I finally "fired up" the new wood stove with dry and seasoned oak planning on 3 break-in burns. One going to 300 degrees, one to 400 degrees, and one to 500 degrees. You never know what to expect with a new piece of equipment and unskilled operator but I was really pleased with the the 300 (photo included) and 400 burns which went just as planned. I had good control of the temperature and when I shut the primary air the fire lowered and finally went out. Great! I can do this! But then I tried the 500 degree burn.
Everything was normal to about 450 degrees. Then it was like the stove went into full afterburner and the temp jumped quickly to 600 degrees. I'm sure the secondary burning kicked in at that point since we saw the pretty flames licking up both sides of the stove to the burn tubes on top. The fire seemed calm...calmer than I was...and certainly didn't look like a blast furnace but I guess the heat was there.
I tried another burn yesterday with similar results. Started with kindling, added two or three 2-3 inch logs and gradually let the temp build. However, when it hit 450 degrees or so it took off again. I shut primary air and the temp leveled off at 600 degrees and stayed there until the logs burned out. I'm beginning to wonder if it's possible with this stove to burn at 500-550 degrees like I planned. However, I wonder if the jump in temp is just because the burn tubes on the Isle Royale are just under the griddle where I placed the temperature gauge? If this is the case the temperature inside of the stove may be less that the temp gauge reads. The fire certainly didn't look like it was burning all that hot. Maybe I'll have to do this by just viewing the fire vs. using a temperature gauge.
I would appreciate any thoughts you might have. Thanks in advance.
Jim
Everything was normal to about 450 degrees. Then it was like the stove went into full afterburner and the temp jumped quickly to 600 degrees. I'm sure the secondary burning kicked in at that point since we saw the pretty flames licking up both sides of the stove to the burn tubes on top. The fire seemed calm...calmer than I was...and certainly didn't look like a blast furnace but I guess the heat was there.
I tried another burn yesterday with similar results. Started with kindling, added two or three 2-3 inch logs and gradually let the temp build. However, when it hit 450 degrees or so it took off again. I shut primary air and the temp leveled off at 600 degrees and stayed there until the logs burned out. I'm beginning to wonder if it's possible with this stove to burn at 500-550 degrees like I planned. However, I wonder if the jump in temp is just because the burn tubes on the Isle Royale are just under the griddle where I placed the temperature gauge? If this is the case the temperature inside of the stove may be less that the temp gauge reads. The fire certainly didn't look like it was burning all that hot. Maybe I'll have to do this by just viewing the fire vs. using a temperature gauge.
I would appreciate any thoughts you might have. Thanks in advance.
Jim