Frustrated

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Goater32

New Member
Sep 26, 2012
26
Madison WI
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Ok so I have had my insert (Heat N Glo Northstar) for a year now, and still fighting it. Wood is anywhere from 13% moisture up to about 18% moisture. The air comes in the front just below the doors and then has 3 secondary burn tubes up top. On a bed of coals with stove top temp through the grate at 250 I reload. takes about 10-15 min with the boost air open to get a good fire going. After that I shut the boost air off and let it ride almost all the way open till stove top hits 425 or so then start dialing it back. As I dial it back the secondaries kick in. With air 3/4 open stove top around 465 or so front doors up top are 470ish, front doors in the middle runs around 560-650. And the collar through the grates (don't have access to chimney as it is behind a wall) is about 425 or so. I dial it back to about half temps run about the same, and some smoke becomes visible out of the top of the chimney. For fear of it running away on me I close the air down to just over a 1/4 open and temps level out at about 500 top 450 at the top of the doors 500 in the middle of the doors and 400 on the collar which is 6 or 7" above the stove top. At this point sometimes there is a little smoke coming out of the chimney, sometimes there is none, and other times there is a ton. The fire has good secondaries and some primaries. After about 2-3hrs the secondaries go out and I lose most if not all of my primaries with two or three charred logs in the back of the firebox. If I move the logs a little primaries come back and it burns down nicely. I guess what I am asking, is are my temps good? Do I need to cut down the air sooner and more (too much draft sucking out air before burned) or leave the air open more (smoldering the fire)? The only temp that ever concerns me is the middle of the front doors that has gotten up to 600-700 before and that scares the crap out of me. Thank you for any and all advice, if I had a fancy Iphone I would time lapse the thing so you could see what is happening but alas I do not.
 
Where are you getting your moisture readings from? You need to split a piece of wood again and measure moisture on fresh split. Just with reading that there are black charred logs on the back leads me to believe the wood is still damp. I have wood that has been sitting in single stacks for 2 years covered only on top that is still wet.... It can be very frustrating. Try leaving the air opened a little more. I wouldn't be nervous with those temps.
 
I have gone as far as to take a moisture reading on every log ((new split) that is put into the firebox on a load, this still happens with all splits below 17%
 
Just guessing here but it seems to me that your frustration stems not from your insert's actual performance but rather what you expect your insert to do based on what you've read here.

Just ask yourself some simple questions: Is your insert creating sufficient heat? Are you burning inordinate volumes of wood? Is your chimney creosoting up? If you are satisfied with the answers to these questions I suggest you not worry so much about minutia provided by moisture reading and thermometers.
 
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Sounds to me like you're doing ok. With the weather this cold, you're going to see some condensation (smoke) coming out of the chimney. As long as it's light colored and quickly dissipating, you're good. Inserts are often tough to get accurate temps on. On my stovetop, temps of 600-700 are more typical than unusual. Secondaries aren't going to run for the whole cycle. When the volatiles in the wood burn off, all you're going to have left are coals. There's good heat in the coals, but temps will drift down until the next reload.
 
Your temps look good to me, sounds about how I run.

My secondaries cook along for about three hours as well, once the wood burns down they go out.

Also, during a burn the secondaries will fire, go out, and fire again. When they go out I get smoke.

Point is, don't over think it. And don't worry too much about active secondaries for the entire burn.
 
Not worried about the secondaries so much just that smoke does make it out of my chimney. The smoke is fairly clear looking and disappears 5-10ft outside of the cap. When it was -20 it looked like it was smoking all the time. A f1/3cord lasts about 10-12 days this past week it will last a week. Unit throws plenty of heat when it is as cold as it has been the furnace kicks on maybe once or twice every couple hours
 
That probably ain't smoke. Its steam. Even the best air dried wood has moisture in it. In very cold temps, the steam produced from your stack seams "amplified". Very common. Your temp readings sound pretty average.
Relax and burn on brother.
 
Sounds like your doing everything right and the stove's doing it's job. I too get steam in these cold temps, it dissipates after 5-10 feet.
 
I have gone as far as to take a moisture reading on every log ((new split) that is put into the firebox on a load, this still happens with all splits below 17%


When you say "fresh split" you mean each fresh split you are putting in the stove? or do you mean the wood is freshly split? or do you mean (which is correct) that you took a split, freshly RE-SPLIT it, and took the moisture on that freshly split face?
 
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I get " smoke" when it gets really cold out also . But as was mentioned , it really is the little bit of moisture from the wood . For me I have seen it for several weeks due to negative temps .
 
Reading the first post goater it sounds like you are running things well and your wood is fine. No need to be frustrated. A lot of what you are seeing when it's cold is steam, not smoke. At other times there may be some smoke, but that happens occasionally to most of us depending on the wood, how the fire takes off, etc.. Overall it sounds like you are learning to run this until well and have a decent wood supply.

How tall is the chimney on this stove?
 
That should suffice.
 
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