Hello All,
I have been reading through the forums for a couple weeks now and have enjoyed all the FAQs and information available. I am just a bit hesitant about operating my stove and could use some thoughts.
1. I fell into the "seasoned" wood issue many here have had. The wood I bought appears to have been split and then left in a huge pile and not truly seasoned. Even though it has the cracks in the cuts it still feels much to heavy and sizzles when I burn it. In fact I burned for 3 days and when I checked the ash pan I actually had a good amount of liquid spill out on the floor. The ash pan unfortunately is slightly too small on this stove so some ended up on the floor. When I went to open the clean out on my Class A triple wall chimney there was liquid in there as well. about enough to fill the clean out cap. The chimney had a good amount of creosote and some glazing. I cleaned it the best I could and ordered some of that creosote chemical (name slips my mind at this point) that i will run in the fire to help convert it into something I can clean out easier.
My thoughts on this was the wood was A. Not nearly seasoned enough, and B. I was burning the fire too cold.
2. I have now bought two magnetic thermometers for the stove one on the from upper left and one on the flue 18 inches from the top of the stove. I also purchased a Infared thermometer. I am running some drier wood through the stove now and my glass seems to be staying cleaner. My stove top temp however doesn't seem to register well and usually only reads about 50 degrees higher than the flue pipe temp at all times. I think it is the way the stove is built making that difficult.
My question on this is with the Class a Triple wall chimney (about 18' chimney and 5 foot of flue) I am running the flue at about 300-350 surface temp (single wall pipe). This sounds like based on what I have been reading to be a good temp to run at. Is this correct?
My second question is that when the flue is at that temp I still see smoke or possibly steam coming out of the chimney. I tried pointing the infared thermometer at the exit where I could get a reading and the best I could come up with was 80F. But I am guessing that isn't a good temp to measure based on outside temp and weather conditions and it isn't the air temp, but the metal the air is hitting.
Is this smoke/steam okay since my flue temp is right, and my glass seems to be staying clean? Could it be because the wood I am now burning is possibly still not as seasoned as would be recommended?
Final question. I leave near the hill of a steep valley going up above my house, I am about half way down the valley. Sometimes the wind comes down the hill right and causes some of the smoke to swirl down and against the side of the house. My chimney is probably 12 foot above the door. Is this a issue? Should I maybe add more pipe, or as it gets colder out my draft will increase and this should be less of an issue? Currently about 30 degrees out.
Logan
I have been reading through the forums for a couple weeks now and have enjoyed all the FAQs and information available. I am just a bit hesitant about operating my stove and could use some thoughts.
1. I fell into the "seasoned" wood issue many here have had. The wood I bought appears to have been split and then left in a huge pile and not truly seasoned. Even though it has the cracks in the cuts it still feels much to heavy and sizzles when I burn it. In fact I burned for 3 days and when I checked the ash pan I actually had a good amount of liquid spill out on the floor. The ash pan unfortunately is slightly too small on this stove so some ended up on the floor. When I went to open the clean out on my Class A triple wall chimney there was liquid in there as well. about enough to fill the clean out cap. The chimney had a good amount of creosote and some glazing. I cleaned it the best I could and ordered some of that creosote chemical (name slips my mind at this point) that i will run in the fire to help convert it into something I can clean out easier.
My thoughts on this was the wood was A. Not nearly seasoned enough, and B. I was burning the fire too cold.
2. I have now bought two magnetic thermometers for the stove one on the from upper left and one on the flue 18 inches from the top of the stove. I also purchased a Infared thermometer. I am running some drier wood through the stove now and my glass seems to be staying cleaner. My stove top temp however doesn't seem to register well and usually only reads about 50 degrees higher than the flue pipe temp at all times. I think it is the way the stove is built making that difficult.
My question on this is with the Class a Triple wall chimney (about 18' chimney and 5 foot of flue) I am running the flue at about 300-350 surface temp (single wall pipe). This sounds like based on what I have been reading to be a good temp to run at. Is this correct?
My second question is that when the flue is at that temp I still see smoke or possibly steam coming out of the chimney. I tried pointing the infared thermometer at the exit where I could get a reading and the best I could come up with was 80F. But I am guessing that isn't a good temp to measure based on outside temp and weather conditions and it isn't the air temp, but the metal the air is hitting.
Is this smoke/steam okay since my flue temp is right, and my glass seems to be staying clean? Could it be because the wood I am now burning is possibly still not as seasoned as would be recommended?
Final question. I leave near the hill of a steep valley going up above my house, I am about half way down the valley. Sometimes the wind comes down the hill right and causes some of the smoke to swirl down and against the side of the house. My chimney is probably 12 foot above the door. Is this a issue? Should I maybe add more pipe, or as it gets colder out my draft will increase and this should be less of an issue? Currently about 30 degrees out.
Logan
