New f400 owner questions...

[grunyon]

1. Transported and moved this thing around quite a bit... had it on its back and its side... etc. Already found the air comtrol baffle out of place. Are there any other baffles like this thay coukd habe gotten knocked out of place that I should check for?

2. This is part of question one but after a fire or two it is difficult to see into the glass... also my fire sometimes burns lop sided... and also I cant burn with the door open without minor smoke seepage. Considering they sell a screen for this stove I feel like that should be no problem. Whay can I do or check?

3. I need fire starting tips. I usually struggle with a barely lit or slow burning fire for a half hour before I can close the door. once its burning it looks great

 

[begreen]

A lopsided burn may be an indication something is still not right, but the other parts are bolted in place.

How tall is the chimney on the stove and how is it connected, straight up or up and out the wall to a chimney? What are outside temps like?

Last, do you know what the wood moisture content is? How long ago was the wood split and stacked?

 

[firefighterjake]

Be sure to check your air control lever as well if this has been moved around a lot . . . but the primary things I would check (as you noted) is the baffle and the insulating blanket -- being sure they are in place and not blocking the exhaust.

Black glass after a few fires often means the wood is either unseasoned or the air control is being choked down too much.

Your issue with the smoke and lop sided burn could also be due to the draft . . . we need to narrow down a few things by checking the wood (either with a moisture meter or letting us know when the wood was cut, split and stacked), draft (how tall is the chimney, what does the set up inside look like, etc.) and . . . well . . . to be honest . . . those are usually the two main culprits of a less than stellar fire -- the fuel and the air.

Starting a fire . . . I like the top down fire . . . unlike some folks I use a fair amount of kindling with a chunk of Super Cedar on top . . . other folks just use smaller splits and a Super Cedar. Under that are medium sized to larger splits.

 

[rsw49]

At least from my experience with the Castine I am not very optimistic on operating the stove with the door open and using a screen. We have about 18 feet of chimney and if the door is opened some smoke will spill out. I try not to open the door at all during the burn cycle but there are times you have to. The Castine has had some complaints by others about smoke spillage before. It may be due to the shallow fire box. Other Castine operators may have different luck with running the stove with the door open and will comment.

 

[begreen]

Top exit will generally vent better than rear exit. Also, cooler temperature s will help draft a lot. Our F400 was rear vented then straight up 20 ft. It would spill some smoke occasionally with temps in the mid to upper 40s but none when temps dropped into the 30s. I'm pretty sure that changing to top exit would have improved this.
Also, this stove has a big wide door. Open up the air all the way. Wait ten seconds then open slowly.

 

[branchburner]

my fire sometimes burns lop sided... and also I cant burn with the door open without minor smoke seepage

Lop-side could be due to a slight air leak... have you checked the door gaskets with the dollar bill test?

Assuming you resolve any draft issue that concern struggling to get a good burn, blackened glass, and smoke spillage, the open-door screen burning for many stoves is something that seems to work best on the down-side of the burn cycle, when the logs are not burning so intensely and starting to coal... either that, or a smaller fire w/ smaller splits... just my experience.