when you get your secondarys going how much do you shut down your air

[jman]

Hey guys I love my new stove!! So far every thing is going good. I have no problem getting good secondaries going that seem to last a while. When they do get going good I have been shutting my primary air all the way off or slide the lever all the way to close her up. Everything seems fine the glass stays nice and clean. I was just wondering how everyone else does there's when the secondaries kick in. Also I remember a while ago some one had there Hearth stone start to or over fire some and they used aluminum foil to stop the air for the secondaries, where the hell is this located? Last night my stove got up to about 620 for about 25 minutes before she started to go down. This info would be great in-case something like that happens again. I looked everything over when I got home from work tonight and everything looks fine, I know they say 600 is over fire but I don't think 620 for about 25-30 min hurt her to bad, I hope.
So does it sound like I'm burning this thing the way it should be, I don't see any smoke out of the chimney!

 

[Jags]

I would guess that you are correct in assuming that 620 for half an hour won't hurt your stove. Heck, your thermo could be off that much.

Sounds to me like you got things figured out.

To answer your question, on my stove, the secondarys really don't start to kick hard until I hit about 600 on the stove top. Start shutting it down (in two stages) until I have about a 5-10% primary air setting. Then she (the stove) settles in for a nice long burn. Temps will spike on the stove top to about ~650 and then slide back into the 600 range till the fuel starts to deplete.

 

[Cearbhaill]

I shut the air down before I see secondary burn- it doesn't really kick in until after I shut the air and the temps start rising. It continues to rise for a good long time, peaks for a while, then drops slowly. I see secondaries through the rising and peak stage.

 

[SlyFerret]

I start shutting down the air as soon as the wood catches good.

As soon as I start shutting down the air, the secondaries kick in.

Once everything is rolling, I shut the air down as far as I can go and still maintain flames from both the wood and the secondaries.

Once you learn your setup, you'll probably find (as I have) that there is a sweet spot where your air control always ends up.

-SF

 

[Highbeam]

I run mine like you run yours jman. Pretty much as soon as possible, shut it to zero as quickly as possible. The possible means that I don't snuff the fire. The only time I sway in method is during startup where I run at full throttle for 30 minutes or when I am trying to get more heat from the stove. Like if I intentionally want to get the stove over 500. In this case I dont' shut it to zero but I shut it to about 1/2" from zero and it will get hot over the next hour.

I've never gotten to 600. Don't want to. That is overfiring and outside of the stove's design. The 600 limit is not a suggestion. If you're getting to 620 is it because the stove is running away or was it intentional? Don't do it intentionally, if you need to go that hot for heat then you should upsize.

The heritage does not have a seperate secondary air inlet. Within all of the ashpan casting work there is a secondary inlet and an adjustable primary inlet. The hole on the rear, bottom, left side of the stove down in the casting is where all of the air comes in. You can choke it 100% at that hole.

 

[Backroads]

I don't measure it in time. Usually as soon as my stove hits 400* I can shut it down to almost nothing and the secondaries take over and it'll run for 6-7 hours nice and steady.

 

[Hogwildz]

Anywhere from 400 to 600, depends how high I want it finish climbing to & to be cruising at after shutting down.
Air gets shut all the way to low.

 

[bcnu]

After I think it's fired up enough I shut the air completely (and sometimes too soon because I think I'm wasting heat up the chimney). I just rekindled about an hour ago and it wasn't really going well as stove top was hovering around 220. So I open her up to about 1/2 on the primary,ala Highbeam, and am going to let her rip for awhile. She's totally consumed now and I could probably shut down completely, but"ll experiment just to see what happens.

 

[Adabiviak]

Once the main wood load is burning in such a way that killing the primary vent won't extinguish it (and the box is hot enough to light the secondaries), the vent is shut entirely.

 

[jjhof0306]

My Napoleon likes to cruise between 500 and 600, so when I refuel, I don't start shutting down until she's up above 500. If it's really cold, I'll let her go to 600, then go halfway. Wait a few minutes, then push the lever all the way in. I've experimented with leaving the air open a bit, but have found that if I do, the temp continues to rise, especially on a full load. She maintains cruising altitude just fine if i close her down all the way, so I do. Then I sit back and enjoy the light show.

 

[kjayhawk]

My Napoleon likes to cruise between 500 and 600, so when I refuel, I don't start shutting down until she's up above 500. If it's really cold, I'll let her go to 600, then go halfway. Wait a few minutes, then push the lever all the way in. I've experimented with leaving the air open a bit, but have found that if I do, the temp continues to rise, especially on a full load. She maintains cruising altitude just fine if i close her down all the way, so I do. Then I sit back and enjoy the light show.

We installed the 1400 last week, and I've learned how to do this from Johnny B. We likewise let the stove top temp get to around 600, then shut it down. The stove will cruise between 450 and 550 for a good four hours. And the light show is quite amazing!

So, thanks, Johnny B for bein' so "good."

 

[Dexter]

I have a Jotul F-12 cb. (Earliest version of the F600 Firelight cb). It feels, radiantly speaking, very hot once above 425 (stove top). I have modified it by converting the iron top plate baffle to split firebrick, though. I can get it to 600 with effort, but get a much longer fire around 500, and stopping it down, leaving about 12-15% of available primary air open. (We're at high altitude, and I get more heat out of the coals when I leave it open a bit.) 'Use lodgpole pine.

Dexter

 

[begreen]

Anywhere from 400 to 600, depends how high I want it finish climbing to & to be cruising at after shutting down.
Air gets shut all the way to low.

What he said. It gets closed all the way down, though EBT is in charge after that.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Burn good, shut down all the way.

 

[jman]

Thanks for the reply guys! And no I didn't intentionally try to get the stove up that high, I think I waited a little to long before shutting down the air. Like I said this is my first soap stone stove, first EPA stove for that matter so I'm still learning the ropes.