Instructions for the less than fanatic

[NoGoodAtScreenNames]

If you are anything like me you have family members that enjoy a nice warm and pretty fire like we do but they also aren't reading hearth.com and trying to get the stove working at optimum efficiency. They are not going to crouch in front of the glass looking up at the secondaries to decide whether the primary are should be closed at 10% or 11.5%.

Sometimes these people are running the shop when you're away and need to be responsible. I'm finding I need to do a little training for mine. I want my instructions to be easy to remember and don't make me seem like a condescending ahole. Here's what I'm thinking to prevent coming home to a smouldering smoke filled firebox or an inferno. These aren't exactly how I would do it but I'm more worried about safety and will sacrifice some efficiency for it.

Starting from cold.
- Load n/s except for kindling on top.
- kindling is anything thinner than 1". Just because a piece is smaller than another one doesn't make it small.
- Make sure the wood is no higher than the brick
- check the temp every 10 minutes for an hour. Less than 400 = more air and less / no fan. More than 500 = less air and more fan.
- when turning it down always leave the primary air open at least a tiny smidge. Never shut it down all the way like that idiot husband / father of yours. You'll have to keep checking it later in the burn.
- The fire doesn't go out like a campfire. Glowing coals are good. If you like to see a little more flame than turn the air up a touch. Black wood with no flame is bad.

Reloading:
- Don't reload unless the temp is below 300.
- If you ignore me about the coals and you want a pretty flame when above 300 then a single small split e/w towards the front is acceptable.
- for a full reload do everything above except check the fire every 5 minutes for half an hour. Then every 10 minutes.
- You don't need to sit in front of the fire staring at it for two hours like your crazy husband / father who has better things to do but refuses to do them - but you should - especially if he's around to do it with you.

What do you think? Any instructions you give to your folks - anything serious or sarcastic is appreciated.

Cheers.

 

[Dmitry]

I need:

• instructions how to detect temperature on flush insert with no place to put thermometer close to the firebox. Teach them how to use IR gun and where to point it doesn't seem like a good idea.
• instructions for Cat bypass operations with scheme of what moving each rod means.

 

[DougA]

Hmmmm. A lot depends upon the stove, the draft and the wood. For example, a steel vs. cast vs. soapstone : non cat vs. cat, etc.
For example, my primary is always shut to max after 15 min, as there is always a roaring fire by then, even though the stove top temps may not have even budged yet. I almost always load E/W but that's for my setup.
I'd be pretty sure very few would agree with my normal though.

 

[Dmitry]

I think my wife is kinda got a grip on it, but when fire is on I'm always calling and asking her to describe a fire and check on it.

 

[DougA]

I'm always calling and asking her to describe a fire and check on it.

You need a few beer.

 

[Dmitry]

You need a few beer.

Applies to any situation.

 

[NoGoodAtScreenNames]

Hmmmm. A lot depends upon the stove, the draft and the wood. For example, a steel vs. cast vs. soapstone : non cat vs. cat, etc.
For example, my primary is always shut to max after 15 min, as there is always a roaring fire by then, even though the stove top temps may not have even budged yet. I almost always load E/W but that's for my setup.
I'd be pretty sure very few would agree with my normal though.

My stove is pretty similar. I could get it turned down pretty aggressively. However, the few times that I've lost control of the fire / draft was when I turned it down getting great secondaries before some splits hit the flaming stage. They ignited and I had a hard time keeping the temp below 750 with the fan on full blast. If the same thing happened when I wasn't home I'm not confident they'd turn the fan up or keep an eye on the stove.

This is a case where I want clean easy to follow rules. I'll focus on things that are less open to interpretation. I'd rather they react to the temperature of the insert more than judging whether we're getting "good secondaries" the way we always talk around here.

Just want to make sure the instructions I give are based on safety. If I give instructions on squeezing every last BTU out I'm scared something more important would get lost.

Do other folks here do everything themselves and if not, do you modify the burning technique when you aren't in control?

 

[firefighterjake]

My wife watched me and I talked to her about what I had learned about burning by reading up on things here at hearth.com and how these stoves burn differently than the old stoves . . . and she has gone to town on it.

Truth be told, she probably loads the stove more than I do and is infinitely more patient when it comes to waiting for kindling to get going on a small bed of coals.

Never could figure out folks who have a spouse that just doesn't "get it" and either refuses to load the stove, needs written instructions or constant nagging reminding unless they either don't want to learn how to run the stove or are really that slow.

 

[NoGoodAtScreenNames]

Never could figure out folks who have a spouse that just doesn't "get it" and either refuses to load the stove, needs written instructions or constant nagging reminding unless they either don't want to learn how to run the stove or are really that slow.

I'm pretty lucky to not have that. She's still on the same learning curve that I'm on, just a little behind and finds better things to do with her time than to stare at the fire for the first hour like me.

I think just giving the same advice everyone here gives to a first time poster on this forum is about right. Got to know 1) how to place the wood in the stove 2) how to tell if the fire is too cold / smokey and 3) how to tell if the fire is too hot. Keep it simple.

Now how the wood gets from a tree to a piece of split wood in the driveway, stacked in the backyard, restacked twice or thrice in the yard because I didn't like the prior spot, resplit and moisture checked and finally placed next to the stove for her to grab? That part she couldn't care less about. That is and will always be 100% me.

 

[Dmitry]

Now how the wood gets from a tree to a piece of split wood in the driveway, stacked in the backyard, restacked twice or thrice in the yard because I didn't like the prior spot, resplit and moisture checked and finally placed next to the stove for her to grab? That part she couldn't care less about. That is and will always be 100% me.

WRONG Get her/them to work. My wife is thin urban girl who's afraid of spiders etc. When my wood is processed I put it next to my pallets and she stacks it instead of going to gym. Since she is a neat freak my piles are beautiful .
This way they have more appreciation for your work. She used to say "it is free anyway" , not so much now.

 

[brad wilton]

It's not that they can't,it's just that they could care less when my better half gets interested in something it's done perfectly not interested,my job

 

[NoGoodAtScreenNames]

WRONG Get her/them to work. My wife is thin urban girl who's afraid of spiders etc. When my wood is processed I put it next to my pallets and she stacks it instead of going to gym. Since she is a neat freak my piles are beautiful .
This way they have more appreciation for your work. She used to say "it is free anyway" , not so much now.

She doesn't need any lessons in hard work from me for sure.

I imagine my wife right now on some parenting forum where someone is telling her "my suburbanite dork husband used to fancy himself a woodsman but now I just dump the dirty laundry next to the washer and he cleans, folds and stacks it right in my drawers. He used to say 'I like a fresh towel everyday' not so much now."

 

[Dmitry]

She doesn't need any lessons in hard work from me for sure.

I imagine my wife right now on some parenting forum where someone is telling her "my suburbanite dork husband used to fancy himself a woodsman but now I just dump the dirty laundry next to the washer and he cleans, folds and stacks it right in my drawers. He used to say 'I like a fresh towel everyday' not so much now."

I do my laundry myself....

....Just kidding. You got a valid point there. I present stacking wood as an outdoor activity with benefits instead of burning calories on a treadmill for nothing.