Backwoods Savage said:
turbocruiser said:
I'm hoping you all can assist me in understanding a user error I am probably performing on our stove ... it seems that my glass only gets dirty at the end of overnight loads. I typically wait until all the firewood that I loaded looks like good glowing coals and then adjust the air control from half open to completely closed and then go to bed but almost every morning when I wake I see that the glass got dirty overnight especially on the edges. Is this something that I'm doing the wrong way and if so what should I do differently? Thanks.
Why would you wait until you have glowing coals to turn the draft down? Waiting that long sends a big portion of your heat right up the chimney and I'd be amazed if you weren't heating that chimney too much!
Typically, one would begin to dial down the draft once the wood was charred and not when it is already at the coaling stage. Most would close the draft to about 50% then and after 10-20 minutes (more or less) close the draft a bit further but rarely close the draft all the way.
I also agree with BeGreen in that your wood is suspect because at the end of the burn cycle there isn't much left there that could dirty the glass or anything else. Perhaps that glass is getting dirty while you are sleeping and you just notice it when you get up.
Why would I do that, well, just cause I don't know any better apparently. I'm not saying that defensively, just honestly. But just to clarify any confusion I'm also saying that I load about 1/2 load, start it with one small fire starter (Rutland Fire Starter Square), leave the air completely open for about twenty minutes, then close the air to 1/2 open until the wood starts to settle, then open the air to completely open for about thirty seconds, add more wood and repeat. I can basically do that until whenever I want to stop and then I'm completely closing the air for the overnight thing.
So when I say I'm waiting to turn the draft down only after having glowing coals, I'm saying I'm waiting to go from 1/2 open to completely closed; I absolutely have to go to 1/2 open within twenty minutes or so of startup or I'd run the stove too high.
Again I think starting tomorrow (for an all day burn) I'm going to repeat the above but as soon as the added wood gets good and charred I'll close the air to 25% and see what happens with that. I'm also going to get the moisture meter and check all my assumptions there too. Add lastly I'm going to try never completely closing the air control as I was doing before; as mentioned above, I'll try leaving just that oval slot open if that seems sensible and see how the stove reacts. I'm still learning the concept of containing as much heat in the stove as opposed to releasing it into the chimney. Again I appreciate everyone's advice.