New Isle Royale - not meeting expectations

[deedunn]

Just got a new Isle Royale installed and we're about one week into the learning curve. We noticed that the burn pattern is lopsided. The fire burns flame on the right side of the stove and doesn't burn flame on the left side until the right side is burned down to coals. Do stoves have their own "signature" burn patterns or is there something wrong? The creosote buildup on the glass is worse on the left side. Very little build up overnight on the right side glass.

According to the specs, I expected to be able to heat our 1500 sqft main floor with this stove for at least 8 hours. We are burning locust and oak, well dried. So far, the best we have achieved for a heat producing burn (that keeps the temp at about 68 degrees) is about 5 hours. I bought this stove so I wouldn't have to get up in the night... and here I am getting up in the night to keep the house up to temp (and really folks, it isn't all that cold in Virginia... ever!) What am I missing here?

We will be getting the OAK shortly. We used to have a BIS and that required a OAK to burn properly. We thought perhaps that was also the case here. We'll see.

When I close the doors, the "lock" position is sloppy - I don't get a satisfying "tight down" feeling and can overshoot the locked position very easily. Do I need a new gasket? This stove was the demo at the store... maybe it needs something adjusted? Controlling the level of flame is not difficult - damping down quickly snuffs out the flame.

Thanks for any help here.

Dee

 

[northwinds]

Just got a new Isle Royale installed and we're about one week into the learning curve. We noticed that the burn pattern is lopsided. The fire burns flame on the right side of the stove and doesn't burn flame on the left side until the right side is burned down to coals. Do stoves have their own "signature" burn patterns or is there something wrong? The creosote buildup on the glass is worse on the left side. Very little build up overnight on the right side glass.

According to the specs, I expected to be able to heat our 1500 sqft main floor with this stove for at least 8 hours. We are burning locust and oak, well dried. So far, the best we have achieved for a heat producing burn (that keeps the temp at about 68 degrees) is about 5 hours. I bought this stove so I wouldn't have to get up in the night... and here I am getting up in the night to keep the house up to temp (and really folks, it isn't all that cold in Virginia... ever!) What am I missing here?

We will be getting the OAK shortly. We used to have a BIS and that required a OAK to burn properly. We thought perhaps that was also the case here. We'll see.

When I close the doors, the "lock" position is sloppy - I don't get a satisfying "tight down" feeling and can overshoot the locked position very easily. Do I need a new gasket? This stove was the demo at the store... maybe it needs something adjusted? Controlling the level of flame is not difficult - damping down quickly snuffs out the flame.

Thanks for any help here.

Dee

Something isn't right. The lock position shouldn't be sloppy. As you say, you should get a satisfying "tight
down" feeling.

When the Isle Royale is working properly with well-seasoned wood, the entire fire box is totally blazing with
15-25 minutes of starting up from a cold stove. Have you done the dollar bill test? There are many threads
on how to do the test, if you use the search function for the forum. When was your firewood split and stacked?
What stovetop temperature ranges are you getting during your burns?

Be patient; you'll get it straightened out. I'm usually trying to avoid overheating our 2100 square foot home
for the types of temps that you get in Virginia.

 

[Todd]

It sounds like the doors are messed up or the gasket is bad. Have you talked to the dealer? Make them come out and make it right.

 

[begreen]

It does sound like there might be an air leak caused by the doors not closing tightly. The burn in these stoves is normally very balanced. Did you also check to be sure that the ashpan door is tightly closing?

If the door gaskets look good and even (no gaps or bulges), there is an adjustment for the door latch. You might try removing a washer to see if that tightens things up.

 

[Baron62]

You should be able to get over 10 hour burns with that stove with a bed of coals left over. I have the same stove and it gets too hot insude when temps are above freezing. I don't have an OAK.

The door handle is a bit different. It is really designed to open to the right only. If you open it to the left you are really going over the psuedo stop. My last stove you could not push past the stop like this one. Your door may not sealing properly.

Once you get it running properly you will really like this stove.

 

[Hanko]

Shim up the left side a bit, that should do it.

 

[BrotherBart]

We got down to 18 night before last and 20 last night. What do you call cold Dee? :wow:

 

[BJ64]

We got down to 18 night before last and 20 last night. What do you call cold Dee? :wow:

I agree. That individual is tougher than both of us. :ahhh:

 

[deedunn]

Thanks for all the insights and suggestions. Nice to know I have "people" out there beyond the treeline!

I haven't tried the dollar bill test - mostly because the stove is hot and I didn't want to directly burn my money! We have a "tune up" by the dealer scheduled later this week, and so the stove will be cooled down and we can try it then.

We discovered a smoke leak in the back of the stove where the pipe first comes out... doesn't happen all the time, just after the stove gets fired up and then starts to slow down. It was nice to have the smoke detector triggered by something other than my cooking. :lol: The CO detector is quiet. That's nice. At least we won't wake up dead.

I have been watching this stove like an expectant mother... monitoring every little change and outcome. Even tried E-W fires vs N-S fires and then NW-SE fires crossed by SW-NE fires (trying to even out the burn pattern)...it certainly hasn't been overfired but I haven't got a clue as to the temp - I will have to get one of those temp gauges.

I suspect there is something wrong with the door latch - I would have expected a "stop" point, and was surprised when I could "dial" the handle around. But it seals well enough that the fire can be controlled.

As to "cold" in VA... I used to live in Michigan, so 18 degrees is starting to feel like real winter to me!

And as to the wood, we cut, split and stacked the wood ourselves...currently working off the Fall 2007 pile that has been covered. Except for that pile of "summer wood" that actually creates more of a draft than heat, we stick with locust, oak and now a little elm since we borrowed a splitter. WooHoo!

We are experimenting with the ceiling fans tonight... so far we have had better luck getting the heat into the other half of the house. Once we get the heat output figured out we should be happy campers.

Thank you very much!

Dee

 

[northwinds]

I suspect there is something wrong with the door latch - I would have expected a "stop" point, and was surprised when I could "dial" the handle around. But it seals well enough that the fire can be controlled.

Dee

Mine has a stop point. When it's closed, the handle is just past 6:30 on the clock. It doesn't move any further than that. If the dealer
is coming, they ought to be able to fix that in short order.