Kuma sequoia review

[sweedish]

The ash I got from my father in law reads 20.5% moisture on the biggest split. Properly read, woods been inside for a few days, split face read wither grain. I do look forward to next year when the standings dead I burn has another year to dry, but you can’t look a gift horse in the mouth, and it still probably better than what you could buy.

The parts came yesterday, the offset the front unscrews, so it looks like a top down sweeping, and shop vac whatever falls in the offset, which is fine, the rods I bought were not super bendy, so I was going to do a top down cleaning anyways. I think I can get the damper in the offset, and by putting a slight angle on the damper and a longer control rod I should be able to adjust it without much effort or burning of the flesh. I’ll post pics once I get it made up.

 

[heavy hammer]

I don't have the insert but I have the free standing stove. Try some different hard woods, try mixing in large splits or rounds with small pieces. I have seen 16+ burn times with large locust rounds. I would like to try some oak I just don't have any right now. I have only seen cat temps over 1200 a few times, my stove usually runs between 700 and 1000. I do agree with the advise about thermal shock, I always open my bypass a few min before opening the door or reloading. There was a member on here a couple years ago that had an insert who had draft issues I believe it was BigBadVoodooDaddy. checkout his posts.

Kuma Sequoia Initial Review and Catalyst Troubleshooting Tips.

 

[sweedish]

Over the past couple of days, I noticed excessive coaling, even when I had the primary air intake in the back opened all the way back up. Tonight I noticed that the secondary air intake, the one controlled by the rod, it was blocked with ash. I went from a full high of 850 to 1100. Something to watch for.

 

[heavy hammer]

It may take a little time to figure it out but every burning season you get a little better, smarter and start to see how the stove works in different situations with different wood.

 

[sweedish]

I am still learning I will admit, and seeing what works, cause and effect and what not.

I’ve decided to burn the pine in the time after work and before bed, get a short and really hot fire to get the house up to temp before bed/all night burn, and if I’m around to reload the insert more frequently. I’ll save my hardwood for the overnight at work burns since I feel I am a bit short in that supply.

For those of you that cut in a woods, I recommend getting a more power puller for when you have a hang up, I’ve had on for a few years, it’s a hand winch. Nice for when you drop a tree not close enough to the truck or tractor. And you don’t need to lug a battery.

https://www.wyeth-scott.com/

 

[Woody Stover]

I recommend getting a more power puller for when you have a hang up

I have several that fell and hung on their own, and maybe using that "come-along" as they call it here, would be safer than trying to cut them, which scares the heck outta me.

 

[sweedish]

I don't have the insert but I have the free standing stove. Try some different hard woods, try mixing in large splits or rounds with small pieces. I have seen 16+ burn times with large locust rounds. I would like to try some oak I just don't have any right now. I have only seen cat temps over 1200 a few times, my stove usually runs between 700 and 1000. I do agree with the advise about thermal shock, I always open my bypass a few min before opening the door or reloading. There was a member on here a couple years ago that had an insert who had draft issues I believe it was BigBadVoodooDaddy. checkout his posts.

Kuma Sequoia Initial Review and Catalyst Troubleshooting Tips.

At what temp do you start cutting the intake? And what’s you’re average burn time on what settings with hardwood?

 

[heavy hammer]

I cut the intake depending on burn times I want and how cold it is outside. Most of the time I run it at half or below. When it is real cold I will run it close to high until the house is where I want it temp wise. I have had 16 + burn times on quarter open while at work. When the temps are like they have been In the single digits at night and twenties during the day I usually reload every 8 to 10 hours but it could be up to 12+ if I use large pieces of locust or other hardwood.

 

[sweedish]

Ok, back to this. Sorry I’ve been occupied with other things. I did get my damper installed weekend before last. I tried doing an offset and a damper, but only had room for one or the other, so I did the damper.

 

[sweedish]

Damper installed

 

[sweedish]

Now, I won’t boor you all with the day by day results, but here are things I’ve discovered since:

1. Way hotter stove temp, the stove temp was on average 250 degrees hotter than before.

2. More useable heat, before if the stove got down to 550, that was it for usable heat and the house temp was going to start dropping. Now it feels like it’s throwing the same heat at 500 that it had been at 750.

