I have a ponderosa that I have used for about 2 weeks. I have no experience with an epa wood stove. My parents had a classic so my comparisons are with that. I feel like there might be something wrong with mine because it is eating thru my firewood so quickly! Also because adjusting the dampers does not seem to have any affect on the amount of flame in the fire box.
My firewood is mostly oak, 1.5 yrs old. It's pretty dry since I thought I was going to install the stove last year but I didn't. It's mostly split into quarters, about 4-6 inches across or equivalent. Maybe it's too dry? Maybe it's split too small? I put in 3 or 4 pieces and get a lot of flame even tho the dampers are shut (the manual indicated that pushed in is shut, except that one paragraph where it said pulled out was shut. I thought I'd be able to tell by looking at the flame but adjustment doesn't seem to make a bit of difference.) The 3 or 4 pieces are gone in about 4 hours.
A few factors that I will mention but probably don't mean anything: it was the floor model so I got a good deal but it wasn't totally new when I bought it. It's installed close to the chimney so I'm using a box fan to move the air instead of the blower for the back that came with it bc it would blow the air right onto the chimney if it would even fit there. It's in an unfinished basement. It burns really clean, no smoke to be observed.
I've been looking around on the internet and I haven't been able to tell any way to observe whether the dampers are working. There is a squeak on the right one and a grating sound on the left that may indicate they are moving something that is out of sight.
Thanks for any insights!
My firewood is mostly oak, 1.5 yrs old. It's pretty dry since I thought I was going to install the stove last year but I didn't. It's mostly split into quarters, about 4-6 inches across or equivalent. Maybe it's too dry? Maybe it's split too small? I put in 3 or 4 pieces and get a lot of flame even tho the dampers are shut (the manual indicated that pushed in is shut, except that one paragraph where it said pulled out was shut. I thought I'd be able to tell by looking at the flame but adjustment doesn't seem to make a bit of difference.) The 3 or 4 pieces are gone in about 4 hours.
A few factors that I will mention but probably don't mean anything: it was the floor model so I got a good deal but it wasn't totally new when I bought it. It's installed close to the chimney so I'm using a box fan to move the air instead of the blower for the back that came with it bc it would blow the air right onto the chimney if it would even fit there. It's in an unfinished basement. It burns really clean, no smoke to be observed.
I've been looking around on the internet and I haven't been able to tell any way to observe whether the dampers are working. There is a squeak on the right one and a grating sound on the left that may indicate they are moving something that is out of sight.
Thanks for any insights!
