Not Enough Heat !!!

[HappyCamperMan]

Warning: I'm green (but eager). O.k., I've read a bunch of posts on this forum. They have really helped. However, I don't have a visual of the right way to burn in my head. I am armed with a moisture meter (I saw a photo of one on this forum somewhere that was purchased at Lowe's. I bought that one. Seems to work great). Likewise, I am armed with an IR gun (again, used a recommendation from this forum. Seems to work great). I learned that I need to warm my wood inside and then split it, again, to get a good moisture reading. Have done that. So, I have some pine (very light and hollow sounding when banged together). Moisture reading is around 13 - 15% or so. I started a fire last night with some kindling. Got it going pretty well with the door slightly ajar and air fully open (by the way I have a Clydesdale Insert). Then, made a strategic decision to put my pine on the fire. Good flames, no smoldering. Let that go on fully open air for a while (with door ajar). Then closed door. Let it go further on open air. Then, started to slowly close down the air. Broke out the IR gun at different times over the night (after loading more pine, etc.) and never saw a reading above about 195 degrees on my insert. I tested the upper left hand corner of the door (above the handle), the middle of the door (top) and other places. Shot the IR into the fire and saw around 300 degrees (I understand that may be misleading because of reflection through the glass, etc.). So.....where's the heat? Could it be my wood is green, like me? Could it be a personal thing between me and my stove? Could it be my wife's fault (I always throw that in).

 

[jatoxico]

Door temps can be cool. Try shooting into the vent to get a top temp or shoot the flue through the vent right above the stove top and see what you get. Also with the door ajar a lot of cool air is entering the system. If the kindling fire is going well and the splits are dry there is probably no reason to continue to leave the door open. Temp will rise as you shut the air down. If you are getting secondary burning then the temp is higher than 195.

 

[Fod01]

How much wood did you put in?

 

[HappyCamperMan]

How much wood did you put in?

I probably had about three (maybe 4) splits. They were mostly 6" or so (the 4th would have been a bit smaller). I have been wondering how best to stack my insert, as well. Not sure if I should have one split until it gets going, then add another, etc. Or should I load it up when the kindling gets going?

 

[English BoB]

Warning: I'm green (but eager). O.k., I've read a bunch of posts on this forum. They have really helped. However, I don't have a visual of the right way to burn in my head. I am armed with a moisture meter (I saw a photo of one on this forum somewhere that was purchased at Lowe's. I bought that one. Seems to work great). Likewise, I am armed with an IR gun (again, used a recommendation from this forum. Seems to work great). I learned that I need to warm my wood inside and then split it, again, to get a good moisture reading. Have done that. So, I have some pine (very light and hollow sounding when banged together). Moisture reading is around 13 - 15% or so. I started a fire last night with some kindling. Got it going pretty well with the door slightly ajar and air fully open (by the way I have a Clydesdale Insert). Then, made a strategic decision to put my pine on the fire. Good flames, no smoldering. Let that go on fully open air for a while (with door ajar). Then closed door. Let it go further on open air. Then, started to slowly close down the air. Broke out the IR gun at different times over the night (after loading more pine, etc.) and never saw a reading above about 195 degrees on my insert. I tested the upper left hand corner of the door (above the handle), the middle of the door (top) and other places. Shot the IR into the fire and saw around 300 degrees (I understand that may be misleading because of reflection through the glass, etc.). So.....where's the heat? Could it be my wood is green, like me? Could it be a personal thing between me and my stove? Could it be my wife's fault (I always throw that in).

Keep reading around this site. Start with the basics forget the toys. Fire needs dry wood. o2 and a source of ignition.
It is not recommended to keep the door open whole starting the fire, if you forget and leave the room you could result in an overfire ( way to hot ).
If wood is tested with a MM it to select it for burning prior to burning season and not brought inside to split and test.
Forget testing the door. You need to put several pieces of wood to create a fire once the kindling fire, with the air open and wait untill the fire is envolved before you consider shutting down the air.
Your manual should explain the best way to handle your unit.

bob

 

[nola mike]

Don't add one split at a time. Either get the kindling going, and get a coal bed before you reload, or throw everything in at once. Depends on the stove. The default answer here for pretty much whatever ails you is "it's the wood, stupid." (and it usually is). Try using some dimensional lumber (4x4's work well), since they're dry. Try splitting smaller. Also, sounds like you might be shutting down too early.

 

[nola mike]

Oh, and temps on inserts are goofy. Where are you measuring? If you can get to the back and shoot the stack, that would probably be the most reliable number if you can't get a stovetop temp (I can't do either on mine, and use a thermometer in the airstream to estimate stove temps)

 

[HappyCamperMan]

Don't add one split at a time. Either get the kindling going, and get a coal bed before you reload, or throw everything in at once. Depends on the stove. The default answer here for pretty much whatever ails you is "it's the wood, stupid." (and it usually is). Try using some dimensional lumber (4x4's work well), since they're dry. Try splitting smaller. Also, sounds like you might be shutting down too early.

I tried again, last night. Well, Nola.....you're right "it's the wood, stupid". Although, I did load more and smaller splits and did not shut down the air as early, the main difference is that I put some good dry oak in last night. Although I did not load right nor operate correctly the night before, I do believe it was the wood. I read somewhere that good seasoned oak has about twice the btu output as good seasoned pine. So, I'm thinking that the ultimate culprit here was the wood. I had a much different fire last night and even noticed some new smells (I assume I was baking some junk off of the insert). So, just for kicks, I measured the heat output of the insert in the same places as the night before. I saw significant increases. For what it's worth, through the glass and into the fire was about 430 degrees F or so. English Bob...I did forget testing the door as a true measure. I used it more as a relative point last night and noticed it was significantly higher than the night before when burning the pine. My oak splits were, easily, 1/2 the size of my pine splits. So, I had a lot more wood in the insert last night. It's funny because I actually thought....wow, this insert is big. The night before, I was thinking....wow, this insert is smaller than I thought.

I have a long way to go but learned some good lessons from you guys. Now, I have to remember to do the same things (sometimes the hamster gets stuck in the wheel, if you know what I mean!).

 

[Jags]

It is not unusual for a new burner to be overly cautious with the fuel load. Better to start off that way than to throw caution to the wind. Now that you have a couple of fires under your belt - load that sucker up. That is one heck of a heater.

Note: I have yet to understand why folks start a kindling fire allowing it to burn down before loading splits. That is a bunch of heat that did nothing to get your real fuel going. Kind of a waste of good time in my opinion. Load the kindling, load the stove up and light that sucker off. With good, dry fuel you will be off to the races.

(I can hear the clan clamoring to their keyboards to explain top down fires.....)