Kitchen Queen 550 Operation

[Mainehomestead]

Good morning everyone!

We recently purchased a Kitchen Queen 550 wood cook stove. We are total novices with cook stoves. We had a few fires in the stove to burn it off prior to drying in our house. We left the oven on during these burns and the flue temp never went above the creosote zone. We thought it may have just been that the thermometer was inaccurate and without the doors and windows installed it was just too cold in the house to get the stove up to temp. However, I learned the other day that leaving the oven on cools the flue gases… well that makes a lot of sense now. We shut down the oven and were able to get the stove into optimal, finally. A few questions and concerns here though:

1. We had maybe 5 fires that never left the creosote zone. Could this cause enough creosote to build up to dangerous levels? Our wood is seasoned cherry, ash, and maple. Moisture meter reads around 15-18%.
2. Since having the house dried in we’ve been running the stove. It burns down wood pretty quickly. If we fill the firebox it burns within a few hours. We also have to keep the stove thermostat pretty much wide open to have the stove pipe in the optimal zone, according to our stove pipe thermometer from Lowe’s (maybe it is inaccurate?). Note: this is a two story house but we’ve tried to block off the second floor because the attic is open. So the stove is heating the first floor which is 720sqft. We’ve got R-20 on the exterior walls for insulation but nothing on the inside yet. We’re in Maine, it has been pretty cold here lately.
3. We’ve been leaving the air wash on because the fire burns hotter and stays in optimal. Should that be on all the time?
4. Our chimney is 25’ straight run out the roof. Is it necessary to have a damper installed on the stove pipe?
5. What’s the best way to clean the chimney? It’s not easy getting onto the roof. Is there a way to clean it from the stove or would I need to remove the single wall pipe from the stove and clean it from the bottom up?

I know there’s probably a lot of factors at play here that are affecting burn temps and time but I would like to determine if it’s just us not knowing how to operate the stove or if it’s just the space we’re trying to heat (maybe both?).



Does anyone a ‘run book’ for this particular stove? The directions are okay, but I think they leave out some details.

 

[SteveKG]

Welcome to wood-cookstove ownership. I am not familiar with yours and therefore cannot answer most of your questions. However, with a 25-ft chimney, I expect that cleaning the pipe from the roof is off the table. It is in my case. I remove the stovepipe from the stove, lower couple of sections, and clean the chimney from the bottom up. This can make a big mess, and I have developed my method to mitigate much of this by covering the stove and the surrounding floor with a bed sheet. I only have to do this once every year or even longer. We burn pine and spruce and some aspen, as that is all that grows around here in the mountains. We get a fair amount of ash in the pipe over the course of a year.

The pipe inside the house is double-walled, which helps keep the chimney pipe temp's up. [Also, our stove is rated 5" clearance from combustibles and the double-walled pipe allows us to have the stove nearer the walls of the kitchen....]

 

[begreen]

Mainehomestead the first question is how is the stove connected, single-wall or double-walled stove pipe? The second is how is the flue temp being measured and where? Last question - how long has the firewood been seasoned?
Pictures are always welcome.

For a lot more info on this stove, search on "Kitchen Queen" postings by member coaly. Here's a sample:

Post in thread 'Wood cook stove dilemma'

Jan 6, 2022

The sideways burn under oven is much better than over the top, down the side, and condensing under it. Tried both. No comparison to cleanliness under oven. Ours in in the middle of kitchen with exposed clean out on rear. New models now have a large clean out on front. Huge improvement.

Our oven stays from 300 to 375 during normal operation heating the home. Simply close the bypass that forces exhaust around oven raises temp within minutes. If you want 400, I shut oven off about 50* before and let it coast up.

I added a thermostat on the rear of ash pan after a talk with the builder years...

• coaly

• 

 

[coaly]

As you learned, never circulate around oven until the stove and chimney is up to temperature.

Also don’t crack oven door open for more heat unless up to temp, and never overnight since there’s always circulation around oven. This will form deposits around and under oven.

My single wall pipe is above 250f surface temp within 15 minutes. The chimney bypass allows exhaust from firebox directly up stack. Leave it open until up to temp.

You want the pipe temp at least 300f to circulate around oven. This is my only heat source, so the oven averages 300-350 without turning it on during colder weather. If you want 400f, I turn it off below that and it will coast up without issue. If I keep circulating around oven to 400, it will coast up to 500.

I clean mid season and season end with a Soot Eater through loading door, up bypass and through pipe damper.

Yes, you should have a flue damper as an emergency brake in case you ever need it. Mine stays open, but is there in case I need it.

 

[Mainehomestead]

Mainehomestead the first question is how is the stove connected, single-wall or double-walled stove pipe? The second is how is the flue temp being measured and where? Last question - how long has the firewood been seasoned?
Pictures are always welcome.

For a lot more info on this stove, search on "Kitchen Queen" postings by member coaly. Here's a sample:

Post in thread 'Wood cook stove dilemma'

Jan 6, 2022

The sideways burn under oven is much better than over the top, down the side, and condensing under it. Tried both. No comparison to cleanliness under oven. Ours in in the middle of kitchen with exposed clean out on rear. New models now have a large clean out on front. Huge improvement.

