Vermont Castings Encore 2550 (circa 1996?) builds up gasses and ignites in a powerful puff

[Snowjoe]

I have a Vermont Castings encore 2550 (circa 1996?) that I completely rebuilt using a post from this forum. I have had about 7 to 8 burns so far. I have noticed that when it burns on low setting it appears to build up some gasses in the chamber. It will ignite with a great "va-room", fill the chamber with a brilliant flame and a large puff of smoke. There is so much pressure that it pops up the griddle to let the puff of smoke escape into the room. When this happens, the catlyst is usually engaged and the fire is on low oxygen settings. If it happens once, it will happen multiple times. To stop it I need to disengage the catlyst and open the oxygen. Once things clam down I can engage the catlyst and things will be fine for a bit. There is enough to smoked to set off the smoke detectors.

The incident/issue is that we used to burn this stove in another house continuously around the clock. I am fearful of these incidents in my current house as it happens when we sleep and it will happen if we load it up and go out for a bit.

My thoughts: I think the stove is too large for the house and I can't burn at the right oxygen level to stave off see incidents/issues. I have no idea what these incidents/issues are called to research them further. I thought it might be the wood too. I burn only hard woods aside of a few scraps from my wood shop scrap pile (only to start the fire). If I burn the stove hotter then it climbs into the overburn area of the grittle top thermometer. My house will get to 76-80 degrees F and sit there. It is very uncomfortable so we burn it on low.

Can this be resolved?
What is this incident/issued called?
Am I in danger?

 

[homebrewz]

The secondary combustion gasses are building up and then igniting all at once. At least on this forum, I believe it's called "woofing". You can try opening up the primary air control just a nudge more. Every unfamiliar stove has a learning curve and it might take you a while of using it to find what works best for your situation. As far as the danger aspect, I can only speculate on that, but if you do a search here on woofing, you will find some reading.

 

[Excavator]

i have this condition happen alot if the ash pan is stuffed with ash and blocking off the air feed. Sometimes just the different type of wood will act this way and you just need to open the right air handle a tiny bit and let it flame more

here is a long thread you should check out
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/2013-vc-burning-thread.118673/

 

[Snowjoe]

The secondary combustion gasses are building up and then igniting all at once. At least on this forum, I believe it's called "woofing". You can try opening up the primary air control just a nudge more. Every unfamiliar stove has a learning curve and it might take you a while of using it to find what works best for your situation. As far as the danger aspect, I can only speculate on that, but if you do a search here on woofing, you will find some reading.

Thank you for the reply. "woofing"

 

[Snowjoe]

i have this condition happen alot if the ash pan is stuffed with ash and blocking off the air feed. Sometimes just the different type of wood will act this way and you just need to open the right air handle a tiny bit and let it flame more

here is a long thread you should check out
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/2013-vc-burning-thread.118673/

Thank you for the thread link and reply. i have noticd the older dried wood seems to do it less than the newer wood I purchased recently.