Questions about loading up the stove full and maintaining temps

[NCredneck]

OK, I have burned several nights worth of wood in my new stove. I only loaded 2 to 4 medium sized splits ( mostly pine and some oak ) each time once my flue connection temp hits around 200 to 250 I start dampering it down in increments. The first increment doesn't really seem to make much difference at all even though I damper it halfway. After bout 5 to 10 minutes I damper it again about half of the remaining distance which is about 75 percent of total damper arm movement. Makes a little difference but not much....Flue temp is usually around 300 and stove face is 300 to 350. I assume this is slowing the flue temp increase and increasing the stove box temps because less heat is going up the chimney. My final stage of dampering down is done ( about half of whats left) so 85 percent of total damper movement. Temps on flue around 325 to 350 and stove face has climbed as high as 525.

Question 1: Does this dampering process sound about right? I have been seeing the secondaries some but they are short lived probably because of just 3 or 4 med. size pieces and mostly pine. I have also watched the smoke coming out the chimney and it is not alot coming out which tells me I am doing ok I think?

Question 2: Even with the air all the way off...cuz I tried it for a while one night, the wood continues to burn pretty good and temps climbed to 525 or so and I was wondering if it would have kept climbing even worse if the stove was packed full. Comments? I know because its an EPA stove there is still some air allowed to come in. How can I stop that on a PE summit insert?

Question 3: If I pack the stove full or at least with much more wood, should I damper it down quickly once burning decent to keep it from ever getting going too good?
I am a little nervous bout loading it to the gills and dampering it all the way down..wondering if the temps will keep climbing and overfire.

 

[firefighterjake]

OK, I have burned several nights worth of wood in my new stove. I only loaded 2 to 4 medium sized splits ( mostly pine and some oak ) each time once my flue connection temp hits around 200 to 250 I start dampering it down in increments. I assume this is a magnetic thermo on single wall pipe? The first increment doesn't really seem to make much difference at all even though I damper it halfway. Pretty normal . . . I find the same . . . I don't really see much of a difference in heat output -- seeing the thermo on the stove rise, feel more heat and hear the sounds of heat until I start cutting it back to the quarter mark or so. After bout 5 to 10 minutes I damper it again about half of the remaining distance which is about 75 percent of total damper arm movement. Makes a little difference but not much....Flue temp is usually around 300 and stove face is 300 to 350. I assume this is slowing the flue temp increase and increasing the stove box temps because less heat is going up the chimney. My final stage of dampering down is done ( about half of whats left) so 85 percent of total damper movement. Temps on flue around 325 to 350 and stove face has climbed as high as 525. Remember . . . there is some lag time with the stove top temp as there is a mass of cast iron, steel, stone, etc.

Question 1: Does this dampering process sound about right? I have been seeing the secondaries some but they are short lived probably because of just 3 or 4 med. size pieces and mostly pine. I have also watched the smoke coming out the chimney and it is not alot coming out which tells me I am doing ok I think? Process sounds normal . . . I have a probe thermo in double wall though so I'm not sure if this is the point where you would want to cut back on the air . . . having a smaller load in the firebox will resort in shorter lasting secondaries . . . seeing no smoke from your chimney when you have reached the point where you have cut back the air is almost always a good sign . . .

Question 2: Even with the air all the way off...cuz I tried it for a while one night, the wood continues to burn pretty good and temps climbed to 525 or so and I was wondering if it would have kept climbing even worse if the stove was packed full. Comments? I know because its an EPA stove there is still some air allowed to come in. How can I stop that on a PE summit insert? I think you will find that it will climb to a certain point and level off . . . finding out that point with your own stove involves a bit of trial and error. I know that pretty much I can cut off the air . . . and I can do a full load . . . but if I attempt to reload the stove too soon in the burning cycle (i.e. putting a few more splits on a fire before it has reached the late coaling stage simply because I'm ready for bed and didn't time things very well) my stove will go thermo-nuclear . . . ditto for when I put in a whole load of small to medium sized, two- to three-year old poplar. However, normally I can reload the stove on hot coals and it will only go up so far before leveling off.

Question 3: If I pack the stove full or at least with much more wood, should I damper it down quickly once burning decent to keep it from ever getting going too good?
I am a little nervous bout loading it to the gills and dampering it all the way down..wondering if the temps will keep climbing and overfire. Yes . . . I would . . . I have found that if I close the air earlier (i.e. when it's in the good temp zone) that the temps will go up a bit, but will then level off . . . a similar load of similar wood not "dampered" down quite so quickly and left to rise higher in temp will also go up a bit and will level off . . . but often at a higher temp . . . I'm not sure why this is.

 

[NCredneck]

Thanks FFJ, sometimes it helps to know you aint been just lucky and might actually be doing it right. I think I will continue to stuff it more and more until I get a full load of wood in there and damper it down a little faster each time. I remember seeing a pic that Hogwildz had with the PE so full and the flames of hell going.....maybe by dead of winter I will be there..

 

[ddddddden]

Sounds like you've got the hang of it. Just remember that in the dead of winter, your draft will be stronger, so you may get more dramatic results. :cheese:

 

[firefighterjake]

Thanks FFJ, sometimes it helps to know you aint been just lucky and might actually be doing it right. I think I will continue to stuff it more and more until I get a full load of wood in there and damper it down a little faster each time. I remember seeing a pic that Hogwildz had with the PE so full and the flames of hell going.....maybe by dead of winter I will be there..

Portal to Hell . . . first time you really see it going you will think "Crap! I'm going to burn down my house" . . . in my first year I had some good secondary action . . . it wasn't until Year 2 with very well-seasoned wood that I saw what good wood could really do in a stove with a secondary burn . . . more heat and a lot more pucker factor . . . both are very motivating factors in helping your learn what to do and more importantly not do with your woodstove.