OK, I modified the Timberline to secondary air. Tonight, it's finally getting into the 20's, so I added 5 med. splits for an evenings worth of heat. Pine, standing dead, split 6 months ago, in the sun,uncovered. After 3 hours, I shut down the primary air screws to approx. 3/16" gap- or a tad smaller. The flue temp. on the Condar probe has stayed at 800-850f. for the last 45 min. I'm showing very little visible smoke out of the pipe. Does it sound like my secondary air is working? I have visible flame lines on the tubes, but my doors are solid cast, so I can't tell when they're working. I can hear a "whooshing" sound, sometimes a low rumble from the front of the stove in this scenario, and see a small "V" cut in the wood when I stack it high- at the port areas, but I'm not certain. Can anyone with a glass door comment on this, as to any noise heard, or whatever. I'm thinking I may need to decrease my tube diam., for the secondaries, to increase the the air velocity, thus giving me a more robust air influx. I'm really guessing here, as I can't visually document this thing. Yet. I appreciate any and all comments. Sincerely, The jack*ss at sorta high altitude, who can't leave well enough alone.
YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS SCENARIO
- Thread starter Beetle-Kill
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
- Status
Visable flame lines around the tubes and no smoke sounds positive to me. Does it look like flames from the fire have just been licking the tubes, or do you have a little half circle line below each hole in the tubes?
edthedawg
Minister of Fire
just stick your webcam in there and close the doors :cheese:
seriously tho... sounds good, but idk how you have the secondary tubes setup or fed. got a link to pix/description of the setup you rigged here?
We do get a rushing sound audible on the Heritage when it's really ripping. I can use my flue damper to augment that significantly. Primary as well, tho to lesser extent since the secondary manifold pulls 100% regardless of the primary setting. this is why people like the thought of dampering their air inlet.
but since I can't see how you're feeding your secondary system, where it inlets, how you pre-heat, what you have for stack pulling on it, etc - it's kinda tough to say you're doing it right
seriously tho... sounds good, but idk how you have the secondary tubes setup or fed. got a link to pix/description of the setup you rigged here?
We do get a rushing sound audible on the Heritage when it's really ripping. I can use my flue damper to augment that significantly. Primary as well, tho to lesser extent since the secondary manifold pulls 100% regardless of the primary setting. this is why people like the thought of dampering their air inlet.
but since I can't see how you're feeding your secondary system, where it inlets, how you pre-heat, what you have for stack pulling on it, etc - it's kinda tough to say you're doing it right
Seeing is believing. Without some sort of window into this thing you'll always be left wondering what's really going on in there.
Get a piece of ceramic glass from somewhere and figure out where to cut a hole and get this mounted in there.
Also, keep in mind that a light refractory material in the vicinity of the burn tubes will improve the secondary performance quite a bit. You need a light refractory material that can withstand 2500 degrees, so it can glow orange and serve as an ignitor at the intersection of smoke and heated fresh air. These guys can help you with this: http://www.zrci.com/
Get a piece of ceramic glass from somewhere and figure out where to cut a hole and get this mounted in there.
Also, keep in mind that a light refractory material in the vicinity of the burn tubes will improve the secondary performance quite a bit. You need a light refractory material that can withstand 2500 degrees, so it can glow orange and serve as an ignitor at the intersection of smoke and heated fresh air. These guys can help you with this: http://www.zrci.com/
sorry for being a little dumb, but how do you figure how much air and how big your tubes should be?
how do you know how much air is required for burn? can there be to much air?
how do you know how much air is required for burn? can there be to much air?
I find that you don't always get the flame lines around a properly functioning secondary-burn tube; when the secondary conditions are nominal, the combustables finish being "consumed" before they get all the way to the tubes. There is flame sort of hovering between the splits and the tubes with no smoke out the chimney. I get the "gas stove" effect on these very hot fires only when I choke off the air close to the minimum. (Jotul f-600 cb)
No smoke at the stack and good heating suggests that your stove seems to be working!
Regards,
Dexter
No smoke at the stack and good heating suggests that your stove seems to be working!
Regards,
Dexter
Hi all, I'm at work so I'll keep this brief. Yes, there are flame circles at each air port in the tubes, so I should have flame jetting from them. The air feed goes like this- welded to the sides of the stove at the back corners are 18" of 1x2 rec. tube steel, mounted vertically. These feed small sections of 1 1/4" sch. 40 pipe(1.625 od) that penetrate the stove sides, and are in turn welded to the interior tubes. The interior tubes are 2x2 tube steel, 14" long, with an approx. rise of 5 degrees, back to front. On top of the 2x2, I have a 1/2" thick plate steel baffle, width of interior x 14.5" approx. the air tubes are 1 1/8" OD, .120 wall round tube. each tube has about 18, .09375 (3/32") hole at 1"- center to center. No, Im not gonna cut up those doors for glass, we think they'll crack in the pattern I want, so we're gonna build a new door out of some plate, but haven't done so yet. and as soon as my camera starts to obey it's master, I'll post pics. I'll keep my eye on this post today, I really appreciate everyones input. Thanks.
Forgot, there are 4 of the 1 1/8 burn tubes spaced fairly equally, forget the exact spacing. BTW, those 5 splits went from 10pm to 6:30 am with enough coals to not need ant kindling to re-start the new splits this morning. I giggled like a little girl this morning.
At 850 stack temp, you've got flame. If there are no air leaks, and your primaries are shut tight, the only way you can possibly have flame is if your secondaries are igniting the gases. Congratulations! Now cut those doors, put some neo-ceram or pyro-ceram in, and give us some pics! As of right now, your stove doesn't even exist, as we have seen no pics.
http://www.onedayglass.com/neoceram.php
http://www.onedayglass.com/pyroceram.php
http://www.onedayglass.com/neoceram.php
http://www.onedayglass.com/pyroceram.php
spirilis
Minister of Fire
ControlFreak said:
you referring to something like this?
http://www.zircarceramics.com/pages/flexible/specs/apa.htm
that's an interesting idea, use a thin piece of refractory paper as like a pilot light for the flame... would this potentially help any stove burn off its smoke?
I'm guessing he'd want to use the APA-2 stuff as it has no organic binders in it... $47 for a 18"x24" sheet of it.
Ok, Ok- I took pictures. I even vacumned a few ashy spots, so as not to get beat-up too bad. BUT, my picture-loader/webmistress is not home yet. And she has to do this before my wife gets home. JK, one and the same. She will post tomorrow, she says, under the heading - Timberline Pics., so I can get your feedback, (and to prove I really did it.) BTW, I really think my baffle could be longer,(whose couldn't be, right?), so any thought on that would be appreciated. Thanks all!
- Status
Similar threads
