newbie

[corey21]

I know how to start the fire but how do get a good secondary burn? the other day i had one going on the right side but not the left side of the baffle. but it went out shortly after that.

 

[RD-Man]

Sounds like you didn't let your fire get hot enough before going for the secondary burn. Do you have a thermometer on your stove or chimney? I don't go for secondary burn until I've hit the 500 mark. Once you get up that hot, secondary burn will be a snap. Basically, you want to give your fire plenty of oxygen (but not too much...) for a little while until it's really raging. Then, shut 'er down! I have a Lopi/FPX Declaration/33 Elite fireplace insert. What I do is get the fire really going by leaving the doors open a quarter inch or so. Timings will depend upon the dryness of your wood, so that's somewhat irrelevant. Dryer is obviously better. Once you've got a really good blaze going that's engulfing the entire woodbox, shut the door(s). Wait a while longer before shutting the baffle. On mine, the baffle tends to expand a little quicker than its track, so it actually won't move before it's all hot enough anyway. I tend to give this another 15 or so minutes (again, depends on your wood), then I'll shut the baffle. At this point, I'll definitely wait for the fan to kick on before going for any kind of secondary burn, if then even. The thermometer is quite handy in helping you 'steer' your stove. Once you hit 500 or so, you can close down the air intake to almost nothing and get a great secondary burn. You'll find that you go through your first load of wood somewhat quickly getting the stove up to temp. I don't really pack a lot of wood into the stove for that first load anyway seeing as how I want plenty of oxygen to get in and around the flames. The second load is when I really pack the wood in tight and, again let the stove come back up to temp by doing the aforementioned steps, albeit more quickly this second time around, and then really go for a long, slow burn. This is how it works on the Declaration/Elite 33 anyway. I would assume other stoves would be somewhat similar. Takes some practice, but once you get the hang of it, it's a breeze. It's been in the 30's at night for the last week or so here in Minnesota, and the furnace hasn't kicked on once. It's GREAT! Enjoy!

 

[firefighterjake]

RD has offered up some good advice . . . the secret I've found to having a successful secondary burn is in the holy trinity of having good, seasoned wood, the proper mix of oxygen and having enough heat. If you have a secondary that is sporadic or lasts for just a while before going out your wood is either not quite dry enough, you don't have quite enough air or the stove isn't quite hot enough yet.

Like RD I tend to get my stove up to temp (using a thermometer really does help a lot in this endeavor since it will let you know when the temps are good) . . . you can use either a stove top thermometer or a flue thermometer as a rough gauge as to when to start cutting back the air . . . and as RD said . . . you generally want to just cut back the air a bit at a time . . . wait for a few minutes . . . if you have a good secondary going after 10 minutes or so cut back a little more on the air . . . how much you can close the air off depends a lot on the quality of the wood and the chimney. If the fire starts to splutter and the stove is already up to temp, most likely your wood isn't up to par . . . and you need to open up the air a bit more and let the moisture "cook" out for a bit before attempting to dial down the air again.

 

[corey21]

thanks guys for the info my wood is red oak and some maple and hickory well seasoned. i have two thermometers one on flue one on stove top.