I have a vermont castings vigilant 1 that I had reduce the flue size to 6 inches. I am trying to find the best way to run the stove. When I get the flue temp to the operating zone on the flue thermometer and start to close it down the flue temp drops. Do I want to pay more attention the the temp of the stove or the temp of the flue? I am burning birch, beach and ash and seem to have trouble keeping a hot fire going. Any advice is welcome, I am trying not to use my furnace this year and want to burn safely and efficiently. How much heat do I lose running the stove with the damper open? Will I burn a lot more wood if I keep the damper open to keep the creosote down?
Newbie trying to figure out how best to operate my stove!!!!
- Thread starter msdconley
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I run an Vigilant and I can tell you they require a lot of draft to work well. Dropping it from 8 inch to 6 could be the part of your problem. Also how seasoned is the wood. I see you are burning beach, which is also one of my favorite woods, but it takes about as much time as oak to season. You can leave the damper open but you will tear through wood and prob overfire. I fill mine to the top let it burn for aboit 20 min and then set it to about 500 and away she burns. Also don't disturb it until it has burned to a nice pile of coals, for me between 8 and 9 hours depending on wood and how full it was. Happy burning.
You said the flue temperature drops, which is normal. If you keep the flue temperature high, the heat is going up the chimney rather than in the room! But, you did not say what that temperature is. 250 degrees maybe? 300? That's okay.
So to answer your question, yes, the stove top temperature is the most important once you get the fire going good. Our flue temperature usually runs from 250-350 after we get the fire going. Starting the fire it is much higher while the stove top is lower. Ours is a cat. stove, so once we reach 250 on the stove top, we engage the cat. and the stove top temperature zooms while the flue temperature drops quite fast.
So to answer your question, yes, the stove top temperature is the most important once you get the fire going good. Our flue temperature usually runs from 250-350 after we get the fire going. Starting the fire it is much higher while the stove top is lower. Ours is a cat. stove, so once we reach 250 on the stove top, we engage the cat. and the stove top temperature zooms while the flue temperature drops quite fast.
The flue temp seems to stay about 250 with the stove top between 350 and 400. I will describe the flue set up as best as I can. The flue is coming out of the stove straight up with an 8" flue, then there is a 90 degree angle going thru the wall where we have reduced to 6" and are going thru metalspestos pipe. From here there is a slight incline going horizontal into the chimney. I hope that makes sense.
The wood we are burning is mostly standing dead wood and wood that we got from wood yards where trees are left after a cut. We are burning ash from a manufacturing facility that sells there slab wood and blocks that they do not use.
The stove is a vigilant one, the oldest one they made.
We are hoping to get a newer stove next year but this being our first year burning we are learning.
The wood we are burning is mostly standing dead wood and wood that we got from wood yards where trees are left after a cut. We are burning ash from a manufacturing facility that sells there slab wood and blocks that they do not use.
The stove is a vigilant one, the oldest one they made.
We are hoping to get a newer stove next year but this being our first year burning we are learning.
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