Hey Guys! New to the forum, not so new to burning wood, though my previous experience while growing up was burning retarded amounts of wood in a ~6cu/ft home made cast iron stove. Far from anything efficient, but wow that sucker could throw out heat and wood supply was no concern!
Anyways, ive been up in the great white north for ~10 years and its always been oil/propane heat for me up here. i purchased this 'house' (mobile home, but we refer to them like typical houses up here as stick built houses are an extremely expensive rarity!) 2 years ago. Its got a PE "1990 design D standard" wood stove that was installed by the original owners.
Ive got a few concerns/issues now that this is the first year i am actually using it as my primary heat source.
1) This sucker tends to blow alot of smoke (and ash if you just whip open the door right away haha) back into the room while refueling, regardless of opening up the air or cracking the door open for ~30sec before opening it up (though it helps somewhat)
2) likely relating to #1, the stovepipe though somehow passes inspection, their is an obvious gap where it enters the stovetop (it isnt seated all the way down) and an awkward "jog" in the stovepipe as it goes up. i'd suspect neither one of these helps the smoke backdrafting
3) fixing #2 issues is likely to make this issue worse. Though i can get a respectable ~8hr burn with enough coals to relight the fire, i am looking for more. Jammed right to the hilt, and air shut down as far as the EPA allows (LOL), with the wood ive got, i get a clean low burn (absolutely no buildup on the glass/firebox/stovepipe), it just doesnt burn long enough for me. I regularly work out of town for 12hrs+ a day, and if the wife cant come home on her lunch break to throw in a log or two, its going to be stone cold when i get home, obviously not ideal in my eyes.
So as usual, im up in arms as to what i should do...
Either way, the stovepipe is getting fixed/replaced. it looks like its taken a chimney fire at least once as its discolored at the connection to the stove (where the gap is, which likely fed air to a chimney fire) and at the "Jog" in the stovepipe.
Ive been debating the switch to a catalytic stove, but their is literally nobody up here running one that i can see for myself and get first hand reviews in running them in our conditions. id hate to blow a ton of cash on a catalytic stove with hopes of their claimed 20+hr burn times on low, only to end up with something that still isnt going to keep the house warm when im away for ~12hrs
I think the biggest issue for me achieving long burn times is the wood. Up here wood is scarce, buying wood thats trucked in is so expensive its hardly worth the effort/hassle of running wood ($325/cord!). but when ive got time to burn, myself like many others make the 4hr round trip south to go cut our own wood (i usually just take my truck, so my cost is about $60 in fuel to get a cord of wood). Still the selection is zero, its jackpine or nothing, but luckily their are thousands of acres of jackpine that was slightly crisped from a forest fire. This stuff is extremely dry, which isnt helping extend the burn times, but it is great in the fact that it burns so clean with the air closed off!
Last winter, running propane forced air heat as my primary heat, i averaged 17,200BTU/Hr being dumped into the household to give you an idea of the heat requirements. during the colder winter days, the actual heat requirements are upwards of 30,000btu/hr. so ideally i want to be able to sustain 30k/btu/hr for the 12hrs i am away from the stove.
So, getting super long winded now... whats everyones thoughts...?
Anyways, ive been up in the great white north for ~10 years and its always been oil/propane heat for me up here. i purchased this 'house' (mobile home, but we refer to them like typical houses up here as stick built houses are an extremely expensive rarity!) 2 years ago. Its got a PE "1990 design D standard" wood stove that was installed by the original owners.
Ive got a few concerns/issues now that this is the first year i am actually using it as my primary heat source.
1) This sucker tends to blow alot of smoke (and ash if you just whip open the door right away haha) back into the room while refueling, regardless of opening up the air or cracking the door open for ~30sec before opening it up (though it helps somewhat)
2) likely relating to #1, the stovepipe though somehow passes inspection, their is an obvious gap where it enters the stovetop (it isnt seated all the way down) and an awkward "jog" in the stovepipe as it goes up. i'd suspect neither one of these helps the smoke backdrafting
3) fixing #2 issues is likely to make this issue worse. Though i can get a respectable ~8hr burn with enough coals to relight the fire, i am looking for more. Jammed right to the hilt, and air shut down as far as the EPA allows (LOL), with the wood ive got, i get a clean low burn (absolutely no buildup on the glass/firebox/stovepipe), it just doesnt burn long enough for me. I regularly work out of town for 12hrs+ a day, and if the wife cant come home on her lunch break to throw in a log or two, its going to be stone cold when i get home, obviously not ideal in my eyes.
So as usual, im up in arms as to what i should do...
Either way, the stovepipe is getting fixed/replaced. it looks like its taken a chimney fire at least once as its discolored at the connection to the stove (where the gap is, which likely fed air to a chimney fire) and at the "Jog" in the stovepipe.
Ive been debating the switch to a catalytic stove, but their is literally nobody up here running one that i can see for myself and get first hand reviews in running them in our conditions. id hate to blow a ton of cash on a catalytic stove with hopes of their claimed 20+hr burn times on low, only to end up with something that still isnt going to keep the house warm when im away for ~12hrs
I think the biggest issue for me achieving long burn times is the wood. Up here wood is scarce, buying wood thats trucked in is so expensive its hardly worth the effort/hassle of running wood ($325/cord!). but when ive got time to burn, myself like many others make the 4hr round trip south to go cut our own wood (i usually just take my truck, so my cost is about $60 in fuel to get a cord of wood). Still the selection is zero, its jackpine or nothing, but luckily their are thousands of acres of jackpine that was slightly crisped from a forest fire. This stuff is extremely dry, which isnt helping extend the burn times, but it is great in the fact that it burns so clean with the air closed off!
Last winter, running propane forced air heat as my primary heat, i averaged 17,200BTU/Hr being dumped into the household to give you an idea of the heat requirements. during the colder winter days, the actual heat requirements are upwards of 30,000btu/hr. so ideally i want to be able to sustain 30k/btu/hr for the 12hrs i am away from the stove.
So, getting super long winded now... whats everyones thoughts...?
, then proceeds up to some kind of dr seuss looking bend 
