Fire Chief or Shelter EPA stoves feedback

[Mrpelletburner]

fill the house with smoke should not be required.

It is optional with every stove purchase [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

 

[brenndatomu]

It is optional with every stove purchase [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

Seems like it comes standard with these...

 

[JRHAWK9]

It is optional with every stove purchase

Glad you are keeping a sense of humor with all of this. Although, not sure these issues should be a laughing matter though.

 

[brenndatomu]

I was thinking of a nickname for these new FC/Shelter furnaces...1st up, "the Big Bang" series,
or, "Chitty chitty bang bang"

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I'm very close to requesting a refund. I just don't think it should be this difficult to burn wood like I have been experiencing. I should be able to get 4+ hours of burn time out of a unit and not be so sensitive to re-loads or anything like that...any recommendations on a different furnace that can be connected to duct work?


Also, I'd be curious to hear from someone who has purchased an FC1000 that HAS had success with the unit. Typical starting and reloading procedure, average run time, etc.

 

[Mrpelletburner]

Is the cresol build up going in the right direction?

The following video is inside the new stove pipe after 3 days of burning. How does the cresol build up look?

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Photos are of the rear of the stove's stove pipe.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I don't confess to be an expert in the inspection of creosote build-up, but 3 days worth, that looks like a metric s-ton. Can't imagine what a month looks like.

I'll shoot some photos of my cleanout when I get home today from work. Keep in mind that I've only really had this thing running for 4-6 hours per day, not round-the-clock.

Is the cresol build up going in the right direction?

The following video is inside the new stove pipe after 3 days of burning. How does the cresol build up look?

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Photos are of the rear of the stove's stove pipe.

View attachment 225316

View attachment 225317

View attachment 225318

 

[Mrpelletburner]

Also, I'd be curious to hear from someone who has purchased an FC1000 that HAS had success with the unit. Typical starting and reloading procedure, average run time, etc.

There is 1 person on this forum that purchased the FC1500. He posted a few times and has since vanished. Did send a PM to him and posted in his thread, nothing back yet.

 

[JRHAWK9]

There is 1 person on this forum that purchased the FC1500. He posted a few times and has since vanished. Did send a PM to him and posted in his thread, nothing back yet.

Hopefully NOT the case, but maybe he's not around anymore due to poorly designed wood furnace.

 

[Mrpelletburner]

This thread https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/shelter-wood-furnace-upgrade-improvement.166340/#post-2236902

@KvnSwan is the person

 

[brenndatomu]

...any recommendations on a different furnace that can be connected to duct work?

For the money I think it would be hard to beat a Drolet Tundra II...

 

[brenndatomu]

Is the cresol build up going in the right direction?

The following video is inside the new stove pipe after 3 days of burning. How does the cresol build up look?

Was the pipe clean 3 days ago?
That's a lot of creosote (not cresol...whatever that is) in 3 days. The only improvement I see is the creosote is dryer looking than that wet gooey looking mess there before...but in reality that may just mean the pipe got hotter at some point in the burn...hard to say for sure. Could mean there has been a slight improvement, could mean you just got close to a chimney fire.

 

[Mrpelletburner]

Regarding cleaning the flue/stove pipe.. would you recommend the SootEater?

 

[brenndatomu]

I like mine, but I am also only cleaning light fluffy soot.
If you have that black gooey creosote like before I don't think it will do much...the stuff you have in there now...it may take a good bit of that off...but I wonder what things look like at the upper end of the chimney...I'd bet it is still pretty scary looking

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I like mine, but I am also only cleaning light fluffy soot.
If you have that black gooey creosote like before I don't think it will do much...the stuff you have in there now...it may take a good bit of that off...but I wonder what things look like at the upper end of the chimney...I'd bet it is still pretty scary looking

I checked mine out last night (oddly enough, ran out of fuel in my lighter so no fire last night), and found that I have a similar level of creosote in my pipes.

Decisions, decisions... don't know if it's worth it at this point (end of heating season) to send this thing back.

 

[JRHAWK9]

Decisions, decisions... don't know if it's worth it at this point (end of heating season) to send this thing back.

This is the ideal time to do so. You won't be needing it in another month or so. You then will have the whole summer to find a formidable replacement.

 

[brenndatomu]

Decisions, decisions... don't know if it's worth it at this point (end of heating season) to send this thing back.

What @JRHAWK9 said.
I already said my 2 cents as far as a replacement unit...but I also wanted to say, if you can't decide on a replacement, I think I would snatch up a cheap old school wood furnace off CL rather than put up with another winter of babysitting that backfiring POS!

 

[DoubleB]

any recommendations on a different furnace that can be connected to duct work?

I just noticed this Kuuma for sale on CL, I'd grab it quick if it were big enough for my house and I wasn't so busy. You're probably not going to drive to WI from MA, but who knows what kind of deal you can find if you keep your eyes open.

(@JRHAWK9 says it's a VF200 which is the smaller heat output.)

 

[Mrpelletburner]

HY-C has stopped responding.. seems as if someone is always out of the office or on vacation now.

 

[JRHAWK9]

HY-C has stopped responding.. seems as if someone is always out of the office or on vacation now.

Did you pay by CC?? Dispute the charge and claim faulty item. Let the place you bought it from take it up with the juice guys.

 

[maple1]

HY-C has stopped responding.. seems as if someone is always out of the office or on vacation now.

That's too bad. Seems like they had lots of opportunity to make things right.

 

[Mrpelletburner]

Man... had a good run of burning, then last night "Puff"! The stove had been operating great for a few days, not sure why things when off the rails again. Needless to say, I didn't sleep last night.

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[brenndatomu]

The stove had been operating great for a few days

What changed?

 

[Mrpelletburner]

When I reloaded this time, the" amount" of hot ambers was not the same as the prior fills, as I had been gone all day and the wife will not touch the "kaboom" stove. So to jump start things, I re-loaded in 2 stages. Stage 1, add two layers of splits and leave the load and ash door open a crack 1/8". After 15mins, with the one layer chared and a higher box temp, I finish loading to the top. My thought was that the first layer should have been enough to help fire up the 2nd load.

If you watch the time-lapse video, the digital readout (top number flue, bottom fire box surface prob) does confirm that the fire did take off. However, at some point during this time, the stove went into idle mode. Perhaps idle mode happened too soon, resulting in an increase of unburned gasses.

The flip side of just loading and closing the door, it can take forever for the fire to catch.

 

[maple1]

When I reloaded this time, the" amount" of hot ambers was not the same as the prior fills, as I had been gone all day and the wife will not touch the "kaboom" stove. So to jump start things, I re-loaded in 2 stages. Stage 1, add two layers of splits and leave the load and ash door open a crack 1/8". After 15mins, with the one layer chared and a higher box temp, I finish loading to the top. My thought was that the first layer should have been enough to help fire up the 2nd load.

If you watch the time-lapse video, the digital readout (top number flue, bottom fire box surface prob) does confirm that the fire did take off. However, at some point during this time, the stove went into idle mode. Perhaps idle mode happened too soon, resulting in an increase of unburned gasses.

The flip side of just loading and closing the door, it can take forever for the fire to catch.

It shouldn't really have to 'catch' though, on a reload. As long as there are some coals there, it should start smoldering immediately, and the smoke/gasses that the smoldering makes should get burned off in secondary combustion. Unless it has gone pretty cold, in which case yes it might take longer to get everything established. But certainly not 'forever'. Or at least that's how a properly designed unit should burn. The primary fire will slowly build up some, while the secondary burns away.