Hi All,
I'm a newbie here but have spent time reading a number of topics over the past few weeks and am impressed by the depth of knowledge contained on these pages. Impressive.
I've been using a HUGE old Fisher (Grandpa Bear?) from the 70s. (The house was build in '78 and I suspect it has been here since then.) I was eating wood by the wheelbarrow load, plus smoking like crazy, so I decided to switch to something more "efficient." I ended up with a Quadrafire Isle Royal. I've seen a topics in regards to this stove, and it appears IR owners love their stoves.
Which brings me here. Mine is eating wood just as fast as my old Fisher. I kept a log today of burn times and fuel supply, and I'm seeing wood disappear quicker than I would expect. I'm getting about 4 hours on a full load of cured and dry maple with the primary air supply closed completely. (medium to small splits, not rounds). Even with the primary air control closed all the way down, it's burning around 500-550. This evening I reloaded with 5 chunks of maple and let it burn for about 10 minutes with the control opened (to establish a flame from the coals) before I shut it down. However, when I closed the primary air all the way, it was already out of control and burning way hotter than I'd like. I ended up hitting 750 degrees (stovetop temp) about an hour after I'd shut down the primary air all the way. The full load of 5 chunks of maple was about half devoured after an hour and a half and the temp had finally come down to 630ish. (Remember, this was with primary air closed down.)
On the old Fisher, I would close off the air supply knobs, and close the damper when I added wood at night. When I did this, three maple logs would still have plenty of coals left to light a fire in the morning.
Here's some info that may be pertinent:
1. The home has a masonry chimney with an 8" stainless liner. I hooked directly into the 8" with an increaser. (or is it a reducer?) -- I read on a few posts that this is OK. (to go from 6" to 8")
2. The stove in in the basement of a 2 story home, so the chimney is 2 stories high. (the home just under 3k sq ft.)
3. The maple has been split and stacked for two full years, under cover.
4. The flames are still big and visible even with the primary air closed all the way.
So, here are my questions:
1. What am I doing wrong?
2. Should it really be burning that fast?
3. Can I install a flue damper (is that what they're called?) with an EPA stove? Would that help? (I'm wondering if I'm getting too much draft?)
4. What does it mean to modify the air controls so they can be shut off completely? I saw the following in a recent post by precaud, "modify the air controls so they can be shut off completely. I do it to every stove that I get." I'm guessing that although I have the air control "closed" it's not really closed. Are there instructions on how to do this for the IR? I'm not afraid to do some modification, but a few pointers would be helpful.
Thanks in advance for your guidance... Hopefully, these aren't totally newbie questions, but I'm not going to hide the fact that I am indeed an EPA stove newbie, through and through. I've tried to do my research by lurking on this site, but obviously there's a lot I don't know.
Thanks!
Blaine
------------------
Quadrafire Isle Royal
Fisher Grandpa Bear
Husky 350
8 lb. maul + sweat
I'm a newbie here but have spent time reading a number of topics over the past few weeks and am impressed by the depth of knowledge contained on these pages. Impressive.
I've been using a HUGE old Fisher (Grandpa Bear?) from the 70s. (The house was build in '78 and I suspect it has been here since then.) I was eating wood by the wheelbarrow load, plus smoking like crazy, so I decided to switch to something more "efficient." I ended up with a Quadrafire Isle Royal. I've seen a topics in regards to this stove, and it appears IR owners love their stoves.
Which brings me here. Mine is eating wood just as fast as my old Fisher. I kept a log today of burn times and fuel supply, and I'm seeing wood disappear quicker than I would expect. I'm getting about 4 hours on a full load of cured and dry maple with the primary air supply closed completely. (medium to small splits, not rounds). Even with the primary air control closed all the way down, it's burning around 500-550. This evening I reloaded with 5 chunks of maple and let it burn for about 10 minutes with the control opened (to establish a flame from the coals) before I shut it down. However, when I closed the primary air all the way, it was already out of control and burning way hotter than I'd like. I ended up hitting 750 degrees (stovetop temp) about an hour after I'd shut down the primary air all the way. The full load of 5 chunks of maple was about half devoured after an hour and a half and the temp had finally come down to 630ish. (Remember, this was with primary air closed down.)
On the old Fisher, I would close off the air supply knobs, and close the damper when I added wood at night. When I did this, three maple logs would still have plenty of coals left to light a fire in the morning.
Here's some info that may be pertinent:
1. The home has a masonry chimney with an 8" stainless liner. I hooked directly into the 8" with an increaser. (or is it a reducer?) -- I read on a few posts that this is OK. (to go from 6" to 8")
2. The stove in in the basement of a 2 story home, so the chimney is 2 stories high. (the home just under 3k sq ft.)
3. The maple has been split and stacked for two full years, under cover.
4. The flames are still big and visible even with the primary air closed all the way.
So, here are my questions:
1. What am I doing wrong?
2. Should it really be burning that fast?
3. Can I install a flue damper (is that what they're called?) with an EPA stove? Would that help? (I'm wondering if I'm getting too much draft?)
4. What does it mean to modify the air controls so they can be shut off completely? I saw the following in a recent post by precaud, "modify the air controls so they can be shut off completely. I do it to every stove that I get." I'm guessing that although I have the air control "closed" it's not really closed. Are there instructions on how to do this for the IR? I'm not afraid to do some modification, but a few pointers would be helpful.
Thanks in advance for your guidance... Hopefully, these aren't totally newbie questions, but I'm not going to hide the fact that I am indeed an EPA stove newbie, through and through. I've tried to do my research by lurking on this site, but obviously there's a lot I don't know.
Thanks!
Blaine
------------------
Quadrafire Isle Royal
Fisher Grandpa Bear
Husky 350
8 lb. maul + sweat