Hearthstone II- troubleshooting

[Anthony6491]

Hello all,

In July I bought a home with a hearthstone II wood stove. I’ve never lived anywhere with a wood stove, but I’ve always loved them and a wood stove was high on my list home requirements.

In the disclosures for buying the property the stove was considered in “disrepair”, so after the purchase I contacted a highly recommended chimney cleaner/stove tech to clean the chimney and see if there’s anything to do about the stove. He cleaned the stove and chimney and said the stove is airtight and suggested I just start slow with it but it seemed to be in working order.

This is a soapstone stove and one of the soapstones on top has a small hairline fracture on it. I’ve been using it the past month and a half with no issues. I’ve been burning wood the previous owner left behind, and to be honest I’m not exactly sure what the moisture content is. I’ve just picked up about a half cord of wood locally and feels way more dry and is barkless.

So, for the past month and a half I’ve been using the stove 3-4 times a week with no issues. I always use a fire starter brick to get going, as the kindling I’ve been collecting has been sitting in a dry spot to completely dry out since I moved in. Last night I was out of fire starters so I loaded the stove with newspaper and kindling and lit it up. A few minutes laters the stove is making a LOUD roaring noise. Never heard it do that before, sounds like a tractor trailer is driving through my house. Smoke is billowing out between the flue pipe at the seam of the stone every couple of seconds, temp is sitting at about 425° at this point. This continues for about 3 minutes then it calms down a bit, no more smoke.

I add two logs to the embers and they light up very quickly, almost instantly, I hear the loud roaring noise again but no smoking out of the stove. This process repeats every time I add a log.

I noticed a very small gap on the side loading door that wasn’t visible before. I could never see light out of the side door prior.

Did I at too much kindling and paper too quickly and create more smoke than could escape efficiently? I checked the chimney access in basement and I had some dry leaves in there, my house is surrounded by trees so it’s safe to assume I have leaves going all the way up, will check on it this weekend and clear out as needed. Would debris in the chimney cause the loud roar?

Thanks in advance

 

[begreen]

Both stove door gaskets should be checked for leakage by doing the dollar bill test all around the door. If the bill pulls out easily, that gasket needs replacement. Also, inspect the interior of the stove carefully. Is the baffle warped or burned out at the front? Inspect the secondary tube. Is it cracked or has it burned out or is it missing? Is the air control working properly or is it sticking?

 

[Anthony6491]

Both stove door gaskets should be checked for leakage by doing the dollar bill test all around the door. If the bill pulls out easily, that gasket needs replacement. Also, inspect the interior of the stove carefully. Is the baffle warped or burned out at the front? Inspect the secondary tube. Is it cracked or has it burned out or is it missing? Is the air control working properly or is it sticking?

Thanks for the reply,

I will be trying the dollar bill test this evening as well as tightening the fit of the door according the hearthstone II operation manual. The secondary tube seem to be in decent shape and the air control works as intended.

The baffle does appear to have seen better days and seems quite burnt up. I am a bit of a stove newbie, the baffle directs the smoke into the flue, is that correct? If my baffle is warped or burnt to the point of being misshapen could that be cause for the roaring noise I heard?

Another point, up until this incident, whenever I had loaded my stove before the logs would burn and by the time they were done I was left with almost nothing burning in my stove, no embers just a pile of ash. Last night when I would hear roaring, the logs burnt out I was left with red hot embers in my stove that stayed red hot for 40 minutes, something I hadn’t accomplished prior. My temperature (according to my cheap magnetic thermometer on my flue pipe) stayed more consistent that it had ever been. Stayed between 400-500°. I also was seeing blue flames over the embers which to my knowledge is a good sign. Could that all be a sign of better quality wood I had just started using last night?


Other than the instruction manual pdf, I can’t find a whole lot of info online as far as troubleshooting or people with the same stove as me. Although it seems that parts are readily available.

Again, thanks for the reply

 

[Anthony6491]

Some additional information, after taking a look last night I noticed the ash door on the stove was left ajar about 1/4”-1/2”, also the frame of the chimney clean out in the basement is loose and corroded. Could both of those issues have played a factor in the roaring noise? Feeding too much oxygen to my fire?

 

[begreen]

The ash door must always be tightly closed. What happened was that a large amount of air was being sucked under the fire in a forge-like effect. This can damage the stove.

The chimney cleanout door must be sealed tightly. Otherwise, air leaking there will dilute the draft and cool down the flue gases. This can lead to creosote buildup. With the door open, put a bead of silicone around the door edge and frame and then close the door on it. That will create a sealing gasket.

 

[DylanCO]

Hey I have this same stove. It does a great job heating my downstairs.
However my ash doors lock bolt is broken off. I keep something heavy near by to keep it closed tight.

Anthony would you been willing to upload some close up pictures of your ash door? It should have a bolt sticking out of the side, that the lever catches to hold it closed.