Max heat
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Now it should be interesting to see how the stove keeps up.
brenndatomu
Minister of Fire
I just had the same thing happen when trying to get a couple new knives for a Kuhn mower...the local dealer said they'd have to order everything from across the pond (really?! you don't stock any knives for a flail mower?!) Fortunately, I forgot to clarify something and called back asking for "Mike"...well it turns out they have 2 Mikes and the one I just talked to just left for lunch, so the other picked up...after going through the whole scenario with him he says, "hold on, let me go check the stock room" he comes back and says, yup, we have 5 of everything!
Glad to hear the blower made a difference...I know it sure does on my Drolet 1400 insert stove too!
Poindexter
Minister of Fire
I have just returned home from a week in Hawaii and see I have been tagged a couple times.
For the dead of winter my ideal fuel is spruce at 14% MC and I 'typically' run three loads daily, one at about half throttle over night, one at about half throttle while I am away at work, and the third at Wide Open Throttle right when I get home from work that can generally burn down in about 4 hours.
When it is really really cold (local to me) I will run two loads WOT after work, then a load at (about) half throttle overnight and a fourth at half throttle during the work day.
Clearly "half throttle" is an approximation. At my house usable draft varies dramatically with outdoor temperature. I imagine it does for everyone on every install, but it is very hard to overlook when I first light the stove at +40dF in August and am still burning in January at -35 and on down.
I have burned a little bit of Doug Fir, perhaps a half dozen fireboxes full. DF does burn like a softwood, but not like any other softwood I have ready access to. I am not enough of a botanist to explain why, but among softwoods DF is also unique for its design values like modulus of rupture and modulus of elasticity and so on as well. Janka hardness.
I would add I typically see a roll off in combustor performance before I see visible smoke in my stack plume as my combustor ages.
If there is a remaining question for me please let me know what the question is. Thanks.
For the dead of winter my ideal fuel is spruce at 14% MC and I 'typically' run three loads daily, one at about half throttle over night, one at about half throttle while I am away at work, and the third at Wide Open Throttle right when I get home from work that can generally burn down in about 4 hours.
When it is really really cold (local to me) I will run two loads WOT after work, then a load at (about) half throttle overnight and a fourth at half throttle during the work day.
Clearly "half throttle" is an approximation. At my house usable draft varies dramatically with outdoor temperature. I imagine it does for everyone on every install, but it is very hard to overlook when I first light the stove at +40dF in August and am still burning in January at -35 and on down.
I have burned a little bit of Doug Fir, perhaps a half dozen fireboxes full. DF does burn like a softwood, but not like any other softwood I have ready access to. I am not enough of a botanist to explain why, but among softwoods DF is also unique for its design values like modulus of rupture and modulus of elasticity and so on as well. Janka hardness.
I would add I typically see a roll off in combustor performance before I see visible smoke in my stack plume as my combustor ages.
If there is a remaining question for me please let me know what the question is. Thanks.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
That's about what I had remembered you saying before, and is pretty close to what I see from mine. Hope Hawaii was fun!
The first thing I thought of was the absence of a blower.
The second thing I thought of was that most comments were from well-meaning folks that didn't realize the Boxer might be thought of as a fireplace insert atop a woodbox.
As such, it relies upon the fans to get a lot of the heat out.
This is my third season with a Sirocco insert, essentially a Boxer stuck into a fireplace. Without the fans this insert is great at heating up the smokestack. Switch on the fan, and with the Sirocco cranked down to low, my 1200 square foot walkout basement feels like Death Valley in August. I burn Ponderosa pine almost exclusively (ya gotta do what ya gotta do when living in a pine forest).
The chimney is about 25 feet of insulated liner inside a massive interior masonry smokestack. The house is a very drafty and very VERY poorly insulated monstrosity with 16-foot ceilings. Beautiful, but uninsulated, vaulted post-and beam 3x6 tongue and groove ceilings are what the shingles are nailed to on the outside!
The Sirocco's mission was originally as an emergency backup heat source, but we found it so nice to have a fire in the basement, hanging out down here is de rigueur. No way will this insert keep the house warm, but the basement is cozy. Even with crappy Ponderosa Pine, it blows out hot HOT air for the better part of a day on a lazily loaded firebox simmering on low.
Again, without the fan, I reckon it's heating capability is reduced by about 50%
The second thing I thought of was that most comments were from well-meaning folks that didn't realize the Boxer might be thought of as a fireplace insert atop a woodbox.
As such, it relies upon the fans to get a lot of the heat out.
This is my third season with a Sirocco insert, essentially a Boxer stuck into a fireplace. Without the fans this insert is great at heating up the smokestack. Switch on the fan, and with the Sirocco cranked down to low, my 1200 square foot walkout basement feels like Death Valley in August. I burn Ponderosa pine almost exclusively (ya gotta do what ya gotta do when living in a pine forest).
The chimney is about 25 feet of insulated liner inside a massive interior masonry smokestack. The house is a very drafty and very VERY poorly insulated monstrosity with 16-foot ceilings. Beautiful, but uninsulated, vaulted post-and beam 3x6 tongue and groove ceilings are what the shingles are nailed to on the outside!
The Sirocco's mission was originally as an emergency backup heat source, but we found it so nice to have a fire in the basement, hanging out down here is de rigueur. No way will this insert keep the house warm, but the basement is cozy. Even with crappy Ponderosa Pine, it blows out hot HOT air for the better part of a day on a lazily loaded firebox simmering on low.
Again, without the fan, I reckon it's heating capability is reduced by about 50%
Poindexter
Minister of Fire
I really want to play with one of these B24/A25 inserts. The floor is a six sided truncated triangle. Or an irregular hexagon, whatever. The insert heritage is clear in the brick of the floor. The ones I have seen can handle full length splits loaded NS in roughly the middle half, or full length splits loaded EW in the front third. I will take another shot at that project this winter. because it is driving me bonkers.
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