Cracked Doghouse on New Stove?

[cllibra2000]

Hey...have a really stupid question. We just got this England The Madison model wood stove put in about three days ago.
I noticed just now that there seems to be a crack in the fire box, where the dog house is. The cracks around the box are filled with ash. The glass on the door also seems to have a crack inside the glass and it's black....what the heck could have caused this?
I think my husband over fired it when he did the first burn. He filled it to the top with logs and operated it at such high heat that I believe that is what caused this. He also burned so hot that the ash has been covering the dog house hole since the first time it was burned in. He didn't follow the instructions to do three small burns the first time either. He got it fired up and kept it at that temperature for hours. I cleaned out the ash once already...I'm waiting for it to fully cool down to clean it out fully.
Help anyone?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I'd extend the floor protection out before he sets fire to anything else.

 

[cllibra2000]

I'd extend the floor protection out before he sets fire to anything else.

I've already had an argument with him about it. He says he knows what he's doing and that I'm just paranoid about fire...........

 

[begreen]

That looks like a nice hardwood floor. The protection really should be extended. Hot embers pop out at the most unexpected times. The risk is getting some good-sized burn marks on the floor and also some scorching over time that won't be immediately apparent. That area in front of the stove can get over 150º pretty quickly.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Being paranoid doesnt mean you're wrong.

In this case, you're literally playing with fire!

 

[cllibra2000]

That looks like a nice hardwood floor. The protection really should be extended. Hot embers pop out at the most unexpected times. The risk is getting some good-sized burn marks on the floor and also some scorching over time that won't be immediately apparent. That area in front of the stove can get over 150º pretty quickly.

There is already some warping to the floor since the stove has been on non stop since we got it. I refuse to fire it up again since finding the cracks in the glass and inside.
150°? That's..wow.. thank you for the information.

 

[Highbeam]

Cracks?

 

[cllibra2000]

Cracks?

Yes....if you zoom in on the dog house pic, you can see it. That split down the middle. It was a whole connected block when it was installed. And the crack in the glass may be hard to see because of the blackening of it.

 

[rdust]

That’s some dirty glass for a non cat.

 

[rdust]

Cracks?

x2

 

[Caw]

That looks like a nice hardwood floor. The protection really should be extended. Hot embers pop out at the most unexpected times. The risk is getting some good-sized burn marks on the floor and also some scorching over time that won't be immediately apparent. That area in front of the stove can get over 150º pretty quickly.

Can confirm hardwood wood floor temps without proper protection. Ive since resolved the issue but yeah it can get hot.

 

[cllibra2000]

That’s some dirty glass for a non cat.

I cleaned it....took me over an hour of scrubbing. Some warm water, a rag and the ashes did wonders

 

[rdust]

I cleaned it....took me over an hour of scrubbing. Some warm water, a rag and the ashes did wonders

The goal is to burn clean enough to keep it looking like that. When a non cat is operated correctly with seasoned wood the glass will not get dirty like yours was before cleaning. It might get a white haze over time but shouldn’t be black.

Can you tell us how long the wood you’re burning has been cut/split/stacked, describe the chimney set up and how you’re operating the stove?

What temps did the stove reach when you believe it was over fired?

 

[cllibra2000]

The goal is to burn clean enough to keep it looking like that. When a non cat is operated correctly with seasoned wood the glass will not get dirty like yours was before cleaning. It might get a white haze over time but shouldn’t be black.

Can you tell us how long the wood you’re burning has been cut/split/stacked, describe the chimney set up and how you’re operating the stove?

What temps did the stove reach when you believe it was over fired?

We bought our chord wood from a local... I'm not sure on how long it was dried out for or what type of wood it is. Some of the logs are quite heavy and have taken a while to catch, so I know those weren't dried properly. The chimney and stove was installed by professionals, haven't had a problem with backdrafting or anything like that.
My husband would stack the logs four diagonally inside the stove. So they would cover that dogwood box, and be right up against the glass. I started putting up to two smaller logs horizontally inside the box like the instructions said to do, but by that time, the wood wouldn't even catch right. The flame kept going out. His response was add more fire wood. I would start with kindling and make a small fire first and then put a log or two in it. He would just keep adding log after log. We went through about 15 logs the last three days....that's an insane amount of wood. I told him we don't have to keep it running at such high temperatures all the time, that the key is to get it hot, then lower the air intake to keep it burning slowly.
Our box has a 35 pound weight limit and some of these logs are pretty big and heavy. He would cram four big logs in there, and fire it up.
I'm not sure what the temperature was, but here are some pictures of what the inside of the fire box looks like after just 3 days of use.

