NoGoodAtScreenNames
Feeling the Heat
Occasionally I’m running into an issue where I hit very high temperatures (700+) while the stove is heating up after a reload with the air control at either 90% or 100% closed. At this point I usually turn the air control all the way down (if it wasn’t already), and turn the fan to high. That always cools down the stove, but will also cause the flames to weaken to the point where I feel like I need to give it more air or it will smolder. The flames usually weaken fastener than the temp comes down, and so then I’m playing this game where I’m giving it a little air (and/or turning down the fan) to strengthen the fire, which causes the temp to increase… and so I reverse what I did, which causes the temp to come down, but the flames to weaken faster… and I’m back to giving it more air. I ride this cycle a few times until I'm comfortably past the peak and the stove temp is stable in the high 500's.
What am I doing to cause this? Am I not shutting the air down soon enough? I usually start at about 300 degrees. Is it my wood? It's only happened to me maybe 3 times.
First thing to note is that despite the 550 over-fire disclaimer, hitting 700 isn’t uncommon. You’re right to turn the fan higher and turn the air intake lower when it happens. But if the fire looks normal then you’re probably fine. Enjoy the heat pumping out.
An out of control fire for me looks different than other fires, Gates of Hell coming out of the secondaries, primary flames are strong despite air being shut down, flames wafting down from the top across the glass and sometimes if looks like the primary air is spitting out fire. Most importantly the fire doesn’t seem to respond well to anything you do - it’s an unstoppable beast.
It doesn’t sound like you have that since you can still tamp down the fire with the primary controls.
How to avoid crazy fires?
- Wait until the stove top is no higher than 300F before reloading
- Wait until you have a small amount of coals. Pull them all forward to the front. I️ like a good row across the front, 3 inches deep and no higher than the door opening.
- Try not to load larger splits above the top of the brick level. Some little stuff that will catch and burn down quickly is ok.
- Don’t shut down too early. You will hit temps quicker on a reload but make sure you let each piece catch and get charred before shutting it down. If you switch to closed air / secondary before a split has lit, when it starts off gassing it can make the secondary burn go wild. I️ like to lay a piece of kindling East / West on top of the coals to help spread the fire horizontally quickly to help that out.
Good luck.