Neat video's Bigealta. (John81 ) sure hope I do not get some downdrafts and making the stack higher sounds okay to me (I am not experienced) but it makes sense...clancey
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smoke getting into my room
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Poindexter
Minister of Fire
@john81 , besides the stack/chimney height I wonder about those trees on the left of the one picture. Having watched your videos, either your draft is not very good, or your wood is on the wet side.
Are those trees to the left of your driveway yours to chop down, or do they belong to a neighbor? What direction do your prevailing winds come from?
If you don't know, for sure, the moisture content of your fuel, it is probably time to drop US$50 (or less, (plus shipping to Holland)) on a moisture meter with 2 pins in it. Just split open a few of your splits, insert the pins parallel to the grain on the freshy split face and see if you have 20% MC or less. Don't waste you time sticking the pins in at the ends. Once you have a room temperature split opened up, stick the pins in parallel to the grain, near the bark and near the middle of the length. Then push the buttom on the meter.
Next up, if your wood is at or under 20% MC, is to poke around to see if you can find an air quality sensor, a particulate sensor, that can measure PM2.5. Local to me (I smoked tobacco cigarettes for about 30 years), I can't 'smell' wood smoke in my house until the PM2.5 level is up in the 'unhealthy' area. If you go to amazon (I have never been to Holland) try searching on "car air quality monitor" which should bring up a sensor at roughly US$60 with a PlanTower 5003 sensor in it. It has a 2.8 inch screen on it.
You should not be smelling 'smoke' in your house, at all. Even as a never never smoker who never tried marijuana or hash hish or marlboro, ever, if your chimney is working good you should not be smelling smoke inside your home.
I suspect you have minimum a draft issue from possibly the trees to your left as pictured, possibly wood at >20% MC and possibly a chimney or stove leak that needs to be corrected.
I know zero, zilch, nada, jack doodle, beans about your particular stove, but the videos show either inadequate draft or wet wood, and the smoke smell is concerning.
Are those trees to the left of your driveway yours to chop down, or do they belong to a neighbor? What direction do your prevailing winds come from?
If you don't know, for sure, the moisture content of your fuel, it is probably time to drop US$50 (or less, (plus shipping to Holland)) on a moisture meter with 2 pins in it. Just split open a few of your splits, insert the pins parallel to the grain on the freshy split face and see if you have 20% MC or less. Don't waste you time sticking the pins in at the ends. Once you have a room temperature split opened up, stick the pins in parallel to the grain, near the bark and near the middle of the length. Then push the buttom on the meter.
Next up, if your wood is at or under 20% MC, is to poke around to see if you can find an air quality sensor, a particulate sensor, that can measure PM2.5. Local to me (I smoked tobacco cigarettes for about 30 years), I can't 'smell' wood smoke in my house until the PM2.5 level is up in the 'unhealthy' area. If you go to amazon (I have never been to Holland) try searching on "car air quality monitor" which should bring up a sensor at roughly US$60 with a PlanTower 5003 sensor in it. It has a 2.8 inch screen on it.
You should not be smelling 'smoke' in your house, at all. Even as a never never smoker who never tried marijuana or hash hish or marlboro, ever, if your chimney is working good you should not be smelling smoke inside your home.
I suspect you have minimum a draft issue from possibly the trees to your left as pictured, possibly wood at >20% MC and possibly a chimney or stove leak that needs to be corrected.
I know zero, zilch, nada, jack doodle, beans about your particular stove, but the videos show either inadequate draft or wet wood, and the smoke smell is concerning.
Thanks for your suggestons! The trees belong to my neighbor and are protected, so chopping down will be difficult.
Prevailing winds direction is (south) west.
I will buy a moisture meter to be sure about MC of my wood. Maybe I will buy a particle sensor as well.
Yes I think it must be a leak and / or wind falling into my chimney because of trees of chimney not extending above the top of the roof.
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Hi,
I just disconnected my stove from the flue and put a piece of newspaper in front of it so I can observe draft strength and direction. I made a video so you can have in impression of the situation. To me it doesn't look good: it often seems to blow into my room rather than 100% out of my room. Not sure if a well functioning chimney should always / constantly suck air away from the room?
Currently windspeed is 20 km/h (4 Bft)
I just disconnected my stove from the flue and put a piece of newspaper in front of it so I can observe draft strength and direction. I made a video so you can have in impression of the situation. To me it doesn't look good: it often seems to blow into my room rather than 100% out of my room. Not sure if a well functioning chimney should always / constantly suck air away from the room?
