Newbie question about Napoleon 1402 and stove temperatures

[partybob99]

I just had a Napoleon 1402 insert installed a few weeks ago. Im burning almost all white ash and the wood is NOT seasoned. I bought this wood off CL. The seller said the wood was cut and split in the spring, but I cant be sure. I can see water coming out the end of the pieces when I start a fresh fire. I've found, however, if I can keep the fire going long enough, when I add new wood it ignites right away. I usually have to keep the door cracked about 30 mins when i start a fresh fire before I can close it and the fire will sustain itself. Any sooner than that, the fire will die out and smolder.

My questions lie with closing the damper when the stove top gets up to temp. The manual says the stove top should get to between 500 and 600 degrees. At this point, you should begin to close the damper. Using an IR temp gun, I've had no problem getting the top of the stove to 550. At this point I gradually start to close the damper. What will usually occur is the temps will increase but at a much slower rate, level off, or begin to decrease very slowly. I like to keep the stove temps in the 450 to 500 range if possible. Of course, each time the damper is closed a little more, it makes it harder for the stove to maintain its current temp which eventually leads to lower stove temps. Once the temp of the starts to decrease say to around 300 or lower, what do you do? Do you begin to open the damper more so more air can get into the firebox to help increase temps again or do you just keep the damper nearly closed and continue to let the stove cool? Do you add more wood? What Ive read on this site is you want to keep the stove temps higher to avoid smoking and the release of creosote, but then I read posts from many users about them closing the damper completely and letting it run overnight.

Also, do any of you open the door during the burn cycle and use a poker to stir things up?

 

[KB007]

Wlecome and congrats on your 1402 - nice stove.

Once you have it good and hot, then you close down the air, you should see the secondaries start to burn and at that point the temps should rise a little more. Ifyour wood is not well seasoned, you may not get good long secondaries and your temps will start to decrease once the secondaries slow down.

Couple of questions:
1) where on the top are you measuring with the IR gun? It tends to vary from spot to spot I found with our 1450
2) How big a load are you loading - a bigger load will likley heat up a little slower, but once it gets going it should have longer secondaries
3) are you loading EW or NS - our 1450 seemd to really prefer NS loading and would run for overnight burns no problem with a good well packed load.
4) Are you seeing secondary burn whe you start to shut it down?

I've had the 1450 up over 650 quite often and IIRC it seems to like it a little hotter

Any way you can get some better, drier wood for this year and save the stuff you'v got for next?

 

[corey21]

I just had a Napoleon 1402 insert installed a few weeks ago. Im burning almost all white ash and the wood is NOT seasoned. I bought this wood off CL. The seller said the wood was cut and split in the spring, but I cant be sure. I can see water coming out the end of the pieces when I start a fresh fire. I've found, however, if I can keep the fire going long enough, when I add new wood it ignites right away. I usually have to keep the door cracked about 30 mins when i start a fresh fire before I can close it and the fire will sustain itself. Any sooner than that, the fire will die out and smolder.

My questions lie with closing the damper when the stove top gets up to temp. The manual says the stove top should get to between 500 and 600 degrees. At this point, you should begin to close the damper. Using an IR temp gun, I've had no problem getting the top of the stove to 550. At this point I gradually start to close the damper. What will usually occur is the temps will increase but at a much slower rate, level off, or begin to decrease very slowly. I like to keep the stove temps in the 450 to 500 range if possible. Of course, each time the damper is closed a little more, it makes it harder for the stove to maintain its current temp which eventually leads to lower stove temps. Once the temp of the starts to decrease say to around 300 or lower, what do you do? Do you begin to open the damper more so more air can get into the firebox to help increase temps again or do you just keep the damper nearly closed and continue to let the stove cool? Do you add more wood? What Ive read on this site is you want to keep the stove temps higher to avoid smoking and the release of creosote, but then I read posts from many users about them closing the damper completely and letting it run overnight.

Also, do any of you open the door during the burn cycle and use a poker to stir things up?

you got your self some wet wood.

 

[pen]

Everything you do with this stove now is going to be related to nursing it through feedings w/ a poor food source (the wet wood).

If you must burn it do what you can to keep things hot, check your chimney that it is not building up too much creosote, and make sure that you are buying wood now so that you won't get stuck like this again next year.

Basically, it's very rare to find a wood seller that is actually selling firewood that is ready to burn.

You won't believe how the characteristic of the stove changes once you get wood that is ready to be burnt. In the meantime, burning is not nearly as fun.

pen

 

[partybob99]

Wlecome and congrats on your 1402 - nice stove.

Once you have it good and hot, then you close down the air, you should see the secondaries start to burn and at that point the temps should rise a little more. Ifyour wood is not well seasoned, you may not get good long secondaries and your temps will start to decrease once the secondaries slow down.

Couple of questions:
1) where on the top are you measuring with the IR gun? It tends to vary from spot to spot I found with our 1450
2) How big a load are you loading - a bigger load will likley heat up a little slower, but once it gets going it should have longer secondaries
3) are you loading EW or NS - our 1450 seemd to really prefer NS loading and would run for overnight burns no problem with a good well packed load.
4) Are you seeing secondary burn whe you start to shut it down?

I've had the 1450 up over 650 quite often and IIRC it seems to like it a little hotter

Any way you can get some better, drier wood for this year and save the stuff you'v got for next?

1) I am in the center of the plate with the IR gun, but I move it around to find the highest temp. I can see 550 in one spot and then 450 on the other side. It depends where the flames are concentrated in the firebox at the time.
2) I've been using a small firestarter wax brick to get things going. It's the only thing I can find that will burn long enough to get the logs going. I used some packets called "Ignite-O" from Home Depot and while those worked I usually had to use 3 or 4 to get things going and leave the door open a long time
3) When I use the firestarter, I've tried the following patterns. Lay two large splits in E-W with the firestarter between them. Then lay three more N-S over the other two. When I lite the firestarter, it will catch the three splits on top on fire and then gradually it will burn down. I've also tried the reverse.. N-S for the bottom two and then E-W for the top three. Once the fire is going, I can add wood at will and it seems to go ablaze pretty readily.
4) Yes, I do see a some good secondaries, but not all the time.. The only time I only saw them really going "full bore" was when I load five splits at a time. If I try to load 3 or 4 splits total I dont seem to be able to get them going as well. I see the flames go up and then kind of roll across the top E-W.. when I start to shut down they maintain for a while but then disappear. The firebrick does stay white and the glass door stays mostly clear. The chimney has some but I would call little smoke.

Yea, Im sure my wood is too wet..