Running a quadra fire 3100 step top at my friends house I'm renting from him. Wood is 2 yrs seasoned. Never had this problem last year, mainly because my wood was sub par I'm sure.
The stove is in the basement with an exterior stainless chimney running to about 3 ft above the peak on the gable end of a 2 story house. My pipe temp will creep upwards of 500 degress surface temp and stove hits 700-750 on reloads and hang there for a good hour or so even with stove closed to as far as factory will allow. I know the quads are built for the heat but this is with the secondary (tube) inlet half blocked and the primary blocked so when its closed all the way there is just a sliver of air coming in. I do leave it open a little more knowing this. Thats just a precationary step to shut down an over fire.
Problem is once it starts dropping I loose flame and end up with a bunch of coals as the air is shut down so far. Am I closing too fast (takes about 10 mins with good rolling flames) not allowing the off gassing to escape up the chimney some and forcing it all to burn really hot really fast in the stove? It seems all my wood turns to coal in about 2 hours from the secondaries burning it up as they go acrossed the top. A full load of 6 splits stacked fairly tight will pretty much hold their shape but be all coal with a little that has fallen off the ends with barely any flame unless I open the air back up. Seems like it is obviously overdrafting in these colder temps <20. Any suggestions greatly appreciated!
The stove is in the basement with an exterior stainless chimney running to about 3 ft above the peak on the gable end of a 2 story house. My pipe temp will creep upwards of 500 degress surface temp and stove hits 700-750 on reloads and hang there for a good hour or so even with stove closed to as far as factory will allow. I know the quads are built for the heat but this is with the secondary (tube) inlet half blocked and the primary blocked so when its closed all the way there is just a sliver of air coming in. I do leave it open a little more knowing this. Thats just a precationary step to shut down an over fire.
Problem is once it starts dropping I loose flame and end up with a bunch of coals as the air is shut down so far. Am I closing too fast (takes about 10 mins with good rolling flames) not allowing the off gassing to escape up the chimney some and forcing it all to burn really hot really fast in the stove? It seems all my wood turns to coal in about 2 hours from the secondaries burning it up as they go acrossed the top. A full load of 6 splits stacked fairly tight will pretty much hold their shape but be all coal with a little that has fallen off the ends with barely any flame unless I open the air back up. Seems like it is obviously overdrafting in these colder temps <20. Any suggestions greatly appreciated!