It's burning season here again. I started up our Isle Royale the other day for the first time this season. It started really easily by using the rear air and a fully open primary air control. I turned the rear air control off shortly after I had a fire going and turned the primary control all the way down and the fire burned great. I burned a few logs for the first fire to make sure all the recently cleaned piping was seated correctly, which it was, every seemed to be good to go. Note that we have a basement setup, interior chimney, the stove is vented horizontal and the 6" stove exhaust goes back a couple feet where it increases to the existing 8" single wall stainless pipe that tees about a foot behind the increaser. The 8" pipe then goes up at a 25 degree angle where it meets a rectangular 5.5"x7.6" flex liner, which straightens out and goes to the roof, in total about 25' of lined chimney.
After burning the first round of wood I reloaded the stove with a full load of dry maple and ash. The stove quickly got going really well. I took out my IR temperature gauge after I saw the Rutland stove thermometer getting into the 450 range (I have it set up on the top left of the top loading cover), when I noticed the temperature starting to get into the 600's in the center of the griddle. The fire was really going at this point and I had the primary and of course the rear air control all the way closed. The stove kept getting hotter and hotter to between 750-800 in the center and around 600 on the temp gauge. I could hear the stove sucking air even with everything closed up. For the record I understand these stoves cannot be completely shut down.
I was concerned, from all I've read about wood stoves this was way to hot and I didn't add anymore wood into the fire and let it calm down. I started reading on here about similar situations and I found this article.
I was really concerned that I might have a defect in my stove too. I checked the front and side of the stove for visible cracks, did not see any, I also checked the front and side seems with a candle and lighter and I couldn't find anything there. I had small fire going and I could definitely hear air getting pulled through the primary air controller and confirmed that there was a small amount of air going through there. I didn't find any leaks in the gaskets or any part of the front and sides of the stove.
I called the dealer and explained to him the situation and my concern. He was helpful but had never heard of a situation like this before. He stated the he had a similar setup with his stove (in the basement, tall chimney) and had a lot of draft too. He confirmed that I should look for leaks, which I explained to him that I did and didn't find any obvious ones. His suggestion was to put a dampener inside the 6" pipe a couple feet back from the exhaust, which he provided to me at no charge. I know it's not generally recommended to put a damper on these stoves? Is that accurate?
My question to this community is there a better way? Am I just a victim of a heavy draft or a bad sealed stove? I cannot say for sure I don't have a leak in my stove but I did not find an obvious one. I really want to protect our investment and have a safe stove that works as it is supposed too. Thanks for the responses.
After burning the first round of wood I reloaded the stove with a full load of dry maple and ash. The stove quickly got going really well. I took out my IR temperature gauge after I saw the Rutland stove thermometer getting into the 450 range (I have it set up on the top left of the top loading cover), when I noticed the temperature starting to get into the 600's in the center of the griddle. The fire was really going at this point and I had the primary and of course the rear air control all the way closed. The stove kept getting hotter and hotter to between 750-800 in the center and around 600 on the temp gauge. I could hear the stove sucking air even with everything closed up. For the record I understand these stoves cannot be completely shut down.
I was concerned, from all I've read about wood stoves this was way to hot and I didn't add anymore wood into the fire and let it calm down. I started reading on here about similar situations and I found this article.
I was really concerned that I might have a defect in my stove too. I checked the front and side of the stove for visible cracks, did not see any, I also checked the front and side seems with a candle and lighter and I couldn't find anything there. I had small fire going and I could definitely hear air getting pulled through the primary air controller and confirmed that there was a small amount of air going through there. I didn't find any leaks in the gaskets or any part of the front and sides of the stove.
I called the dealer and explained to him the situation and my concern. He was helpful but had never heard of a situation like this before. He stated the he had a similar setup with his stove (in the basement, tall chimney) and had a lot of draft too. He confirmed that I should look for leaks, which I explained to him that I did and didn't find any obvious ones. His suggestion was to put a dampener inside the 6" pipe a couple feet back from the exhaust, which he provided to me at no charge. I know it's not generally recommended to put a damper on these stoves? Is that accurate?
My question to this community is there a better way? Am I just a victim of a heavy draft or a bad sealed stove? I cannot say for sure I don't have a leak in my stove but I did not find an obvious one. I really want to protect our investment and have a safe stove that works as it is supposed too. Thanks for the responses.
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