Hey all,
3 months ago I purchased the fire place xtrodinaire Large Flush Hybrid-Fyre Insert for my 1900sqft home and have been wholly dissapointed. Ever since we got it the blower has been on the fritz and I've talked to the dealer about it multiple times(they are coming tomorrow to check it out). But that isn't really part of the question. This is the first time heating with wood for me, and we're attempting to heat with solely wood. I've been burning it as hot and heavy as i can, and it simply cannot keep up
.
I've read a lot in the forums trying to learn how to use it better and whatnot, so I know the first question is "is the wood dry?" I bought a pine/fir/cedar mix at the beginning of the season, and it is dry as a bone(I don't have a moisture sensor but a full split lights up like a matchstick). I also cut up a couple cords of oak that has been down on the tree(cut live) for 2-3 years. I cut it up and split it. The oak is wet, no doubt about it.
I've been trying to use the oak when I can(on the days when its not so cold out and the house is already warm) to conserve the rest of my dryer wood, but when it gets really cold, I've been burning the dry stuff non-stop.
I'll feed the fire all day long, leave it full at 12am sometimes 2am and wake up at 7am and load it again, but through all that I can't keep even the room the stove is in very warm. It takes me ALL day to gain up to 72* and when 8pm rolls around, the degrees start falling off the thermometer steadily. By the time I wake up, the house will be at 45* if I don't have the propane wall heaters set. The blower is on high, the coals in the stove are so hot, I can't load it without tongs and gloves. There is definetly very hot air coming out, but not near enough. These temperatures are in the same room(living room) as the stove, and my bedrooms upstairs are staying COLD.
I bought the biggest firebox insert they had at my local fireplace store thinking, "i'll do my best to oversize the stove so I can have my house at 80* whenever I want it" but it just doesn't seem to be doing the trick. The stove claims 10-12 hour burn times(which it has achieved if you consider having a few red coals left) but it doesn't put out Much heat if I have it like that(staring with a hot fire, closing the air down 90%)...warm air, not hot.
When the temps are in the 20's, I was maintaining no problem...if I pushed it hard all day I could be at 80* in the evening, but now the temps are in the singles, last night at -8* and if it weren't for the propane, we'd be freezing, in spite of me stoking and filling the fire at 1:00AM and my wife doing the same at 4:30. Let me re-iterate that this is burning our dry stack.
The other issue I'm facing is that I'm getting so many unburned coals, I was having to shovel out the ashes every morning for a while. When it got cold and we started only using our dryer wood, it helped a little and now its every other day, but its still full of coals ranging from marble size to golf ball size, unburned. I try and stir them up and keep them hot and rake them forward and pile them up and etc. etc. etc...
I can stand in front of the stove and get warm when its rolling hot, but when I open the glass to stoke it or load it, I can't hardly be within 4 feet of it, its that warm. Shouldn't I be getting more of that inferno heat in my house?
Am I doing something wrong? Did we get a lemon of a stove? Our house is moderately insulated. It has insulation under the floors, in the walls, and in the attic, but the exterior walls are only 2x4, so its only r-11 or 13 or whatever. All of my friends that have wood stoves(don't have any friends with inserts) here have their houses at 80* as long as they are home and they aren't putting anywhere near the effort as I am.
On a side note, the problem with the blower is that it keeps tripping on and off at weird times, but never when I'm keeping the stove super hot. I think the thermo-disc is bad from the factory.
Any help/tips/advice etc.. would be amazing. Does anyone have specific experience with this stove?
3 months ago I purchased the fire place xtrodinaire Large Flush Hybrid-Fyre Insert for my 1900sqft home and have been wholly dissapointed. Ever since we got it the blower has been on the fritz and I've talked to the dealer about it multiple times(they are coming tomorrow to check it out). But that isn't really part of the question. This is the first time heating with wood for me, and we're attempting to heat with solely wood. I've been burning it as hot and heavy as i can, and it simply cannot keep up
.
