Need specifics on break-in for Fireview

[dreezon]

Finished hooking up my fireview today and lit a fire, but in looking through the manual I realized they're pretty vague about the whole break-in procedure. Can anyone who knows tell me more specifics, such as:

—How hot should I allow it to get? (It got up to 375º on the stove top).
—How long should I let it burn? (I think it went about 1.5 hours)
—How much wood should I start with? (I had maybe six small spits, so when I decided it was time to shut it down, there was still a fair amount of wood. I shut the air control down to zero, but when I opened the door a few hours later, embers started flairing up immediately, and now 9 hours later, it's still radiating a fair amount of heat.)
—Should I have started with less wood and just let it burn itself out?
—Was the amount of wood I started with OK, and I still should have let it burn itself out?
—Was my technique OK?

Also, I left the air control wide open for a while because I was having trouble getting the fire going, and then I noticed the paint on the outlet pipe starting to smoke. I quickly closed the control down to 1 or less, which stopped the smoking right away, but after the temp got up higher, I noticed some smoke coming off the loading door too. Is that OK? I noticed the gasket was stuck to the paint when I opened the door a little later and wondered if I had let it get too hot on the first burn. The rise in temperature was very slow, though.

 

[Todd]

Sounds a little too hot for first breakin. 1st fire should just be some kindling and let it burn completely out. 2nd a little bigger with a couple small splits, stove top 200-300, 3rd fire a little bigger, shoot for about 400, after that you should be good to go.

I'd let your fire die out tonight and lite a similar one tomorrow and a little hotter the next. Smoke off the pipe and door is normal when the paint cures, every time the temp gets higher it will probably smell some til the paint is done curing. You may even notice some sweating on the stones from the moisture inside.

 

[dreezon]

Hmm... wish their literature had been more specific on that. You don't think I've done any damage, do you? It was quite a slow build-up

Sounds a little too hot for first breakin. 1st fire should just be some kindling and let it burn completely out. 2nd a little bigger with a couple small splits, stove top 200-300, 3rd fire a little bigger, shoot for about 400, after that you should be good to go.

I'd let your fire die out tonight and lite a similar one tomorrow and a little hotter the next. Smoke off the pipe and door is normal when the paint cures, every time the temp gets higher it will probably smell some til the paint is done curing. You may even notice some sweating on the stones from the moisture inside.

 

[Todd]

Your probably fine as long as you don't have a rip roaring 600 degree fire. A good slow build up helps cure paint, release moisture in the stone and mortar.

 

[dreezon]

What kind of damage would you look for if there was any... crinkled paint? cracked furnace cement?

Fortunately, I don't see anything like that. No cracks in the stone or anything.

 

[dreezon]

I got an answer on this from my rep at Woodstock. She said the only real damage I had to worry about was cracked furnace cement. I got in there with a flashlight and looked it over. No cracks. So I'm feeling all right. She also said that if I did have any cracks it would just be a matter if filling them with some of woodstock's soapstone-fortified furnace cement.

Thanks for the help, fellas.