Newbie to wood stove

[nikko007]

Hi from the Forest of Dean.
I’m very new to wood burners and I’m a little confused about how the burn should look when shut down the right amount.
Is this somewhere near correct?
Any advice would be great.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

That’ll work!

The amount and intensity of the flame will depend on all sorts of details. It’s possible to have the fire go out when the air is closed off, and it’s possible to have an out of control fire with the air closed off. Experience will sort out the details in time, but that’s a fine fire! I like the double sided stove!

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Yes, fire looks good from here.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

A good way to tell if your fire is going well is to see if you have visible smoke out the chimney. If all you have is heat shimmer after startup, you are doing good.

 

[nikko007]

There seems to be a lot of contradictory information online, so I thought this would be the best place to get a proper answer. Even the information supplied with the burner contradicts itself regarding the correct settings.

For example, it says that once the fire is established, the airflow should be reduced by pushing the lever halfway in. However, at halfway the fire is extremely fierce and quickly burns through a couple of decent-sized logs. If I push the airflow further in, to around 3/4 closed, the burn becomes much calmer and more controlled, which is what I filmed when asking the question.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

It’s tough. I think you just have to use your own best judgment and get some information from forums like this one to figure out how to use the stove. At the end of the day, if you’re getting good heat, not overfiring the stove, or smoking out your neighbors, you’re winning.
Most people on this site reload with air full open for a short time and then turn air down to as close to fully closed as possible with killing the fire and/or making smoke out of chimney . Then keep the air there until time to reload again. A lot of stove manuals, like manuals in general, give you a rough estimate of how to actually best use the stove.

 

[stovelark]

Pretty burning stove! Stove top temperature is a way of setting air control, along with how warm you'd like the room to be. If STT is between 400-650, usually that's a good setting. Not to worry if air control is set more closed than the guidance says, fully closed is not fully closed off. I do like your setup tho, seeing the fire from both sides. Does it load from either side too? Stay warm.

 

[nikko007]

Pretty burning stove! Stove top temperature is a way of setting air control, along with how warm you'd like the room to be. If STT is between 400-650, usually that's a good setting. Not to worry if air control is set more closed than the guidance says, fully closed is not fully closed off. I do like your setup tho, seeing the fire from both sides. Does it load from either side too? Stay warm.

Thanks and yes it loads from both sides…

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Experience is the only way to learn how to run your stove. There’s no way a manual can account for all of the variables involved. Each load in your stove will behave differently due to species being burnt, outside temperature, moisture content of the wood, firebox temperature at reload, time before turning the air down, and a host of other factors. You’ll figure it out. It just takes time. Many who have been burning for years change their stove and feel it takes a full season to learn the quirks of the new setup.

 

[begreen]

The fire in the picture looks good. Here are some tips for modern, EPA stoves. I'm not sure if this translates to a British stove or not but hopefully there will be some usable tips.

Thread 'Starting a fire and running an EPA stove'

Jan 17, 2020

Questions about starting a fire and avoiding a runaway stove come up so frequently I decided to document starting our stove. This is a Pacific Energy Alderlea T6 with about a 3 cu ft firebox. The stove is connected to a straight-up, 20' interior flue. The outside ambient temperature is 34ºF. The blower was off all the time for these shots. The firewood is douglas fir at about 17% moisture content. This is a N/S loading. An E/W loading start will follow.

NOTE: as testing will show, the older Condar flue thermometer is reading low. It needs recalibration.

There are 3 instruments shown.

1. ...

• begreen
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• Forum: The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces

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