Currently windspeed is 20 km/h (4 Bft)
stoveliker
Minister of Fire
What was the inside and outside temp when you did the draft test?
What do you see if you heat the flue with a propane torch for a few minutes?
What do you see if you heat the flue with a propane torch for a few minutes?
@stoveliker: inside room temp was 17 degrees Celcius (62.6 F), outer is 9 (48.2 F) degrees Celcius, a temperature difference of 8 degrees Celcius. (14.4 F)
I will do another flue draft test and pre-heating the flue with a heat gun.
I searched for "competing chimneys" as we have 3 chimneys in total: the one that is having issues on the side of our house, which is a little below the flat roof. The other, bigger chimney extends a little above the flat roof, in the middle of the flat roof. It consists of 2 seperate flue channels, made from brick without a liner inside. One is out of use, the other is connected to a gas stove which is not in use today but during colder winter days.
I found this website after my search: http://augustwestchimney.com/id17.html
"When there is more than one chimney on a house, the taller chimney can reverse (invert) the draft on the shorter fireplace."
So I will try to temporarily seal the 2-in-1 taller chimney and see if this makes any difference in draft for my wood stove chimney.
I will do another flue draft test and pre-heating the flue with a heat gun.
I searched for "competing chimneys" as we have 3 chimneys in total: the one that is having issues on the side of our house, which is a little below the flat roof. The other, bigger chimney extends a little above the flat roof, in the middle of the flat roof. It consists of 2 seperate flue channels, made from brick without a liner inside. One is out of use, the other is connected to a gas stove which is not in use today but during colder winter days.
I found this website after my search: http://augustwestchimney.com/id17.html
"When there is more than one chimney on a house, the taller chimney can reverse (invert) the draft on the shorter fireplace."
So I will try to temporarily seal the 2-in-1 taller chimney and see if this makes any difference in draft for my wood stove chimney.
stoveliker
Minister of Fire
WIth that temperature difference, it should draft decently *if* it is tall enough for what the stove needs, taking into account the elbow and horizontal run. The latter has been discussed before (and I don't have time now to read back).
Can you close doors between the rooms with the chimneys - to effectively separate the chimney systems? (with a draft blocking thing on the ground, to get as good a seal as possible) And then crack a window while you do the draft test?
If draft then still is intermittent than the geometry (trees, roofline, wind, etc) may indeed be a problem.
Can you close doors between the rooms with the chimneys - to effectively separate the chimney systems? (with a draft blocking thing on the ground, to get as good a seal as possible) And then crack a window while you do the draft test?
If draft then still is intermittent than the geometry (trees, roofline, wind, etc) may indeed be a problem.
EbS-P
Minister of Fire
Do you know what type of cap is installed on the top of the liner/ chimney. Could not see from the picture
@stoveliker: I pre-heated the flue using a heat gun for a few minutes. Then I counted the number of times the paper moved away from the flue (air moving from flue into the room) which was zero. I counted before pre-heating as well, also for three minutes, and counted eight times. (!) So to me it seems pre-heating makes a big difference. After about three minutes of pre-heating with a heat gun, the stove pipes were not hot, just a bit warm. Way colder than during normal stove operation.
@EbS-P: it's this one:
@EbS-P: it's this one:
EbS-P
Minister of Fire
I could see that how that type of cap might be causing some issues. We’re you able to determine if the smoke shield was present
Hi,
I ordered a digital moisture meter so I expect to be able to check wood quality soon.
I found a flue extension, secondhand:
It will fit on my current setup, maybe not for permanent use, but at least it is cheap and good for testing to see if extending the chimney above roof top will make any difference. It is single walled. Would this be ok, or should it alway be double walled because of cooling?
I ordered a digital moisture meter so I expect to be able to check wood quality soon.
I found a flue extension, secondhand:
It will fit on my current setup, maybe not for permanent use, but at least it is cheap and good for testing to see if extending the chimney above roof top will make any difference. It is single walled. Would this be ok, or should it alway be double walled because of cooling?
for sure try it, if you can just mount it temporarily and have 1 fire you will most likely have questions answered quickly.
I'll bet you see a noticeable difference.
Hi, thanks again for your reply. I will try to get hold of it asap! 20 euros won't hurt too much. At least it will mount for 1 test. I keep you updated!
