My first burn.....ever

[mattinpa]

OK. I installed the Englander add on unit today. Installed quickly with no problems. However, as I have
never owned a wood furnace and this morning lit my first fire, I still think I'm burning wood, not heating
with wood. The manual said the blower will kick on automatically and not to mess with factory settings for
30 days. Guess it needs broke in first. Anyway, the blower comes on for about 25 seconds, and then goes
off. A few minutes later, it comes back on, and then goes back off after 25-30 seconds. The air out of my
registers doesn't feel HOT....warm, but not hot. My guess is, I'm not getting a hot enough fire. I worked
my fire as the manual suggested, 15 minutes burning small stuff with air open. another 15 minutes with
air open adding wood. Another 15 minutes with air partially off. then adjust the air for the correct draw/burn
and let it heat my house.

Or so it should. Am I doing something wrong? I think the blower is set to come on at 150 degrees. Why does
it kick off so fast? I've re-fed the fire 3 times, and all the same result.

Thanks!

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Tell me about your wood. How long has it been stacked and drying out in your yard? Was it covered?

Matt

 

[snowtime]

My guess is your fire is not getting hot enough due to green wood. Try filling with small splits. They should burn hotter even if wet. You also have to remember if it is because you have wood that is not aged enough your chimney will get plugged with creosote quickly. If you can get some lumber scraps they will burn hot and should bring your furness up to temp.

 

[mattinpa]

Actually, the wood is quite dry. Between 20-22% on the MM. I did some playing with the air and found
that I was not leaving it open enough to burn hot enough. Within 2 hours my house was up to 70 degrees.
I think I got it figured out. I put four splits in 5 hours ago and they are just now burned to coals. I'm happy!

 

[BrotherBart]

When you start your burn use small pieces to get a good coal bed and then add your splits. Adjust the air then according to the burn and the temp of the furnace.

That sucker will then surprise ya with the heat in the house. Just don't choke it down and smolder the load. Biggest mistake new burners make is thinking that those flames are wasting their wood. Those flames are burning what would be just blowing out of the chimney as smoke if they weren't burning making heat.

 

[lexybird]

if this is the 28-3500 englander i have one ...and can help you get her up to scorching temps
it likes plenty of air so dont close the lower screw damper up and keep the top air damper to the left ,until its got a thick bed of glowing coals and flue temperature gauge reads 400 or more degrees ,the limiter is supposed to set blower on and off intermittenly till the temps are high and even around firebox ,once it reaches that inner temperature say an hour it wil l stay on indefinitly till the stove runs out of wood and drops under 200 ,I found this furnace isnt high tech like alot fo the stoves on here you read about it is a bit tricky and takes a small learning curve but works awesome in my opinion dry seasoned wood and plenty of air is what works best on mine ,keep grate spaces clear of ashes for the air to circulate ,i like to rake coals toward front everytime you load more wood in

 

[mattinpa]

Thanks for the post Lexybird! The 3500 is the model I have and after operating it for a few days....I love it! I did
try leaving the air wide open and it burned hot and fast. My firebox full of splits lasted about 3 hours. With the air drawn
down, my best burn time was 4 1/2 hours with wood that measured 17percent with Meter. Doesn't look like I'll be getting
6-7 hours per burn, but my two story house is staying at 70 degrees and I'm not using oil! Last night got down to 29degrees
outside, so I loaded the firebox at 10:00pm and woke up at 4:30 to nothing but ash. However, the house was still 67 degrees!
Do overnight burns work the same for you, or have you perfected that? For the overnight burn I used 5 large splits. Think
I'll add more than five tonight. Maybe a sixth.

 

[lexybird]

Thanks for the post Lexybird! The 3500 is the model I have and after operating it for a few days....I love it! I did
try leaving the air wide open and it burned hot and fast. My firebox full of splits lasted about 3 hours. With the air drawn
down, my best burn time was 4 1/2 hours with wood that measured 17percent with Meter. Doesn't look like I'll be getting
6-7 hours per burn, but my two story house is staying at 70 degrees and I'm not using oil! Last night got down to 29degrees
outside, so I loaded the firebox at 10:00pm and woke up at 4:30 to nothing but ash. However, the house was still 67 degrees!
Do overnight burns work the same for you, or have you perfected that? For the overnight burn I used 5 large splits. Think
I'll add more than five tonight. Maybe a sixth.

every stove is different but id say for overnight long run loads once you have a good thick layer of glowing orange coals from a few hours of burning then throw 4-5 good size 2 foot long splits or logs of quality hardwood like ash ,cherry, or oak ..dont just damper it down ,first be sure they are on track to takeoff and burn good then say 10-15 minutes of searing heat and flames i keep the upper damper at around half way and screw in the lower air dmaper half way i can often go all night around 8 hours and have enough coals to easily restart in morning how you stack the wood in the box makes a big difference als o the flue setup and draft pipe length of the installation plays a big part in this ,also things like how well insulated and how good the roof condtion is ,venting ,and wall thickness.. style of windows all makes a huge difference in ambient indoor temp potential ,i can hit 90 pretty easy if i simply turn on my oil furnace blower to help the stove blower move air.and dont get discouraged becuase 8 hour burn times are totally possible for you once you experiment and find what it likes and works for your application.also keep in mind it doesnt have to look like the depths of hell with huge gleaming orange blazes to be actually putting off solid heat ,wood will last longer if you play your cards right