Isle Royale problems

[tduffydpa]

Hello all. I'm basically new the forum. I joined last year after I bought my home & was having problems with the Quadra-Fire Isle Royale that was installed in the home, & now I'm back with more problems. I eventually got frustrated with the thing & suffered through a winter paying high electric & propane bills. I did some research, stockpiled kindling, got a flue thermometer, & tried it again this winter. Early on, I could get a good fire going with the 2 cords I had leftover from last year. However, I found that I would only get about 4hrs burn time from a fire. That isn't really helpful when I leave for work from 5am-6pm most days. But that is all i was getting while still having the thermometer stay above the "Creosote Level" of 275°. I thought that it was because my splits were too small, most being small slivers around 3" at the thickest.

Let me say that I don't cut my own firewood. As I mentioned I work a lot, so I found it far easier to check the local papers & online and have wood that is seasoned & split delivered to my door. Anyway, I finally exhausted the firewood I had from last year, so I went looking and had a cord delivered 2 weeks ago. It was sold as seasoned oak, and appears to be such. And the splits are definitely not too small, as the average piece is at least 6", with a lot running around 8 or 9. Now I find I can't get it to burn! I still stack a bunch of tinder and kindling in the stove to get it going & try to patiently add the firewood as the stove is hot enough. But I am having a rough time of that. For instance; I started a fire an hour & a half ago and I've got both the front air control and the "start up" air still wide open, but my flue temp is still only about 190°. I've split a bunch of the new firewood down to 4-5" pieces, and it didn't seen to matter.

So my questions that I'm hoping somebody can help me out with are: How can I make this thing burn more efficiently? The manual proclaims "20hr burn time", but I figure that is more a sales ploy. I'd be thrilled if I could get 6-8 hours of heat from this thing- that would make it almost dependable enough to keep using if I could have a constant heat source that lasted from the time I get home at night until the middle of the next day (repacking it before bed & before I leave for work of course).

Secondly, should I just assume that the newest batch of firewood I got is still somewhat green? Is that what is causing this slow, cold, burn?

Sorry, I know I've written a book, but this whole thing has me desperately searching some answers before I end up dropping 6 grand in utility bills to keep my house warm this winter like I ended up doing last year. That almost broke the back and I don't want to do it again. Thanks.

 

[Tenn Dave]

Hello all. I'm basically new the forum. I joined last year after I bought my home & was having problems with the Quadra-Fire Isle Royale that was installed in the home, & now I'm back with more problems. I eventually got frustrated with the thing & suffered through a winter paying high electric & propane bills. I did some research, stockpiled kindling, got a flue thermometer, & tried it again this winter. Early on, I could get a good fire going with the 2 cords I had leftover from last year. However, I found that I would only get about 4hrs burn time from a fire. That isn't really helpful when I leave for work from 5am-6pm most days. But that is all i was getting while still having the thermometer stay above the "Creosote Level" of 275°. I thought that it was because my splits were too small, most being small slivers around 3" at the thickest.

Let me say that I don't cut my own firewood. As I mentioned I work a lot, so I found it far easier to check the local papers & online and have wood that is seasoned & split delivered to my door. Anyway, I finally exhausted the firewood I had from last year, so I went looking and had a cord delivered 2 weeks ago. It was sold as seasoned oak, and appears to be such. And the splits are definitely not too small, as the average piece is at least 6", with a lot running around 8 or 9. Now I find I can't get it to burn! I still stack a bunch of tinder and kindling in the stove to get it going & try to patiently add the firewood as the stove is hot enough. But I am having a rough time of that. For instance; I started a fire an hour & a half ago and I've got both the front air control and the "start up" air still wide open, but my flue temp is still only about 190°. I've split a bunch of the new firewood down to 4-5" pieces, and it didn't seen to matter.

So my questions that I'm hoping somebody can help me out with are: How can I make this thing burn more efficiently? The manual proclaims "20hr burn time", but I figure that is more a sales ploy. I'd be thrilled if I could get 6-8 hours of heat from this thing- that would make it almost dependable enough to keep using if I could have a constant heat source that lasted from the time I get home at night until the middle of the next day (repacking it before bed & before I leave for work of course).

Secondly, should I just assume that the newest batch of firewood I got is still somewhat green? Is that what is causing this slow, cold, burn?

Sorry, I know I've written a book, but this whole thing has me desperately searching some answers before I end up dropping 6 grand in utility bills to keep my house warm this winter like I ended up doing last year. That almost broke the back and I don't want to do it again. Thanks.

Oak generally needs at least 2+ years of seasoning, and 3+ years is even better. Re-split a piece and check the moisture level on a fresh face. It should be less then 20% to burn well. Also, check your chimney cap and make sure it's not starting to clog up.

 

[begreen]

Welcome. Unfortunately the odds of getting truly seasoned wood in the same season as used are poor. Do you have an axe or splitting maul? If yes, resplit some of the wood and place the freshly split wood surface against your cheek. If it feels cold and damp the wood is not ready for burning. Oak and hickory need at least 2 years to dry inside.

Poorly seasoned wood will usually burn, but at a much lower temperature than seasoned wood. Get a few store bought wood bundles and try them out for comparison. And get next season's wood delivered now . Or try to buy a cord of kiln dried wood now and save the green wood for next year.

 

[begreen]

Can you post some pictures of the current wood that you are burning?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Mix in pallet wood. You can usually get it for free.

To test to see if the issue is the wood, pick up a couple bundles of kiln dries from the grocery or convenience store.

 

[claydogg84]

The "creosote level" you mention is meaningless if you're in the coaling stage of the burn. At that point there isn't any smoke coming from the pipe, only heat. I would say there is about no chance that oak is even close to 20% MC. If you do plan on buying wood as needed, tell the seller you don't want any of the extremely dense hardwoods - Oak, Locust, Hickory etc... Most people that sell firewood leave it in big piles to "season", which is hardly effective. I also think you have the term "burn time" confused. Realistically you should expect to see flames for maybe 5-6 hours with premium hardwood, after that it's just heat from coals.

 

[weatherguy]

Your wood is definitely unseasoned, might be two years before that wood is ready depending on when it was split, your better of doing the pallet thing as mentioned above or getting bio bricks or north east Idaho energy logs (NEIL's) for this year. I'd prefer to get the NEIL's, as those burn 8-10+ hours and get hot.

 

[jatoxico]

Have you swept this thing and checked the cap? You're due after two cords even if the wood was pretty good and with that cold snap a lot of clogged caps out there.

 

[prezes13]

There is no way you bought seasoned wood, especially oak. Do yourself a favor buy some compressed wood fuel bricks. Seasoned wood which you are buying this year mostlikely will be ready two years from now if it's oak.