Let start, this is my first year burning. I have a new Napoleon 1402 insert, the fireplace is located about center of the house. This fireplace was open double sided, which stole more heat that it put out. I have a lined insulated pipe, I have what is called salt box house with a loft. My house is 24 x 36, I have used it a few times, I really don't have a draft problem it drafts good I have found I just start the fire with a flash add wood and about 15 minutes later I close the draft. How many pieces of wood should I put in at one time? Can you stuff it to the top with wood? My friend said she thinks there is too much draft, because he said there should not be so much flame. If I full the inset half way full it lasts about 3 hrs, I am heating with ash right now. What do I need to get a 8 hr burn?
First timer with firewood :/
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remkel
Minister of Fire
Hi Jennifer If your stove is working normally a full charge of wood (loaded up to the sec burn tubes) is the best way to longer steadier burns. If you close the draft control to minimum, and the stove slows down (meaning you have control of the fire burning) all is well. If the fire does not slow down you may have a gasket leaking (most likely the door), and your burn times will suffer. For that stove's firebox (around 2.0 Cuft) 6-9 hour burn times would be considered normal. Temp is always a good measure on what your stove is doing operating between 350-800 would be normal, you should also see more secondary gases burning off with lower air settings, at normal burn temps. "A lot of flame" is a relative term- a well burning stove will still have a full or near full flame picture even with secondary combustion occurring, especially with well seasoned wood. If in doubt, get it checked by a professional chimney/stove guy. Good luck.
Stovelark
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I would proceed with caution here. You are on a learning curve so don't rush it. A larger load of wood should burn longer, if the splits are larger. If the splits are skinny the fire may just get hotter. Can you describe the wood you are burning or better yet, show us some pictures?
If you don't have a stove top thermometer for the stove, get one. That will help you know when the stove is burning normally or too hot.
About the strong draft, how tall is the flue on this stove?
If you don't have a stove top thermometer for the stove, get one. That will help you know when the stove is burning normally or too hot.
About the strong draft, how tall is the flue on this stove?
Ashful
Minister of Fire
After reading the first two posts, I was going to write exactly what begreen wrote. Proceed with caution. Work your way up to a full load with lots of experimentation, don't jump in with both feet. It's hard to slow down a run-away train.
Be especially careful putting a full load of fresh wood on a hot coal bed, especially if you're loading smaller wood.
Be especially careful putting a full load of fresh wood on a hot coal bed, especially if you're loading smaller wood.
Yep, I wouldn't just load it up. Sounds like things are going well, but work your way up as you get a feel for it. Flame is good. That means your wood is decent. Since you're in Michigan and burning ash, it is probably long dead and fairly dry. If you load up any other kind of wood that is sold as 'seasoned', I bet you will see a big, negative difference in the way it burns.
How tall is the chimney? I doubt that you have too much draft. Your friend is probably not used to how a modern stove should burn with good wood. I'm not familiar with your insert or where to place a magnetic thermometer, but some kind of temperature readings to reference would be good as you learn how to burn it.
How tall is the chimney? I doubt that you have too much draft. Your friend is probably not used to how a modern stove should burn with good wood. I'm not familiar with your insert or where to place a magnetic thermometer, but some kind of temperature readings to reference would be good as you learn how to burn it.
firecracker_77
Minister of Fire
Ease into it. If you have a hot coal bed, don't fill it full of small splits. You will have too much heat. Locate your air intakes just in case. If you had to cool a runaway fire, one way to do that is choke off most of the oxygen. That may or may not work for an insert; I have no experience.
A taller stack will increase draft obviously, so there are many variables. The same insert or stove acts differently depending on the height of your chimney.
I prefer small splits to establish a coal bed on start-up or re-light. Then, proceed with larger splits which don't burn down as rapidly. But, just ease into a full load. If your insert has a baffle above the burn tubes, don't jam in too much wood if you are scraping the baffle to do so. I have ruined a baffle doing that. They are delicate and enable the burn tubes to work properly.
A 2.0 cubic foot box is in the small / medium range firebox size. I have a claimed 2.3, and I get at most about 5 - 6 hours on a burn. There are things I could do to slow the burn more and extend that, but don't expect miracles. Large fireboxes hold many more pounds of wood which natually extends burn times. 3 hours seem a little low, but just beware of overfire on loading too full. I don't have a thermometer yet, but I can tell when I'm pushing it partly because I can start to smell the paint fumes from my pipe. With an insert, you may not have that warning with the liner contained in the chimney.
I think you'll be fine. You have a good month before you will really need maximum heat. 10 or 15 more fires max, and you'll be a pro.
A taller stack will increase draft obviously, so there are many variables. The same insert or stove acts differently depending on the height of your chimney.
I prefer small splits to establish a coal bed on start-up or re-light. Then, proceed with larger splits which don't burn down as rapidly. But, just ease into a full load. If your insert has a baffle above the burn tubes, don't jam in too much wood if you are scraping the baffle to do so. I have ruined a baffle doing that. They are delicate and enable the burn tubes to work properly.
A 2.0 cubic foot box is in the small / medium range firebox size. I have a claimed 2.3, and I get at most about 5 - 6 hours on a burn. There are things I could do to slow the burn more and extend that, but don't expect miracles. Large fireboxes hold many more pounds of wood which natually extends burn times. 3 hours seem a little low, but just beware of overfire on loading too full. I don't have a thermometer yet, but I can tell when I'm pushing it partly because I can start to smell the paint fumes from my pipe. With an insert, you may not have that warning with the liner contained in the chimney.
I think you'll be fine. You have a good month before you will really need maximum heat. 10 or 15 more fires max, and you'll be a pro.
Backwoods Savage
Minister of Fire
Welcome to the forum Jennifer. As others have stated, don't over do things. Learn as you go.
You have to control the fire and you do this with the draft control. Usually you want it full open when you reload the stove but after a short time (maybe 10-15 minutes) you start to cut down on the amount of draft. Each stove and installation can be a bit different but for starters I'd recommend cutting the draft to 10-20%. That will slow down the fire to make it last longer and also will keep the heat in the house rather than sending it up the chimney.
Now please tell us about your wood. Then more recommendations can be given.
You have to control the fire and you do this with the draft control. Usually you want it full open when you reload the stove but after a short time (maybe 10-15 minutes) you start to cut down on the amount of draft. Each stove and installation can be a bit different but for starters I'd recommend cutting the draft to 10-20%. That will slow down the fire to make it last longer and also will keep the heat in the house rather than sending it up the chimney.
Now please tell us about your wood. Then more recommendations can be given.
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
Generally more wood = longer burn . . . and in time you can fill up the firebox full with wood, but many of us leave an inch or two gap at the top . . . however for now experiment with smaller loads and learn how to run the stove . . . most places right now do not need really long burn times . . . just one fire to take the chill out of the air -- heat up the stove and then let it radiate some of that heat outwards. Once you have mastered the stove and learned its nuances you will be able to load 'er up and let 'er go.
As others have noted . . . thermometers help a lot in learning when to start closing the air control . . . closing down the air with secondary burners is key to getting plenty of heat and the long burn . . . but if you close too early you can smother the fire and if you wait until too late you may have really hot temps and waste a bit of the heat going up the chimney.
As also mentioned . . . going by the flames isn't always the best way to tell when you should shut things down, if you have a good draft, etc. as a secondary burn under "control" will have plenty of flame action in my stove -- in fact it looks like a Portal to Hell has opened up in my woodstove.
Gotta love ash . . . it's my "If I could only have one wood species to burn" wood. Fortunately, I do have other options too though since variety is the spice of life.
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