Really Good Fire Going - Jotul Castine

[mmichaud]

Here is a question from a newbie.

I started my new Jotul Castine tonight and I got a really, really good fire going. Right now I have the air control all the way off and the stove top thermomator is at 625 degrees in the corner. Any thoughts on better control? The flames right now are smaller and are burning on the top of the stove in a nice blue yellow flame. I am concerned about the stove getting too hot.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[DonCT]

I wouldn't think it would get much hotter than that with the air closed down. It will take alittle bit for it to calm down. I did the same thing to my Heritage. I kept the air open too long and before you know it, it was over 625. I cranked the air down and it simmered back down to 550 after about an hour. Granted I have soapstone, so it may be quicker on your Castine.

Just pay attention to your temps and when it gets within range of the temp you wanna run, start turning down the air. It will take alittle time for you to learn how your stove operates.

 

[begreen]

The stove will be fine. Our 3CB regularly went over 600. The stove temp will lag behind setting the air control. It takes time for the fire to die down and the cast iron + fire brick to loose heat. That cool blue flame is secondary and tertiary combustion. Pretty neat huh?

I'm just learning our Castine, but it does seem to like to operate at around 500-600. MSG thinks I'll need a draft damper and may be right. I'll burn for awhile before deciding, but if its hard to regulate due to strong draft, a damper can really help.

 

[Roospike]

The kind and amount of wood u use also controls how hot of fire your going to burn. 2 small splits of oak is going to give you so many BTU's and how you run the air controler canges if your going to get them BTU's now for a few hours (high control setting ) or a lower control setting and get less BTU's but a longer burn time. Now if you start your fire with a lot of kindling or scrap wood or even 2x4 pieces and then throw some softer wood like pine or such then your going to get a real hot fire tho it wont last for very long for over all hours of heat. Its just going to take some practice and you getting used to your new stove.

 

[mmichaud]

Thanks for the responses. I was getting a little nervous seeing the flames as high as they were with the air cut off all the way. The corner stove top temperature guage leveled off around 625 degrees. It did respond, it just took about 20 minutes. Next time I will close the air down a little sooner. The secondary burn is really neat. Completely different than the old franklin stove I had. Not to mention I go through about a third of the wood.

 

[Roospike]

Another thing about secondary burn chambers is when you get the stove hot and then turn down the damper all the way and cut off all that air the wood is going to smoke ........ because the stove is not hot the secondary burn chamber is going to burn off that smoke and your get the awesome display of fire from the top of the fire box. Working like it should. You have the right statment to not let it run so hot in the first place and to damper it down a little sooner. You can run it wide open to get the fire going and then turn it down half way or so to get the wood charded and after a wile you can turnit down to where you like it.

 

[DonCT]

That's hot Now where's our darn pics man?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

 

[mmichaud]

I tried to post a picture but I was told the file size is too large. I do not know how to reduce pictures to make them fit.

 

[Roospike]

I tried to post a picture but I was told the file size is too large. I do not know how to reduce pictures to make them fit.

You can open your picture file with a program on your computer called "paint" and at the top of the paint program on the tab called "image" open it and you will see stretch and click. now you can change the size of your image to the % it is now. ..........If thats a no go you can send me your image and i can resize it.

 

[elkimmeg]

Sounds like you are learning move the stove top thermo around the top More to the center near the exit collar for a true reading

My top range includes 625 all the way to 650 is ok

It sounds like you are pulling a good draft and using good seasoned wood. If the draft continues to pull too strong, then an inline damper can be added to the connector pipe to settle that issue

 

[kevinlp]

Let me confirm that I am reading this correctly. It is ok if the wood smokes a little as long as the stove is hot enough to have the secondary burn firing?

I have made three smaller sizes fires. I don't think I have really seen the secondary burn firing. But I have mainly left the stove wide open or dropped it to 50%. I haven't gone lower as I thought the goal was always flame on the wood and no smoke. I now have a thermometer so this weekend I will observe temps.

 

[Roospike]

Let me confirm that I am reading this correctly. It is ok if the wood smokes a little as long as the stove is hot enough to have the secondary burn firing?

I have made three smaller sizes fires. I don't think I have really seen the secondary burn firing. But I have mainly left the stove wide open or dropped it to 50%. I haven't gone lower as I thought the goal was always flame on the wood and no smoke. I now have a thermometer so this weekend I will observe temps.

