True North install and First Burn.!! (W/pics)

[Tyler]

Finally got my True North stove in after waiting a little over 2 months.

Decided it was time to get everything installed and light it up. I installed my chimney pipe straight thru the roof of my pole barn/ man cave.

I'm 13 inches from the back of stove to the plywood wall behind the stove. Stove pipe is 19.5-20 inches away from the wall. So plenty of clearance from comsumables.

Yes I'm going to straighten/square up the block under the stove to make it look better.

First burn was just a few handfuls of super dry pine for the crate that the stove came in. Burned great. Draft was perfect I thought. Total chimney length is 14-15' roughly. Temp last night was 45-50.

Then after that died down I decided to light another fire. (Had the itch for fire) this time I used large pieces from the crate. 1x4's about 12" long. Got a nice little bed of coals and threw a few 2x4's from the pallet the crate was on. Flames were rolling so I turned air supply all the way off. When it settled down the stove tip temp was around 550. Is this to high? Also in the pictures does it look like secondaries are "lit" ? I'm new to the burning secondary deal. Thanks in advance.

 

[Tyler]

One other question. When I went to add wood to the stove that was burning great. I opened the air control all the way and waited a few seconds. When I open door the flames really get excited but not to the point where it backflashes out of fire box for a second, then all the flames suck back towards the back of the stove severely.

Is this about normal? Think there is enough draft or to much draft?

 

[webfish]

I fixed the images. If phone pics, hold camera horizontal. The software doesn't auto correct. Next version it will.

 

[Tyler]

I fixed the images. If phone pics, hold camera horizontal. The software doesn't auto correct. Next version it will.

Sorry about that. Thank you for the fix.!

 

[begreen]

One other question. When I went to add wood to the stove that was burning great. I opened the air control all the way and waited a few seconds. When I open door the flames really get excited but not to the point where it backflashes out of fire box for a second, then all the flames suck back towards the back of the stove severely.

Is this about normal? Think there is enough draft or to much draft?

Open up the air control full for a few seconds before opening the door. Also, there will be less vigorous flames when you start burning cordwood. Pallet wood is tinder dry. Save it for kindling.

 

[Tyler]

Pallet wood is tinder dry. Save it for kindling.

Yeah I figured the pallet would be dry and would be easy to burn for just the first fire to cure the paint

 

[billb3]

I have my thermometer on the pipe just above that screw hole rather than on the top and it runs at about 400 degrees when the secondaries turn on and off. I have single wall pipe. I never get much more than what you would see on a gas range burner on low . They don't stay "lit", they just burn off a charge of gas , go back out and light back up as another charge of gas forms/flows by. Usually just the center of the two front tubes. Kinda underwhelming, IMO.
My red oak is 4 or 5 years seasoned so maybe I just don't get much secondary.
Some day I'll have to try some not so well seasoned wood.

Get into a habit of giving the door latch a tiny tug to make sure it is closed, it is easy to latch the door open in front of the catch.

I took an IR gun to the stove top before I got a flu thermometer and found quite a range of temp variances so didn't put my thermometer on the top. Should it get moved an inch, last week's ( or before position change) temp observations would no longer have a lot of value.

I unlatch the door an open it an inch for 5 to 10 seconds before opening the door slowlyish.
The smoke/exhaust/heat is exiting right above the door top so it doesn't take much to spill out the door if you open it kinda quick and it is lazily going up the flu.
You can slide the air control all the way to the left for a bit before opening the door which speeds up/increases the suck on the chimney a bit but then you have to remember to put it back or where it needs to be. Opening the door a crack and waiting seems to do the same thing.


I've had smoke go up the secondary tubes ( I think that's what's happening ) and come out the back of the stove struggling getting a fire going in a cold stove with damp kindling, a cold chimney and a smoldering mess with the door open. I don't use wet punky oak branches from the lawn to start a fire any more.

 

[Tyler]

Get into a habit of giving the door latch a tiny tug to make sure it is closed, it is easy to latch the door open in front of the catch.

Thanks for the helpful hints. Much appreciation. I'll move the thermometer and see what kind of temp I see out of the pipe.

I did notice that the door does require a little extra nudge to get it closed 100%.


Did you buy the blower? I still haven't decided wether I'm going to order one or not.

 

[billb3]

Where your thermometer is fine if you like it there . It's just a reference.
I don't latch my door tight as though it were the dogs on a watertight ship compartment door, it's just easy to lock it open rather than closed.
If your wood disappears in an hour some day instead of three you might notice the half inch gap from latching it open. It doesn't seem easy to do until you do it. Or you find someone else did it.


I don't have the blower.
Mine is a basement install right at the bottom of the stairs so there's a pretty good heat rise with the basement door open. There's a ceiling fan right at the top of the stairs which is nice and quiet at low speed . There's also a grate in the kitchen floor right above the stove. No problem with moving air around.


you can see the stairs behind and to the right of the stove.
The foundation on both sides of those stairs are hollow concrete block.
Cold concrete block.
That room at the top of those stairs used to get closed off ( glass pocket doors) in the Winter and the thermostat set to 55 or 60 as it was just too expensive to heat with oil and could just as easily not be used, except as an entryway/vestibule ( the back door is there also).
Now it stays warm. Cuts the fuel bill for the rest of the house 30-40%.
If it gets real cold or the power goes out we can still close off that room and direct the wood stove heat straight up into the rest of the house through the grate.

It's not ideal for a whole house heat, but it was originally planned to just be a 'loss of power' heat and cook source and to warm up that back room. That it does.

 

[Tyler]

It sounds like it works perfect for your situation..

I have already done the same thing with the door. Thinking it was closed and latched. When actually it was just closed and hadn't latched at all.