how to get the long burn from a (old) vermont castings resolute

[mikedengineer]

I wrote before about having to chain my damper shut,now that works fine. My question if for those who have this model. Mine has the double doors. For the long burn I get a nice bed of coals, load it up, let it warm up to at least 400 degrees then shut the damper. I also shut the secondary air opening. I found if I leave that open it burns up the wood too fast. I then set the air flap opening all the way down till it's closed. Mind you when mine is closed it is still open just a bit. It seems the flat doesn't seal perfectly. I know this because one time the stove was getting a bit too hot and I shut everything, but it was still getting hotter until I pushed on the flap which shut it down. I could actually hear air rushing in with the flap shut until I pushed on it.

Anyway, 8 hours later the stove is at 250-350 with plenty of coals to get the next fire going. This is with good hardwood (cherry or oak). Am I doing good? Is there any other methods for running this stove for the long burn?

Thanks,

-Mike

 

[Corie]

Although this is an old school stove and that secondary air port certainly doesn't accomplish the clean burn you could get from a modern stove, you really shouldn't shut it all the way because it does help burn off some of theose gases and provides from additional heat. IT seems your burning the stove a little low and slow at night, but since you're in the pre-epa phase, you probably don't have much choice if you want to make it over night. I hope you get a nice hot fire going in the morning to burn off any creosote.

Have ya cleaning the chimney yet? How did she look?

 

[begreen]

Find a tiny magnet and place it on the outside, bottom edge of the air flap. That will help it close positively. It should be a small magnet and should not overlap the edge. You want the thermostatic control to be able to overcome its pull easily.

 

[mikedengineer]

Although this is an old school stove and that secondary air port certainly doesn't accomplish the clean burn you could get from a modern stove, you really shouldn't shut it all the way because it does help burn off some of theose gases and provides from additional heat. IT seems your burning the stove a little low and slow at night, but since you're in the pre-epa phase, you probably don't have much choice if you want to make it over night. I hope you get a nice hot fire going in the morning to burn off any creosote.

Have ya cleaning the chimney yet? How did she look?

I know I should have it open, but the fire is dead and the house is freezing by the time I wake up.

In the morning I get the stove up to 500-600 and keep it there for at least 45 minutes. Also when I come home i get it cooking again at that same temp for a couple hours. I think that keeps the chimney pretty clean. There is a 5 foot piece of single wall going straight up to the ceiling. Then there a 10 foot piece of tripple wall from there on out. It seems that the black looking creosote forms only in the single wall and in the tripple wall is that powdery type. Every couple days I spay a creosote remover liquid which I think helps loosen the creosote and it ends up falling down the chimney. Actually once I hear it falling I rap on the pipe and down it comes. Lately though being I'm running it so hot I don't hear much falling. So I think it's getting burned up pretty good.

-Mike

 

[mikedengineer]

Find a tiny magnet and place it on the outside, bottom edge of the air flap. That will help it close positively. It should be a small magnet and should not overlap the edge. You want the thermostatic control to be able to overcome its pull easily.

That's a good idea. I'll look around and see if I can find one. I'll have to make sure that flap is steel though. For some reason I think it's aluminum. I wonder if any glue would stand up to the heat and hold the magnet there if it is aluminum.

-Mike

 

[begreen]

I seem to remember the flap is steel. I had a magnet on mine and it worked great. I think I took it off the back of one of the kid's alphabet letters (the kind you put on the fridge door). Check you local thrift store.

 

[mikedengineer]

I seem to remember the flap is steel. I had a magnet on mine and it worked great. I think I took it off the back of one of the kid's alphabet letters (the kind you put on the fridge door). Check you local thrift store.

Yeah, it is steel. I'm going to experiment with it. I actually have those magnets on my fridge. Thanks!

-Mike

 

[elkimmeg]

mike when is the last time you adjusted that latch? when have you replaced the gasket there? Or when have you totally cleaned out that stove freeing up air passages.
I'm willing to bet fly ash is blocking air passages and robbing you of preformance ppossibly gasket leaks too. When is the lasyt time you cleaned the thermatic probe tip?

 

[begreen]

The old Resolutes didn't have a temperature probe. The thermostat was an external bimetallic coil mounted on the of the upper left backside of the stove. Very simple, but worked quite well.

 

[mikedengineer]

mike when is the last time you adjusted that latch? when have you replaced the gasket there? Or when have you totally cleaned out that stove freeing up air passages.
I'm willing to bet fly ash is blocking air passages and robbing you of preformance ppossibly gasket leaks too. When is the lasyt time you cleaned the thermatic probe tip?

I'm assuming like Begreen said it's an external thermostat? What/how & way do I adjust the thermostat latch? Also, it doesn't appear there is any gasket there. My Resolute has the cast iron rear baffle that says 1979 on it. It has the double front doors. Which I believe makes it a resolute III.

I tried cleaning the baffles this spring. I took the laft & right sides out, but I could not get the back out. I took the damper off and cleaned down into the rear baffle as far as I could. I asked someone else who cleaned theres and they said they really had to work at getting the rear baffle out. I plan on trying really hard this spring to get the rear one out. Elk, your probably right about the ash in that rear one.

-Mike

 

[mikedengineer]

I was messing around with that magnet idea. I then noticed that the flap was bent and that is why it would not close. I tried using a screwdrive (gently) to bend it back. That didn't work. I sat tehre for ahile and thought "How did that get bent?". I then simply pulled up on the arm sticking out while holding the flap down and it was unbent! At some point that arm must have gotten jammed down and bound the flap so as it wouldn't close properly. Now when the flap is shut...it is really shut. I now fell like I have so much more control of the fire.

Thanks guys. If I never asked this question on the forum and you guys resoponding I may have gone years till I realized the problem.

-Mike

 

[begreen]

Great Mike. Sorry I dropped the ball on this one and missed your last question. Glad you figured it out. You are correct, no gasket on the flap. It's a simple, elegant system.

Now that you have it working right you'll see the advantage of the magnet. Otherwise, occasionally when the stove is not needing air, but will soon, the flap can tap, tap, tap nervously. The magnet makes for a nice positive seal. A tiny magnet works best.