Is this too fast? Draft question

[SculptureOfSound]

So this video is about 20 minutes after a reload with the air all the way closed.

Seems like the gasses are being pulled too fast from the wood causing shorter burn times and higher flue temps.

Things did slow down a bit about 10 mins after the video was shot but I almost never get those really nice slow rolling secondaries, they are always fast like this and it seems like most of it burns before they even get to the tubes (that wispy aurora borealis like flame that extends from the wood up to the tubes)

Does video show a situation with too much draft?

 

[jatoxico]

Should put your stove in your signature line. Broken record I know but good dry wood gives better secondaries. Marginal wood burns cooler. How's your air control?

 

[SculptureOfSound]

Sorry about that, just added it to my signature.

So my Montpelier insert's air control seems to work pretty well. Closing it too ealryealryin the burn will kill the flame, while closing r all the way when things are raging tends to lead to a burn similar to that shown in the video, although typically with more wispy flames (I've only got 3 smallish splits on coals in there atm)

That being said it always seems like the air is moving quick through the firebox, especially early in the burn. The one time it really burned slow my cap was about 50% plugged or more (that was caused by modifying the air intakes to try and slow things down and then some smoldering overnight burns...)

 

[begreen]

Looks pretty normal given the small and open load of wood. For a bit slower burn, try packing the stove tighter and not log cabin style on a reload.

 

[SculptureOfSound]

Another problem I have is little control of the cruise temp. It seems the only way I can really control it is by the amount of wood I use. A full load will always go to 650 or above. The only way I can keep a full load at a lower temp is to let it start super slow (kill the air immediately) but then it tends not to burn very clean. If I char a good amount of the wood first then it really takes off

 

[Woody Stover]

Looks pretty normal given the small and open load of wood. For a bit slower burn, try packing the stove tighter and not log cabin style on a reload.

And if you experiment with how much of the re-load has coals under it you may be able to slow the burn. If coals are under the entire load, it will all ignite fairly quickly. I used to pull the coals together into a N-S row down the middle of the box to slow down the Buck 91, until I was able to tighten up some air leaks. The fire would then work its way out into the N-S load from the center in a controlled fashion.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I think that your fire looks pretty normal for the ammount of wood you have in it. I think like the others if you add wood to make a filler load youll have what your looking for. As for the control of the stove temp. You should have some, but not total. When im burning for an over night, initially my stove temp will drop. As i just loaded it with wood and turned the air all the way back. The temp will go back up as the wood catches and equalizes to the amount of air that is being allowed into the stove. The key is not to allow alot of wood to catch at once and not to allow the wood to off gass all at once so you dont get a huge temp spike..

 

[kennyp2339]

Looks pretty good to me, big splits also off gas a little slower for secondary's will be lower / slower to, I would say one of the keys here would be to make a day time fire like that, keep stove top temps in check, then go outside and look for smoke coming out the stack, if there's little to no smoke then you should be good to go.

 

[SculptureOfSound]

Probably doesn't help that this was pine. Thanks for the replies all.

One more question, I did some very hot reloads today (tossing just two medium splits on coals, stove top was about 400 at time of reload) left air closed all the way and the secondaries were slow and perfect. At least with the pine this hot reload seemed better than a cooler reload requiring initial char. The char gets enough of the wood cooking and it seems to off gas a lot more quickly...the hot reload allowed no char but all gasses that escaped bloomed I to secondaries since the firebox was so hot. This actually seemed like a cleaner burn too, virtually no smoke at reload.

That seems to go against common experience but it makes sense to me on an analytical level...the dirtiest part of the burn is coming up to temp, so a hot reload avoids that and gets secondaries going immediately.

Of course that method only works if you are around all day to toss in a few splits every three or four hours. Not something I can normally do but I found it interesting