Im a nervous novice burner

[Maj92az]

As my grandpa use to call me, I'm a nervous norvis. Always worried about something, usually something new. I'm new to wood stoves. New install this week- I installed a Pacific Energy freestanding stove.

I get nervous that itll get too hot and over fire. Now first I must add I installed her great.. exceeded the wall clearances (5" corner min) to 8" and 12". A good hearth pad and double wall duravent and a ceiling support with all clearances plus a ceiling box all the way to the roof decking.

Anyways. What could go wrong? I mainly get my temps (cheap IF gun) under 450. The collar is usually a tad higher but usually I'll see 550 MAX on the whole thing. I get good coals after an hour- then I'll add say 1 or 2 split logs. I'll turn 02 down all the way and watch her burn. But still worry it could creep and run away. I picture myself using a pot holder chucking a burning log out the nearest window.

Any words of advice to calm me down during a burn.

Thx

 

[begreen]

Congratulations. It's a good stove and not fragile. Give yourself time to get used to it. Do a full load on a cold day, in the morning so that you can watch the fire throughout the day and see how it burns. There is a thread at the top of this forum in the Stickies section - Starting a fire. It shows what a full load burn is like over time. Turn down the air as soon as possible and don't freak out if the stove top goes to 700º.

 

[sweedish]

Yeah, just take a Saturday and do a full load and keep an eye on it. It takes a cord or 2 to learn your stove, you’ll be doing overnight burns before too long

 

[kennyp2339]

Burning "nervous" and to low will actually cause more issue with creosote build up in the chimney which can lead to a restrictive cap / chimney and ultimately a possible fire unless its cleaned out.
As a firefighter here, I'm not nervous but a little over protective out of an abundance of caution (seen the end result of carelessness a few times)
Get the stove top up to 500 deg then turn the air down in 1/4 increments, learn the stove and find its happy spot (were the air is turned down, you get a secondary fire out of the baffle board and the temps hold steady relative to the fire, some call it cruise mode) I see your from N Idaho, so more then likely your burning doug fur and other softer woods then us guys out east, I totally understand the run a way theory, especailly with dry fuel, best to test the stove and learn its behavior in relation to your draft.
In a few weeks check your chimney, the chimney, especially the cap is like your old schools report card, if your doing your job correctly there will be some ash build up, maybe the cap is stained a little, if your doing your job poorly, after a month of regular fires you will see build up in the cap and top part of the chimney, a quick cleaning if needed and a message to burn hotter.
Be a nerd, keep a couple random splits in the house, buy a moisture meter, take the room temp split, re-split it and test the fresh face, this will let you know what your dealing with as far as wood moisture (seasoned or not) you want the ball park area of 20% or lower, you can burn up to 24% but your heat output will be lame compared to 18% on the stove, which means your have to have more air going into the stove burning faster, but keeping it hot enough to keep creosote from building up.
Trust your system, wood burning for many of us is a "fun" chore, between sourcing splits, stacking, then burning its more of a hobby then a need, it pays dividends the first power outage in the cold, or the first big snow when you come in from shoveling frozen, enjoy it and as you stated, you already went above and beyond the recommended clearances, used better stainless steel double wall black pipe, and have a new class a chimney.

 

[Bad LP]

Yeah, just take a Saturday and do a full load and keep an eye on it. It takes a cord or 2 to learn your stove, you’ll be doing overnight burns before too long

A cord or 2???

Slow learner?

 

[EbS-P]

I would recommend an Auber AT200 or similar temperature alarm. An IR thermometer is good too but you have to keep walking over to the stove. It takes a lot of the worry about over-firing.

 

[sweedish]

A cord or 2???

Slow learner?

Not exactly, learning what burn times can be expected at various air settings, then further experimentation with various wood types, cherry vs oak vs pine.

 

[kborndale]

Not exactly, learning what burn times can be expected at various air settings, then further experimentation with various wood types, cherry vs oak vs pine.

Also have to learn how diffrently the stove burns when the temp is 45 degrees outside compared to when it is 15 degrees outside.

 

[firefighterjake]

First off . . . take a deep breath and realize being a bit nervous is quite normal . . . I mean you're purposely building a fire in your home which is the opposite of what most folks say you should do if you like where you live. Furthermore, I am more worried when I see someone come on this site and they're not at all nervous -- and if anything, are a bit cavalier in the way they have installed and operate those stoves.

Next . . . most fires I see caused by either someone installing their stove contrary to the manufacture's specifications or they are not following safe practices.

It sounds like you have met . . . and in fact exceeded . . . manufacturer specs for clearances and hearth protection. If you have met the same requirements for wall, ceiling or roof pass through devices, flue connections, etc. you can rest a bit easier as these components have been tested and if anything have a built in safety factor as the manufacturer's realize that in the real world there will be an occasional "oops."

To be frank though . . . other than the occasional idiot who decides he knows more about installing his woodstove than the manufacturer (or who doesn't bother reading the accompanying handbook) and opts to install the stove too close to combustibles or on an improper hearth, the vast majority of woodstove-related fires I see come from folks not practicing fire safety -- not inspecting/cleaning their chimney, putting combustibles (wood, paper, furniture or even in one case a chainsaw with a tank of gas) too close to the woodstove, using an open ash pan door to get a fire going, using flammable liquids to start a fire or (my perennial favorite) the improper disposal of ashes/coals by dumping the contents in a cardboard box, plastic bag or plastic bucket AND then leaving it on the wooden deck, covered porch or garage.

