Kuma Aspen LE

[EnginerdToPA]

Hi everyone, new to the forum though I’ve been browsing for info for some time.

I had a Kuma Aspen LE installed roughly 2-3 years ago and have greatly appreciated the heat we get from it. However, I’m always concerned I’m going to burn down my house or something catastrophic is going to happen as I can’t seem to turn the stove down as needed. When I turn it down the secondaries take off and the temperature continues to climb. I’ve discussed this with my dealer who told me to use less wood, which I’ve been doing and it helps somewhat but now I’m only getting burn times of roughly 4 hours. I had been lighting my stove similar this Starting a fire and running an EPA stove however have started only loading about half that much wood. I just feel like I have no control over where the temperature goes once it’s lit.

I appreciate any thoughts or insights. Thanks!

 

[EatenByLimestone]

How tall is your chimney and how is it configured? Any elbows?

 

[EnginerdToPA]

From the top of the stove it looks like we’ve got almost 18’ of pipe with one 45 degree elbow.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Ok, it sounds like the chimney isn’t the issue, but one 45 seems like it’d send the chimney off in an unusual direction!

Can you post a pic of how you load your stove? A shot of the wood in the firebox. Maybe you have too much space between the splits or the splits are very small?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

What temperature is your stove running at?

 

[EnginerdToPA]

Yeah I was thinking about that the other night on my way home from work and forgot to post that…. I believe it’s two 45’s. Usually I lay 4 larger logs north to south at the bottom with 2 or so smaller logs or kindling on top to get things started. For reloads, I let the cat temp come back to the hashed zone and then break up the coals and place two large logs north to south on top the bed of coals. Poor quality picture attached as I forgot to take one before I lit it but I’ll try again later today.

I don’t have a stove thermometer to be able to tell what temp my stove or chimney is at… only the cat thermometer which the stove installer said that was all that was necessary.

 

[TomRC]

I have a Kuma Tamarack which is essentially the same stove and it has been GREAT. I rarely have the temperature gauge on the front of the stove go past the two thirds mark and on the few occasions where I’ve thought to myself it's getting a little too hot I’ve simply closed down the bottom vent and within 5 minutes the temperature will stabilize and start to drop. The Tamarack is basically the same stove as the Aspen so if you see the temperature gauge nearing the two thirds mark I’d just shut the bottom vent down and give it some time. My house is only around 1100 sq ft but is open concept with high ceilings (16 ft or thereabouts) and I’ve never had a need to run the stove where the temp gauge is past the halfway point to slightly past halfway to keep the house toasty. If I run the stove for too long past the halfway mark on the temperature gauge it will run me out of the house. A third to halfway on the temp gauge is what I shoot for to keep the house warm but not too hot.

I start the stove with 2 smaller splits running North South and then stack kindling or smaller splits running East West. Place ONE QUARTER of a super cedar disc under the smaller splits and then light the super cedar with a propane torch and then normally hold the propane torch on the smaller East West splits / kindling for 30 to 45 seconds to help light. Close main door but leave cracked with bypass open and bottom vent wide open. The smaller east west splits will normally burn down before the stove is up to temperature and then I knock the smaller splits / kindling down between the 2 North South splits and then place 2 larger splits running East West. Close but keep the door main cracked and give it about 5 more minutes and the stove is up to temperature. Once the stove is up to temp (out of the hash marks), close bypass but keep bottom vent wide open. Within another 10 to 15 minutes the stove temperature gauge will be at the halfway mark and then I close down the lower vent half to two thirds of the way in and she is off and running! When the temp gauge eventually drops down to about the hash marks I’ll add more wood and repeat the process. I rarely run more than 4 good size splits total due to the stoves size (2 north south, 2 east west).

In terms of burn times I think they can be a little misleading and 4 hours of what appears to be actually “burning” may be about right for this stove but even when you can’t see “burning” there are still coals putting heat for some time afterwards. One trick I have learned to maximize longer burns like when I go to bed it to put in the largest splits I have (sometimes I can only fit 1 REALLY BIG piece), bring the temp up to slightly past the halfway point on the thermometer and at then close the bottom vent all the way down and then pull it back out about an inch. I’ll normally do this around 10pm or so when I go to bed and if I’ve loaded a good REALLY BIG piece the stove will still appear be out when I wake up in the morning but still warm to the touch and the house stayed comfortable all night. Fewer but much larger splits seem to be the key to maximizing burn times. When I first started using the stove I would load more “typical” size splits when I went to bed at night and when I’d way up the stove would be cold.

This is my second winter with the Kuma, run it everyday and it is my main source of heat. It has been GREAT! Sorry for the long post but maybe some of this will help.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I would get a magnetic stove thermometer and attach it to the top. Your stove may not be getting too hot. There's no sense being worried if you don't have to be!

 

[broadhead]

I am a bit late to the party but wanted to chime in. Just bought the insert version of your stove about a month ago and love the heat it puts out. 16’ stack I am getting 10+ active cat hrs. I get all of the wood nice and charred and when the front secondaries come on, I close til there is about 3 inches of air control left. In 5 mins it climbs and you see everything turning red, I close air control to about one inch. Pictured below is last nights load two ash blocks/splits with one large locust round and an oak slab on top. Loaded at 830pm last night and reloaded this morning at 610 am. Didn’t even think to take a pic of coals this morning. I pack it tight to burn all evening. If you think things are getting too hot, turn the blower on high. Did I notice in your picture you don’t have a fan on the stove? Maybe some others can chime in on ceiling fans but I also run a floor box fan into the stove room. Pushing cool air in displaces the hot air. I keep my stove fan on low 90% of the time but when I see the secondaries really ripping, I crank it up to high. How much have you played with your air control? These are great stoves!