Harmon Oakwood Overburn

[dyner]

Hello

I noticed a glow late last night on the rear side of my Oakwood. <New to wood burning. Just bought my Oakwood late last winter>. The top temp was reading about 550 and the afterburn was obviously in high gear. I had the draft set at about 50%. With the lights out, I could see a very faint red glow on the back side of the stove. Between the puffing and gassey combustion and now the discovery of this overburn, I am worried..... I am obviously not doing a few things right. Am I causing damage in the secondary burn chamber and or to the stove itself. Not sure just how hot the secondary burn walls are getting but obviously HOT! Burning well seasoned Ash and Elm.

 

[Sconnie Burner]

Are you talking in the firebox itself? If it was in the stove you should be ok I would think. I'm not familiar with your stove, but my Quad-fire has the secondary burn tubes glowing on every load when they take off with a stove top temp of 600-650. The internal firebox temp is roughly double the stove top temp.

 

[dyner]

Are you talking in the firebox itself? If it was in the stove you should be ok I would think. I'm not familiar with your stove, but my Quad-fire has the secondary burn tubes glowing on every load when they take off with a stove top temp of 600-650. The internal firebox temp is roughly double the stove top temp.

If the secondary combustion occurs in the primary burn box, then yes I am talking about the firebox itself. As you can hear, I am very new to this. I thought maybe there was a separate chamber where the gasses and smoke was burned through secondary combustions. There are tubes that appear to fire like torches while this is going on...

 

[branchburner]

Hello

I noticed a glow late last night on the rear side of my Oakwood. The top temp was reading about 550 and the afterburn was obviously in high gear. I had the draft set at about 50%.

Welcome to the wonderful world of downdraft stoves! Yes, this stove has a rear burn chamber, so it is a lot different from typical burn-tube stoves like the Quad mentioned above. Your stove top temps tell only half the story, and not the important half.

Get yourself an IR temp gun ($28 at Harbor Freight) and you will see that the AB gets super-hot when cranking -- you were probably around 900f. You should be able to keep it well below 800f simply by closing the air to 1/4 open, or less. Running it at 1/2 or more, such that the stove glows, will mean damage to the AB over time (I wouldn't worry about it happening once or twice, but that should not be regular cruising temp).

Depending on the size and tightness of your house, you may desire to get greater heat output when it's super cold by running the stove wide open, or even 1/2 open. Don't do it. You will kill the stove, or at least kill its ($300) guts, by overworking it. Monitor your temps, and if the AB pushes 800f you need to reduce the primary air. I find a typical cruising burn may give AB temps of 700+, stove top temps of 500-600f, and (single wall external) flue temps of 250-300f.

It will take a while to get the perfect timing and technique for your setup, but these stoves just have a long learning curve that can be frustrating. You need a well-established fire and coal-bed (without letting the flue get too hot) before you can close the bypass damper. After closing it, the air should be stepped down in increments, from full to 3/4 to 1/2 to 1/4 or less. Shut it down too far too fast and you get a stalled AB, with potential backpuffing.

You are burning seasoned wood and obviously have sufficient draft, so you should get good output from your Oakwood. Since it throws heat from the rear, using a small fan to help pull heat off the AB area can serve two purposes: move more heat into the living space AND keep the AB from getting excessively hot. With my setup, stove 2/3 into a fireplace, I have found the fan to be essential for both functions.

At the end of every season, with a stone-cold stove, you want to remove the inner bricks and shoe brick and vacuum out the AB (being careful not to suck off pieces with the vacuum, as it is very fragile). This should help allow for continued good performance. Good luck!

 

[dyner]

Welcome to the wonderful world of downdraft stoves! Yes, this stove has a rear burn chamber, so it is a lot different from typical burn-tube stoves like the Quad mentioned above. Your stove top temps tell only half the story, and not the important half.

Get yourself an IR temp gun ($28 at Harbor Freight) and you will see that the AB gets super-hot when cranking -- you were probably around 900f. You should be able to keep it well below 800f simply by closing the air to 1/4 open, or less. Running it at 1/2 or more, such that the stove glows, will mean damage to the AB over time (I wouldn't worry about it happening once or twice, but that should not be regular cruising temp).

Depending on the size and tightness of your house, you may desire to get greater heat output when it's super cold by running the stove wide open, or even 1/2 open. Don't do it. You will kill the stove, or at least kill its ($300) guts, by overworking it. Monitor your temps, and if the AB pushes 800f you need to reduce the primary air. I find a typical cruising burn may give AB temps of 700+, stove top temps of 500-600f, and (single wall external) flue temps of 250-300f.

It will take a while to get the perfect timing and technique for your setup, but these stoves just have a long leaning curve that can be frustrating. You need a well-established fire and coal-bed (without letting the flue get too hot) before you can close the bypass damper. After closing it, the air should be stepped down in increments, from full to 3/4 to 1/2 to 1/4 or less. Shut it down too far too fast and you get a stalled AB, with potential backpuffing.

You are burning seasoned wood and obviously have sufficient draft, so you should get good ouput from your Oakwood. Since it throws heat from the rear, using a small fan to help pull heat off the AB area can serve two purposes: move more heat into the living space AND keep the AB from getting excessively hot. With my setup, stove 2/3 into a fireplace, I have found the fan to be essential for both functions.

At the end of every season, with a stone-cold stove, you want to remove the inner bricks and shoe brick and vacuum out the AB (being careful not to suck off pieces with the vacuum, as it is very fragile). This should help allow for continued good performance. Good luck!

Branchburner

Awesome reply! Thank you so much for all this info. Will be referring to your suggestions regularly, I'm sure.

I'll be in touch with progress.

Thanks again

dyner

 

[PBJAntioch]

Great information here. I found this very helpful! Thanks!