Non EPA stove Operating Temps

[lowroadacres]

For Christmas I ended up with a few dollars with which I purchased a silly little item that I didn't think I would ever want.

A magnetic thermometer for the stove pipe. Because we have double wall pipe I am using it on the stove top.

To get a sense of how things are shaping up with the temperatures I have not done anything different than we were doing previously.

Interestingly enough we are seeing the needle hit close to 700 when I normally close the draft down on our little Jasper Drolet. When we turn down the draft we see it idle along between 400 and 500. The stove is a simple welded unit with a draft above the door. As a non-EPA stove it has a simple baffle inside with no secondaries.

The really interesting thing is how long this little stove can hold coals. We load the stove before bed between 1030 and 11 at night. Every morning between 6 and seven the stove is still warm to the touch and a quick stir of the coals with some small splits and she is back up to 5-650 in a few minutes.

I have no idea what the stove top temps are supposed to be running at but it is showing no ill effects of the temps.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That sounds good lowroadacres except for leaving the draft open until the 700 degrees. You might be losing a bunch of heat up the chimney doing that. I'm reading what you wrote as leaving the draft open full up to 700. We don't normally leave the draft open (full) but for maybe 10 minutes; sometimes longer, sometimes less. I doubt that 700 would be a problem on your stove.

As for the coals, there are a few factors involved. For sure green wood will give you lots, too many coals. Different woods will also give you varying amounts of coals. Regardless of how you get them they can last a long, long time.

To keep from getting too many coals we will turn our draft open full just before the fire is down to all coals. This gives us good usable heat yet and keeps the coal bed from getting too large. I never had that problem before the EPA type stoves came out so had to adjust a bit in our burning habits. It didn't take us long to figure things out.


Now about those crosscut saws..... Man killers! Yes, I've used both and never liked them.

 

[lowroadacres]

I actually like using the crosscut saws once in a while. I have entertained the idea, once I am three years ahead, of trying to maintain my wood supply with them as I need something to keep me relatively fit and I have three teenagers in the home who need the energy worn off of them.

The entertaining part is as far as it has ever gotten

Yes, we only leave the draft open for a short time to get the temps up and then we adjust it accordingly.... As long as we are awake.

Come night time we get the stove up to temperature and then go to bed. On those nights that the dog gets me up mid way through the sleep I tinker with the stove as I reload.

Until we are able to get an insert into our main level fireplace we know we are only going to be able to heat a portion of our home when the outside temps are below a certain level. We are learning our home and its needs as we go. It becomes quite the obsession.

 

[Battenkiller]

I actually like using the crosscut saws once in a while. I have entertained the idea, once I am three years ahead, of trying to maintain my wood supply with them as I need something to keep me relatively fit and I have three teenagers in the home who need the energy worn off of them.

I've never used a big crosscut saw, but people underestimate the ability of a razor sharp and properly set saw to slice through wood. I used to run for the circ saw for just about anything that was too long to cut on my 14" throat band saw, but I have been using a Japanese ryoba hand saw for most 1-3 cut jobs for the past several years. By the time I get the circ saw off the shelf, set the depth, get the extension cord, hearing protection and face shield, etc., I could have made three cuts with the hand saw in silence. Short rips are easier with the ryoba than using a circ saw as well. No fence to set up and clamp down, just strike a line and follow it. A lot less mess in the shop as well, and I get to practice my skills with the hand tools, something that many power tool adepts never master.

 

[lowroadacres]

It is funny that you should mention using simpler tools. Long story short my FIL and I found ourselves helping out a friend who is in a tough spot. Her ex left his tools in place when he walked out on her and on a house they were renovating together. We moved and sorted boxes and boxes of tools into a safe storage area all Saturday morning.

Waaaaay too many tools. I am a firm believer in the KISS principle and this was a good reminder why. Don't get me wrong in this because I like having good quality tools and have a few myself but how many versions of a cordless drill does one need? Or how many different types of power saws do you need?

It was a good lesson for me to simplify my own life.

 

[Valhalla]

Silly a thermometer is not! Put it on your stove and get used to it's normal range. It will tell you a great deal about your stove operation and the wood fuel quality.
Better yet, keep one on your flue and one on your stovetop.

Keep your flue clean and your fuel seasoned and you will see that a thermometer is the "tachometer" of stove operation!

 

[johnstra]

The song of a two-man cross-cut saw through oak will forever be with me. Me, My Dad, and my two brothers cut many cords of wood using one. Dad would would lube the saw when it needed it using a coke bottle full of kerosene with a bunch of pine needles stuffed into the opening.

None of us boys ever had weight problems

 

[Backwoods Savage]

lol, John, that reminds me of my younger days. We had both the 2-man and 1-man crosscut saws. I was the youngest of 3 boys so I had watched them saw and also my father and his brother once sawed and I was amazed how fast they could saw. Naturally my brothers and I tried to match it but not sure we ever did. Fortunately, the big ole gear driven McCullough saw brought an end to the crosscut saws. The buzz saw took care of the small stuff too and I was very happy to put those crosscuts back on their hangers. Sharpening those things took a bit of time too and I was never very good at that.

 

[johnstra]

Good times.

You might enjoy this too... Several years ago my buddy bought a new 25 ton splitter. Man, was he ever proud of that thing. I went over one day and we set to splitting a big pile of spruce and fir he'd dropped at his house. I was feeling cocky and told him I thought I could split faster with my maul than he could with his splitter. Now before you call me a dumb-a$$, let me tell you why I thought I could beat him. First, this spruce and fir wood was incredibly easy to split. Straight grained, 16" blocks. Second, we were doing the splitting on a big flat piece of ground - decomposed granite surface. I figured with all the time it took him to carry blocks to the splitter I could be whacking away making progress. Well, in the end he did beat me, but not by much. My plan seemed good when we started as I was way ahead of him for about 20 minutes. I just moved from block to block, splitting them way faster then he could carry his over and split them. I failed to factor in the fatigue issue, though. After about 45 minutes, I was going a whole lot slower than I was when we started and he was going about the same speed. We were doing this at about 9000'! It was fun, but I never asked for a rematch.

Gave me a new appreciation for John Henry!