Napoleon 1402 - Best Cruise Temp? Rookie Here!

[Jearley35purdue]

Hi All,

Brand new to wood burning and have had my Napoleon 1402 insert for 2 weeks now. Love the thing, it's doing the job on my 2500/ft2 two story home built in 95. Definitely not air tight house as the windows are terrible.

I'm posting for any tips and tricks from those more seasoned individuals in wood burning. My wood has 1 year on it as I cut, split and stacked last December and is a mix of cherry, oak, and some Bradford Pear. Moister with my rather cheap reader is at 20%. The stoves lights like a champ and rises to around 500-550 when I finally choke the air to 2 or less. From there it cruises around 500-550 for an hour or so with the secondary burners firing like it should and then tapers into the mid 300 400s for the majority of the rest of the time.

I was just curious if anyone had experience with the best temps for this stove? I'm getting about a 5-6 hour burn with hot coals enough to relight without kindling as late as 10-12 hrs. Overall I'm pleased with the burn times and didn't expect any miracles as this stove is to supplement my heat pump with electric back up. Ohios winter had me seeing $700 electric bills last season and that isn't happening again! EVER!! I write this as just came in from bow hunting out back with temps at 30f outside and 70f inside.

Any and all advice is appreciated for this rookie!

 

[Thislilfishy]

This is my first year with my 1400PL. Your numbers are close to mine. I have a very strong draft and very dry wood. So my burns are bit shorter then mine. I am waiting on a stove top therm, and have been experimenting with the secondary intake. We live in a very drafty old house, and after 8-10 hours with outside temps slightly below freezing we have 18-20 degrees C inside, with just enough cools to re light the wood I load in. Today I am keeping her stoked all day as we have company all day. So I am reloaded every 3 hours or so with a solid bed of coals. Currently 25 degrees C in the main room of the house...with the second floor much cooler but not so cold I can't sit here nekid.

 

[begreen]

Assuming that the air control is being reduced once the fire is burning well, cruising temp is going to vary with the fuel load and quality of the wood. Our stove is cruising now at 525F on a 3 medium sized split load. If its belly was full of doug fir it would be more like 650F. Add a full reload of locust and it would run at 700F for at least an hour before setting down to 650F for the long burn.

Oak usually takes a couple years to dry out in the middle. Resplit a couple of the thicker oak splits and test for moisture on the freshly exposed faces of wood.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

I was just curious if anyone had experience with the best temps for this stove?

I've never run that particular stove but you should run it as hot as required to warm your house: if your house is cool or cold, run it hotter, and vice versa if too warm.

 

[Jearley35purdue]

Thanks fellas. I appreciate the feedback. I will definitely split some larger pieces and check the moisture at the center.