Hi, I got my moisture meter and after splitting some wood with my new axe, I get these readings:
wood from the "dry" batch: between 15 and 20% (exceptions are 22% at inner-core area), average around 18%
wood from the "undried" batch (little cheaper): between 25 and 30%, average around 28%
This weekend the seller will send the aluminium flue extension pipe. I now realize that aluminium is officially only suited for gas stoves, not wood stoves. Would it be ok to use it in my application, at least for testing? It will be at a height of around 6 meters from the ground.
wood from the "dry" batch: between 15 and 20% (exceptions are 22% at inner-core area), average around 18%
wood from the "undried" batch (little cheaper): between 25 and 30%, average around 28%
This weekend the seller will send the aluminium flue extension pipe. I now realize that aluminium is officially only suited for gas stoves, not wood stoves. Would it be ok to use it in my application, at least for testing? It will be at a height of around 6 meters from the ground.
1. That wood is not ready and is contributing to your problem. Burn hotter for a while and dont try to turn stove down/bank too much. Even the kiln dry wood i buy is not ready. Many sellers mix wood and cut kiln times to save money. Larger pieces take much longer to dry. Wood racks have not worked for me...the bottom uncovered course always ruins my day. I like wood sheds with ventilation
2. Another option try to get stove closer to mantel but it will before difficult to clean for you. Make sure a slip pipe or a way to disconnect/move for cleaning.
3. The insulation will help some but will make a mess for later installs. Even double wall will help some. Your current set up is easy for double wall.
4. Adding just a section of pipe will most likely not solve your problem - but try it, but then try a vacustack or or other chimney cap.
5. My draft gauge shows my draft is strong at reload and still get smoke if open the door all the way, move too quick at racking or take too long. Some stoves are worse then others.
6. Opening the door on a cold flu is asking for smoke in the room.
7. Try this method it might help. - You need to preheat the chimney and or start fires will small kindling until the draft takes off fast then open the door and add 2 or 3 good dry small splits. Once your wood gets better maybe go back to another method.
8. You need a moisture meter, ir gun, and if you burn all the time or at least 3 days a week... if possible chimney cleaning tools.
9. Im constantly watching my chimney. Best way for a new owner to learn mistakes.
10. I added a 2 feet section to my stove and it didnt help with smoke entering when reload and made the draft too strong at full burn and now it takes longer to warm up when lighting... But i did get the smoke away from the soffit area when the wind was blowing so it was worth the extension. i installed a support bracket and now its more difficult to get to the cap.
Good luck. Keep us posted.
2. Another option try to get stove closer to mantel but it will before difficult to clean for you. Make sure a slip pipe or a way to disconnect/move for cleaning.
3. The insulation will help some but will make a mess for later installs. Even double wall will help some. Your current set up is easy for double wall.
4. Adding just a section of pipe will most likely not solve your problem - but try it, but then try a vacustack or or other chimney cap.
5. My draft gauge shows my draft is strong at reload and still get smoke if open the door all the way, move too quick at racking or take too long. Some stoves are worse then others.
6. Opening the door on a cold flu is asking for smoke in the room.
7. Try this method it might help. - You need to preheat the chimney and or start fires will small kindling until the draft takes off fast then open the door and add 2 or 3 good dry small splits. Once your wood gets better maybe go back to another method.
8. You need a moisture meter, ir gun, and if you burn all the time or at least 3 days a week... if possible chimney cleaning tools.
9. Im constantly watching my chimney. Best way for a new owner to learn mistakes.
10. I added a 2 feet section to my stove and it didnt help with smoke entering when reload and made the draft too strong at full burn and now it takes longer to warm up when lighting... But i did get the smoke away from the soffit area when the wind was blowing so it was worth the extension. i installed a support bracket and now its more difficult to get to the cap.
Good luck. Keep us posted.
MR. GLO: thanks for your reply.
1. why is my wood not ready for burning? The wood has an average moisture level of below 20 percent.
3. what type of insulation do you mean?
5. what draft gauge do you have and where is it located? built into your chimney? is it permanent?
9. good point, I'm regularly doing that as well
10. interesting point - so I could risk getting too much draft as well which can result in less heat in my room. I'm aware that putting an extension on the current setup will make cleaning the chimney more difficult.
1. why is my wood not ready for burning? The wood has an average moisture level of below 20 percent.
3. what type of insulation do you mean?