 

[begreen]

The wood is most likely poorly seasoned and burning cooler and dirtier. Four logs is not a big fire, but the wood should definitely be kept away from the glass by a couple of inches. With the glass cleaned, it doesn't seem to be cracked. Are you still seeing this? The firebox looks pretty normal, especially for burning partially seasoned wood. Be sure to get the entire flue system cleaned after burning a cord. Get a thermometer for the stovetop for better peace of mind.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

So, you're burning the stove too cool. You shouldn't have the black on the fire brick. Pick up a stove thermometer at the local hardware store so you can get an idea what temperature the stove is running.

15 logs isn't odd or excessive for 3 days of burning. Many of us run the stove 24 hours and can easily do 15 splits a day.

It isnt uncommon to find purchased firewood to have too much moisture in it to burn easily. This frustrates many. Try buying a couple packs of KILN dried firewood from the supermarket or convenience store and see if it burns better.

 

[Caw]

You're definitely battling wet wood. A fully seasoned split will ignite in under 60 seconds when placed on hit coals. In fact when I'm reloading it often times will ignite before I'm even done playing tetris and I have to boogie to finish.

As far as the glass and soot inside the stove this is simply because you're not running the stove hot enough. Likely due to the wet wood and maybe a little fear of a big fire it sounds like.

These modern EPA tube stoves are meant to run hot and to run through full cycles before reloading. That enables the secondary combustion which burns the smoke and results in less emissions but also a clean firebox and clean glass. Many of these stoves will cruise in the 450-650 degree range when operated correctly. For example, my Osburn 1600 likes to cruise at about 600-650 once it settles in with a full load. Now you don't have to burn a full load every time (though they run best when fully loaded) but you still need to let it get hot enough to burn properly. You can't let it smolder unless you have a cat stove. A full cycle is reloading on hot coals until all that's left is a similar amount of hot coals to reload on again. If you keep adding wood before the cycle is over you'll eventually have a box full of coals to deal with.

One good way to test out operating at proper temps would be to go grab some compressed sawdust bricks at the local HD or Lowes. They are about 10% MC and will let you experience proper burning in your stove then you can compare to how its going with your cord wood. You're gonna see a world of difference. Everything will be clean, longer burn times, and significantly more heat. Your stove is using up a lot of BTUs to vaporize the moisture from that wet wood instead of heating your home.

As far as log usage yeah 15 isn't a lot. I'd guess on a 15 degree winters day I reload 3-4 times and each reload is like 7-9 ish splits depending on size...I usually use 3-4 inch pieces though. So I could easily use 25+ logs a day to heat my 1600 sq ft house. That's totally normal for 24/7 mid winter burning.

Best of luck. Please share your progress with us!

Edit - whoops a few folks beat me to the punch while I was typing up my novel length reply lol. Great minds!

 

[cllibra2000]

The wood is most likely poorly seasoned and burning cooler and dirtier. Four logs is not a big fire, but the wood should definitely be kept away from the glass by a couple of inches. With the glass cleaned, it doesn't seem to be cracked. Are you still seeing this? The firebox looks pretty normal, especially for burning partially seasoned wood. Be sure to get the entire flue system cleaned after burning a cord. Get a thermometer for the stovetop for better peace of mind.

I'm not seeing the crack in the glass, I think it may have been cracks in the soot, thankfully. I'll be getting that thermometer for the stove as well.

 

[cllibra2000]

So, you're burning the stove too cool. You shouldn't have the black on the fire brick. Pick up a stove thermometer at the local hardware store so you can get an idea what temperature the stove is running.

15 logs isn't odd or excessive for 3 days of burning. Many of us run the stove 24 hours and can easily do 15 splits a day.

It isnt uncommon to find purchased firewood to have too much moisture in it to burn easily. This frustrates many. Try buying a couple packs of KILN dried firewood from the supermarket or convenience store and see if it burns better.

I will definitely pick up some wood from the store.

 

[cllibra2000]

I will definitely pick up some wood from the store.

I'm surprised that 15 logs isn't excessive lol. Thank you for correcting me on that. I'll have to pick up some wood and a thermometer from the store, hopefully it will burn cleaner.

 

[Caw]

It definitely will. The kiln dried stuff at the big box stores is mega dry and going to burn very quickly. You could probably mix a little of your less than ideal wood in to balance that out. Put the store stuff on the bottom and coals to catch first and mix in your stuff on top.

One other thing worth mentioning is top down fire starting. There's a great sticky thread on that here. I think you'll have much better luck starting off that way. If you do that you want your driest wood on top versus reloading where the driest stuff goes on the bottom.

