Primary Air Reduction

[stoncold]

Hello,

I'm up late due to trying to load my Napoleon 1402 E/W, and now turning them N/S to get some flames again. Anyways, my question is: When is the best time for air reduction to start? How many, if any, stages should one use to cut back?

 

[Todd]

If your reloading on a good coal bed, fill her up, burn with alot of air for about 5,10,or 15 minutes depending on wood size and moisture content, then when wood is charred turn the air down to desired burn rate. Takes some trial and error. Sometimes it works to cut the air from high to about half for a little while , then turn all the way down.

 

[stoncold]

I guess another question I have is turning the air too far down just wasting fuel? Will I still get a 8 hour burn on say 15-25% air as opposed to knocking it almost all the way down?

 

[Todd]

You will get your longest burn with the air turned all the way down. The amount of air will regulate the full BTU's available in your firewood load. So burning on high will give you more BTU's quicker and burning on low will draw out the same amount of BTU's over a longer period.

 

[ControlFreak]

Hello,

I'm up late due to trying to load my Napoleon 1402 E/W, and now turning them N/S to get some flames again. Anyways, my question is: When is the best time for air reduction to start? How many, if any, stages should one use to cut back?

Stonecold:
I have heated with a 1401 for over 10 years. The 1401 is the older brother to the 1402. Here's what I always did when I ran my stove manually. Get one of those magnetic thermometers and stick it on the top of the stove right in front of where heated air exits. When that thermometer gets to 350-400, begin closing it off in small increments about every 10 minutes or so. When you get up to 550-600 degrees, you should be completely closed down. If you forget and you're still wide open at 550, you can close it all the way down in one step. You'll usually disrupt the fire doing this, but it will stabilize out after a little bit. The fire establishes an equilibrium of its own, so the smallest increments will keep the fire running best.

Watch the flames to make sure that the secondary burn at the top of the firebox is not hindered after you make adjustments. The final position of the control when you go to bed will determine the amount of hot coals remaining in the morning. I run an 8-9 hour cycle with out having to use kindling when reloading.

It's very important to keep a clear pathway in the load for flames to traverse from the bottom to the top. I pack the wood tight on both sides of the stove and then have one "channel" in the middle where flames can run up to the top. This way the wood burns from the center, outward. Without this pathway, the fire will struggle to establish the secondary burn at the top.

If the moisture content of your wood is too high, you'll have a lot of trouble getting the stove up to the proper operating temperature. It will tend to linger in the 300s for a long time, and you'll need to keep the door cracked a bit to keep a flame at all. Hope this helps.
Dan

 

[stoncold]

Yes, it's very helpful...I tend to let it get to 500 or so and then close it halfway until it begins to climb again, and then close it down to where I want it overnight/during the day when I'm at work. The wood isn't perfectly seasoned, but it's not too hard to get it going. I just wanted to make sure I'm not being too wasteful. I'll try as you suggested tonight, about packing them tight on the sides and leaving some space in the middle.

Thanks as well Todd for your replies, nice to know there are vets out here for our newb questions!

 

[stoncold]

Ok, I tried this technique, and it worked fairly well...usually my blowers click on and aff starting about a half hour before I get up (which is exremely annoying). This morning, they were on full until I restocked it. I had a big coal bed, though...is that normal, or should I have used more air? Also, do you rake everything forward, like is mentioned a lot here, or do you just flatten things out? I find when I rake them forward I can't fit as many logs in.