New Eco-Choice WS22, First Fire!

[Larry in OK]

Finished the install on my new WS22 this afternoon. We had a high of 74* this afternoon and I didn't think I was going to build a fire tonight but we had a cold front come in with some rain which really started to cool off the house and decided to go for it.

Started with a small fire with some dry hickory and oak and didn't get the stove much over 300*. We're getting a little bit of new stove smell but it isn't terrible or intolerable.

When the first fire had burned down pretty much to coals I added another split of hickory and a chunk of oak that was only about 6"X6" and it wasn't too long before I was seeing flames dancing along the bottom of the secondaries, stove top temp in the low 400s by IR thermometer. The house is a comfortable 72* in the living room but I don't have any thermometers in the bedroom but is feels comfortable.
I don't have a blower on it yet so I just set a floor fan about 12' away from it and blowing from that end of the room towards the living room, not actually blowing on the stove, just moving the arm air.

I spent many hours reading the forums here and what I've learned helped me make my stove choice and made the self install go
much better than I anticipated.

Screw the gas company!

 

[raybonz]

Finished the install on my new WS22 this afternoon. We had a high of 74* this afternoon and I didn't think I was going to build a fire tonight but we had a cold front come in with some rain which really started to cool off the house and decided to go for it.

Started with a small fire with some dry hickory and oak and didn't get the stove much over 300*. We're getting a little bit of new stove smell but it isn't terrible or intolerable.

When the first fire had burned down pretty much to coals I added another split of hickory and a chunk of oak that was only about 6"X6" and it wasn't too long before I was seeing flames dancing along the bottom of the secondaries, stove top temp in the low 400s by IR thermometer. The house is a comfortable 72* in the living room but I don't have any thermometers in the bedroom but is feels comfortable.
I don't have a blower on it yet so I just set a floor fan about 12' away from it and blowing from that end of the room towards the living room, not actually blowing on the stove, just moving the arm air.

I spent many hours reading the forums here and what I've learned helped me make my stove choice and made the self install go
much better than I anticipated.

Screw the gas company!

Congrats Larry!! Sadly no pics means it never happened..

Ray

 

[Iembalm4aLiving]

Congrats, but yes, we are a visual bunch!

 

[bsj425]

congrats shes a cooker when u get it figured out depending on your flue setup mine likes to cruise between 525-600 degree stovetop.

 

[Larry in OK]

I'll see about getting some pics up but I managed to soot up my glass with the first low fire so I want to clean that first :red: .

Kept the house comfortable all night but my wife said the furnace did kick on about 8:00 this morning before I got up.
I'd thrown a couple of small splits of Oak and Hickory about midnight before I went to bed and by 9:00 I still had plenty of coals left to quickly get it going again.
BSJ- I've got 8' of class A plus the cap and about 5' of single wall off the top of the stove. I checked the stove top temp a few minutes ago and it was hitting 540*.
Still have lots to learn to get the combination of this thing figured out but so far I'm thinking it is going to be pretty easy to use.

 

[bsj425]

Dont worry bout the glass when you get a hot fire going it will burn off and clear right up. I did the same thing on my first fire It got black I spent about 40 minutes getting it nice and clean just for it to get black again at the begining of the second fire. I left it and when I started burning hot it cleared right up.

 

[Larry in OK]

We had a good hot fire this evening and most of the glass cleared up. I was out splitting wood till dark and time to get ready for work so still no pictures.
The first 24 hours with the stove burning have been a good learning experience. Heck, my wife even added a log while I was outside splitting more wood.
I got her to throw another log on the fire, now if I can get her to cook me up some bacon and some beans I'll have it made.