3. Burn time. I’m still experimenting, but so far I can get a 12 hr burn on hardwood, and a 9 hr on pine.

I am noticing dirtier glass, and I’m still trying to nail down the lowest setting. When I try for it I often get unburnt pieces on the back that turned to charcoal. I had been running this with the air partially closed. I’ve now got it completely open. So I’ll try more experimenting. But I’d highly recommend anyone getting an insert put a damper in from the get go, worst case scenario you don’t need it and it stays open.

As for stove heating the 330 square ft bilevel house. The Monday before I had put the stove in, the temp was a high off 22, low of 10, and that day with electric heat our usage was 189.5 kWh. The Monday after the stove the temp was high of 24 and a low of 14. And our usage was 54.4 kWh

 

[sweedish]

Now, I won’t bore you all with the day by day results, but here are things I’ve discovered since:

1. Way hotter stove temp, the stove temp was on average 250 degrees hotter than before.

2. More useable heat, before if the stove got down to 550, that was it for usable heat and the house temp was going to start dropping. Now it feels like it’s throwing the same heat at 500 that it had been at 750.

3. Burn time. I’m still experimenting, but so far I can get a 12 hr burn on hardwood, and a 9 hr on pine.

I am noticing dirtier glass, and I’m still trying to nail down the lowest setting. When I try for it I often get unburnt pieces on the back that turned to charcoal. I had been running this with the air partially closed. I’ve now got it completely open. So I’ll try more experimenting. But I’d highly recommend anyone getting an insert put a damper in from the get go, worst case scenario you don’t need it and it stays open.

As for stove heating the 330 square ft bilevel house. The Monday before I had put the stove in, the temp was a high off 22, low of 10, and that day with electric heat our usage was 189.5 kWh. The Monday after the stove the temp was high of 24 and a low of 14. And our usage was 54.4 kWh

And so far since then our usage has stayed around 50 kWh every day since. I’d consider this a victory

 

[moresnow]

And so far since then our usage has stayed around 50 kWh every day since. I’d consider this a victory

Good read. I would guess your dirty glass is a result of the low and slow burn rate you are getting with your damper engaged. Normal for many cat stove's.

 

[Woody Stover]

Slick implementation of the damper, I hadn't thought of that setup with the shaft running N-S.
Sound like you're keeping a lot more heat in the stove/house.
If you get some soft Maple or other faster-burning wood, put that in the back, it might keep burning better on the lower air setting, and not leave you with a chunk of charcoal (your Pine might work for this, but may gunk up the window more.) Otherwise, just open the air slightly at the end of the burn, if you are around the house to do that.

 

[sweedish]

I’ve found that during a reload doing 70 percent of the coals in the back, 30 up front you get a more even burn

 

[heavy hammer]

The dirty glass is just something the sequoia has. I talked with Kuma a few times about this it is just how the stove operates and burns. One of my considerations for them was just a solid metal door, instead of the big glass front. Just my 2 cents.

 

[John B]

View attachment 242506

Damper installed

Awesome I see you did yours similar to how I did mine. I'm really happy I did this mod its a like a totally different stove now.

 

[sweedish]

It really is. Now, for those of you that go for the minimum burn, what temps do you guys get on the probe?

Last few times I’ve tried for the long, low burn, i let the probe reach 800 after a reload, then air cut to lowest setting, wake up and the probe reads 250-350. No active flames, coaling/ wood inside firebox turned to charcoal, typically the logs in the back.

I’m not sure if these temps are normal, or it should be hotter, maybe the lowest setting is too low in my situation. Any insights would be helpful. The primary air is completely open also. The one coming in from outside

 

[sweedish]

It really is. Now, for those of you that go for the minimum burn, what temps do you guys get on the probe?

Last few times I’ve tried for the long, low burn, i let the probe reach 800 after a reload, then air cut to lowest setting, wake up and the probe reads 250-350. No active flames, coaling/ wood inside firebox turned to charcoal, typically the logs in the back.