5. what draft gauge do you have and where is it located? built into your chimney? is it permanent?
9. good point, I'm regularly doing that as well
10. interesting point - so I could risk getting too much draft as well which can result in less heat in my room. I'm aware that putting an extension on the current setup will make cleaning the chimney more difficult.
1. Average is not good enough. if it isn't lighting fast on coals its not ready.
3. The one down the chimney that insulates the cavity. Im not sure it would be to code with your pipe but others could chime in. More insulation will help with draft at startup and other low temp times.
5. Its on the side of the pipe about 4 inches from the starter pipe screwed in - magnehelic gauge. but just because the gauge shows good draft numbers doesnt mean you won't get smoke spillage at the door. it comes in handy to set the damper and lower draft...but lower pipe temps mean dirty chimney for me....
10. yes. I started with chimney caps and better wood. Do you have any vents or vented appliances running when you go to the stove...
11. My chimney is on the rear side of my house and during high winds with a standard cap it will puff. And if I try to startup during this time you can actually get smoke out the inlet even when the draft is going up on a good light/start up...
12. Not all stoves are the same results. Every stove I had has different results. When i found a stove and it worked great it had poor burn times. When i had a big stove and burned long times were long my home was too hot and ashpan door gasket was a pain.. When i found a new jotul black bear left over in a crate from 10 years ago..it didnt put out enough heat and the burn times were still short. I just haven't mastered dampening the stove long enough and seeing the results of burning off the creosote each night. Im going to try it and then clean my chimney after 30 days. I just feel better keeping the stack hot.
13. Get a co2 meter.
14. Try the double wall stovepipe (with new temp gauge) at the stove outlet (cant go wrong you can always save the other pipe) and a new cap (i have two caps so one trip to replace it and time for the other cap to soak and clean) and better wood which is difficult to find. Everyone says there wood is seasoned and ready to burn. I have never been able to buy a full cord ready to burn. I burn 2-3 cords a year and have 7 cords in my yards. 5 are in covered storage and purchased over the last 2 years. Oak and big pieces takes longer to dry out. Get one load of small cut and one of big cuts so you have overnight logs.
15. Lot of wood burners I know have gone to pellets...They dont want the work of loading the stove or didn't have the patience to learn.
3. The one down the chimney that insulates the cavity. Im not sure it would be to code with your pipe but others could chime in. More insulation will help with draft at startup and other low temp times.
5. Its on the side of the pipe about 4 inches from the starter pipe screwed in - magnehelic gauge. but just because the gauge shows good draft numbers doesnt mean you won't get smoke spillage at the door. it comes in handy to set the damper and lower draft...but lower pipe temps mean dirty chimney for me....
10. yes. I started with chimney caps and better wood. Do you have any vents or vented appliances running when you go to the stove...
11. My chimney is on the rear side of my house and during high winds with a standard cap it will puff. And if I try to startup during this time you can actually get smoke out the inlet even when the draft is going up on a good light/start up...
12. Not all stoves are the same results. Every stove I had has different results. When i found a stove and it worked great it had poor burn times. When i had a big stove and burned long times were long my home was too hot and ashpan door gasket was a pain.. When i found a new jotul black bear left over in a crate from 10 years ago..it didnt put out enough heat and the burn times were still short. I just haven't mastered dampening the stove long enough and seeing the results of burning off the creosote each night. Im going to try it and then clean my chimney after 30 days. I just feel better keeping the stack hot.
13. Get a co2 meter.
14. Try the double wall stovepipe (with new temp gauge) at the stove outlet (cant go wrong you can always save the other pipe) and a new cap (i have two caps so one trip to replace it and time for the other cap to soak and clean) and better wood which is difficult to find. Everyone says there wood is seasoned and ready to burn. I have never been able to buy a full cord ready to burn. I burn 2-3 cords a year and have 7 cords in my yards. 5 are in covered storage and purchased over the last 2 years. Oak and big pieces takes longer to dry out. Get one load of small cut and one of big cuts so you have overnight logs.
15. Lot of wood burners I know have gone to pellets...They dont want the work of loading the stove or didn't have the patience to learn.
MR. GLO: thanks for your reply and hints / tips!
I bought a secondhand 120 cm length aluminium pipe and put in on top of the (mansonry) chimney, connected to the double walled flexible stainless steel liner. It now extends about 100 cm above the flat roof area (highest point of the roof). Total vertical flue length is about 650 cm so I would expect a (very) good draft.
