Will a damper help me???

[Angus in Wyoming]

Ok, thanks in advance for the help. I have a Hearthstone Heritage soap stone stove. It is in my basement and is connected to an outside masonry chimney. The chimney is block in design with red tile like center that has an oblong hole. It is bigger than the 6 in flue on the stove, but not big enough to put a stainless liner in it. My stove seems to work well. I have a thermometer on the top center stove. The stove really likes to run at about 475 and stays there very easily. My question is even after running the stove at 475 for hours the secondary burners never really light. I usually get about a 2 or 3 inch section on one burner to ignite. Even when they ignite, they don't stay lit very well and are always a slow lackluster flame. Should all or most of the ports ignite and continue to burn?
My thought it maybe I have too much draft and that with a damper I can close it a little bit and that will help ignite the burners. What are your thoughts??

 

[BJ64]

I know this sounds like a broken record, but I think it has to do with your wood or your secondary air system has a blockage. I don't think you need a damper at all but be advised I'm just some half-wit with a keyboard

If you have that big soapstone block hitting 475; what ever wood is inside should be gassing off if it is going to.

I don't believe your wood burns clean enough in the primary that there is nothing left to burn in the secondary. I have not ever read about that situation on this forum anyway but you might as well tell us about you wood since we are going to ask.

To me that leaves the issue with the secondary burn system.

Is there a way that the secondary combustion air flow could be blocked?

OH yea, Welcome to the forum!

 

[Angus in Wyoming]

My stove is new. Unless I have forgotten to do something with new stove set-up, I don't think my secondaries are plugged. By the way, since I live in Wyoming, the only hardwood we have is in the living room floor or furniture. I am burning pine, spruce, and fir. All of it is dry and I can't believe that it is my problem. Everybody around here burns the same wood.
Thanks for the welcome I enjoy this forum.

 

[northwinds]

My stove is new. Unless I have forgotten to do something with new stove set-up, I don't think my secondaries are plugged. By the way, since I live in Wyoming, the only hardwood we have is in the living room floor or furniture. I am burning pine, spruce, and fir. All of it is dry and I can't believe that it is my problem. Everybody around here burns the same wood.
Thanks for the welcome I enjoy this forum.

What's the smoke look like, if any, coming out of your chimney? Are you getting long, sustained burns?
Around here, everybody burns the same wood, and it's mostly under-seasoned. I know Wyoming
is dry, and it's softwood, but do you know when it was split and stacked?

If there's no smoke coming out of your chimney, and you're getting decent long burns, I wouldn't worry. My secondaries
don't stay lit on my cast iron Isle Royale until my stovetop temps are 550+, but it's different than soapstone temps. At
the temps you talk about, I also get on/off lighting of the secondary tubes.