Our oven stays from 300 to 375 during normal operation heating the home. Simply close the bypass that forces exhaust around oven raises temp within minutes. If you want 400, I shut oven off about 50* before and let it coast up.

I added a thermostat on the rear of ash pan after a talk with the builder years...

• coaly

• 

Hey Begreen,

It’s single wall pipe coming out of the stove until it meets the droplets adapter and goes through the ceiling to class A stove pipe.

We are having a hard time figuring out where to position the thermometer because of the water reservoir and warming oven. I’m hoping the place I put it is accurate enough (see pic).

Some of the firewood is two year seasoned, under 20%, some was cut last year but is still full logs. Yesterday we split a few and did find it was over 20% however it seems to catch pretty well and there isn’t a lot of snapping and popping so I’m not sure if it’s our cheap moisture meter (Kobalt) that’s off or what. There isn’t really any visible smoke from the chimney outside.

 

[Mainehomestead]

As you learned, never circulate around oven until the stove and chimney is up to temperature.

Also don’t crack oven door open for more heat unless up to temp, and never overnight since there’s always circulation around oven. This will form deposits around and under oven.

My single wall pipe is above 250f surface temp within 15 minutes. The chimney bypass allows exhaust from firebox directly up stack. Leave it open until up to temp.

You want the pipe temp at least 300f to circulate around oven. This is my only heat source, so the oven averages 300-350 without turning it on during colder weather. If you want 400f, I turn it off below that and it will coast up without issue. If I keep circulating around oven to 400, it will coast up to 500.

I clean mid season and season end with a Soot Eater through loading door, up bypass and through pipe damper.

Yes, you should have a flue damper as an emergency brake in case you ever need it. Mine stays open, but is there in case I need it.

Hey coaly,

Thanks for the info!

I found that the oven thermometer does not seem to be accurate, it is actually hotter than it says it is. I am going to get a thermometer to put in the oven.

I just ordered a soot eater so I think we’ll plan to clean it when that arrives!

 

[Mainehomestead]

I think we just need to get the hang of using the new stove. We had brought the house up from 23 degrees to 60 or so on Christmas. It a slab foundation so I think we were really fighting the cold concrete for the first few days. Now we are sitting around 70 when the stove is going and we actually let it go out last night and it dropped to 59. I think the water reservoir is helping keep it warmer too.

A question though, the manufacturer claims the stove has a 12-16hrs burn time. What exactly do they mean by that? I can’t picture having a loaded firebox burning for that long with this stove unless it’s a smoldering fire but that would be burning at a very low temp. Is it okay to have a fire burning at a low temperature for so long? We’d definitely never leave the creosote zone if we did that.

 

[begreen]

Manufacturer's advertising for burn time, area heated, etc. are often exagerated and under best conditions, YMMV.
The hot water is sucking up heat too. Go by the flue thermometer and on-site observations for proper operation that keeps creosote accumulation low.

 

[coaly]

Creosote zone only matters when smoke particles are present.

We keep our thermometer front and center facing forward.

Fire duration usually refers to being able to start the next fire without a match.

I leave coals accumulate on grate, and only scratch a few openings to start each morning. When using a lot of oak, we end up with a coal pile that will last 24 hours or more.

Ours was before thermostats were available to the public, when they were only fitted for Amish households. This one also has a stainless oven, and I replaced thermometer with a longer probe type that Duane recommended. Cooper 200 -1000 f.

 

[Mainehomestead]

Great, thank you both for the replies. I will look into one of those Cooper thermometers.

Another question, now that we’ve been running the stove for a few weeks straight, I noticed what looks like creosote staining running down the pipe outside and onto the roof flashing. It’s been brutally windy and cold the last few days. Should I be concerned about this? I couldn’t get any better pictures from the ground, might have to zoom in to see better.

 

[coaly]

Great, thank you both for the replies. I will look into one of those Cooper thermometers.

Another question, now that we’ve been running the stove for a few weeks straight, I noticed what looks like creosote staining running down the pipe outside and onto the roof flashing. It’s been brutally windy and cold the last few days. Should I be concerned about this? I couldn’t get any better pictures from the ground, might have to zoom in to see better.

Probably water vapor from combustion condensing on the cap with cold air and wind cooling the cap.

The liquid is pyroligeneous acid, harmless in liquid form. Primarily wood alcohol and acetic acid. When allowed to bake on flue walls this becomes the various stages of creosote.

This is why the internal flue temperature needs to remain above 250f to the top while smoke particles are present. Cooling below condensing temperature is normal with windy conditions blowing through cap opening.

To give you an idea of how much water vapor the chimney needs to carry out, oven dry wood contains 6% hydrogen molecules. The molecular weight ratio of hydrogen to water is 9. So 6% or .06 X 9 = .54 pounds water formed for every pound of oven dry wood consumed. 25% moisture content adds another 1/4 pound of water for every pound of fuel added.

Flue temperature is only critical while smoke particles are present. It can drop during the coaling stage, or when consuming particulate with secondary or catalytic combustion.

This is why the stove and chimney needs to be up to temperature before circulating exhaust around the oven 100% extracting too much heat needed to prevent condensing the water vapor.