Shutting down the primary air - stove temp drops.

[Rockey]

Ok, here is the deal. I added an Englander 30NC in the basement to supplement the catalytic insert on the 1st floor in order to heat with 100% wood heat. Here is what I have noticed. I learned from reading Hogzwild's posts as well as others on here that once my insert gets up to about 450 I can shut the primary down all the way and the temps will climb a bit and then cruise for a good while and really put out the heat. Works great for years now! Now I have tried this time and time again with the Englander in the basement and when I sut the primary down (spring end flush with the tray lip) it burns real well but burns way to fast and for all the wood I stuck in there it is gone in 2-3 hours with a huge pile of coals. I tried shutting the primary down more, almost all the way, and it still has great secondary and some flame on the logs and the fire lasts longer but the temperature drops steadily.

We are expecting temps to drop all day tomorrow and a low around 0 tomorrow night so I will get a good chance to test the Englander with cold temps on Monday and Monday night also. Is this normal for my stove temps to drop like this? Is it a function of the stove being air tube secondary vs. cat? Or is it a function of my setup? The stove exhaust into a 6 SS liner that is inside a 10" X 10" clay tile chimney. It just amazes me how quickly I can burn through the wood in the Englander when it seems my cat insert would burn much longer at a higher temp. Any thoughts?

 

[begreen]

It will burn differently than a cat stove. From the description it sounds like strong draft. How tall is the flue? Is the problem worse when it is very cold and windy outside? If yes, I'd add a butterfly damper to the connector pipe and use that to throttle her down a bit once the stove is hot. You might also try burning larger splits to slow the fire down.

 

[Rockey]

The total length of flue is between 35-40' so, yes it does draft well. I haven't had enough experience to comment about how it drafts in windy conditions. Good point about adding a butterfly damper inline. I'll give it a shot when I get the time, thanks Begreen.

 

[begreen]

Yes, that's a very tall straw on the stove. The manual's guidelines state: "Total flue length should not exceed 25’." A damper should make a big difference.