Also type of house, where the stove is in the house, and if this just started, or has been there since new.

If this just started, I'd start with the flue as a likely source - if the flue don't vent, the stove wont run.

Fill us in, and I'm sure we'll be able to overfill you with input.

 

[RDCrazy]

Its in the living room in a ranch style house. The stove pipe and chimmney is 13 feet total. Six feet of it is double wall liner with a cap. the house is insulated well. I have not had the stove but 1 week and the stove was rebuilt by me. All new rope and sealed. There is a heat reclaimer 15 inches up from the stove also. I did run it with out the reclaimer and the same problem was there. It seems that the stoved is choked down. Its a 6 inch flue and the stove requires a 6 inch flue.

 

[oconnor]

Thanks. Flue length is at the short end of things, but not too short. I'd lose the heat reclaimer, as the issue you descibe is only going to be made worse if you cool the flue gases any more than they already are. Regardless of the discussion on the good/bad value of those items, you aren't getting enough draft, and taking more heat out of the flue gas is going to make it worse.

How dry is your wood? Do you have a thermometer on the flue, and if so, is it getting hot enough? The hot flue is the pump that draws the air into your stove. If your wood is wet, then no heat, and no draft, therefore less heat, and the cycle repeats.

Try a fire with dryer wood (scrap lumber to start off) or split the wood down to 2-4 inches and run it open the first fire, and see if the reload runs better. You can even dry a few splits in the oven at a low temp (I'm recalling folks describe 200F for a while, but don't remember - watch for getting it too hot.)

Without a moisture meter, it's hard to tell how dry wood is. I thought mine was dry, but my meter disagrees, and I can tell the difference in the stove between a 30% dry stick and a 25% stick.

If you can, buy a bag at the local gas station and give it a try. Run it as high as you can for the first load, and see if the reload still has the same trouble.

 

[RDCrazy]

I burn pallet wook (oak). My flue temp hovers around 250 and 300 degrees. The wood appears dry. How can I test the wood for dryness?

 

[oconnor]

Other than a moisture meter, or weighing it, then leaving it an oven for a while, here is an article from this very site
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/How_to_tell_if_your_wood_is_seasoned/

Try a few searches using the search tool on the hearth.com main page to get some ideas. I could do the research for you, but what would you learn then? ;-)

 

[RDCrazy]

One more question

The temp guage on the flue pipe on sigle wall is that the flue temp or is it half of the flue temp?

What should flue temp be?

 

[oconnor]

that will give you surface temp of the pipe. The descriptions are usually adjusted to describe flue gas inside. So when they read 500 F, they will be at the line between good operation and too hot. The wording is subjective, and I will run my guage hotter earlier in the burn cycle when the rest of the flue is heating up, and a bit cooler once coals start, then hotter again after a reload (fresh wood means a new chance for creosote).

Feel free to ask away with the questions, glad to help. The search will give you a chance to read how others have described the details. I find that two right answers worded differently can really help sometimes.

 

[jtp10181]

(broken link removed to http://www.dovre.co.uk/html/woodburning-stove-500.html)

 

[PA. Woodsman]

I have some information from literature that I have from Dovre because I have the Aurora 700; they describe it as just the "Horizon" stove, but nothing about it being the model 500 SS. But here is what it says, and I hope that this is helpful: It DOES have a catalytic combustor in it, so maybe that is something to check if that is still working properly; maximum heat output 50,000 BTU/hour, 24" maximum log length, 410 lbs; size if you want to check yours to see if this one matchs is 29 1/2" high, 28" wide, 18 1/2" deep (including the ash lip). I just helped another guy out on here who "discovered" an Heirloom stove in a shed! Just curious-how old is this stove? You had mentioned that it was rebuilt-does that include the cat combustor? Dovre was bought out by Quadri-fire, but I don't know how "knowledgeable" they are about them. Dovre was a very well-made stove company that unfortunately didn't sell well, but I love mine. Hopefully you can get yours running to your liking, and I hope that this helps you somewhat...

Good luck,

PA. Woodsman (Les)

 

[RDCrazy]

I tried some dried wood from the gas station today. The wood that I was useing must of been to wet. It really throws heat with the proper heat. How high should the cat temp rise too.

 

[timboak]

If it operates similiar to my 500-cc, you activate the catalyst at 600 and don't let it run above about 1600. I set the front drafts for a 1000 burn. When reloading you should burn a few minutes with side draft open before switching to catalst. I only use the side door draft temporarily to start or reactivate catalyst if it got to cold.