Tonight I did a test run. I loaded the firebox with 2 not so big birch pieces, then 2 small bich pieces in the middle and some very small pine wood on top with some newspapers in between. After 15 minutes temperature was 250 degrees C (120 F). I closed secondary air intake and set secondary to 50% open. Fire intensity lowered, temperature dropped to 210 degrees C after about 1 hour. First reload after 1 hour, no smoke in room after refilling. I hear the wind blowing through the chimney / flue so I guess draft should be ok.
But after the second refill, 2 hours after start, stove top temp. was 150 degrees C (300 F), I could clearly smell smoke in my room, so I had to vent. Then flames increased and temperature raised to 230 degrees C (430 F). As a test, I carefully opened the stove door wide open, but after that again there was a strong smoke smell in my room.
Third reload was after 3 hours, I reloaded on coals, no flames visible, stove top temperature was 180 C (350 F), no trace of smoke fumes in room. After a few minutes I opened the stove door again to push the piece of wood to the back of the stovebox. I noticed a hissing sound coming from the wood. (birch). I can hear this hissing (together with draft / air flow) when I put my ear close to the (100% open) secondary air intake as well. Is the (not so loud) hissing noise a sign of wood containing too much moisture?
Maybe there is some small improvement after extending the flue, but I'm still unsatisfied with the smoke leaking into my room problem. I didn't see any visible smoke leaving the top of the opened stove like previous burnings, but I still had a clear smell two times this run. I'm starting to doubt the flue / chimney is the primary cause as, even though it has a horizontal flue section between stove and t-piece of 45 cm, vertical length should be enough to compensate I would guess. (650 cm length). This vertical section is (almost) straight.
By the way - I used the second hand smoke hood, tomorrow I will replace it with my own hood and compare.
Tomorrow I will split some pieces of wood and measure moisture again.
I still have my doubts about the stove itself...
I bought a secondhand 120 cm length aluminium pipe and put in on top of the (mansonry) chimney, connected to the double walled flexible stainless steel liner. It now extends about 100 cm above the flat roof area (highest point of the roof). Total vertical flue length is about 650 cm so I would expect a (very) good draft.
Tonight I did a test run. I loaded the firebox with 2 not so big birch pieces, then 2 small bich pieces in the middle and some very small pine wood on top with some newspapers in between. After 15 minutes temperature was 250 degrees C (120 F). I closed secondary air intake and set secondary to 50% open. Fire intensity lowered, temperature dropped to 210 degrees C after about 1 hour. First reload after 1 hour, no smoke in room after refilling. I hear the wind blowing through the chimney / flue so I guess draft should be ok.
But after the second refill, 2 hours after start, stove top temp. was 150 degrees C (300 F), I could clearly smell smoke in my room, so I had to vent. Then flames increased and temperature raised to 230 degrees C (430 F). As a test, I carefully opened the stove door wide open, but after that again there was a strong smoke smell in my room.
Third reload was after 3 hours, I reloaded on coals, no flames visible, stove top temperature was 180 C (350 F), no trace of smoke fumes in room. After a few minutes I opened the stove door again to push the piece of wood to the back of the stovebox. I noticed a hissing sound coming from the wood. (birch). I can hear this hissing (together with draft / air flow) when I put my ear close to the (100% open) secondary air intake as well. Is the (not so loud) hissing noise a sign of wood containing too much moisture?
Maybe there is some small improvement after extending the flue, but I'm still unsatisfied with the smoke leaking into my room problem. I didn't see any visible smoke leaving the top of the opened stove like previous burnings, but I still had a clear smell two times this run. I'm starting to doubt the flue / chimney is the primary cause as, even though it has a horizontal flue section between stove and t-piece of 45 cm, vertical length should be enough to compensate I would guess. (650 cm length). This vertical section is (almost) straight.
By the way - I used the second hand smoke hood, tomorrow I will replace it with my own hood and compare.
Tomorrow I will split some pieces of wood and measure moisture again.
I still have my doubts about the stove itself...
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If opening a door or window (to ventilate) improves the robustness of the fire, then the stove may need an outside air kit to supply it with combustion air. Normally it's not a good idea to open the stove door during the full combustion phase. Some smoke rollout is not that uncommon with the horizontal rear pipe setup. The smoke is taking the path of least resistance.
