Had a 17-VL installed in our living room and have been having different problems since beginning to use it.
First off, I was having a ton of difficult starting fires and the house was filling with smoke which I settled by checking and positioning the baffles correctly. Although the difficulty starting a fire did not subside, most of the smoke issues did.
I read to try different wood thinking somehow i had damp wood.. which is oak and had been indoors for the past year - when we bought the stove... we were delayed getting it installed. Tried different wood... fires still extremely inconsistent. Have store-bought oak and hickory... even some pine doesn't burn completely
Some of the problems:
1) Turbulence. Sometimes enough to extinguish a new fire... once the fire is going it whips around wildly... Sometimes I end up with what looks like a smoke cyclone rolling in a forward rotation inside the box - circling not traveling up to the baffles. Not exaggerating that. Smoke does push back out into the room on us occasionally... this is after warming the flue before starting the fire.
2)Fires remain difficult to start and maintain... sometimes after I have a good fire, it still goes out and leaves me with half-burned wood.
3) We've only had a really good fire with secondary burns once or twice.... and with all the youtube viewing, seeing the great fires and secondaries people are getting its pretty frustrating.
We have 12' of pipe. The installer measured and the clearances are correct with that and the pitch of the roof. The manual says the stove needs 15'. The chimney is on the front side of the house. We do have large trees in the yard in front and behind the house.
Thanks in advance for any help and advice!
First off, I was having a ton of difficult starting fires and the house was filling with smoke which I settled by checking and positioning the baffles correctly. Although the difficulty starting a fire did not subside, most of the smoke issues did.
I read to try different wood thinking somehow i had damp wood.. which is oak and had been indoors for the past year - when we bought the stove... we were delayed getting it installed. Tried different wood... fires still extremely inconsistent. Have store-bought oak and hickory... even some pine doesn't burn completely
Some of the problems:
1) Turbulence. Sometimes enough to extinguish a new fire... once the fire is going it whips around wildly... Sometimes I end up with what looks like a smoke cyclone rolling in a forward rotation inside the box - circling not traveling up to the baffles. Not exaggerating that. Smoke does push back out into the room on us occasionally... this is after warming the flue before starting the fire.
2)Fires remain difficult to start and maintain... sometimes after I have a good fire, it still goes out and leaves me with half-burned wood.
3) We've only had a really good fire with secondary burns once or twice.... and with all the youtube viewing, seeing the great fires and secondaries people are getting its pretty frustrating.
We have 12' of pipe. The installer measured and the clearances are correct with that and the pitch of the roof. The manual says the stove needs 15'. The chimney is on the front side of the house. We do have large trees in the yard in front and behind the house.
Thanks in advance for any help and advice!
