Greetings! I want to start by saying that I operated nuclear reactors on USN submarines, and this little stove is substantially more difficult to operate than a reactor. On a more serious note, I grew up around wood stoves, specifically a pre-EPA Scan, so I'm not unfamiliar with wood burning, though I'm certainly not an expert either.
I've frequented this site a lot and found a lot of valuable info from BG that has changed my burning habits, but I still have two primary questions I haven't been able to answer: (1) what are normal flue probe temps for these stoves when in the 400-600F stove top temp band? and (2) how on earth are you guys lighting these things to get a decent coal bed?
I'm burning Sitka spruce, with fresh splits ranging between 16-18% and my house is about 800 sqft. Double wall stove pipe (Excel), about 15 ft tall. At peak temps, the stove top is 450F between the flue adapter and the cook plate, while the Jotul logo on the front is about 580F. At that temp my flue probe typically reads between 800-900F, which seems absurdly high to me, though I'm wondering if I'm just inexperienced and this is actually normal. Flue probe is Condar, 18" above the stove top.
I typically light top down, starting with 2x 3-6" pieces, then 2 or 3 layers of 1" kindling and a fire starter at the top. I recently watched a Jotul video and tried two stacks of 2-3" fuel pieces on the bottom, separated by kindling for air flow, this second method is new to me but seems to be working slightly better. My main issue is that the kindling lights up great, and I progressively shut down the damper as flue temps approach 400F. By the time temps hit 600F, I'm all but shut down on the front damper, just a sliver open with a healthy blazing fire. 10 minutes later, the kindling is burned out and my bottom logs are smoldering. Then it's a 2 hour fight to cut the smoke and get enough flame to keep a sustaining fire. Very frustrating. To me, it seems like the major issue is no air flow under and between the bottom pieces of fuel when cold starting.
For additional info, I had a minor chimney fire with this stove last year due to a poorly positioned 45 elbow near the ceiling and wood that was very poorly seasoned and stored. Since then, I've learned a lot, especially from this site, and I have a proper shed for 6 cords of wood. Like I hinted at earlier, I'm mostly just frustrated because this stove seems so difficult to control compared to the Scan I grew up with. I've dialed in many of my issues, but the high flue temps are making me nervous and I'm convinced that my issues with cold starts are due exclusively to operator error. Once I've got a good coal bed, I feel like I have pretty good control over the stove.
Sorry for the long post, and thank you for taking the time to read it and provide any advice you might have!
I've frequented this site a lot and found a lot of valuable info from BG that has changed my burning habits, but I still have two primary questions I haven't been able to answer: (1) what are normal flue probe temps for these stoves when in the 400-600F stove top temp band? and (2) how on earth are you guys lighting these things to get a decent coal bed?
I'm burning Sitka spruce, with fresh splits ranging between 16-18% and my house is about 800 sqft. Double wall stove pipe (Excel), about 15 ft tall. At peak temps, the stove top is 450F between the flue adapter and the cook plate, while the Jotul logo on the front is about 580F. At that temp my flue probe typically reads between 800-900F, which seems absurdly high to me, though I'm wondering if I'm just inexperienced and this is actually normal. Flue probe is Condar, 18" above the stove top.
I typically light top down, starting with 2x 3-6" pieces, then 2 or 3 layers of 1" kindling and a fire starter at the top. I recently watched a Jotul video and tried two stacks of 2-3" fuel pieces on the bottom, separated by kindling for air flow, this second method is new to me but seems to be working slightly better. My main issue is that the kindling lights up great, and I progressively shut down the damper as flue temps approach 400F. By the time temps hit 600F, I'm all but shut down on the front damper, just a sliver open with a healthy blazing fire. 10 minutes later, the kindling is burned out and my bottom logs are smoldering. Then it's a 2 hour fight to cut the smoke and get enough flame to keep a sustaining fire. Very frustrating. To me, it seems like the major issue is no air flow under and between the bottom pieces of fuel when cold starting.
For additional info, I had a minor chimney fire with this stove last year due to a poorly positioned 45 elbow near the ceiling and wood that was very poorly seasoned and stored. Since then, I've learned a lot, especially from this site, and I have a proper shed for 6 cords of wood. Like I hinted at earlier, I'm mostly just frustrated because this stove seems so difficult to control compared to the Scan I grew up with. I've dialed in many of my issues, but the high flue temps are making me nervous and I'm convinced that my issues with cold starts are due exclusively to operator error. Once I've got a good coal bed, I feel like I have pretty good control over the stove.
Sorry for the long post, and thank you for taking the time to read it and provide any advice you might have!
