over firing Hearthstone

[burnham]

I have a Hearthstone Homestead in my living room. It's been getting up to 700 degrees with the air control all the way down, I have been running the blower to get it down around 550 or 600. I always burn red or white oak. It has a 18' flue, 6" diameter, half inside, half out. I don't think it is an overdraft situation, the chimney is 2' too short by code and I generally have a tough time establishing a draft. I always burn red or white oak. The gaskets are new and sealing very well. The flue is running 100 degrees cooler than the stove top. The consumption is unchanged. The stove visually looks fine, I can see the air control work. This is my third year using this stove, but a first for this problem. I think the stove may be pulling air through a crack somewhere. How do I find out where? I have seen small bottles of "smoke" you squeeze to show airflow, would that work, and where do I get some? Thanks

 

[begreen]

It does sound like air leakage may be starting to happen. The likely culprit is the gaskets. Start by checking every gasket and seal. With a cold stove, close the door on a dollar bill and try to pull it out. It should be possible, but there should be resistance. Try this all the way around the door and then check the ash pan too. Make sure the ash grate is closing tightly. Do a close visual inspection on the door glass gasket as well.

 

[DriftWood]

Could be one of the gaskets is not sealing. The gasket density could be wrong. Try the light bulb test, cool the stove down clean it out and in a dark doom put a bare light bulb into the box, put some cardboard over the window and look for light. A incense stick might help you find a air leak.

 

[Lignums]

I have never ran my Homestead hotter that 450 in the 3 years I have had it. The only problem I have had is with the ash drawer. The gaskets had worn out, and was sucking air from underneath. While the stove vent was closed, I could see the coals red hot where the circle ash grate was. I new length of gasket rope and I was back in business. No I do not use the ash drawer, it is a complete waste of time. Way too much ash gets all over the place, too slow all around. I now keep the drawer filled with ash and never remove it, and have never had a problem since. What instrument are you using to show the temp? Either my thermometer is broke, or maybe I am doing something wrong.

 

[burnham]

I'm using a Rutland magnetic guage. The gaskets were replaced within the last month or so, but I'll try the dollar bill thing. Thanks guys

 

[Vic99]

Lignums, by keeping the ash drawer filled with ash and closed, do you notice a difference in how much air infiltrates into the stove? . . . otherwise, why keep it full vs. empty?

I wonder if this would increase my overnight burn time, by another hour . . . . .

 

[Highbeam]

That's hot. Really hot for a HS stove. If you just changed the gaskets in the last month or so then I would suspect an error in the replacment. When I completely shut down my primary air the stove frequently runs up to 450. I keep a bed of ashes above the ash grate to try and seal it off. It would be nice to replace the iron grate with a chunk of stone cemented in place.

As another source for airleaks, I might suggest you check the secondary air manifold. I am not certain if your Homestead is the same as my heritage but in teh rear of the stove a rectangular steel tube connects the air galley in the bottom casting with the secondary air manifold at the top of the stove. This secondary air supply is unregulated. Either end of the chunk of rectangular steel is just placed against an opening without a seal or gasket. In my case, I was getting a nice fire show in the rear of the stove from air blowing in at the upper end of the rec tube where it met the secondary manifold. The leaky connection was feeding the fire. I slathered both ends with rutland black furnace cement and the leak has stopped.

If you can eliminate the door gaskets then get a good fire going with the primary air shut off and look for flares or other flame patterns indicating a fresh air leak which would come from a stove joint. The stove outer walls are not supposed to ever leak due to there construction method involving gasketed steel strips set in grooves on each stone. Ash grate, door seals, and secondary system are all likely suspects.

 

[Todd]

I had a problem with the ash pan leaking on my old Homestead. I ended up taking that iron ash dump out of the firebox and replacing it with firebrick, then just scooped the ash out. Never had a problem after that.

 

[stoveguy13]

the ash pan is the most likely place for that to take palce to get it that hot. are you seeing a change in the burn pattern as you shutt thye air down?

 

[Woodcrafter]

When I'm checking for those hard to find leaks in my dust collection system in the workshop, I just turn the system on, light a stick of incense, and slowly move it around any mechanical joints. If there happens to be a leak, the negative pressure created by the system will draw the smoke into the leaking joint..... Viola ! Just a thought, but if your chimney draw is pulling room air into the firebox, wouldn't the same principal apply ? (might be easier than shutting the stove down completely) Besides, it also has the added advantage of possibly causing SWMBO to ask you to open a bottle of wine, as well. Hmmmmm.....

