osburn 1600 insert secondary tube glowing

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dakjd03

New Member
Jan 7, 2014
28
fountain Hill, pa
Hi, I am very new to wood heat. I have an osburn 1600 insert. The other night I was burning a load of those wood fuel bricks. I had it about two thirds full like they recommend. Up until then I only put in some and some regular wood, after about an hour I noticed the tube in the front getting red. I did a searchon here and it seems like that's normal, but I am wondering if it is for just some stoves, is it a common thing for all of them. I burned about a cord of wood so far and it didn't happen with the regular wood.
 
you know your burning good if its glowing (tubes only). But be careful with using just them bricks. Easy to overfire the insert.
 
Thanks, just wanted to make sure. I don't think I'll be using those bricks some anymore. I figured I'd try them and see if they were worth it just to finish this year off. I'm a little unsure about buying another full cord, I made the mistake of trusting the last guy, turns out it wasn't as good as it should have been.
 
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you will have a hek of a time finding actual seasoned wood from a dealer, especially now. You can always mix the bricks with the less than seasoned wood
 
It is scary first time when you get those air tubes glowing. Same thing happened to me I had four of Eco Bricks in when I got the tubes glowing first time, that's when I saw the full potential of my insert. Now I try to accomplish it every time I burn.
 
I have also noticed that often times what seems like a glow is reflected off coals and the glass. But here is a guide I found that is helpful:

Steel begins to glow faint red at about 600 degrees celsius. A very slight red color may be visible below this temperature if the light is dim enough.

In bright light, e.g: sunlight, the red color may not be visible until the steel is well into the "cherry red" temperature: more than 750 degrees celsius.

Bright orange indicates a temperature of 880-980 degrees, while yellow is more than 1000 degrees. Note that the melting point of plain carbon steel is around 1300 degrees; at this temperature the steel is is a brilliant whitish yellow, too bright to look at.
 
Tell me about it, I did manage to find some that's supposed to be seasoned, I'm picking it up tomorrow so we'll see if I get lucky this time. It did freak me out a bit. I poked some of the bricks apart so it died down before I went to bed, but now that I know it's normal I'll be looking for it more, I was finally getting some really good heat out of it. Thanks for the help.
 
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