I think these things happen just to bring me down a notch. OK, probably well deserved.
It was a wee bit nippy last night, yet again. I spent an hour yesterday loading wood inside from a new lot in the shed. I've been using lots of 20%+/- this year because last year, I was forced to use half of this year's wood allotment. I stuffed the stove as full as I could with the new wood, got it burning, turned down the air and went to bed.
The smoke alarm woke us up at 1 am. Not fun. Fire is roaring, way more than it should be. I checked air control, everything correct. I checked IR gun - yup 600 at the stove to pipe connector on the Equinox. Soapstone was OK but rising. 600 on a soapstone stove is getting up there but not anything to call 911 about. My old VC would get well above that pretty regularly. No need to change underwear, yet.
So what happened?
Smoke alarm was from the paint burning off the stove pipe that was installed over a month ago. I've been burning 24/7 since then and we did get that nasty paint smell for a few hours but nothing like some people report. Well, I guess I hit the magic heat number on the outside of the double wall pipe and the paint is now well cured - at least I hope so. The smell last night was paint and that set the alarm off. No smoke, just paint, but oh, what a horrible smell to go to bed with. The alarm refused to turn off for 15 min. and it's too high to reach without an 8' ladder. Ears are still ringing.
The new lot of wood I brought in yesterday was 2 to 3" rounds and I didn't measure them but it turns out they were extra dry. 4 cu ft of wood that is close to kindling quality makes a very hot fire, no matter what your draft is or who makes your stove.
Lesson learned. There have been lots of threads about overdraft, poor burning, poor performance. It always seems to come back to proper installation of the stove, good wood and knowing how to use them both.
I will be more careful tonight as I have to be up in the middle of the night to fly south. Vacation time - enough with this frigid weather, I need sun, beach and lots of pina coladas.
It was a wee bit nippy last night, yet again. I spent an hour yesterday loading wood inside from a new lot in the shed. I've been using lots of 20%+/- this year because last year, I was forced to use half of this year's wood allotment. I stuffed the stove as full as I could with the new wood, got it burning, turned down the air and went to bed.
The smoke alarm woke us up at 1 am. Not fun. Fire is roaring, way more than it should be. I checked air control, everything correct. I checked IR gun - yup 600 at the stove to pipe connector on the Equinox. Soapstone was OK but rising. 600 on a soapstone stove is getting up there but not anything to call 911 about. My old VC would get well above that pretty regularly. No need to change underwear, yet.
So what happened?
Smoke alarm was from the paint burning off the stove pipe that was installed over a month ago. I've been burning 24/7 since then and we did get that nasty paint smell for a few hours but nothing like some people report. Well, I guess I hit the magic heat number on the outside of the double wall pipe and the paint is now well cured - at least I hope so. The smell last night was paint and that set the alarm off. No smoke, just paint, but oh, what a horrible smell to go to bed with. The alarm refused to turn off for 15 min. and it's too high to reach without an 8' ladder. Ears are still ringing.
The new lot of wood I brought in yesterday was 2 to 3" rounds and I didn't measure them but it turns out they were extra dry. 4 cu ft of wood that is close to kindling quality makes a very hot fire, no matter what your draft is or who makes your stove.
Lesson learned. There have been lots of threads about overdraft, poor burning, poor performance. It always seems to come back to proper installation of the stove, good wood and knowing how to use them both.
I will be more careful tonight as I have to be up in the middle of the night to fly south. Vacation time - enough with this frigid weather, I need sun, beach and lots of pina coladas.
My other concern was IF the smoke detector was picking up something in the ceiling or roof that I could not see. That is why I wanted to babysit it for an hour. 
