Sirocco 25 first burn :)

[andertrack753]

Started our journey to get BK Sirocco 25 last October and just got it installed this week. First burn is in progress and so far am really impressed with everything. Hoping for some unseasonably cold weather now



Reading the manual closely so will hopefully avoid some newbie mistakes (this is our first wood stove either standalone or insert)

 

[stoveliker]

Congrats. Looks good. And reading the manual is smart.

Is your wood dry?

 

[andertrack753]

Yeah, got cord of seasoned wood last September and its been stacked in garage waiting for the stove.

Only thing that I wasn't expecting was the larger amount of smoke/fumes from initial start up/burn off of oil/etc. They should have a note in the manual to expect a fair amount of it and to open all windows proactively.

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[stoveliker]

Yeah, I agree about the smoke and smell from curing the paint.

Do you have a moisture meter? It is rare (as almost non-existent) that folks selling seasoned wood actually are selling wood suitable for burning. Sure it'll burn but it is almost always way too wet. That will eat up a lot of the heat output of the wood in boiling and evaporating the water up your flue.

Spend $30 on one, get a few splits up to room temperature (24 hrs in the home), and then resplit them and measure with the pins along the grain on the freshly exposed surface. That gets you the moisture content in the middle of the split and that's the number you need. Should be less than 20 pct. Up to 25 pct for a few splits is okay if the rest of the load is less than 20.

 

[andertrack753]

We have a good supplier (eastern MA). Measured the wood last year and it was all below 14%. Tested our current supply and its about 11% avg. Heat output has been amazing so far, looking forward to when we can really crank it next winter. Got some deposits on the glass (I think because of setting it too low overnight) but it came off using suggestion from elsewhere in the forum to use a little ash on newspaper (used a paper towel) to clean glass (made sure to rinse with some clean water).

Second burn didn't have any of the fumes from first burn so looking good at this point.

 

[stoveliker]

11% on a freshly split surface?? Or on the surface as split by the supplier?
I (a little farther south from you, but also at the beach) don't get below 15% in 3 years! I doubt. you have 11% *inside* the split (as measured by splitting the splits again and measured on the fresh surface).
If that is truly what you have, i.e. either he used a kiln to dry or he stacked it for 3+ years, AND it's affordable, don't ever change suppliers...

 

[andertrack753]

Yeah, got cord of seasoned wood last September and its been stacked in garage waiting for the stove.

Only thing that I wasn't expecting was the larger amount of smoke/fumes from initial start up/burn off of oil/etc. They should have a note in the manual to expect a fair amount of it and to open all windows proactively.

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Got a call right after I submitted warranty info from @BKVP explaining that there are warnings attached to the stove and door that the installer removed, so I think its more of an issue with installers not relaying that to us. No worries in either case

@stoveliker you're right, I didn't test on a freshly split log, just tested the largest piece we have and it was 20% (this was coming from garage and not rested inside), so I'm guessing the less huge pieces are about 14-18%.

 

[stoveliker]

Got a call right after I submitted warranty info from @BKVP explaining that there are warnings attached to the stove and door that the installer removed, so I think its more of an issue with installers not relaying that to us. No worries in either case

@stoveliker you're right, I didn't test on a freshly split log, just tested the largest piece we have and it was 20% (this was coming from garage and not rested inside), so I'm guessing the less huge pieces are about 14-18%.

That is still fantastic. It may have been slightly over 20% (given that your garage storage helped), but that's still amazingly good from what I've seen from bought wood on this forum.