For the record . . . using a covered metal pail and not disposing of the ashes in the dry grass is a good practice. And I personally recommend folks check their chimneys at the very least every month when they are first starting out at the very least . . . some folks would say in the first few weeks to check every other week which is a good idea for the new wood burner.

Those temps you mentioned are generally not bad at all . . . in fact they're about where I aim with my secondary burning woodstove . . . I try to get around 500-600 optimally. That said . . . at some point you will have one of those "oh crap" moments where the temps will go even higher. Woodstoves are in general built pretty rugged . . . again . . . the manufacturers realize there will be that occasional hot fire. Where woodstoves fail is with repeated incidents where it is over-fired repeatedly. My best advice is to learn what to do . . . hint: I would not attempt to move a burning chunk of firewood through one's house unless one has good fire insurance.

Some folks will recommend using damp newspaper and tossing it on the fire . . . or a bucket of sand. In my own case I have found what works best for me when my fire is going thermo-nuclear is to partially close off the incoming primary air source with a piece of tin foil -- this slows up the burn -- almost makes the flames go into slow-motion for me and sometimes they even turn purple -- but after awhile the temps start to decrease. I have also placed a fan blowing directly on the stove to remove some of the heat -- although I suspect this has a limited effect. Again . . . this is what works for me on those rare "oh crap" occasions.

A bit of advice passed along from others . . . learn how your stove operates and behaves by "playing" with in on a weekend day while you're up and around. Use your thermometers effectively -- I personally have found that I rely more on my probe thermometer in my double wall flue pipe more often as a way of knowing when to turn down the air, whereas my stove top temps are more useful for me as a measure to prevent over-firing. Other folks find the opposite.

I do know that in my case I have found usually the highest temps are a half hour to hour after a reload . .. which is why I try very hard to not start or reload a fire unless I have an hour or so before I need to leave the house for work or need to go to bed. Once the fire and its temps are in "cruise mode" generally I don't see any spike in temp.

And of course . . . I always recommend folks make sure they have working smoke detectors, CO detectors and fire extinguishers in their home.

Final bit of advice . . . if you are ever in doubt or concerned about your safety, call 911.

 

[Maj92az]

Thank you all. All great responses. My temps outside have not been the coldest by any means. I think last night it was 35 by the time I had her slowing down. I realize come teens my draft may change a bit. I did order a moisture meter for the wood. I did have issues with what appeared to be good wood- heck it sat for 18 months....IN THR BASEMENT. The previous owners did. I have what I suspect good wood now I sourced myself. Otherwise I already split and stacked it all outside for next year or maybe as soon as march on the shoulder season. I do burn Douglas Fir and Tamarack basically free around here.

My home is up to par as far as smoke detectors and a close CO detector too. And thankfully my roof is very walkable to my standards. I will have no trouble getting up there monthly- as long as the snow melts in between- it should.

But as far as the stove. I'll look into other thermometers and learn my stove much more. I will try and identify how long after a reload does my fire get a bit "too hot". Like someone mentioned 30 minutes. I think I noticed how after it kinda runs through the initial burn on a fresh log it simmers down and would be tough to take off again especially when the O2 is so low in there..

Thanks again.
I'll be back!!

 

[Whimpers Baggins]

Thank you all. All great responses. My temps outside have not been the coldest by any means. I think last night it was 35 by the time I had her slowing down. I realize come teens my draft may change a bit. I did order a moisture meter for the wood. I did have issues with what appeared to be good wood- heck it sat for 18 months....IN THR BASEMENT. The previous owners did. I have what I suspect good wood now I sourced myself. Otherwise I already split and stacked it all outside for next year or maybe as soon as march on the shoulder season. I do burn Douglas Fir and Tamarack basically free around here.

My home is up to par as far as smoke detectors and a close CO detector too. And thankfully my roof is very walkable to my standards. I will have no trouble getting up there monthly- as long as the snow melts in between- it should.

But as far as the stove. I'll look into other thermometers and learn my stove much more. I will try and identify how long after a reload does my fire get a bit "too hot". Like someone mentioned 30 minutes. I think I noticed how after it kinda runs through the initial burn on a fresh log it simmers down and would be tough to take off again especially when the O2 is so low in there..

Thanks again.
I'll be back!!

I just wanted to add that I have found with a newly installed PE Summit free stander that I am having to shut the air down a lot sooner than stoves in the past. Once I get around 400 degrees on my initial start I seem to shut the air down nearly completely and the secondary's kick in and I get a nice lazy fire show. When I am down to coals more or less on that initial start I load the stove and leave the damper open for maybe a couple minutes until the wood is charred and then damp it all the way. I've found that reducing the damper 50% and even 25% does very little in the way of the characteristics of the fire. If my fire dies down after reload ive damped it down just a little too early so I will open the damper again to get the wood ignited and then wait a short while and then turn the damper down completely and then she is off and cruising. I have a stove top thermometer and an IR gun and they seem to be fairly close. With the load charred and damped down and the secondarys going the show is great but I am seeing stove top temps of 650 and the other night approaching 700 for quit a while. I haven't burned in this stove enough to really have totally dialed but I am fairly close. Im just not sure what I could do differently to get the stove top temp to stay around 600. For some reason approaching 700 makes me a little nervous but I am sure I am over reacting. I'm burning seasoned Fir here.