Hate to dampen your spirits.....

[fireview2788]

When do you start damping down the fire?

Do you leave it wide open until you hit a certain temp?

Do you damp it part way once the fire is established?


f v

 

[Jags]

If you are asking specifically about the Fireview I can't help, but on my Isle royale I close the startup air once a nice flame show starts (about 10-15 min, with a stove top around 300), then wait till the stovetop hits 550+ and then tune her down for the long run.

 

[MasterMech]

I throttle back the Rangeley some after it hits 350+ to kick start the secondaries. Then it heats up faster and I gradually bring it to cruising speed.

 

[VCBurner]

Depends on how fast you want to reach certain stove temperature. How long you want the wood to last. 2/3's of the exposed wood should be on fire before dampering down (just one figure I've seen.) I used to be able to damper down in less than 10 minutes from a cold start on my Dutchwest, with the SS cat. I'd start the fire with kindling and some small wood then bigger wood on top. I'd leave the ash pan unlatched, partially open (ilegal manouver, don't walk away from it,) for about 10 minutes then i could shut it down as long as the cat temp was climbing up and around 2-250. Damper down, and the cat would be glowing in about 5 minutes after dampering down. Cold start to cat glow in about 15-20 minutes. It took me a while with the ceramic cat, which was older but not cracked or chipped. The SS cat made it a lot easier. If I wasn't in a hurry to get heat I took my time in order to protect ther cat from thermal shock.


As far as the fireview, I couldn't tell you but there are lots of threads around here on it, just use the search bar.

 

[firefighterjake]

When do you start damping down the fire?

Do you leave it wide open until you hit a certain temp?

Do you damp it part way once the fire is established?


f v

On my Oslo I start to reduce the air control when I reach a certain temp on either my stovepipe or stove thermometer . . . and I tend to leave it wide open until I reach a certain temp and then start the process of slowly closing off the air . . . usually the fire is pretty well established when I start this process.

 

[Slow1]

For my FV I light up with the air at 3 or 4 (close to fully open) if a cold stove, or with the air closer to 2 if on a bed of coals. Once there are good flames established I set the air to about 2 until ready to engage the cat, so I suppose I start to "dampen down" pretty soon...

I engage the cat once the pipe hits 400* (cold stove it takes about 30-40 minutes, hot stove 5-10) about 6" up from the stove (I have the SS cat installed). I then adjust my air down to 1 or slightly below. After another 10-15 minutes I will adjust the air for the burn if desired - usually settling around .75 or so, naturally this depends on the desired heat output for the burn.

 

[Todd]

When do you start damping down the fire?

Do you leave it wide open until you hit a certain temp?

Do you damp it part way once the fire is established?


f v

Your stove is a different animal because of the bypass. I like to start off a fire from a cold start with the bypass open and air setting on #4. After it catches I'll turn it down to #2 or even less and let it go till I reach cat light off temp. I also like to look at my single wall external pipe temps while in the bypass mode and keep them under 500. They can really run away on you at #4 and you want to keep more of the heat in the stove. During reloads I do the same as above but it's a bit quicker because the stove is already warm.

Once I engage I like to set the air at a little over #1 and let it burn for awhile before adjusting the air up or down for desired output. Sometimes when you engage at too low an air setting she will stall, especially in the shoulder seasons. Let the fire get established with some flames for 15-30 minutes before turning it down to those low slow burns. Most of my burns are in the .75 to 1.5 range. Anything under .75 can sometimes leave an unburnt log in the back and anything over 1.5 sends too much heat up the stack.

 

[Todd]

For my FV I light up with the air at 3 or 4 (close to fully open) if a cold stove, or with the air closer to 2 if on a bed of coals. Once there are good flames established I set the air to about 2 until ready to engage the cat, so I suppose I start to "dampen down" pretty soon...

I engage the cat once the pipe hits 400* (cold stove it takes about 30-40 minutes, hot stove 5-10) about 6" up from the stove (I have the SS cat installed). I then adjust my air down to 1 or slightly below. After another 10-15 minutes I will adjust the air for the burn if desired - usually settling around .75 or so, naturally this depends on the desired heat output for the burn.

Have you tried engaging sooner from a cold start with that s/s cat? I've had good results in as little as 15-20 minutes.

 

[3fordasho]

When do you start damping down the fire?

Do you leave it wide open until you hit a certain temp?

Do you damp it part way once the fire is established?


f v

I go by flue temps. On start up the air is wide open (4). As the flue temp approaches 500-600F I start to close the air inlet to not let it get much above 600F.
So from a (4) setting I will go right to 1.5-2 and continue to close to maintain a flue temp of 500-600F. Once I get down to about 1 it usually is getting close to cat engagement temp (250F stovetop) and I engage the cat at that setting. Then depending on the amount of flame in the box I may close a bit more for the cruise, say around .75

 

[fireview2788]

Thank you everyone! I had a sneaking suspicion I was closing her down too soon because it was taking me a while to get up to heat. I will leave her more open for a longer time. Many thanks.


f v

 

[Backwoods Savage]

When do you start damping down the fire?

Do you leave it wide open until you hit a certain temp?

Do you damp it part way once the fire is established?


f v

fv, remember that as long as you have the draft fully open that most of the heat goes straight up the chimney. But if you back that draft down once you get a good flame then you will be saving some of that heat and the stove will warm up sooner.

I do not decrease the draft according to any temperature but only go by what the fire looks like. After dampering down to 2, I'll then usually wait until the flue temperature is from 400-500 and the stove top should be at least to 200 by then and at that point I flip the cat on. Also at that time, I dial the draft down usually to 1 or 1 1/2. That is short lived as soon we are totally at 1 or down to .75

This morning the house was cool but temperature around 40 with high wind expected along with rain. I got the fire going quite quickly and dialed it down to 1. Had to take wife to hospital so before leaving I had it down to .75 and left. That was sometime after 10:00. Got home around 6:00 and there is still plenty of wood in the stove and the house is nice and toasty. I just checked and the stove top is a hair over 300 and it is ready for more wood. That will be done soon as I am bushed and hitting the sack early.

 

[Slow1]

For my FV I light up with the air at 3 or 4 (close to fully open) if a cold stove, or with the air closer to 2 if on a bed of coals. Once there are good flames established I set the air to about 2 until ready to engage the cat, so I suppose I start to "dampen down" pretty soon...

I engage the cat once the pipe hits 400* (cold stove it takes about 30-40 minutes, hot stove 5-10) about 6" up from the stove (I have the SS cat installed). I then adjust my air down to 1 or slightly below. After another 10-15 minutes I will adjust the air for the burn if desired - usually settling around .75 or so, naturally this depends on the desired heat output for the burn.

Have you tried engaging sooner from a cold start with that s/s cat? I've had good results in as little as 15-20 minutes.

I go by the temperature of the single wall pipe about 6" up from the stove. I probably could use a lower temp than the 400* that I have been using, but I know I'm very safe with this light off temp... and honestly I do sometimes kick it off lower. I'm really not sure that my 30-40 minute estimate from cold stove is accurate - I don't do that many of them and I don't actually keep a record. Warm/hot stove is in the 5-10 minute area though, and generally much closer to 5 minutes. Sometimes with a hot stove I wonder if I even need to leave the cat open at all as it seems ready to go by time I have the door closed and I'm standing up to measure the temps on the pipe but I like to wait at least a couple minutes just to let things stabilize (perhaps that is silly superstition). It just somehow seems wrong to engage the cat within 2 minutes of loading....

I'll have to pay more attention to the cold stove times, but those will be now - during shoulder season so they will be longer as we have less draft and I won't have nearly as much wood in the stove.