Secondaries and smoke

[Draughts15]

Hi,

I have a PE Super Classic and I've recently noticed I have quite a bit of smoke coming out of my flue. Secondaries are firing but maybe not as pronounced as I remember. Wood is dry and my flue is currently at 700 while I write this.

I'm usually shutting the air down within 2-3 minutes on a cold start, can't imagine it being wet wood. Any ideas what could be causing this?

I'm burning oak. Single story house.

 

[Wisco Shepherd]

You may be turning down your air too fast. On a cold start I am running either full air or only 25 % closed until cat is active(takes 10-12 mins) then going down every 5 mins from there until at its final setting.

 

[begreen]

Draft is going to be quite strong with the cold the midwest is seeing right now, especially if it's windy. . With very dry wood the secondary burn may not be able to keep up with the amount of wood gases being emitted.

Does the stove have 1 wall or 2 wall stovepipe? How is the flue temp being measured, probe thermometer or a magnetic thermometer on the stove pipe?

 

[Draughts15]

Does the stove have 1 wall or 2 wall stovepipe? How is the flue temp being measured, probe thermometer or a magnetic thermometer on the stove pipe?

Double wall stovepipe with a probe thermometer. Attached are pictures from when I first posted, about an hour ago now.

Temp is about 600 and smoke still coming out about an hour later. It is cranking out the heat, just not used to seeing this much smoke coming out.

 

[begreen]

Some of that may be steam. Even dry wood still has 15% moisture content. Does the "smoke" dissapate fairly rapidly, like within 10 seconds?

 

[NickW]

That looks to be mostly steam. With our temps right now any moisture condenses as soon as it exits. If it's gone in 10-15' it's probably steam, if it leaves a trail longer than that it's smoke (although in this wind even smoke might dissipate quickly...).

 

[Draughts15]

Some of that may be steam. Even dry wood still has 15% moisture content. Does the "smoke" dissapate fairly rapidly, like within 10 seconds?

Yes, it doesn't linger for very long. That makes sense. Thank you.