Burning all day? Coals/reloading

[acritzer]

When your secondaries kick in, and you start to close the air down , does the glass clear, even somewhat?

It ties into what Woodsplitter said, above.

Normally the bottom sides darken some. But the middle stays clear.
I’ve been trying to extend burn times and have been more aggressive in turning down the air. Maybe too much so? It also possible I’m not reloading very efficiently…putting in too much all at once with too little coals, or activity to catch it quickly?

 

[Dix]

Normally the bottom sides darken some. But the middle stays clear.
I’ve been trying to extend burn times and have been more aggressive in turning down the air. Maybe too much so? It also possible I’m not reloading very efficiently…putting in too much all at once with too little coals, or activity to catch it quickly?

Every stove has a learning curve. Trust me, I clogged the chimney for the PE with in 3 months of burning it

Quite possibly turning down the air to soon. Also a possibility of not letting the coal bed burn down before a reload.

If there is an excessive build up of coals towards the back of the insert ,try raking them forward (for a more level coal bed), with air open. You'll be surprised, but the fan will usually kick on at that point for a bit. THEN reload w/ air open, leave door ajar (I do a partial reload at this point, 2-4 split's usually when it's cold out.) Leave door ajar until fan kicks in, then shut down 3/4 when 2nd daries kick in, closing in increments until temp is up there.

Do you have an IR gun? I don't see a thermo on the face plate.

 

[acritzer]

Every stove has a learning curve. Trust me, I clogged the chimney for the PE with in 3 months of burning it

Quite possibly turning down the air to soon. Also a possibility of not letting the coal bed burn down before a reload.

If there is an excessive build up of coals towards the back of the insert ,try raking them forward (for a more level coal bed), with air open. You'll be surprised, but the fan will usually kick on at that point for a bit. THEN reload w/ air open, leave door ajar (I do a partial reload at this point, 2-4 split's usually when it's cold out.) Leave door ajar until fan kicks in, then shut down 3/4 when 2nd daries kick in, closing in increments until temp is up there.

Do you have an IR gun? I don't see a thermo on the face plate.

I don’t have an IR gun, but have thought about getting one.
My fan never kicks off unless I let it die completely and it sits for a while. Even if I load it last at 10:30-11 it’s on when I wake up around 6.

Can that soot build up at the end of the cycle? Or only during the initial active stage?

 

[begreen]

I don’t have an IR gun, but have thought about getting one.
My fan never kicks off unless I let it die completely and it sits for a while. Even if I load it last at 10:30-11 it’s on when I wake up around 6.

Can that soot build up at the end of the cycle? Or only during the initial active stage?

Creosote and soot form during the active burn stage as the wood outgasses. It's all over by the coaling stage.

 

[ericm979]

This stove is basically a single door version of my Flame Monaco. I think removing the andiron would be a bad idea. I've had logs roll off and next to the glass. (keep a set of welding gloves handy for that). But more important, the center andiron has the air jet in it. Remove the andiron and it'll be pointing, up not into the wood. The air jet is crucial for good performance. You need to build the fire and reload with the air jet in mind because when the flow from the air jet is blocked the fire will not burn well.

The ideal first load has "bunkers" as posted earlier which are high enough for the air to blast under the wood. If you do a top down ignition the bunkers usually won't burn through until the air jet has burnt a channel through the splits that are in front of it. When you do a second load, bring the coals up front and centered in front of the jet outlet, and use your tool to push a channel between the coals for the air to flow out from the jet.

I have a small magnetic thermometer on mine above the door about 5" in from the side of the door (as close to the center as it will fit). With this setup I wait until the temp is below 200 before reloading. If it's higher than that (more coals are left) the reload will catch easily but will burn very hot. Below 150 and it's harder to get the reload to light. This temp won't relate to temps people post that are from the flue or from the side of a regular stove.

