No Smoke, clean glass, but low stove temps

[nhcwb]

New burner here, I'm running a 30-nc with 18 feet of insulated chimney which 14 feet of runs in the house. I seem to have pretty good draft, but I have noticed lately my fires are burning cooler than they have the past few months. I have searched and read a ton of threads on here but can't come to a solid conclusion for this question.

I was able to get my secondaries burning pretty good then a fire that would maintain 550+ degrees stove top for a while with the damper 3/4 shut before cooling as everything coaled up. The past few days I can only seem to hold 480-530 and the secondaries never get going nice and strong, if at all, with the damper no more than 1/2 shut. Even worse is with the damper open so much Im cranking through my wood pile. On the flip side my glass stays very clean and when these cooler fires are going, I'm not getting any smoke at all from the chimney.

My concern is I'm burning cold fires and building excessive creosote. I have read a lot here and it sounds like as long as there's no smoke it's a healthy fire, but it just seems odd I'm not getting secondaries the nice hot stove.

My question is, is smoke output and glass cleanliness an ok way to judge how clean I'm burning?

 

[Heftiger]

What's the moisture content of your wood? Is it possible you tapped into some wood that has a little bit higher moisture content than earlier in the season when you were getting good temps?

 

[nhcwb]

I will have a reading available tomorrow when my moisture meter comes in the mail. I would assume if anything my wood is dryer now because I have started stacking it indoors for a few days before burning, but without a meter it's a total shot in the dark.

Also some of these cooler burns have been with hardwood woodbricks (canwick brand) which I figured would burn like jet fuel.

 

[begreen]

Search around the wood pile for drier splits. Bang then together. If they go thud and are heavy, return for more seasoning. If they ring with a musical note and feel lighter, bring them in for the stove.

 

[rdust]

Make sure you warm the splits up to room temperature before splitting and testing m/c. Frozen wood will read lower than it really is.

 

[nhcwb]

Alright so an update, you guys were right. I had been getting into some oak and found it was still 30-35% . I have a cord of kiln dried being delivered tomorrow and a sweep coming for Monday. Thanks for everyone's input.

 

[claydogg84]

Alright so an update, you guys were right. I had been getting into some oak and found it was still 30-35% . I have a cord of kiln dried being delivered tomorrow and a sweep coming for Monday. Thanks for everyone's input.

Wet Oak can sure be a heartbreaker.. It'll be nice in a couple years though.

 

[nhcwb]

Well that was a swing and a miss, haha. I got my kiln dried load delivered and half of its testing over 30 percent, and burning the same. I'll wait to see what the sweep finds and go from there.

Boy, isn't the first winter burning always the most fun?

 

[saskwoodburner]

Well that was a swing and a miss, haha. I got my kiln dried load delivered and half of its testing over 30 percent, and burning the same. I'll wait to see what the sweep finds and go from there.

Boy, isn't the first winter burning always the most fun?

It's like that expression "If I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all!"

The cooler fire without being able to shut down the air was telling me too high of moisture. Guess how I know that...

 

[hamsey]

First and second year for us. We got the stove mid winter the first year and the wood was only purchased in October. Got what wood I could in April. That was after the "polar vortex" winter. That wood sat for 10 months before I had to start burning it. Mostly ash. Having some problems and purchased kiln dried. That wood was at 22-25% MC. Just muddled through the "Siberian express" winter. Current wood that I am burning is 18-22% MC. Better but not there yet. I am enjoying the "El Nino" winter so far. Next winter whatever it's name will be I should be good to go. Wood will have sat a minimum of 2 years. Working on the 4 year wood stack now.

Stick with it. It takes a while to get ahead but I have read it is worth it.

 

[nhcwb]

Yea, I remind myself daily this isn't something you champion in one winter. I'm gonna ride out this warm winter doing the best I can and look forward to doing it even better in years to come.