First burn....questions

[retiredff]

Hello,
I have been lurking for awhile and used the info here to buy my Regency F2400 stove. I did a burn this morning and have a few questions as my last stove was a non EPA stove years ago.

After getting a bed of coals, I added some small to medium size pieces and waited until most were charred. Then I closed down the air all the way and waited for the flames to adjust then slowly opened the air until I saw a secondary burn (I think). At one time the wood just glowed and the flame was around the tubes, but it didn't last long. The flue temp (probe type) was almost 700 deg. I adjusted the air until I had a small amount of flame with some secondary burn. Is this the correct way to burn the EPA stoves?

Also, I noticed the wood at times would pop/crack although I did not notice any moisture or sizzling on the wood ends. Is this normal? Most of my wood is 20% or <. I would guess some may be higher as I have a mix of hard woods, maple, hedge,cherry, ash,locust and my ability to tell the difference by looks yet has not happened.

Thanks

 

[Funk Brother]

Hi RetiredFF - I know nothing about the Regency but will throw out an idea. You probably need to get it cranking stronger and longer before you back off the intake air. It has to get really hot (like 1000 degrees if I remember correctly) inside the firebox to achieve a secondary burn. Unfortunately, I don't know what stovetop or stovepipe temp that translates to in your case. There will be some trial and error involved. Good luck.
For what it's worth, here's something I wrote in a thread about the stove I am familiar with, the Avalon Olympic:
Burning Techniques: if I could give just one piece of advice for running an Olympic from a *cold* start, it would be to get that puppy good and hot with kindling and small splits before laying on the big stuff. The first job is to heat up the stove itself, and it’s a huge hunk of metal. As it happens, I have access to plenty of pallets through work, and think nothing of using a bunch of pallet pieces and small splits to get the stovetop temp up to like 500 degrees or so before adding any normal splits. I start it out wide open (full intake air, bypass open, top flue damper [my own addition] open), let it go for a few minutes that way, then close the bypass. It’s tempting to reduce the intake air because the wood is burning so fast, but I believe that in the long run it’s best to just sacrifice this startup wood and accept the loss as the cost of doing business. When the firebox is hot and some coals are established, I open up the bypass, add medium and/or large splits which usually take off to an active burn with little or no smoldering. Once the big pieces are flaming, I close the bypass, and when they are well charred its time to reduce the intake air (and in my case to partially close the flue damper). This is when the secondary burning takes place, and I haven’t gotten tired of watching that yet. OK, that was from a cold start. If the stove is already hot and there are plenty of coals, I agree with CTwoodburner that a N-S channel through the coals in front of the air inlet helps the next load take off. Since I’m a wood scrounger and have an odd mix of lengths, I like that the Olympic will take long pieces in the E-W orientation. Fireplace or welder’s gloves help a lot when placing those. But in the last couple of years, I’ve started making overnight loads of short (<16 inch) splits or rounds facing N-S whenever I have enough of them. Easier to get a full load in and I think the cumbustion air flow is somewhat better as well.

 

[retiredff]

OK, I will try that tomorrow morning as it will be in the upper 30's. I had some coals but not nearly as much as you suggest. It does make sense the whole stove needs to be really hot in order for things to work properly. What should I see when the secondary burn starts? I saw flames coming from the tubes like a gas stove burner on high, but not across the entire top of the stove, just in 1 area.

thanks

 

[Creek-Chub]

Retiredff,

I think you're on the right track, and it sounds like what you were seeing is indeed a secondary burn - just not much of one. I'm no expert as this is my first year with an EPA stove, but I noticed the same thing you're seeing. My take on it is that I just didn't get the stove hot enough/enough coals/etc. and was getting a "mini" secondary burn. Through a little trial and error, the following seems to be working for me:

1) Build up a nice, substantial bed of coals via pallets (I have a bunch of slab wood), kindling, or smaller splits. (I like the notion mentioned above about keeping the air high and "sacrificing" this initial load/loads of wood to build up your coals as a cost of doing business.)

2) Once I've got nice coals/chunks, I'll add two or three medium sized splits. When these are charred, I'll start to back down the air in increments over 20 minutes or a half hour.

3) By this time the stove has been burning nice and hot for an hour or so, and has a good load of nicely charred splits in it. I'll close off the air intake entirely for a second, which seems to induce the secondary burn, and then open it just a touch which seems to increase the strength of the burn a little.

This has worked for me and my stove, but your mileage may vary. With good wood, I've been seeing my secondary burn last an hour and a half or so. I don't know if this is a long or short time, but it's working so far for me. Good luck!

 

[Funk Brother]

RFF - you are on the right track. Yes to the gas stove burner flames. Also there will sometimes be slow wafting flames which come and go (think Northern Lights?) along the top of the stovebox. In my experience, the secondary burn only lasts for, say, a quarter or less of the entire burn cycle. Then it dies down, I think due to both diminished firebox temps and a lack of unburned particulates. I haven't tried a hearth.com search for "secondary burn" but I'll bet there's a lot of info on the topic, so you might want to give that a shot. I'm not an expert by any means, just somebody who made the transition from non-EPA to EPA burning a few years ago.

 

[begreen]

Tony, have you had a chance to watch the Gulland video? It's a good primer for new EPA stove burners:

http://www.ec.gc.ca/cleanair-airpur/default.asp?lang=En&n=8011CD70-1

 

[retiredff]

Yes I have, thanks

 

[retiredff]

Did 2nd burn this morning and reached a internal stack temp of 900 deg. The secondary burn worked fine. I am still using smaller wood for the burn as the stove still stinks up the house and sets off a smoke detector or 2. :cheese: That did not make the wife happy at 7 am on a Sunday! :coolgrin:

The weather shows a few mornings this week of mid 30 deg morning temps. I should have the stove broke in and ready to burn when the weather turns really cold and the smell will be gone so I won't need the windows open.

Thanks for the info

 

[begreen]

900 flue temp is too hot. Try reducing the air as the wood starts to blacken. You should see the stove body temp go up and secondary burn, but the flue temp should remain the same or actually go down. Then as the wood gets completely charred, reduce the air some more. The idea is to keep the heat in the firebox and not heading up the flue.

BroBart just posted a good burning routine at the end of this thread. Try that and see if it works for you:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/25750/#271655

 

[retiredff]

Begreen, is 900 to hot for a probe thermometer on double wall pipe 18" from the stove top? I didn't buy a regular thermometer for the stove top, should I?

 

[begreen]

Yes, you don't want to be seeing 900 degree temps in the flue, particularly for an extended time. For comparison, I'm seeing 250-500 max with the T6. With the Jotul F400 they ranged between 250 and 400. The only time I have seen 900 in the flue was with the 602 when I forgot to close the air down.

I like having a stove top thermometer and a flue probe too, but it's not a necessity.

 

[retiredff]

OK, I didn't realize that. I will watch my temps next time...

 

[begreen]

By closing down the air, say half-way, when the wood starts burning well, you should see a nice display of secondary burning in the stove and the flue temps leveling out.