Thanks, All
To burning chunk. Having a tight house is always a blip, other than the winds were 48mph yesterday and I didn't hear a thing inside. Could have been a bright calm day outside but was anything but that. Walked the dog around sunset and had to chisel ice off my face after the upwind trip back to the house. As for the garage? I can heat the garage to 60 degrees by simply leaving the laundry room door open on a "2" stove setting.
Back to Fire God. Nothing fit tight on this stove from the factory, I add RTV red here and there where safe, so an air bypass if I actually knew what that meant is probably occurring. Even the seams on the firebox side plates aren't flush and open a crack. The firebox did not ship in place in the stove but was inside taped down. Had to grind bad welds to get it into the holder. Suppose I could braze the entire faces on all sides but that seems a bit over broad. Did drill out the bottom vent holes .005 and the flame appears more responsive. Will see what the night brings. As for the OAK. Since I am a noob who has burned chunk wood since 12 in Michigan where I grew up, here, I have 13 acres of Oak on another parcel of land which fed the Pacific Energy wood stove. In this airpark I have only a smattering of Valley Oak? Also, since there is no real glossary of terms. . .HA
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!. . . I will take a wild guess that OAK has something to do with outside air. Already done that.
Too much stove for the house? Possibly, but the spec. sheet runs the gamut of 800-1800 sq. ft. At 1700 plus a garage. I thought I was hitting it a little low considering the mountains are in my backyard and it is Northeast cold here in the winter. Summers can go to 117. Now that is really a rush. 117 in the day time and falls to 35 at night. Ain't life grand? Actually, I thought the stove wouldn't make the grade as far as heating the entire house but was wrong, wrong, wrong! Which is the exact reason I bought cheeeep! Insofar as USS. Have replaced just about everything on this stove and yes, I've come out of the heat exchanger looking like Al Jolson on a few occasions so I am intimate with every square inch. After the drill out, if you believe the firebox should be brazed completely air tight, I can do that. My shop is set up for planes, helicopters and an occasional backhoe so a braze is just another small job. Even remember checking the auger earlier as you suggested. Welds are premium at the drop end. They didn't spare the RTV in the pellet box so I think that is good. Wish I had some potato chips right now because I can feel myself going faint from the mere thought of more labor. But, the country store is a block away and their prices are insane, like me?
Would kill for a 50#bag of muck farmed Michigan red potatoes because like the people here, everything grown in this state is pretty but tasteless. Sigh
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Beyond the box, I think we can move on to pellets. I've been burning wood now for over four decades and except for the terms used, I could probably become a pellet press by squeezing sawdust through trying to make sense of local town meetings. They are now attempting to tell us on what nights we can burn to keep warm. The locals would rather we engorge on propane which they tout as more friendly fuel????? If you come from the East, you have no idea how backwards California can be! Nough said. Let the games begin. :ahhh:
Best wishes all,
Doug