Yeppers, Thats correct. The secondary burn chamber ( cat or non-cat ) is there for the smoke and emishions of the wood. It always a good idea to run the hotter fire. The whole idea of burning a hotter fire is ............ Say its about 30° out side and its not major cold you should load the stove with xx amount of wood ( the more wood the more BTU's ) and when it gets colder or your looking for the over night burn / long burn then you can load it up more with wood. The idea is not to pack the stove full with wood and then have to turn the air inlet damper all the way down because you just need a little heat and just 2 or 3 logs would of done the job. Once you load your stove with wood and get the new wood chard and you turn it down around 1/4 damper the wood will still be burning but will start to smoke because the lack of air , this is where the secondary burn chamber come in to play and burns off the smoke and gasses that the wood fire didnt burn. I hope i said all that right to be understood ....... "here , give me that log and let me show you" :roll:

 

[wg_bent]

I have the situation (big ball of blue flame) every evening when I load wood. It can appear a little disconcerting at first, but it's actually fine, and a good thing. Your stove is doing it's job exactly as it's designed to do. When the inside of a wood stove is literally FULL of flames, it's burning the smoke emmitted from the wood during the initial stages of the wood combustion.

It's all good.

 

[DonCT]

Who was it that had a great picture of secondary burn kickin off?

 

[BrotherBart]

Who was it that had a great picture of secondary burn kickin off?

Frank Ivy. Long departed Forum banishee.

 

[wtyamamoto]

Ah, is that why everytime I look at archived posts his name appears, but his post is deleted? Is it taboo to ask why he was banished from this world?

Wayne

 

[Roospike]

LUCKILY I'm a picture saver. "Pacific Energy Summit secondary burn chamber / secondary burn flames"

 

[DonCT]

Man, I get toasty just looking at that pic :coolsmile:

 

[wg_bent]

To clarify something here, that picture shows the flames that appear like gas coming from a gas grill burner. At least in my stove, there appear to be 3 different kinds of flames.
First: Primary combustion flames that are like what you'd see in a campfire outside directly coming off the logs
Second: What I think of as secondary combustion, which is the huge rolling ball of flames that seems to be everywhere in the fire box and is lit off by the primary. I believe this to mostly be the smoke being burned. Frequently it rolls down the glass, appearing to hang in the firebox.
Third: The jet like flames that look to be coming out of the burn tubes like a gas grill. These can sometimes combine with the flames I mention in the second type and can wrap around the top of the firebox and into the upper chamber of the stove it it's a really roaring fire.

Is this similar to other folks experience?

 

[begreen]

Yep. And when sharply dampered down, the flames often go blue and waft in mid air above the fire.

 

[crow]

Yep. And when sharply dampered down, the flames often go blue and waft in mid air above the fire.

I love when that happens. It's mesmerizing .

 

[JMF1]

Hi, This is my first post. I have been burning my Avalon 1196 (Olympic) tonite and after loading 3 pieces, it took right off! I turned it down once it got going, had the bypass damper closed and the secondary burn was almost frightening. My thermometer on the top of the stove surface was pinned past 900 degrees for over an hour after setting the air control to closed. Is this temp too hot? My owners manual states high burn at 800 degrees with a surface thermometer, but I figured I had close to 1000 drgrees tonite, with the air control closed! I was going to bed, but decided to keep an eye on it instead and see what I could find out in here. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I love the wood heat but don't want to endanger my family in the process.

 

[DonCT]

Ummmm, I'm going to say yes. That is way to hot. Most stove should run 500-650. Anything over that and you risk overfiring. Just damper down alittle bit sooner and everything should be ok.

 

[Roospike]

Hi, This is my first post. I have been burning my Avalon 1196 (Olympic) tonite and after loading 3 pieces, it took right off! I turned it down once it got going, had the bypass damper closed and the secondary burn was almost frightening. My thermometer on the top of the stove surface was pinned past 900 degrees for over an hour after setting the air control to closed. Is this temp too hot? My owners manual states high burn at 800 degrees with a surface thermometer, but I figured I had close to 1000 drgrees tonite, with the air control closed! I was going to bed, but decided to keep an eye on it instead and see what I could find out in here. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I love the wood heat but don't want to endanger my family in the process.

An over loaded ,damper open too long load can do this. lite wood such as pine , cottonwood or other such low btu wood can also make this happen. door not sealed properly and or other stove seals not up to par.

 

[JMF1]

Thanks guys, I did indeed let the fire "get going" longer than usual tonite before I turned it down, maybe that was it. I don't have any pine ot cottonwood, in fact the softest wood in my pile is some boxelder, I think tonite I threw in a piece of that along with 2 pcs of maple. Is there any good test for the gaskets? I bought this stove used in the spring so this is my first season with it. Thanks again for the help.