Break in Fire Hearthstone

[ssoucy]

New hearthstone installed tomorrow. Read manual about breaking stove in. Maual pretty vague on breakin fire. Just one? No specific temp (just warm not hot) and for how long at that temp. I guess my question is how can one short low fire and cooling process force all the moisture out of the soapstone. Other people that have hearthstone stoves... How many breakin fires are recommended and how long should I try to maintain the low temp? After this initial fire, let her rip or stages??

 

[begreen]

What Hearthstone stove is this?

Build up heat with each fire. Follow the initial first fire directions. Stovetop temp maybe 200-250F. Let the stove cool down. Then start another fire that lets the stove get a bit hotter. Use say 4-5, 2-3" splits. Stovetop temps 300-400F. Let that fire burn out and the stove to cool down. The third fire can be with medium sized splits say 4-5", stove top temp 400-500F.

 

[ssoucy]

castleton. it is a medium firebox etc

 

[rideau]

First fire, load some small kindling, light it and let it burn down with the air at a low setting.

Once the fire has died down, load a bit more wood in, light it, and let the fire burn down with air at a low setting. The stovetop temp will get a bit hotter than the first fire.

Once that fire has died down to small coals, load with slightly more and larger wood, light and again burn at a fairly low air setting. Let the fire again burn down

After that you should be good to go. I would caution to keep your first few normal fires at about 1/2 loads, and gradually increase the temp you allow the stove top to get to. After a full day of normal burning, I'd have no worries at all.

A word of caution: it is a good idea to repeat this process each season as you put the stove back into service, perhaps not as many break in fires, but slow low fires initially, taking a good 45 minutes or so to get the stove up to temp. This will drive the water out of the stone. Once the stove is warm, and you are burning 24/7, don't worry about the stone.

 

[ssoucy]

that makes more sense than just the paper and a few chunks one time being able to get the moisture out. The manual is kind of vague with a wide range. On one end they say to get the stove warm and then say if you hear hissing you have it too hot. Lot of area in between those two. My stoves run 24/7 from oct to april so want to do it right the first time and then just let it roll.

 

[Warm_in_NH]

I have a cast hearthstone lined w soapstone. I did three small fires got it warm to the touch on the outside, let cool, repeated for three full cycles. Then my first fire was small for a while and I let it cool again.

One thing no one told me or warned me about was the black stinky water that ran out of the stove on the hottest of the break in fires. Turns out it was the moisture being driven out of the stone but it was a bit of a surprise to say the least.

Also. Not sure if it's all models, but my owners manual was about 6 pages shy of what was posted online. The paper version had no temps listed or anything, the pdf online had a lot more info, two different books for the same stove. Worth looking into.

 

[ssoucy]

I wonder if that was the moisture from the stone condensing on the cast iron and getting "stained" from the cast? Have never heard of black water coming out before...

 

[begreen]

Happens frequently on some stoves during breakin as moisture is driven from the cement and stone. I think Hearthstone uses the same refractory cement as Jotul. This should go away after the first hot burns.