Super Classic LE Review

[Draughts15]

Finally got a wood stove installed about a month ago. It's installed in the corner of our living room in our 1450 sq ft elevated ranch style house. Double wall pipe. We started off with small fires and worked our way up to cure it and the smell/fumes weren't bad at all. The stove is awesome and easily heats our whole main level. Recently we've reached -20F and our living room got to a comfy 84 on less than a half load of oak. I haven't fully loaded the stove yet, a little afraid to do that and haven't really had the need. When I'm home I throw a small split or two on at a time every few hours and keeps our house 72-75 easily. The blower works fantastic and when I turn it on the other end of the house quickly jumps 2-3 degrees in just a few minutes. We have a small fan we put in our kids room to blow air out of his room from time to time to keep it around 72. Glass stays clear unless i shut the air down too soon. I've posted on here before about my concerns with our unfinished basement freezing but Temps haven't dropped below 50. I throw a couple splits on before I leave for work and the furnace kicks on and the basement is around 55 when I get home. I do have a lot of oak and maple rounds that are about 5 inches in diameter that I've thrown on before bed and have hot coals in the morning. They burn all night but it seems the heat isn't as strong so I've been splitting them. MC around 11-15% on these rounds when I split them.

A couple questions I have:

Sometimes upon start up I hear particles dropping down the pipe, is this creosote? Any concerns I should have?

The oak splits I load heat nice, but sometimes I get large chunks of black charcoal. I find i need to open the air a bit/add extra kindling to help them burn or I need to move them around and burn a bit before a reload. Sometimes I also have a large bed of hot coals and don't feel comfortable loading more splits. I guess I need to get my timing down as I get used to the stove.

Upon cold startup, I let the fire get going real good and turn down the air about 25% and let it go for a bit before I turn it down more. How far should I be turning down the air? When I load large splits I can pretty much turn it down all the way without smoldering the fire but I run into black coals again.

I've read the stove should run for a while with the air wide open to burn off creosote from time to time. Is this true? I'm worried about too much heat running up the pipe and potentially starting on fire.

Last question I have for now, sometimes I hear a regular clicking noise in the back of the stove, is this the metal expanding as it gets hot?

Any suggestions please send them my way!

 

[MR. GLO]

The clicking noise I believe is the ebt mechanism swinging.
If you turn down all the way look at your chimney outside during the burn. I cannot go more than 3/4 in summit...

"I get the fire going real good" good practice especially on 1st fire of day. But a flue probe would be nice and a stt.

Particles dropping could be from cap area or turbulence in pipe. The top of the cap is tough area to keep clean this is where the chimney air meets cold temps.

If you can inspect your chimney that's the best way overtime to know if your burning good. Lot of people buying inspection cameras on Amazon.

 

[Trevor Tahclep]

Finally got a wood stove installed about a month ago. It's installed in the corner of our living room in our 1450 sq ft elevated ranch style house. Double wall pipe. We started off with small fires and worked our way up to cure it and the smell/fumes weren't bad at all. The stove is awesome and easily heats our whole main level. Recently we've reached -20F and our living room got to a comfy 84 on less than a half load of oak. I haven't fully loaded the stove yet, a little afraid to do that and haven't really had the need. When I'm home I throw a small split or two on at a time every few hours and keeps our house 72-75 easily. The blower works fantastic and when I turn it on the other end of the house quickly jumps 2-3 degrees in just a few minutes. We have a small fan we put in our kids room to blow air out of his room from time to time to keep it around 72. Glass stays clear unless i shut the air down too soon. I've posted on here before about my concerns with our unfinished basement freezing but Temps haven't dropped below 50. I throw a couple splits on before I leave for work and the furnace kicks on and the basement is around 55 when I get home. I do have a lot of oak and maple rounds that are about 5 inches in diameter that I've thrown on before bed and have hot coals in the morning. They burn all night but it seems the heat isn't as strong so I've been splitting them. MC around 11-15% on these rounds when I split them.

A couple questions I have:

Sometimes upon start up I hear particles dropping down the pipe, is this creosote? Any concerns I should have?

Sometimes when my stove pipe gets very hot I get the same thing, I have always believed that it was small creosote chunks detaching in the pipe, not sure if they are going up and out or back down in to the stove collar.

The oak splits I load heat nice, but sometimes I get large chunks of black charcoal. I find i need to open the air a bit/add extra kindling to help them burn or I need to move them around and burn a bit before a reload. Sometimes I also have a large bed of hot coals and don't feel comfortable loading more splits. I guess I need to get my timing down as I get used to the stove.

Normal stage in the burning process, I open the air fully to let them burn and once they are smaller I use my custom rake and bring them to the front of the stove and let them slowly burn away, I leave enough red coals for an easy restart when I throw 2 or 3 splits back in.

Upon cold startup, I let the fire get going real good and turn down the air about 25% and let it go for a bit before I turn it down more. How far should I be turning down the air? When I load large splits I can pretty much turn it down all the way without smoldering the fire but I run into black coals again.

I basically do the same, lots and lots of kindling that burn fast and very hot, when my probe thermometer reaches 300° -325° I close the air to about 25% - 30% , when the probe reaches between 350° - 400° I close the air fully, if the fire dies down I will reopen the air 1/2 way for a few minutes again.

I've read the stove should run for a while with the air wide open to burn off creosote from time to time. Is this true? I'm worried about too much heat running up the pipe and potentially starting on fire.

Personally I do not do that, I will let it get a little hotter but not close enough to start a chimney fire, far from it.

Last question I have for now, sometimes I hear a regular clicking noise in the back of the stove, is this the metal expanding as it gets hot?

I do not have the EBT system recently added to the stove on my stove, so can not help you there, however I know that the EBT does click open and closed and that it is audible.

Any suggestions please send them my way!

I have a 1999 PE Spectrum Classic which was renamed Super Classic in the last few years, basically same stove, same size, same capacity. As your setup, chimney height etc., etc., is not identical to mine, you will learn from experience, experimentation, trial and error.

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