I've read a lot in the forums trying to learn how to use it better and whatnot, so I know the first question is "is the wood dry?" I bought a pine/fir/cedar mix at the beginning of the season, and it is dry as a bone(I don't have a moisture sensor but a full split lights up like a matchstick). I also cut up a couple cords of oak that has been down on the tree(cut live) for 2-3 years. I cut it up and split it. The oak is wet, no doubt about it.
I've been trying to use the oak when I can(on the days when its not so cold out and the house is already warm) to conserve the rest of my dryer wood, but when it gets really cold, I've been burning the dry stuff non-stop.
I'll feed the fire all day long, leave it full at 12am sometimes 2am and wake up at 7am and load it again, but through all that I can't keep even the room the stove is in very warm. It takes me ALL day to gain up to 72* and when 8pm rolls around, the degrees start falling off the thermometer steadily. By the time I wake up, the house will be at 45* if I don't have the propane wall heaters set. The blower is on high, the coals in the stove are so hot, I can't load it without tongs and gloves. There is definetly very hot air coming out, but not near enough. These temperatures are in the same room(living room) as the stove, and my bedrooms upstairs are staying COLD.
I bought the biggest firebox insert they had at my local fireplace store thinking, "i'll do my best to oversize the stove so I can have my house at 80* whenever I want it" but it just doesn't seem to be doing the trick. The stove claims 10-12 hour burn times(which it has achieved if you consider having a few red coals left) but it doesn't put out Much heat if I have it like that(staring with a hot fire, closing the air down 90%)...warm air, not hot.
When the temps are in the 20's, I was maintaining no problem...if I pushed it hard all day I could be at 80* in the evening, but now the temps are in the singles, last night at -8* and if it weren't for the propane, we'd be freezing, in spite of me stoking and filling the fire at 1:00AM and my wife doing the same at 4:30. Let me re-iterate that this is burning our dry stack.
The other issue I'm facing is that I'm getting so many unburned coals, I was having to shovel out the ashes every morning for a while. When it got cold and we started only using our dryer wood, it helped a little and now its every other day, but its still full of coals ranging from marble size to golf ball size, unburned. I try and stir them up and keep them hot and rake them forward and pile them up and etc. etc. etc...
I can stand in front of the stove and get warm when its rolling hot, but when I open the glass to stoke it or load it, I can't hardly be within 4 feet of it, its that warm. Shouldn't I be getting more of that inferno heat in my house?
Am I doing something wrong? Did we get a lemon of a stove? Our house is moderately insulated. It has insulation under the floors, in the walls, and in the attic, but the exterior walls are only 2x4, so its only r-11 or 13 or whatever. All of my friends that have wood stoves(don't have any friends with inserts) here have their houses at 80* as long as they are home and they aren't putting anywhere near the effort as I am.
On a side note, the problem with the blower is that it keeps tripping on and off at weird times, but never when I'm keeping the stove super hot. I think the thermo-disc is bad from the factory.
Any help/tips/advice etc.. would be amazing. Does anyone have specific experience with this stove?
) and then start closing the air supply down little by little. I don't have a thermometer, or a place to attach one anywhere on the insert itself. There isn't room on the door and the rest of the exposed metal isn't actually part of the stove, just the trim. I basically go buy how many secondaries I have burning to tell me whether I need more air or not. I'll let it burn like that until I can tell the stove isn't putting out as hot of air as it used to be(usually once everything has been coaling for a while) and then I open the air back up and re-pack, rinse, repeat. Overnight i'll get it as hot as I can before bed, then load it up and crack the door to get it good n hot and then close it all down to about 80% closed and let it burn. Some nights I have better luck than others about how much is left in the AM and how hot it still is and everything, but for example last night we had it running, it was only about 15* and the main room(where the stove is) still couldn't stay above 57* where the propane kicks on. I went to bed at 2, woke up at 7.
