Hearthstone Heritage - feedback

[mikeathens]

I know I keep asking crazy questions about my stove...

I had a new experience with my stove last night, and wanted to know a little about what everyone else is seeing with theirs. I have only had this operating for a few months, so I'm still getting used to it.

Since my last post, I've modified my operating technique based on what others have posted. I build up my fire with primary air full open. Once it's going strong and my chimney temp is up to 800 F (probe thermometer), I shut the air control down in a few steps over 15 minutes or so, until I finally have it completely to the right (fully closed). Most of the time, the chimney temp sttles to 600 F or less, and the surface temp on the top center stone reaches around 500 F.

Last night, following this procedure, the chimney had a sustained temperature of 700 F, according to the manual, this would have been "low burn". I was a little concerned that the top stone temp might rise over 600 F. There was really nothing more I could have done to bring the temp down. Fortunately, though, the surface only got to 550 F. I had the firebox as full as I could get it with a mix of red oak, white oak, and hickory. Looking at it, the fire wasn't really anyhting out of the ordinary. Just hotter than what I am used to, and I was a little bothered that I couldn't even chok the primary air down more even if I wanted to.

What are your experiences with chimney temperatures and stove top temperatures when opearting your Heritage? What are typical temperatures and have you noticed any trends or relationships between the two? I had thought (until last night) that shutting the primary air all the way would bring the chimney down under 600 F during any burn.

It looks like others are sort of seeing the same thing I am, but no one has asked my question directly...

 

[Rhone]

Although, the colder it is outside the better your draught you may have experienced what happens to me several times a year. That is, I light a fire like normal and I don't know what happens but it burns much, much better than normal like I'm burning gasoline... gets extremely hot, heats up the house like crazy, I get a little nervous as it looks like a regular fire but so much more heat than usual. It lasts a long time, and I wish I knew what happened as if I could do that consistently I'd cut my wood use down by half or more! Anyway, I wish I had a better answer but you may have experienced likewise and several times a year some fires just seem to have everything go perfect and burn so much better than usual to the point you do get nervous and not much you can do about it but let it happen. I've been burning for 3 seasons now and gone through about a dozen fires like that and still have absolutely no clue why those few fires seemed to put 2x or more heat than the hundreds of other fires I've lit.

 

[colsmith]

I have a Hearthstone Phoenix, which is almost identical in size to the Heritage, although made a bit differently. All I can add that might reassure you is that I am also sometimes concerned that even with the primary air control shut down all the way the fire still burns VERY vigorously. It's that secondary burn air flow giving the fire so much umph when you 'think' you have shut the air off, plus the draft. We have a heck of a draft most of the time, I ponder getting a damper put in.

 

[Harley]

Mike:

As Rhone indicated.... sometimes conditions get just right.

I don't think you were too "close to the edge" or getting to the point where you had a potential runaway stove. I know you indicated the stack temp was "sustained" at 700, but just out of curiosity - how long was that? The stovetop temp never went high enough to consider overfiring ("maintaining tem at 600*"). With the primary air shut down, how long did it take before the stack temp started dropping?

 

[Jfigliuolo]

I have a Hearthstone Phoenix, which is almost identical in size to the Heritage, although made a bit differently. All I can add that might reassure you is that I am also sometimes concerned that even with the primary air control shut down all the way the fire still burns VERY vigorously. It's that secondary burn air flow giving the fire so much umph when you 'think' you have shut the air off, plus the draft. We have a heck of a draft most of the time, I ponder getting a damper put in.

I modifed my air intake so I could shut down my primary FULLY. It's very easy to do, of course the usual disclaimers apply. I almost always run my stove w/a lower air setting than the minimum allowed by the standard factory controls.

 

[Todd]

I think those temps are fine. I sometimes wonder if Hearthstone is a little shy when it comes to stove top overfire temp of 600? Woodstock states overfire is over 700 and I get great heat over 600. I know they are different combustoion systems, but they are both soapstone with cast iron frames.

 

[mikeathens]

Mike:

As Rhone indicated.... sometimes conditions get just right.

I don't think you were too "close to the edge" or getting to the point where you had a potential runaway stove. I know you indicated the stack temp was "sustained" at 700, but just out of curiosity - how long was that? The stovetop temp never went high enough to consider overfiring ("maintaining tem at 600*"). With the primary air shut down, how long did it take before the stack temp started dropping?

I realize that primary air "closed all the way" is not truly closed - if I put my hand on the inlet on the back, I can truly get all air flow to stop and nearly kill the fire...

Anyhow, I don't think it was a "runaway stove", just a little annoyed that I didn't have more control over it. By "sustained", once the air control was "shut" as far as it would go, it burned with a stack temp of 700 F for 2+ hours. The stove top stayed at 550F for this same time. Just weird, it was a nice fire, and if I din't have those thermometers, I would have never given it another thought. It was actually really nice.

I have noted that normally, stack temp is 600F (almost exactly, consistently) and the stove ranges from 500 to 550. I just wonder if the "next time" will bring the stove top over 600...

 

[RedOak]

I have a Hearthstone Phoenix, which is almost identical in size to the Heritage, although made a bit differently. All I can add that might reassure you is that I am also sometimes concerned that even with the primary air control shut down all the way the fire still burns VERY vigorously. It's that secondary burn air flow giving the fire so much umph when you 'think' you have shut the air off, plus the draft. We have a heck of a draft most of the time, I ponder getting a damper put in.

I modifed my air intake so I could shut down my primary FULLY. It's very easy to do, of course the usual disclaimers apply. I almost always run my stove w/a lower air setting than the minimum allowed by the standard factory controls.

OK, How does one modify the primary air control to shut it down completely? (disclaimer applied)