 

[Lignums]

Lignums, by keeping the ash drawer filled with ash and closed, do you notice a difference in how much air infiltrates into the stove? . . . otherwise, why keep it full vs. empty?

I wonder if this would increase my overnight burn time, by another hour . . . . .

When the gaskets failed in the ash drawer, I had a rough time controlling anything. I would have the vent closed down all the way, and the fire would act as though I had the vent all the way open, and the door cracked open a bit. I ran the stove like that for about 36-48 hours, until I figured out what the problem was, and then I fixed it with new gaskets all the way around. Looking back it was scary not being able to control the air, I was scared that I was creating a blacksmiths stove right in the middle, on top of the ash grate. Once I replace the gaskets, to further 'seal' the ash pan off, I gently filled the pan up with fine ash, and left it at that. It was enough to spook me for life. I probably could empty the pan and use it, but as far as time was concerned, it is faster and simpler to use a small scoop, and a metal bucket.

With the ash pan full and closed I noticed a huge difference is how much air gets into the firebox. Not nearly as much as when we bought the stove new. There is plenty of air getting in the stove with the vent open, I can get to temperature within an hour usually, it is when I was vented down, that scared me. I never really got a good overnight burn until I replaced the gaskets, and filled up the ash box. However, I must concede this point: whether or not having the ash box full is open debate, for me is is peace of mind knowing the thing is air tight, from the gasket and ash. When I bought the thing, it did concern me that the grating never closed off all the way. I was relying of the gasket alone. I never used the ash drawer, so I tucked it away for good, and haven't worried about it since. Now when I set up for the overnight burn, I dig my little trench out of the ash from the front to the back, fill er up, vent down and forget about it. There has got to be something said about the confidence a person gets when operating any stove for a while. After 3 years of operating this stove, there is no wondering any more, I can predict accurately how long the wood is going to last just by looking at the location of the vent opening and the wood.

 

[burnham]

Thanks guys, you seem to know my stove better than the people I bought it from. I'll go through and check everything out this weekend. It'll be 50 degrees warmer Sunday then it is now, probably won't get a better opportunity. Thanks again.

 

[Highbeam]

How do you fill the ashbox? Perhaps the heritage is different. The only way to open the ash grate into the firebox is to have the ash drawer open and pull the little arm with the supplied tool. Are you guys able to open your ash grate from inside the stove without opening the ashbox door? I also do not use the ash grate system and would be interested in allowing it to fill to the brim with ashes in order to add to the thermal mass and to prevent leakage. I am not very confident in the latch system of the ash door either.

 

[Lignums]

In my particular stove, there is a grate that is circular in shape that turns/rotates about 1-2 inches. There are cutouts in the middle of the base of the stove, and when you rotate the grate, the openings are revealed and the ash falls in. If there is a tool to do this, I was not given one when I bought the stove. You have to help out a lot of the ash though, and it has to be of finer diameter, the largest opening is only about 1/2 inch. Anything larger will just get lodged in and then you have to either force it through, or remove it and discard it by some other means. To use is effectively, there really can't be too many hot coals, or larger chunks. The way the grate rotates to open, it can be tough to get open enough to use it. It just wasn't practical for me. I really think it is more for show, or a selling point.

 

[fish]

i ahve a uncle who got me started in wood heat. he also had a hearthstone herritage i belive . one night he loaded the stove walked away and went to sleep after it was adjusted . the next morning he awoke to a stove that was uncontrolable. it turned out from what the dealer told him. was that the seal in the door was on its last leg. and during his sleep the stove overfired i belive they were able to tell by the combuster. a couple days later the dealer showed up to replace the seal and get the stove working right. no matter what he did it was still acting wierd. after 3 visits later he found out that the stove got so hot that the castiron frame actully warped and the stove was leaking all over the place. well needless to say he never would purchase that stove again. but after asking my local dealer about them who sells quads and hearthstone ,lopi, nepolin,ect that the reason he dosnt push the hearth stone stoves is because of the gasket problems they tend to have from being custom made and not assembled on an assembly line. not sure if it is true never called hearthstone to find out.well good luck hopefully nothing major