I’ve had my Napoleon 1401 since 2006 and up until recently I’ve fought with it to keep it from burning too hot (stove top temperatures above 650 degrees; as hot as 900!). I recently posted this problem in this forum and I received some great advise; particularly I received a link to the article entitled Florida Bungalow Syndrome which explains why many stoves over-fire and have short burn-times (mine did both).
This gave me the confidence to think a little outside the box. I studied my draft control and noticed that it opened and closed the primary and secondary air inlets. The problem is that even in the fully-closed position, the primary intake was open about 0.75-inch. The secondary intake was open by almost twice that! Not only that, there was slop in the cover which prevented it from making a good seal.
I removed the old plate and fabricated a new one with 1/8†steel I purchased from Home Depot. I modified the design to allow the primary air to be almost completely closed (except for inevitable gaps around the edges) and the secondary to have only about a half-inch opening when the draft control was fully closed. I took my new draft plate to a welder and for $5 he welded on my old draft control rod to the new plate.
Results
A completely different stove! I got a burn time this weekend of 10.5 hours with 4 splits on a coal bed! The stove behaves completely different. Now, I go through the normal routine to bring the stove to temp but now it gets there even quicker. The secondary flames are much more pronounced and occur more often. I think the secondary was getting too much air resulting in a fuel “lean†condition. Once the stove top is at about 400-450, I can close the draft all the way and watch the magic. Much slower primary flames, but much, much more secondary action. With the stove almost fully loaded, the top temperature slowly rises to around 600 and stays there for a long time (not sure how long exactly, at least a couple hours). The next morning I come out to a blower that is still running, stove top temps at around 200-250 and a lot of hot coals. The bricks stay white and the glass stays clean. Based on the week following this modification, I bet I’ll cut my wood usage by a third!
Thanks to all for the great advice I received here! -Chris
This gave me the confidence to think a little outside the box. I studied my draft control and noticed that it opened and closed the primary and secondary air inlets. The problem is that even in the fully-closed position, the primary intake was open about 0.75-inch. The secondary intake was open by almost twice that! Not only that, there was slop in the cover which prevented it from making a good seal.
I removed the old plate and fabricated a new one with 1/8†steel I purchased from Home Depot. I modified the design to allow the primary air to be almost completely closed (except for inevitable gaps around the edges) and the secondary to have only about a half-inch opening when the draft control was fully closed. I took my new draft plate to a welder and for $5 he welded on my old draft control rod to the new plate.
Results
A completely different stove! I got a burn time this weekend of 10.5 hours with 4 splits on a coal bed! The stove behaves completely different. Now, I go through the normal routine to bring the stove to temp but now it gets there even quicker. The secondary flames are much more pronounced and occur more often. I think the secondary was getting too much air resulting in a fuel “lean†condition. Once the stove top is at about 400-450, I can close the draft all the way and watch the magic. Much slower primary flames, but much, much more secondary action. With the stove almost fully loaded, the top temperature slowly rises to around 600 and stays there for a long time (not sure how long exactly, at least a couple hours). The next morning I come out to a blower that is still running, stove top temps at around 200-250 and a lot of hot coals. The bricks stay white and the glass stays clean. Based on the week following this modification, I bet I’ll cut my wood usage by a third!
Thanks to all for the great advice I received here! -Chris