Hello to all. First post. End of my first week of wood heat. Goodbye LP!

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2 years ago i went christmas shoping for a heat reclaimer for a present for Pa, fortunatly i looked at the local stove shop and talked to the guy who'd been doing this for some years. His response to my request was if you want to burn the house down they are sold at menards, he also added that in all likelyhood the insurance would be refused since the exhaust had been altered and the insurance company looks for such things. Has your homeowners agent seen it?
 
Burning season has arrived. Found out my stove is actually a Century s244e. Also found out I had ran it all last year without two overhead firebrick just below the flu outlet. Huge burn time difference now that I have placed the overhead firebrick where they needed to be! Can't believe I went all last year without them....:rolleyes: Anyway the reclaimer is history. Pulled it all apart this AM and discovered I had very heavy creosote from the stove top to the reclaimer. Just as I was advised here! Also. Super Cedar fire starter is a godsend.
 
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Getting that baffle brick in place should make a huge difference in heating and extending the burn times. After the fire gets burning well you should be able to turn down the air almost all the way or at least until the flames get lazy. That will encourage secondary burning at the top of the firebox. Then the flue temp should drop and the stove top heat up.

Good to hear the reclaimer is history. The stove should do the heating now much better.
 
Used to love ice fishing, fell by the wayside (circumstances) :(. Cool house, great project bringing it into 21st century. As mentioned, the temp gauges can be a handy reference but they can vary. I replaced an Osburn flue temp gauge with same model (new) and I swear it's 30 - 50 deg off of the previous unit. In time you'll be dialing in your fires based on "gut feel" and what the fire is telling you, the gauge will just be a sanity check. Never ran a heat exchanger but those here in the know won't steer you wrong. Good on you for following through and doing the inspection and fix. Yeah the missing baffle bricks are interesting. Looks like you're in the zone now.....
 
Thanks for chiming in guys. Thought I'd add that I am having fun with my new I.R. temp gun tonight as well as my new moisture meter. Magnetic temp gauge reads 50-60 less than the IR. Argh.... 73f in the house. HOT for us.
 
Been awhile since I said hello here. Anyway. Had a interesting situation occur this afternoon after trying to get a cold start going. I had let the stove go out in the AM and swept the flue about 1:00 PM. Found a cup of dry dust (whew). Attempted a cold start a 5:00 PM. Raining, 35F, LP furnace running. Cold air easily felt back drafting while loading kindling. SMOKE into the house.
Killed the LP furnace. Opened a few winders. Still a beotch to get er going. Understandably the LP furnace caused some of the isssue. Guessing this was somewhat weather related?
On another note. Splitting for next year all by hand so far! Standard 8lb farm store maul to begin with. Acme Super Splitter was next. Fiskars full size and the next smaller filled out my collection. Luvn it! Even have the wife splitting along side me. Hard to believe!
 
Sounds like the stove might benefit from top down starting. If downdraft persists consider adding another length of chimney and perhaps an outside air supply (OAK).
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Just gotta say fellas. 285 gallons of LP was what I started with. Zero refills as of yet. Normal year I burn 1300. Wife loves the cozy fire as she calls it. Cut 5 truck loads of wood in the last week. Been puttin the Fiskars to everything. My power splitter now occupies my garage. Gotta luv layoff saeson. Cheers to all!
 
To anybody reading this as a noob. FWIW. In the past I had burned around 1100 to 1300 gal. of LP a year. Last year I only pre-ordered 600 thinking I would just pay the going rate if I needed more. Sooo I went to pre-order this years LP. Lo and behold I had 408.50 gallons of credit from last year:eek:. I couldn't help but to look at the floor, shuffle my feet, and quietly ask the man "um,,,are you sure?" Doing some rudimentary mathmatics I quicky concluded that I had used 191.5 gallons ALL year.

Also. after much head scratching, hrs of bug eyed researching and bugging of other members here , I made up my mind on a stove upgrade. Today I ordered a BK Sirocco 20. For my small home and tight clearance restrictions it seems to fit the bill nicely. Can't say enough about the dealer I chose in Marion Ia, as well. Super experiance with Darren. Can't wait to get it home.
 
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Just went back and read all 4 pages. Way to go man!! Your gonna be so happy with your new cat stove!! What's the plan for the century?

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Thanks. Hoping to move the Century into my single stall garage/shop. Add a couple lazy boys and sat. TV. Then just hold the fort down!
 
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