Just for usage reference I live in MA and burn about 3-4 cords a year to heat a 1600 sq ft 2 story cape and im using quality hardwoods. I'd use more if I were burning solely soft or wet wood.

 

[cllibra2000]

You're definitely battling wet wood. A fully seasoned split will ignite in under 60 seconds when placed on hit coals. In fact when I'm reloading it often times will ignite before I'm even done playing tetris and I have to boogie to finish.

As far as the glass and soot inside the stove this is simply because you're not running the stove hot enough. Likely due to the wet wood and maybe a little fear of a big fire it sounds like.

These modern EPA tube stoves are meant to run hot and to run through full cycles before reloading. That enables the secondary combustion which burns the smoke and results in less emissions but also a clean firebox and clean glass. Many of these stoves will cruise in the 450-650 degree range when operated correctly. For example, my Osburn 1600 likes to cruise at about 600-650 once it settles in with a full load. Now you don't have to burn a full load every time (though they run best when fully loaded) but you still need to let it get hot enough to burn properly. You can't let it smolder unless you have a cat stove. A full cycle is reloading on hot coals until all that's left is a similar amount of hot coals to reload on again. If you keep adding wood before the cycle is over you'll eventually have a box full of coals to deal with.

One good way to test out operating at proper temps would be to go grab some compressed sawdust bricks at the local HD or Lowes. They are about 10% MC and will let you experience proper burning in your stove then you can compare to how its going with your cord wood. You're gonna see a world of difference. Everything will be clean, longer burn times, and significantly more heat. Your stove is using up a lot of BTUs to vaporize the moisture from that wet wood instead of heating your home.

As far as log usage yeah 15 isn't a lot. I'd guess on a 15 degree winters day I reload 3-4 times and each reload is like 7-9 ish splits depending on size...I usually use 3-4 inch pieces though. So I could easily use 25+ logs a day to heat my 1600 sq ft house. That's totally normal for 24/7 mid winter burning.

Best of luck. Please share your progress with us!

Edit - whoops a few folks beat me to the punch while I was typing up my novel length reply lol. Great minds!

You're definitely battling wet wood. A fully seasoned split will ignite in under 60 seconds when placed on hit coals. In fact when I'm reloading it often times will ignite before I'm even done playing tetris and I have to boogie to finish.

As far as the glass and soot inside the stove this is simply because you're not running the stove hot enough. Likely due to the wet wood and maybe a little fear of a big fire it sounds like.

These modern EPA tube stoves are meant to run hot and to run through full cycles before reloading. That enables the secondary combustion which burns the smoke and results in less emissions but also a clean firebox and clean glass. Many of these stoves will cruise in the 450-650 degree range when operated correctly. For example, my Osburn 1600 likes to cruise at about 600-650 once it settles in with a full load. Now you don't have to burn a full load every time (though they run best when fully loaded) but you still need to let it get hot enough to burn properly. You can't let it smolder unless you have a cat stove. A full cycle is reloading on hot coals until all that's left is a similar amount of hot coals to reload on again. If you keep adding wood before the cycle is over you'll eventually have a box full of coals to deal with.

One good way to test out operating at proper temps would be to go grab some compressed sawdust bricks at the local HD or Lowes. They are about 10% MC and will let you experience proper burning in your stove then you can compare to how its going with your cord wood. You're gonna see a world of difference. Everything will be clean, longer burn times, and significantly more heat. Your stove is using up a lot of BTUs to vaporize the moisture from that wet wood instead of heating your home.

As far as log usage yeah 15 isn't a lot. I'd guess on a 15 degree winters day I reload 3-4 times and each reload is like 7-9 ish splits depending on size...I usually use 3-4 inch pieces though. So I could easily use 25+ logs a day to heat my 1600 sq ft house. That's totally normal for 24/7 mid winter burning.

Best of luck. Please share your progress with us!

Edit - whoops a few folks beat me to the punch while I was typing up my novel length reply lol. Great minds!

Thank you. I thought 15 pieces was alot but I see I've been wrong. My wood is most likely really wet, I'm going to have to head to the store and pick up some drier wood. I've called the guy who installed it for us, he's going to come out in a day or so and take a look at the doghouse for me.
With this -3°, feels like -21° weather, I'm actually hoping it's sooner than later. We have electric heat too, but there is something about wood heat. Thank you all so much!

 

[Caw]

I have electric heat as my backup too and it physically hurts me when I hear it kick on lol. It's only come on once so far this year though thankfully!

Wood heat is just cozy, relaxing, and inviting.