How to get a good secondary burn.

[smabon]

I have a napoleon 1402 insert and I am not totally sure that I am getting a good secondary burn. I have looked at a lot of pictures and videos of it and mine looks nothing like them. Does the stove need to get to a certain temp before the secondary burn starts to happen? What should I have air controll at? I usually have the air controll pretty much shut all the way down once I get a good fire going. This is my second year burning and I learned a lot last year burning and this year I am trying to fine tune my skills.

 

[edthedawg]

tough call w/ inserts. what's the flue length out the top? could be a draft issue, coupled w/ inability to monitor firebox or flue temps well.

gotta get it HOT HOT to get good secondaries. Prob hotter than you may think is "ok".

if it's hot enough, you'll get blasting 2nds w/ the primary open, and gentle rolling ghosties w/ it closed.

Try running wide open for 10-15 AFTER a full-raging inferno, then go to 50% open and see what you get. then 10m later, drop to just barely open.

hope this helps!

 

[ControlFreak]

I've heated with the 1401 for many years, the older brother of the 1402.

When you load up the stove with a full load of wood, you should leave it wide open until you reach about 400 degrees on a stove thermometer located in the center of the top of the stove. Then as the temperature rises above 400, close off the draft in small increments until you get to 550 where you should be closed. Leave it there for the night. If you close it off too fast, you'll stifle the fire and kill the secondary. When you're closed, the fire will have a wispy blueish color rather the bright yellow flames when you're open.

You can experiment with starting to close off the draft at a lower temp. You'll be able to tell if you're going too soon because you'll see that the fire is visibly disturbed.

You can also wait until you get to 500-550 and just close it off at one big step, but that's a bigger disruption to the fire.

If you can't get up to these temps easily, then your wood is probably too wet.

 

[ControlFreak]

What part of MA are you?

 

[lazeedan]

The better seasoned your wood is the easier it is to have secondary burns.

 

[stejus]

Try this as well. Last night it wasn't that cold in the house but my wife had the insert going when I got home. Once the small load turned into a small bed of coals, I figured I'd burn some useless small rounds. These are 2" and smaller and I have about 1/2 cord of this stuff. I loaded the stove with n/s and e/w with small rounds. This took off and about 15 minutes later as I turned down the air in two stages, the secondaries kicked in.

This was not a full load of splits, it was about 10 small 2" or less rounds on top of a small bed of coals. Of-course the secondaries didn't last more than 20 minutes, but it heated up the stove and put our some nice warm air to keep the room temp up.

As stated above, the stove temp needs to be at a certain temp. I can get secondaries at 400 degrees. This is measured on the stove top, not the top shelf.

 

[smabon]

What part of MA are you?

Lunenburg, MA

 

[ControlFreak]

What part of MA are you?

Lunenburg, MA

Pro,
If you're ever in Holden, don't hesitate to give me a call. It might be good for you to see another one like yours in operation.

Send me a PM.
Dan