Hearthstone Craftsbury Geeks?

[rjm967]

I'm a new Craftsbury owner looking for any advice from seasoned geeks out there. We've installed a new Craftsbury in the living room of our three-story, 1600 sq-ft, 1918 house in Pittsburgh. The stove sits just in front of the original fireplace area that was originally used for coal or gas. We demo'd the decrepit masonry chimney to the roofline and blocked the rest and punched a hole through the wall to run a couple feet of stove pipe from the rear exit out to a 90-degree chimney base, and then about 21 feet of exterior chimney. All Selkirk Supervent 6" installed to code. We're hoping to So far I'm happy with the install and draft and just have some fine-tuning questions.
1. Burning observations/advice. Is there a pronounced direction of burn, like front to back? Are there dead spots to avoid or definitely leave clear for airflow?
2. Loading advice. Seems like leaving ample space clear in the front helps air flow, but then how to maximize load?
3. Ideal split size. I was orginally assuming 16" loaded horizontally, but now I'm wondering if smaller lengths of 9-12", loaded straight in, might better use the space when trying to load up for the night. (I got a load of wood that was frustratingly just too long for the firebox, so took a chainsaw to it, leaving me with a pile of short splits that would be good for this.)
4. Fine tuning the air intake lever. The instruction manual says the difference between closed/"Low" ("not advisable") and "Medium Low" ("typical setting") is "a little less than 1/4 inch." Any insights on this? I can feel a free play of *maybe* a 1/4 inch between the hard-stop closed position and where some friction starts. Would that be the "Medium Low typical setting"? And then sliding further with friction is heading toward Medium? Or should I be starting that 1/4 inch when I start feeling the friction?
5. Best way and interval to remove ash while still in use.
6. Best way to keep glass clean.
7. Any other tips and tricks?
Thanks!

 

[Todd]

Many people with E/W loading stoves find loading shorter splits straight in a better option.

A thermometer on your exhaust pipe may help you knowing when to turn down your air at the right time. It looks like it may be a bit difficult to read with your install but worth a shot. Maybe a digital thermocouple thermometer from Auber?

 

[Egbert Souse']

First, congrats on the stove! I see you also went with the Basil Green which I love endlessly. I had my Craftsbury installed in January '25. I'm still dialing in settings that work for me. I will admit, my wood is not the highest quality so some of my techniques are to compensate for that. I'm about 18 months away from burning my 3 cords of good Oak but I digress.

The picture of your fire looks good! Glass is clean and I bet it's throwing off some good heat. You may want to look into a digital wired probe style flue thermometer as you won't be able to use the traditional dial style going into that chimney. I put a flue thermometer in before this burning season and I wish I'd done it earlier.

I have maybe 5 ft of double wall chimney pipe going into maybe 24ft of Class A outside. So my situation doesn't look too different from yours aside from mine being a top exhaust. If I load the stove full it will run away easily. I find it difficult to bank coals and get a slow traveling burn with the shape and size of the firebox. Perhaps with slightly more dense, dry wood and larger splits you'll have more luck.

As far as air control goes, I tend to use the ash lip as a reference point for the air control. I find that about a fingers width out past the ash lip is the best practice for me with my current wood situation. My soapstone walls tend to blacken up while I'm getting the stove going but settling into that air setting once established my glass and soapstones are fully clean by the time the stove is up to temp.

I wouldn't try to pull any ash out while the stove is hot. You'll be getting rid of your coal bed while having ash fly around your house. Ask me how I know 😂. The primary air enters the stove through that doghouse bump out by the door. With some coals and ash built up to insulate the coals from cooling off too much, I find that I can load just as much wood with the new flat "floor" of the coal bed up to the level of that doghouse.

Hope this helps.


EDIT: I find that if you get this stove nice and hot, between the soapstone and cast iron, it tends to stay hot. I like to preheat my chimney with a propane torch for at least 90 seconds or I find it difficult to get things going as I have a lot of chimney to warm up. I also highly recommend both the blower kit and the outside air kit. They have helped me tremendously.

 

[begreen]

Loading the stove N/S will allow it to be more fully loaded without worry about wood rolling up against the glass. It also allows air to more freely flow from the front airwash to the back.

Instrumentation helps guide one with the burn stages. The air control operation is not linear. A fire starting up needs much more air than a fire that is burning strongly. With that tall chimney, once it is fully warmed up and the fire is burning well, the air control may need to be set to as low as it can go.