New to wood burning, new Jotul F400 have some questions

[vanfleetb]

After much debate on inserts vs a hearth mount stove we ended up extending our hearth and installing a Jotul F400 rear vented, with an insulated liner up a 23' exterior chimney. My wood supply was all cut last winter, and split this spring. I have some poplar, oak, walnut, and maple. It has been stacked and covered since spring. When testing the moisture content, it looks like the poplar is right around 19-20%, the oak is around 20-25%, and the walnut and maple are also close to the 19-20%. I am testing by re-splitting some pieces and then checking the fresh face with the moisture meter.

I have read on here that the ideal moisture content is under 20% so my wood supply is fairly borderline. Burning the poplar mixed with some of the hardwoods I am able to get the stove top up to 450-500F and damp the air down, and the glass stays pretty much clean. Am I at risk of creating creosote burning this way? I tested with some store bought kiln dried firewood and was able to get the stove much hotter, up over 600F, and was able to get some nice secondary combustion that I don't seem to be able to get with my wood. I also experimented with mixing some of the kiln dried wood in with my supply, and that resulted in nicer burns as well. Am I better off not burning the wood I have this year and trying to find some seasoned wood, or can I get by mixing something like 2x4 scraps and pallet wood in with my wood to get the moisture content down a bit?

The good news is I have access to lots more wood, so I'm hoping to get a lot more split and stacked over the winter to start to get ahead, and hopefully have some more well seasoned stuff for next year.

Thanks for your help!

 

[begreen]

It's a challenge to run the stove on stove top temps alone. On a cold start the Castine can be at 250º stove top and the flue temps already exceeding 600º. Go by the visual fire and start turning the air down once the fire has started burning robustly.

With dry wood, a 650-700º cruising temp for this stove is not unusual. The oak most likely isn't fully seasoned. If you can get free pallets that can be cut down, they can be a good source of supplemental dry wood. Construction 2x4 and 6 cut offs are ok too. Quality compressed bricks or logs can also help a lot. Just be sure they are only made of sawdust. Menards and Tractor supply sell them.

 

[EbS-P]

Nice stove.


these stoves hate wet wood. we really should say 15% or less is what to shoot for. I’m burning tulip poplar and pine. That has been cut and split for a full year and it’s just marginal. Go get a package of sawdust bricks/logs and see if that makes a difference. I am top vented to 15’ of insulated liner and my draft is quite strong. My father in law has an f400 rear vented to25-30’ of liner and it over drafts. The result of are a stove pull air too fast and the stove top stays cooler. The secondary combustion flames are never lazy.

I light top down with only 2 or 3 med /small size splits on the bottom and the rest is kindling and fines and paper. I can hit 400 degrees stove top in 10-15 minutes measured using termal couple on the top. I add two small splits as soon as there is room And I have good secondary combustion. If not careful temps will head north of 700 degrees.

I tried for several weeks last year after I first got the stove installed burning with less than perfect wood. It was awful. Wife was upset that it took so much work for not that much heat. If I had it to over again I would have bought a pallet of sawdust bricks and considered that cost part of the stove price.

any way just my 2 cents.
Evan.

 

[begreen]

Sounds like the father-in-law's stove need a stovepipe damper, maybe 2. You are right about modern stoves wanting fully seasoned wood. It may burn, but the results will probably be less than satisfying. One can add dry wood from pallets and construction cutoffs to help the fire. Some folks add wax-free compressed sawdust bricks or logs. FWIW, 15% or lower is very hard to achieve due to ambient humidity. Our wood usually settles in around 17-18%.