Victor Cottage draft openings

[jallenaz]

Hello, I just joined this website to see if someone could tell me how the vent openings in this wood stove are supposed to work and should be adjusted while a fire is burning. It's a quiet day here with not much to do I think the upper openings in the top door help burn the gasses which makes it burn more efficiently. I start a fire with just the bottom vents open until the fire is going good. That's what I have guessed. Maybe someone can shed some light on it for me.

I have been using this stove winters for the last 29 years in Arizona. We bought it about 1975 or 76. Almost traded it in for a Jotul back in about 1978 but the shop thought this was too nice to take in trade so he took it apart and x-rayed it for cracks then reassembled it caulking all the joints and put some like cement in the back to keep the fire off the cast iron. We used it for about 8 years back in the 70s early 80s then stored it until 1993. It's not our only source of heat for our house but almost. The sun does a good job of heating the house and it's out most of the time here. But the fire keeps us warm when it's cold and cloudy.

Thanks,

 

[begreen]

Nice little stove. It looks like it may be a coal burner with an under the fire air feed. Is there a shaker grate in it?

Is the wall behind it masonry with a plaster coat or drywall? Code requires 36" clearance for an unlisted stove. Looks like the rear clearance is about half this?

 

[jallenaz]

No under fire air feed or shaker grate.

Behind the stove is a gyp board wall with 3-1/2" of brick covering it then a 1-1/2" space to painted sheet metal. The brick would have needed an air space to meet code and there isn't one so I used the sheet metal and space. You're right there is exactly 18" to the sheet metal. I had it all inspected when I installed it. Just in case I burned the house down. It was approved.

 

[begreen]

Good going. You've taken good care of the stove. It looks new. Take a little nickel polish to the finial to make it shine.

It sounds like you are running the stove correctly by using the lower vent for startup only, then controlling the fire with the upper vent. What type of wood is it burning?

 

[jallenaz]

Thanks. It's served us well over the years. Right now it's snowing out again so we're not getting any heat from the sun. It's been a lot colder this fall than we've seen over the 29 years we've been here in central AZ. Not liking it either.

 

[begreen]

We're having a colder than usual start to winter this year too. It's the third La Niña winter in a row which is pretty unusual. Makes it chillier, but good for the salmon.