Hearthstone Heritage burn cycle, stove temps, and heat.

[BrowningBAR]

The Heritage is the only stove I've run with secondary burn tubes and I am wondering about the air controls. No matter how much I have it turned down, the air opening in the front of the stove below the glass always burns a tunnel through the wood on the bottom of the firebox. Is this typical? Even with the air shut all the way I can watch the tunnel being burnt through the bottom of the wood stack.

I have nothing to compare this to since the Intrepid and Encore do not run this way and the Vigilant is lacking windows (and the incoming air is not located in the same spot.

 

[shawneyboy]

The Mansfield has the dog house as well. I too can see a "tunnel burn" as well. Much slower "tunnel burn" with the air controls closed down but it is still there. Open her up and it is like a forge in front of the doghouse. I think that because of location, the air is sucked through the doghouse more so than through the airwash when the controls are shut down. At least this is what I am thinking.

Shawn

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

Spent the time today and re-split some existing splits to load up the stove as much as possible. Never bothered to do that previously. Just kind of poked around until I got 4-7 splits that would fit. I think I got 8-9 splits in, plus a quarter of Super Cedar, plus cedar shake kindling.

Had the stove top up to 300° in 30 minutes with the damper closed. Stove is now at 430° with the air closed at around 50-55%. Within the next 30 minutes I should be able to shut down the air control all the way or close to it.

External temps on the double wall pipe have been no more than 220°

We'll see what this does to the burn time.

Results from "Double Dampering"??
I was able to do it on our stove last night & as asual, the results were favorable.
Clean, longer & very picturesque burn....

 

[snowleopard]

I get the tunnel burn on my Heritage as well. I've heard of people locating the intake hole and covering it w/foil, but to me this is akin to wiring your carburator open. I guess you can, but why?

I have a damper on my pipe, had it installed upon installation, and went with the propriatary damper for Excel double-wall. Spendy. I had it put in directly above the stove, as I assumed that the direct heat from the stove would help keep it from building up creasote in that location. Didn't use it much at first because someone told me it was a bad idea, should have it taken out. I finally talked it over with Stove Store Guy, and he said that he thought in our climate, used judiciously, it could be a good thing. Came in very handy during the windstorm we had here last Feb, and I started using it more and more. Now I use it regularly. I think it helps throw more heat into the house, and I use it once we've got a good fire established. Sometimes I have to clean the window after I've used it.

Can I threadjack a bit, and ask how you manage your controls for a top-down fire in the Hearthstone? I've tried a few of these this weekend, just to find out what the fuss was about, and they work as described--one match, walk away fire building. However, what I don't get from it is that immediate blast of heat through the window, so it's not an approach I'd use when the house is cold and I want to get warm fast. I'm wondering if you leave the controls wide open until you get a large hot fire burning, or shut them down shortly, or what?