Too much draft question with video

[Supra]

I'm still new here and learning. I only have had the stove for about a month. Do I have too much draft going on? I reloaded about 4 logs and I would say the video was taken 15 to 20 minutes after the reload. Air control is still fully open. I'm assuming I can close down the air control now or should I wait till it gets a bit hotter on the stovetop?
Thanks

 

[Gearhead660]

15 to 20 min after reload, the wood should be off gassing very well and the primary air should be turned down.

 

[ABMax24]

Close the air control, you're just blowing all the heat up the flue.

With only 4 pieces in the stove it won't throw a whole lot of heat, put more wood in if that's the goal.

 

[begreen]

The air should have been turned down about 5 minutes earlier. The stovetop temp is a lagging indicator, it takes quite a while to warm up the mass of the stove. Flue temperature is a better guide. The stove will get hotter, quicker, as the air is turned down due to secondary combustion kicking in.

 

[mdocod]

Whether or not you have too much draft-effort isn't something that can be determined based on what the stove does at full-throttle.

The full-throttle position, SHOULD burn the wood vigorously with rapidly churning/dancing flames all over the firebox and quickly rising stove temps.

Based on this video, I would say that you have plenty of draft effort for the full-throttle position of the air control to burn a vigorous, rapidly growing fire. This is a good thing.

The question of whether you have "too much draft" will come into play when you go to choke the stove down to a steady continuous burn. If you have too much draft, the low-burn-rate settings on the air control will not be restrictive enough to prevent the fire from continuously increasing in strength and temperatures until most of the wood gases have been expelled. When the chimney system provides the right amount of draft to the stove, but not too much, the lowest burn rate setting on the stove should give you enough control to pull a very hot raging fire down to a steady controlled burn over the course of 10-20 minutes, then proceed to steadily burn the wood at a low pace continuously for many hours without prematurely extinguishing the combustion of wood gases.

 

[begreen]

Supra have you had a chance to read this thread? It shows the relationship between flue temps to stove top temps.

Starting a fire and running an EPA stove

Questions about starting a fire and avoiding a runaway stove come up so frequently I decided to document starting our stove. This is a Pacific Energy Alderlea T6 with about a 3 cu ft firebox. The stove is connected to a straight-up, 20' interior flue. The outside ambient temperature is 34ºF. The...

www.hearth.com

 

[Supra]

Supra have you had a chance to read this thread? It shows the relationship between flue temps to stove top temps.

Starting a fire and running an EPA stove

Questions about starting a fire and avoiding a runaway stove come up so frequently I decided to document starting our stove. This is a Pacific Energy Alderlea T6 with about a 3 cu ft firebox. The stove is connected to a straight-up, 20' interior flue. The outside ambient temperature is 34ºF. The...

www.hearth.com

Supra have you had a chance to read this thread? It shows the relationship between flue temps to stove top temps.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/starting-a-fire-and-running-an-epa-stove.179714/[/UR

[QUOTE="begreen, post: 2645720...re-and-running-an-epa-stove.179714/ [/QUOTE]

Thanks begreen. I just read through that thread. Lots to take in but, I'm getting a better hand on it. I'm assuming every stove will behave a little differently. I still need to get an IR thermometer. I have a probe thermometer installed but I don't think it's working correctly. The stove top reads around 450 and the probe thermometer was still at 0 untill I tried to move the dial arm and then it jumped up a bit and never moved again.

 

[Supra]

Whether or not you have too much draft-effort isn't something that can be determined based on what the stove does at full-throttle.

The full-throttle position, SHOULD burn the wood vigorously with rapidly churning/dancing flames all over the firebox and quickly rising stove temps.

Based on this video, I would say that you have plenty of draft effort for the full-throttle position of the air control to burn a vigorous, rapidly growing fire. This is a good thing.

The question of whether you have "too much draft" will come into play when you go to choke the stove down to a steady continuous burn. If you have too much draft, the low-burn-rate settings on the air control will not be restrictive enough to prevent the fire from continuously increasing in strength and temperatures until most of the wood gases have been expelled. When the chimney system provides the right amount of draft to the stove, but not too much, the lowest burn rate setting on the stove should give you enough control to pull a very hot raging fire down to a steady controlled burn over the course of 10-20 minutes, then proceed to steadily burn the wood at a low pace continuously for many hours without prematurely extinguishing the combustion of wood gases.

Thanks mdocod. I appreciate the advice and reconditions. My biggest concern over firing the stove by filling the box and closing the air down.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Thanks mdocod. I appreciate the advice and reconditions. My biggest concern over firing the stove by filling the box and closing the air down.

You have less of a chance of overfiring with the air down.. when you cut the air, there is less air for combustion.. AKA less wood burning.. You will Overfire the stove by filling the box and keeping the air all the way up.. getting thermometers on the stove and stovepipe along with an IR gun will help run the stove

 

[begreen]

Thanks mdocod. I appreciate the advice and reconditions. My biggest concern over firing the stove by filling the box and closing the air down.

If you note in the stove starting thread, that is with a full load of fuel. To avoid overfire, close down the air soon, going by the flue gas temp or visual guidance, not by the stove top temp. Incrementally close down the air as quickly as possible, just to the point of the flames getting lazier, then wait a few minutes, and close it down some more. Repeat until the stove and flue temp are at cruising temperature. With dry wood and good kindling, it's not uncommon to have the air fully closed down or close to it, in 10-15 minutes.

If the stovepipe is with double-wall, you will need a decent probe thermometer. Condar makes a good analog probe. I got an Imperial probe thermometer to test with and it was junk. Auber makes a decent digital probe thermometer. Surface reading of double-wall stove pipe is not very helpful.

Burning thicker splits, snuggly packed, helps keep the fire at a steady pace too.