New Summer's Heat Wood Stove

[phaywood]

I just purchased my first wood stove - a Summer's Heat (Englander) 17-VL. I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and I'm starting to feel more comfortable. I live in a 900sf home in Indiana and I've been trying to heat the home with the wood stove exclusively. We do have a conventional propane furnace but I'm trying to save some money by heating with wood.

I have a small woodworking shop and I've been burning hardwood scraps with great success. They're all kiln dried and I seem to generate enough throughout the year to supply the stove. I'm wondering if anyone has this stove and what kind of burn times they're getting. I'm only able to get a few hours (max) from my stove. It puts out a lot of heat for the first hour (about 600F) and then gradually decreases over the next 2 hours. The roaring flames last a little over an hour and then the bed of coals provides the heat. I'm burning fairly small pieces of wood usually 2" thick x 6" x 14"L. I have some split logs also but they probably won't be dry until next winter.

Another question I have is regarding the air control. I'm usually opening it up until the fire is roaring and then closing about 80%. After a couple of hours I can open it up a little more to keep the coals glowing. After looking outside, I'm not seeing any smoke out of the chimney so I think I'm burning efficiently. The air control on my stove seems difficult to operate- it sticks and I have to really put a lot of force to open / close it. Is this normal?

I'm mainly just looking for any advice to get the most performance from this stove.
Thanks!

 

[Jags]

That is a little fella of a stove. Short burn times are reported. For the sake of the stove you might consider a stove top thermo. One persons "roar" is different than the next. It would be nice to know where you stand for temps. You don't want to hurt the little guy and it is not uncommon for folks with smaller stoves to "push" them harder than they should.

ETA - and using kiln dried lumber scraps makes it all the more easy to get high temps.

 

[phaywood]

That is a little fella of a stove. Short burn times are reported. For the sake of the stove you might consider a stove top thermo. One persons "roar" is different than the next. It would be nice to know where you stand for temps. You don't want to hurt the little guy and it is not uncommon for folks with smaller stoves to "push" them harder than they should.

ETA - and using kiln dried lumber scraps makes it all the more easy to get high temps.

I have a magnetic thermometer which I placed in the manufacturer's recommended location. So far, my temps are all within the safe zone and if it climbs too quickly then I turn on the blower to cool it down. I'm typically in the 500-550 range and I've never been higher than 625. Even after the wood burns down, the stove stays above 300 for a couple hours. I think I could pack the firebox even more but I haven't built up the courage yet. I've been cross-stacking to about 30% of the height.

The kiln dried scraps are awesome but I'm definitely going thru them pretty quickly. I've used a 55-Gallon drum in about 5 days. I think adding some split logs should increase my burn times.

 

[Jags]

Good to know that you are monitoring temps. Sounds like you are working the stove as intended. Instead of cross stacking, try stacking the core with less surface area exposed. Limiting surface area might help lengthen the burn time. Or maybe even consider cross stacking one side but stacking the other more tightly (or front to back, you get the idea).

 

[phaywood]

I'll try stacking differently - I can't believe I didn't think of that!

 

[Jags]

Thats why we are here...to help folks think. (tis joke, ha!)