Noob Question on burning correctly

[snavematt]

Out of curiosity, Im burning enough to keep my house at the temp you want it, I run the stove temp around 400 (hard to really tell since the blower cools the temp quite a bit). my glass doesn't get anything other than soot (easily wiped off) I moister metered my wood (split and tested random pieces today) Im between 14-18%. When I look at my stack outside, I see no smoke just heat, Im concerned if Im burning great or smoke is just staying and cooling in the stack. I haven't mastered secondaries yet, but I can achieve them

Quad Explorer 2

 

[Digger79]

Out of curiosity, Im burning enough to keep my house at the temp you want it, I run the stove temp around 400 (hard to really tell since the blower cools the temp quite a bit). my glass doesn't get anything other than soot (easily wiped off) I moister metered my wood (split and tested random pieces today) Im between 14-18%. When I look at my stack outside, I see no smoke just heat, Im concerned if Im burning great or smoke is just staying and cooling in the stack. I haven't mastered secondaries yet, but I can achieve them

Quad Explorer 2

sounds like you are hitting it on the nose my friend. If you where creating a mess you would see tons of smoke period. if its clear you are vaping the wood as planned!!

 

[Digger79]

suit on the glass however should not really occur. This can happen however from people closing the door to early. Usually a period of time with the door cracked is required to drive the surface moisture out of the wood. This is likely what is happening to you there. Leave the door open a little longer or until the stove is really ripping to at point you feel is safe. U can monitor flu temps with a probe and will want to keep them under 800 roughly as peak surge temps. Another possibility is you do not have and insulated chimney but that doesn't sound like the case.

 

[snavematt]

suit on the glass however should not really occur. This can happen however from people closing the door to early. Usually a period of time with the door cracked is required to drive the surface moisture out of the wood. This is likely what is happening to you there. Leave the door open a little longer or until the stove is really ripping to at point you feel is safe. U can monitor flu temps with a probe and will want to keep them under 800 roughly as peak surge temps. Another possibility is you do not have and insulated chimney but that doesn't sound like the case.

my stack is double wall all the way to the ceiling, then insulated double wall through attic and outside. Just had this put in and not really keen on drilling a hole in the pipe yet. Im following Quads lighting and reload instructions, I think the soot is from airing down and not having the secondaries going, and when it burns out over night. When I say dirty, its not so dirty I can't see, and the center stays clean its more on the sides

 

[Digger79]

my stack is double wall all the way to the ceiling, then insulated double wall through attic and outside. Just had this put in and not really keen on drilling a hole in the pipe yet. Im following Quads lighting and reload instructions, I think the soot is from airing down and not having the secondaries going, and when it burns out over night. When I say dirty, its not so dirty I can't see, and the center stays clean its more on the sides

Right. I figured u meant small amounts probably around the corners of the glass. from the sounds of things you did have everything proper including the flu. I only notice this happening to me when I close the door or dampers too early upon initial firing. Im am pretty confident the end of the burn has nothing to do with it unless you are keeping a manual damper closed to far. Example.. My Tundra in the garage is automatic an runs the air intakes from a temp controller with a probe measuring flu temps and a manometer measuring draft speeds in the flu. Now.. my insert inside is all manual.. so If I burn a hot fire and slam the main intake all the way shut when I get home I will have black staining yes from the last few hours of the burn. the damper needs to open up more towards the end of the burns correct.. so I solved this problem by making metered notches on the damper control and playing with how tight I close the damper before leaving for 8 hrs. After a few burns I finally found the ideal manual damper setting that keeps the stove from over firing but also allows enough air at the end of the burns to stop creosote.. So this sounds like what you are dealing with and my earlier comment about it not being end of burn problem may not be all that accurate.

 

[Digger79]

I would not be afraid to drill a hole in the double wall. That stuff is not that expensive and if you decide you don't want the hole there anymore you can simply buy a new piece of pipe or even easier.. just cover it with metal tape. I've done that on flus that get up to 400 on the outside and never compromised the foil tape. I wouldn't be to scared to drill a hole in the single wall and add a probe.. just make sure you get a probe that can handle temps around 1500 deg. Your flu should never exceed 800 on the average however but when you see temps on the outside with a surface therm on the flu of 3-400 the inside is really at like 600 or higher. internal probes are key in monitoring flu. the manometer can help you to know when the draft is too low. It can vary at dif temps depending on flu diameter and total run(height)

 

[Digger79]

Check out a thread on here called "everything drolet tundra" This is a much diff setup than you are dealing with but that thread(which will take months to read thru lol) discuss much of what we are talking about here in detail as far as flu temps, speeds and avoiding creosote with high efficiency EPA stoves. U are pretty much on it though bud.

