Hi All!
I'm new to the Hearth Room, but always a fan of wood heat since I was old enough to know what wood is. Also long time reader, 1st time poster.
So the story goes: We bought a house on a river in the country a few months back and other than electric baseboard, it came with this woodstove. The old lady that owned the place lived here on her own as her husband passed suddenly 10 years ago. Being from Ireland, and afraid of fires, she didn't have much advice on how to operate it. Trouble is, we think its undersized and can't get it to burn properly. Truth is, we're not sure we're doing it right either so we're here to ask!
I've read through some instruction manuals I found online, but its not clear what the primary and secondary dampers are?? I see an ash pan handle/slide, an Air wash knob and a flap on the flue..but no where else do I see any controls. If I only use these three methods, I can't get much of a flue temp (300C). To get a good fire going, I have to crack open the Ash pan door..which they say I shouldn't have to do. Am I missing something?
Background on the house: Its a 2 storey, 1750sq ft, no basement and unheated crawl. Built in 1984 with insulation values of that time,(will upgrade insulation next summer) wood stove in living room with ceiling fans in stairwell, dining and kitchen to circulate the heat. We're burning mostly local white Ash which is supposed to be a great burning wood. Temps here in the winter get down to -30C but average -10. We're pretty sure by the measurements and description, that this is a Waterford Erin wood stove.
So we bought 5 cord of hardwood (Ash) for the winter, but want a woodstove efficient enough to make it last. We're thinking this stove is undersized to begin with, to heat this little house in the dead of winter. (Have heard it puts out 33k BTU / heats 1000sq ft total?) We find it won't do an overnight burn and we have to keep feeding it lots of wood every 3 hrs or so..we also suspect the glass seal on the door needs replacing and have seen others with a steel mess over their ash pan grate..ours doesn't have that.
Thought we'd ask before we replace it soon!..with either a good Canadian made Napoleon 1400 or Pacific Energy Super series. A speedy reply would be great as its getting pretty cold here now and the wife doesn't want to mess around..she wants heat! haah. Thanks in advance,
Ken
I'm new to the Hearth Room, but always a fan of wood heat since I was old enough to know what wood is. Also long time reader, 1st time poster.
So the story goes: We bought a house on a river in the country a few months back and other than electric baseboard, it came with this woodstove. The old lady that owned the place lived here on her own as her husband passed suddenly 10 years ago. Being from Ireland, and afraid of fires, she didn't have much advice on how to operate it. Trouble is, we think its undersized and can't get it to burn properly. Truth is, we're not sure we're doing it right either so we're here to ask!
I've read through some instruction manuals I found online, but its not clear what the primary and secondary dampers are?? I see an ash pan handle/slide, an Air wash knob and a flap on the flue..but no where else do I see any controls. If I only use these three methods, I can't get much of a flue temp (300C). To get a good fire going, I have to crack open the Ash pan door..which they say I shouldn't have to do. Am I missing something?
Background on the house: Its a 2 storey, 1750sq ft, no basement and unheated crawl. Built in 1984 with insulation values of that time,(will upgrade insulation next summer) wood stove in living room with ceiling fans in stairwell, dining and kitchen to circulate the heat. We're burning mostly local white Ash which is supposed to be a great burning wood. Temps here in the winter get down to -30C but average -10. We're pretty sure by the measurements and description, that this is a Waterford Erin wood stove.
So we bought 5 cord of hardwood (Ash) for the winter, but want a woodstove efficient enough to make it last. We're thinking this stove is undersized to begin with, to heat this little house in the dead of winter. (Have heard it puts out 33k BTU / heats 1000sq ft total?) We find it won't do an overnight burn and we have to keep feeding it lots of wood every 3 hrs or so..we also suspect the glass seal on the door needs replacing and have seen others with a steel mess over their ash pan grate..ours doesn't have that.
Thought we'd ask before we replace it soon!..with either a good Canadian made Napoleon 1400 or Pacific Energy Super series. A speedy reply would be great as its getting pretty cold here now and the wife doesn't want to mess around..she wants heat! haah. Thanks in advance,
Ken