I contacted the manufacturer and they told me that I can stack wood up to within 1" of the top and the glass. The glass on mine gets dirty too even with very well seasoned wood. I clean it with window cleaner when the glass is cool when I am removing ashes. The fine gray stuff comes right off. The black tar stuff is a little tougher. With dry wood and building good fires I don't get much of that and only along the bottom of the glass. Once a year when I have the chimney cleaned I clean the black gunk off with stove glass cleaner.

 

[acritzer]

This stove is basically a single door version of my Flame Monaco. I think removing the andiron would be a bad idea. I've had logs roll off and next to the glass. (keep a set of welding gloves handy for that). But more important, the center andiron has the air jet in it. Remove the andiron and it'll be pointing, up not into the wood. The air jet is crucial for good performance. You need to build the fire and reload with the air jet in mind because when the flow from the air jet is blocked the fire will not burn well.

The ideal first load has "bunkers" as posted earlier which are high enough for the air to blast under the wood. If you do a top down ignition the bunkers usually won't burn through until the air jet has burnt a channel through the splits that are in front of it. When you do a second load, bring the coals up front and centered in front of the jet outlet, and use your tool to push a channel between the coals for the air to flow out from the jet.

I have a small magnetic thermometer on mine above the door about 5" in from the side of the door (as close to the center as it will fit). With this setup I wait until the temp is below 200 before reloading. If it's higher than that (more coals are left) the reload will catch easily but will burn very hot. Below 150 and it's harder to get the reload to light. This temp won't relate to temps people post that are from the flue or from the side of a regular stove.

I contacted the manufacturer and they told me that I can stack wood up to within 1" of the top and the glass. The glass on mine gets dirty too even with very well seasoned wood. I clean it with window cleaner when the glass is cool when I am removing ashes. The fine gray stuff comes right off. The black tar stuff is a little tougher. With dry wood and building good fires I don't get much of that and only along the bottom of the glass. Once a year when I have the chimney cleaned I clean the black gunk off with stove glass cleaner.

Thanks for the long reply. So you think the air comes in from directly behind the andiron? If so…would be best to clear that area when pushing coals around?

 

[ericm979]

Thanks for the long reply. So you think the air comes in from directly behind the andiron? If so…would be best to clear that area when pushing coals around?

Feel the back of the center prong, there' s a hole there where the air comes out and blows to the back. You can see it working for much of the time the fire is burning- the air coming out of it burns a hole through wood or makes the coals behind it burn hotter.

And yep if the coals pile up you need to clear a path for the air and also to hold the wood up some. Make sure when loading the stove that you don't block off the air flow with wood.

The manual should explain all this, it's pretty good.

 

[ericm979]

This is the thermometer I got. It's hard to find a 2", most are larger. It needs to be small to fit on the front above the door. If it's too far to the side then it does not see much heat. I checked potential locations with an infrared gun first.

Looks like this forum won't display the Amazon link. They were the only place I found it. It's a PIC Gauge B2MS-Q 0-500 F magnetic thermometer.

 

[acritzer]

This is the thermometer I got. It's hard to find a 2", most are larger. It needs to be small to fit on the front above the door. If it's too far to the side then it does not see much heat. I checked potential locations with an infrared gun first.

Looks like this forum won't display the Amazon link. They were the only place I found it. It's a PIC Gauge B2MS-Q 0-500 F magnetic thermometer.

I’m not sure there’s a good spot for me to use a thermometer. The insert doesn’t have much area other than the door. I should probably invest in an IR gun.

 

[FramerJ]

its an indication of your smoldering you wood some.. aka.. your turning back the aire before the wood gassed off

Ok. Good to know. Thanks for the reply

 

[ericm979]

Ok. Good to know. Thanks for the reply

The manual for my Flame Monaco says to not turn the air down until all the wood is either flaming or blackened. They're right.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Just as a heads up you can turn back the air early if you can get your secondaries going. This will help with longer burn times. The draw back will be tinted glass. After every overnight burn my glass has color to it. The house in the AM will need to be brought up to temp anyway so with a hot fire( not overfire ) the glass cleans up nicely. Every so often the glass will also get wiped, obviously during a cool stove.