Update on my Lopi Leyden after my first burn....

[griz7674]

Well, my first burn went great according to my standards but I did notice something today that I am sure is not correct. My first burn went like this:

Fired up the stove and let it run at full steam for a good 45 minutes to get the secondary burn going.

Once up to temp, I shut everything down as I was wanting a low slow burn to heat my house through the night.

14 hours after I shut it down I still had great coals going.

I threw in some cherry wood (4 medium pieces) that were cut down this past July. This was at 10am Saturday morning and I kept the damper shut to continue the long slow burn.

Last night at 11 my stove was still too hot to touch even though I had not added anything to it since 10am.

I wake up this morning and open the damper etc and saw a few small red hot coals but nothing much.

This afternoon I decided to clean out the ash and see how things went. This is where my issue is. My glass is completely sooted over and the stove lid has a thick hard tar like substance on it.

So, did I do something wrong with my low slow burn? Could it have been the cherry if it was not dry enough? Should I not keep my stove at low and slow when I add new wood ( in other words, if you add new wood you should always bring the stove back up to temps?)?

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

Bob

 

[northwinds]

This afternoon I decided to clean out the ash and see how things went. This is where my issue is. My glass is completely sooted over and the stove lid has a thick hard tar like substance on it.

So, did I do something wrong with my low slow burn? Could it have been the cherry if it was not dry enough? Should I not keep my stove at low and slow when I add new wood ( in other words, if you add new wood you should always bring the stove back up to temps?)?

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

Bob

Yes, yes, and yes. You've got it figured out already.

 

[griz7674]

So, with the cherry aside, I should always open up the damper system when adding new wood and once again wait to shut it down until the temps get back up piping hot. Correct? Thanks!

Bob

 

[Todd]

Every type of stove requires some time on high burn during reload time to evaporate the moisture out of the wood before shutting down for a long burn. Even if your wood is down to 20% or less there is still water and creosote thingys in it. If your wood is less than dry you need to burn with more air and with the bypass open a little while longer.

 

[northwinds]

When you add fresh wood to coals, you have no secondary burn going. All of that smoke and moisture is filling your
firebox and chimney. Because it's not at temperature and there isn't enough air to bring the temperature up, it's
going to smolder that way for a long time. If you bring it up to temperature until the new wood is charred and
secondary burn is established, that smoke is going to ignite in the firebox and your wood will burn clean. When
you're doing it right, you'll have little or no smoke coming out the chimney and the glass will be clean, even after turning
down the air down.

Is it warm enough to burn in IL? We're having 40's and 50's here, and I've only lit one fire per day to take the chill off.

 

[griz7674]

Would a one day burn put enough creosote in my chimney that I need to be worried about it? Or.....will a couple of good hot burns take care of any build up? Thanks!
Bob