ESW Madison - Pics

[spirilis]

You know, I have yet to walk outside and actually see visible smoke coming out of my chimney.

Even yesterday, when I had just lit a small kindling fire in a stove that was still slightly warm from the previous kindling fire... within 5 minutes I walked outside, and still saw jack chit. Firebox was nothing but flames but not a lick of smoke to be seen.

Right now, mostly poplar splits with a few unidentified hardwood splits in there, cruising at 450F with the air almost closed (draft control in a few millimeters from full-out), nobody in this neighborhood can tell I'm burning!
Totally tickled pink at this stove purchase. Also the chimney draft and flue issues that I never had to experience (since I put an M&G Duraliner 6" system in last year :-D)

 

[sean b]

Please keep the reports coming, spirilis. Glad to hear you're happy with it. I was at Lowe's the other day looking at the Madison again and the employees there said they knew nothing about the issue with the AAS.

I'm expecting Vermont Castings to tell me to go pound sand any day now over my warranty claim on the neverburn so I should be pulling the trigger on a new stove in the next few weeks.

 

[spirilis]

The AAS issue is getting murkier fwiw, I have mine re-tuned to what I thought worked well, but in the past week or so I notice it always triggers below 300F now.... but I haven't had a good couple days to let the stove cool to take the heat shields off and see what's going on. I'm almost wondering if the stock setting was perfect, not faulty like that Air lever thread was implying.

 

[sean b]

Have you been in touch with Englander about it?

 

[spirilis]

Have you been in touch with Englander about it?

Yes I have a convo going with @stoveguy2esw ... when I've verified my current results I am going to relay them back to him.

 

[spirilis]

I took the AAS thermostat out again before burning this season, adjusted it to where I recall it working best, then cranked the ****er tight (that is, the bolt locknut at the end protruding into the stove). Seems to work great so far. It won't avoid you overfiring a stove that's stuffed to the baffles like what I did this morning but..... it will damper it down for you
(duhhh, got carried away there)

What seemed to happen last year which defeated the AAS is the thermostat's locknut must've loosened so the spring & bolt freewheeled inside its tube.

On the topic of overfiring, I am learning that a good rule of thumb is the highest part of any kindling shouldn't come any closer than 1-1.5" below the burn tubes, that's a safe distance which balances efficient burning and avoiding runaway overfiring.

 

[spirilis]

Did an experiment with a "short kindling fire" yesterday, although it still lasted a good long while, but it wasn't a blazing hot 550+F burn. This is using mostly oak kindling splits (larger splits split down further with an electric splitter) with 2 Liberty Bricks.

Everything's cut to ~15-16", which fits perfectly inside the Madison arranged north/south (front-to-back).

Initial pile, keeping room on the sides (the purpose here is to stack the wood "high" rather than "wide", in order to get a clean burn with a top-down fire):

The two liberty bricks are shown there in the middle.


Remainder of the splits, with one cross-split on top near the back (1 or 2 of these is good)


1/4 supercedar on top, then:

The infamous bow-tie newspaper (with some gelled alcohol drizzled on before placing them, just for overkill)


Seconds after ignition...


A minute or so...


~3 minutes in, top splits catching including that E/W cross split in the back


By ~8 minutes, more of the upper splits are catching


After 10 minutes. This fire took longer than usual to exceed ~160F (where my Ecofan starts spinning) but, nobody should be surprised there... another minute or 2 after this pic the split on the left was caught at the front, and the stove went on to hit ~450F with the damper nearly shut. Burned nicely with the fan blowing heat for a good 4 hours, in fact the stove was still a bit warm by 8 hours later.

 

[spirilis]

Did England's Stove Works discontinue the Madison and its big-brother? I don't see them listed in the lineup for any of the brands-

(broken link removed to https://heatredefined.com/collections/englander)
(broken link removed to https://heatredefined.com/collections/summers-heat)
(broken link removed to https://heatredefined.com/collections/timber-ridge)

That new 28-4000 furnace looks nice though.

Lowes still lists the Madison: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Summers-Heat-2000-sq-ft-Wood-Burning-Stove/999918844
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Summers-Heat-2400-sq-ft-Wood-Burning-Stove/999918850

 

[begreen]

I don't think they've ever listed the Madison or Monroe on their website. Maybe part of a marketing agreement with big box stores?

 

[Ludlow]

No, they were never on the website back when I was considering it. The door is a really thin casting. Seen mixed reviews but what else is new with online reviews. Hope it works out!

 

[spirilis]

Oh yeah mine has worked out well the past 2 years so far... yet to fire it up this season, crazy MD weather.

 

[FPX Dude]

Best pics of a top-down I've seen. Have yet to try it but this looks good, thanks!

 

[Ludlow]

One thing that got me was they list the firebox capacity at 35 pounds? WTH? Couldnt get a cu ft spec.