Jotul Firelight 12 airflow?

[speedracer]

I have been working to understand the ins and outs of this wood stove. I had wood that wasn't truly seasoned but once lit did give me good fires. Temps according to the thermometer reading the catalytic converter cavity were consistently reading 1100 ~ 1300 with highs reaching 1750. When the stove was working "correctly" I thought I could hear an air rushing noise coming from the bottom/back of the stove when the doors were closed. Today, unfortunately, I am using more wet wood as the dry is gone. I know this is bad but its cold and a fire any fire would be nice. When the doors are closed I no longer hear this air noise. I pulled the air adjustment cover off (inside front lip) and the slider was fine. I blew some compressed air both ways into the cavity under the shuttle. I hear some noise but couldn't see/hear where it was coming out. First question is, where is the air coming from (flow path) that the shuttle is controlling?? I pulled out the inside back plate and checked the catalyst and it appeared o.k. and cleaned the area inside. Blew air gently into all the holes (12 if remember correctly) and again nothing blew out. Now when I light a fire it seems to take forever and when it is half arse going and I shut the doors the flames almost go out when I open the doors they do come back. It didn't seem to do this before. I did a quick check; when I did close the doors and close the air damper the flames almost went out and when I opened the damper they came back. My question then is there some other place the air is coming from that may be plugged so when the doors are closed it will keep the flames going?? IF so where should I look. Lastly, can all/most of my new found ills be attributed to 'wet' wood (assuming wet as can hear sizzling and popping but have NOT checked with a moisture meter)?? I clean the inside out and dump the ashes from the pan every time I build a fire so I can't believe something is plugged but I really DO NOT KNOW... ANY help/suggestions you can offer will be appreciated. Stay warm all...THANKS

 

[pen]

Sorry, but you do know. The wood is simply too wet.

I'm betting the sound you were hearing was some sort of secondary combustion happening near the cat, that is now being hampered by the excessive moisture.

In all, knowing that you are working with a poor fuel source leads all concerns with the stove's operation back to that. Fix that, then if you are still having problems, you perhaps have a plugged catalyst from burning fuel that wasn't ready for the stove.

I'm not a cat stove expert by any means, but I'd suggest looking into cleaning methods for the cat in your stove, and working on sourcing some biobricks, eco-logs, or some other man man firewood fuel to mix in to try and get you through the winter.

Hope your wood is on hand for next year so that things can get easier.

Good luck, and keep us posted, wish I had better news.

pen

 

[begreen]

+1 Get some solid fuel like BioBricks or ECO bricks to add to the fire. Just a couple per load will help. Get as much of that wood indoors and drying. Put it in plastic tubs or stack it inside and if possible put a fan blowing on it. A week or two indoors can help quite a bit depending on the species of wood.