 

[snavematt]

I would not be afraid to drill a hole in the double wall. That stuff is not that expensive and if you decide you don't want the hole there anymore you can simply buy a new piece of pipe or even easier.. just cover it with metal tape. I've done that on flus that get up to 400 on the outside and never compromised the foil tape. I wouldn't be to scared to drill a hole in the single wall and add a probe.. just make sure you get a probe that can handle temps around 1500 deg. Your flu should never exceed 800 on the average however but when you see temps on the outside with a surface therm on the flu of 3-400 the inside is really at like 600 or higher. internal probes are key in monitoring flu. the manometer can help you to know when the draft is too low. It can vary at dif temps depending on flu diameter and total run(height)

I may add it after this season, the boss would probably get mad at me for drilling the hole when the pro's didn't add it, Ill get them to tell her that its a proper set up to do and then do it

 

[BamaRama]

Unless I run a really hot burn (550-600) with long E/W splits, my glass will have soot on the sides and lower corners. When I use shorter splits, the sides have soot no matter how hot it burns. It's all about draft and temp.

 

[snavematt]

Unless I run a really hot burn (550-600) with long E/W splits, my glass will have soot on the sides and lower corners. When I use shorter splits, the sides have soot no matter how hot it burns. It's all about draft and temp.

Im going to bring the temp up today and try and run at 500-550 since its 20 outside and I have nothing else to do but sit around. my draft is strong like Skywalker's force, Im still learning the air settings as well. I feel a little better now

 

[Hogwildz]

If there is no smoke coming out if the stack other than at reload, then you're good. It ain't going to just stay in the stack, it will flow out the top also. Best way to check is see what kind of build up if any is at the top of the stack & cap.

 

[snavematt]

I believe I figured out what I was doing wrong, with my thinking that's the air control open more I'd get a hotter fire, while I'm sure this is correct with burning the wood faster, the stove wasn't getting as warm, running about 1/4 open I'm getting a hotter stove temp. Guess I should read more. We do like watching the flames, so I will use poplar when she wants the roar and visual and oak and locus with less air for the heat and longer burn


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[Digger79]

I believe I figured out what I was doing wrong, with my thinking that's the air control open more I'd get a hotter fire, while I'm sure this is correct with burning the wood faster, the stove wasn't getting as warm, running about 1/4 open I'm getting a hotter stove temp. Guess I should read more. We do like watching the flames, so I will use poplar when she wants the roar and visual and oak and locus with less air for the heat and longer burn


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Is your damper manual? If you get the stove ripping and close down the damper tight it will burn great for a while but by the time you get near the end of the burn cycle you'll get black crap in the corners of the stove if that damper was set to tight thru out the entire burn. also often if logs off gas too close to the glass they stain it black regardless of how proper the burn is. In short when done proper, burn, setup and all you should never see black staining on the glass. Just white build up that takes a week to haze the glass. Hell my insert inside the house has been crystal clear all winter. It rarely gets dirty.

 

[snavematt]

Is your damper manual? If you get the stove ripping and close down the damper tight it will burn great for a while but by the time you get near the end of the burn cycle you'll get black crap in the corners of the stove if that damper was set to tight thru out the entire burn. also often if logs off gas too close to the glass they stain it black regardless of how proper the burn is. In short when done proper, burn, setup and all you should never see black staining on the glass. Just white build up that takes a week to haze the glass. Hell my insert inside the house has been crystal clear all winter. It rarely gets dirty.

I burned all day Sunday and when I loaded yesterday, and I wanted to clean the glass (I have a thing for clean glass, windshields, windows etc) I just wiped with a lightly damp paper towel and that was it.

Yes its manual, the Explorer 2 has the air control in front and the ACC on the side, the ACC I get, the air control (damper) is what Im starting to learn. I think I was running too wide open and pushing more heat up the stack than into the stove. Ill get it soon.

 

[St. Coemgen]

When I look at my stack outside, I see no smoke just heat

Typically, the less smoke the better:

http://woodheat.org/wood-smoke.html

When you are past early pyrolysis (flames), and slowly burning charcoal (i.e. smoldering), there should be little or no visible smoke from your chimney.

 

[snavematt]

Typically, the less smoke the better:

http://woodheat.org/wood-smoke.html

When you are past early pyrolysis (flames), and slowly burning charcoal (i.e. smoldering), there should be little or no visible smoke from your chimney.

Im not getting smoke except when I first start or throw in some big pieces and the smoke doesn't last long

 

[Hogwildz]

Im not getting smoke except when I first start or throw in some big pieces and the smoke doesn't last long

That is normal, sounds like you're doing well. Just to be safe, check your cap & upper part of the stack once a month or so for the first season. At the end of the season, or prior to next season, clean the stack and see what you have.