First fire in the new Stove...NICE

[tbl01]

Good Evening,

First Iwant to thank everyone who help me not choose the smaller stove(From my first previous post). I had the Xtrondaire XP33Elite installed today.

Specs are the following:
XP 33 Elite
5.5" Flex, MagnaFlex kit, and full insulation.
Blockoff plate
1500 Sq.Ft Tudor/Colonial

The install went pretty good. The installer had to remove about 4 bricks , and the rear piece of the damper. No ovalizing was required once we removed the bricks.

The liner was down the chimney in no town, no snags or issues. Most difficult part of the install was lining up the connector to the appliance , and actully fitting the unit. We just barely made the minimum dimesions to fit the unit.

We also had to chip about 1/4 of brick to clear the blower wire. those were the two big snags.
ou
Now for the good stuff.

The insert is just amazing. The looks agaisnt the old brick fireplace is awesome. im hooked

At first I was a little concerened that with the 5.5" liner I might have some drafting issues. We had the stove up a to temp in about 1 hr. I had a micx of dry , not so dry wood, so it was a little slow going.

Once I had a bed of coals , different animal. I now feel i have almost too much draft. I had the temp ion lower floor at 72, upper level at 68. Then i really loaded up the stove,
and the house jumped up to 77 way too fast, the air tubes were glowing orange, and I started to think I had a runaway fire. Opened both dampers turned the fan on high and got it under control. Phew!

Ran to Home Depot and picked up a Rutledge therometer. I have it damped almost all the way down and its cooking nicely at 400F.

Stove runs like a top, nice draft, nice open view to the fire. I couldnt be happeir. My wife is really pleased with how nice the insert looks and heat output.
Blower is quiet at low speeds, and not too bad at higest setting. Nice variable speed blower which gives you more tuning to heating the house.

It will take me a few more days to really nail down getting the most out of the insert, but so far so good.

Im glad I have the option to build a biiger fire for cold days and smaller fires for warmer days, while not blowing myself out of the family room with heat.

thanks again for all who helped in pointing me in the right direction regarding the size of the stove.

Now we need a real cold night to see how this puppy can heat the house!!

will follow up with some pics, there on my desktop.

 

[tbl01]

couple of pics

Enjoy

 

[Hogwildz]

Thats a sweet looking unit! Congrats.
Now, get that hearth extended!

 

[DriftWood]

Nice set up . Is your Hearth Depth 16", 18" in some places?? I cant tell looking at the photo? Did a inspector check out your installation and sign off on a safe install before you fired it up? Wouldn't want to explain a house fire to your insurance company with out a safe install sign off from your building inspector.

Xtrondaire XP33Elite manual

(broken link removed to http://www.fireplacex.com/TravisDocs/100-01157.pdf)

 

[RonB]

Congratulations tbl your insert does look real nice against that brick color! You will be fine tuning your knowledge about your insert all season. I have a new stove and expect it will take most of the season to learn its' finer points--even though I have burned wood for about 5 years. By the way, I think you meant to say that you closed your air controls when the fire was too vigorous--rather than opening them. Maybe another insert owner will chime in as to the best placement for your temp gauge. I sure rely on mine a lot. Since mine is a stove, mine is placed on the stove pipe above the stove.

 

[Nebrsmithers]

Nice looking insert! Looks as though there is nothing left to do but sit back and enjoy the flames.

 

[tbl01]

Yes i need to extend the hearth, hearth is only 10". HW I ma going to put down 8" tile/or stone temprarily unitl i can get the hearth done the way I want.
Took a lot of pictures, and friend from Code enfocement( I do work for a City in engineering) mentioned two things. Extended the hearth as previosuly mentioned, and he said extend the hearth as previousl mentioned, and the chimney cap/base plate should be secured a little better. DW

Otherwise enjoy.

Actually with the fire roaring the only place around the stove that gets warm is directly in front of the hearth, not on the sides or top at all.
This unit has two dampers, one for when the fire is going nicely, and one to start the fire, and load wood. I opened the bypass damper and left the secondary open so fire would thowheat up the chimney and not out into the room/unit. it seemes to work

thanks for replies

I was able to get a 6hr burn last nite without any trouble. 8 hr shouldnt be a problems once i pack insert and get the hang of it.