How Low Can You Go????

[Wendywoodle]

Hi experts out there - I'm a newbie working with my Quadrafire 3100i insert to built the most efficient fire. I've learned already to make the first fire a good long hot one to prime the stove - once that's down to a good layer of red charcoal I'm adding more wood, getting it to flame and turn red on the outside, and damping down - my question is how low??? If I take it down to where I just get flames dancing at the top of the firebox - not even on the wood - is that too low? Eventually of course those flames poop out. So if I'm going to bed, how should the fire look before I leave it? Thanks, mentors! Barbara

 

[Chettt]

This Saturday why don't you load it up at noon and watch it burn all the way to nothing without touching the primary air control once it is set. You'll learn how your flue/stove combination works best. That said I always start the final fire of the night at least an hour before going to bed. I like to make sure all is well before turning in.

 

[begreen]

With good wood that is pretty much the way I burn. The actual position of the air control will vary a lot depending on the stove and flue. Chett's advice is good. Experiment with daytime fires to learn more about how different combos of wood, timing and air control affect the stove burning and temperature.

 

[jbrown56]

Barb,

Sounds like you're on the right path. Every stove has a sweet spot when dampering down. You just have to find it.

Jim

 

[ansehnlich1]

Indeed, sounds to me as though you are getting close to understanding how your setup works. My stove, I can build a decent fire, let it burn down, then stuff it full of dry oak/ash for the night. After 10 or 15 minutes, I shut the air down to half, then after another 10 minutes or so I shut it down to a quarter open. After another couple minutes or so I can shut the air off totally and it will continue to secondary burn, some times it won't, forcing me to let the air control open just a wee bit.

I ALWAYS try to set the air control lever so that the current load in the firebox continues to secondary burn.

I need a "stove cam" so when I go to bed I can just look at the "cam" and see if it is continuing to burn properly

 

[gerry100]

I'm observing similar operation during the first few fires with my Country Canyon. ( Have been burning for 28yrs but this is the first season with an modern EPA stove).

My feeling is that operation will be affected by the outside temperature. I'm got a nice burn with the primary shut most/all of the way down this AM after a 25deg night ( it's up to 50 now).

But when it's colder I think we'll all experience hotter fires with less air opening due to the draft up the chimney.

My only point is that these warm weather fires are not totally representative of ultinte operation of hte stoves, especially when the stove is a littl eoversized for the square fottage being heated.

 

[Bill]

Wendy, I do the same as you, a nice little secondary, for a good all night burn. But if you need more heat than open the damper up a little bit, but you consume a lot more wood also.

 

[SlyFerret]

I try not to reduce the air to the point where the flames on the splits goes away leaving only the secondary system burning. I like to balance the air so that I have both burning.

The secondaries will die out in the burn cycle before the flame on the splits actually dies out (when you reach the "charcoal" phase of the burn cycle).

-SF