Try opening the air intake 100 percent before opening the door slowly. 2 minutes before. Not 10 seconds. You will really never know your problem until you get good wood and start testing. My next step, I would move the stove closer to the chimney with double wall and test. On refill try loading kindlin first or with it and get the fire going and add small logs again. reloading with poor quality wood will give you smoke. Many wood dealers are mixing crap green wood with ok wood and selling it as seasoned. I have a smoker tester and even with the smoke sucking in during reloads my soffits and the wind bring wood smell into home. Plus the neighbors. Plus the wind can push smoke down your chimney, this is why some try chimney caps. Keep testing.
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Amazon product ASIN B08JHCBLCV
Hi again! I measured moisture levels in my firewood again. I'm getting more comfortable with my cleaving axe and moisture content of measured wood was around 15%, so I guess thats ok. I think my seller is reliable.
I removed the 120 cm extension flue pipe on the top of my chimney and did another test run yesterday evening. There was not any smoke leaking into my livingroom! I used a lot of small cleaved pieces of birch wood and temperature raised quickly to 500 F. The fire kept burning constantly at 500 F. Before I never let it burn at this temperature as my cheap China imported thermometer told me not to do so.
There was a strong paint smell so I had to do a lot of venting because the smell was very unpleasant. But I think after 2,5 hours of burning at 500 F all paint smell has gone.
It seems that, for my configuration, which probably has some poor initial draft at low temperatures because of the 45 cm horizontal running flue, as soon as you start a hot fire, it naturally keeps hot as long as you provide enough wood (which I didn't in the beginning), and keep venting enough. So my new practice is to keep it burning nicely at 500 F. I do see much more secondary flames now as well compared to previous times.
Today I'm going to put the 120 cm pipe on the chimney again as I have the idea that this might be an improvement, but it is difficult to say with 100% certainty. I will make it a bit shorter so it is a bit more stable, and it will extend 60 cm above the top of the roof.
My current insight is that draft is good, with or without extension, as I tested today (accidently) with 0 Bft windspeed (almost no wind), and there was still a (very) strong draft after reaching hot temperatures. (500 F). So the only remaining "problem" is the starting of the fire: I need to check wind conditions and only light the fire above 2 Bft, which is a good practice also for my neighbours, and start the fire as hot and quick as possible which is easy by just cleaving a lot of small pieces and loading the firebox as much as possible with lots of space in between the pieces of wood. Within 15 minutes temperature reaches 500 F and after that the chance of smoke getting in my room when refilling seems negligible.
I removed the 120 cm extension flue pipe on the top of my chimney and did another test run yesterday evening. There was not any smoke leaking into my livingroom! I used a lot of small cleaved pieces of birch wood and temperature raised quickly to 500 F. The fire kept burning constantly at 500 F. Before I never let it burn at this temperature as my cheap China imported thermometer told me not to do so.
There was a strong paint smell so I had to do a lot of venting because the smell was very unpleasant. But I think after 2,5 hours of burning at 500 F all paint smell has gone.
It seems that, for my configuration, which probably has some poor initial draft at low temperatures because of the 45 cm horizontal running flue, as soon as you start a hot fire, it naturally keeps hot as long as you provide enough wood (which I didn't in the beginning), and keep venting enough. So my new practice is to keep it burning nicely at 500 F. I do see much more secondary flames now as well compared to previous times.
Today I'm going to put the 120 cm pipe on the chimney again as I have the idea that this might be an improvement, but it is difficult to say with 100% certainty. I will make it a bit shorter so it is a bit more stable, and it will extend 60 cm above the top of the roof.
My current insight is that draft is good, with or without extension, as I tested today (accidently) with 0 Bft windspeed (almost no wind), and there was still a (very) strong draft after reaching hot temperatures. (500 F). So the only remaining "problem" is the starting of the fire: I need to check wind conditions and only light the fire above 2 Bft, which is a good practice also for my neighbours, and start the fire as hot and quick as possible which is easy by just cleaving a lot of small pieces and loading the firebox as much as possible with lots of space in between the pieces of wood. Within 15 minutes temperature reaches 500 F and after that the chance of smoke getting in my room when refilling seems negligible.
EbS-P
Minister of Fire
Seems like you are making good progress. My stove top temps in the center generally burn around 600F. This is the hottest location on the top. I only get worried if I hit 750F and am still climbing. Load it full keep it hot. Stay nice and warm!
Evan
Evan
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