I’m not sure if these temps are normal, or it should be hotter, maybe the lowest setting is too low in my situation. Any insights would be helpful. The primary air is completely open also. The one coming in from outside

So far since 2/23 I’ve burned about 1 cord I’m estimating

 

[32x20]

It really is. Now, for those of you that go for the minimum burn, what temps do you guys get on the probe?

Last few times I’ve tried for the long, low burn, i let the probe reach 800 after a reload, then air cut to lowest setting, wake up and the probe reads 250-350. No active flames, coaling/ wood inside firebox turned to charcoal, typically the logs in the back.

I’m not sure if these temps are normal, or it should be hotter, maybe the lowest setting is too low in my situation. Any insights would be helpful. The primary air is completely open also. The one coming in from outside

I've burned ~3.5 cords so far in my first season with my Sequoia. For colder weather when I wanted a long burn with pine I'd have an evening 'starter fire' with a small load of cottonwood to get the stove/cat hot and kick up the house temp a bit, then when it got out of the active zone (4hrs or so burn) I'd load it full with bigger splits/rounds of pine. I'd let the probe hit the active zone, then step the air back halfway for ~15mins, then closed or nearly closed. That'd still be active 10hrs later. I feel like the stove is WAY more efficient with the air shut down. House temp in the morning seemed nearly the same at 1/4open vs full closed and it'd burn to mid morning sometimes while closed. Cat temps while cruising with the air shut down are low...like 600F, which is way lower than the BK guys report, but it seems to be where this stove likes to be.

I will say that burning like I described above means you'll never have clean glass, but so it goes. Lately my burns are attempts to generate good heat overnight, but have the stove cold by ~8am so the house doesn't overheat when the solar gain starts. We typically have 40deg outside temp swings, so it's a little bit of a guessing game.

 

[heavy hammer]

The sequoia is a great heater, I typically keep it about a quarter open for the air to keep it at temps in the 800's. The last couple of days I have been just having a fire at night to keep the house warm. Like I stated before my glass is always dirty unless I have the air open all the way when burning, and it still gets dirty by the end.

 

[sweedish]

I’ve noticed that the glass stays clean even when burning with the air a quarter open if I do a north south load/reload.

We seem to be in shoulder season here, so instead of all day burn today I did an overnight, anda half load on quarter air before taking off for work and just letting it die. House was still 65 upon coming home. Little fire to rebuild the coal bed before the overnight.

My setup is I can wheel 3 gorilla carts into the downstairs and put them on a rack close to the insert. Normally I’d do 2 carts of hardwood and I of pine. I’ve switched to 2 pine and 1 hardwood. I try to make it a habit to leave enough so that whatever I bring in has a full day to get up to house temp and surface dry.

 

[sweedish]

I’ve noticed that the glass stays clean even when burning with the air a quarter open if I do a north south load/reload.

We seem to be in shoulder season here, so instead of all day burn today I did an overnight, anda half load on quarter air before taking off for work and just letting it die. House was still 65 upon coming home. Little fire to rebuild the coal bed before the overnight.

My setup is I can wheel 3 gorilla carts into the downstairs and put them on a rack close to the insert. Normally I’d do 2 carts of hardwood and I of pine. I’ve switched to 2 pine and 1 hardwood. I try to make it a habit to leave enough so that whatever I bring in has a full day to get up to house temp and surface dry.

The high today was 50, low around 38 tonight

 

[sweedish]

Ok, still been burning despite the warmer temps, usually means I just delay the reload.

My longest burn, not doing anything after a reload has been about 13-14 hours. That time is from when the stove has gotten up to operating temp down to the cat probe reaching 450. If I move the coals I can stretch it to 15 ish hours.

If I load it north to south, on the lowest setting I get those burn times, but if I do an east to west load I have to open it more to 1/8 th.

As far as reloads and trying to achieve a more even/ complete burn, If it’s north to south, I pull the coals to the sides of the firebox, and put my biggest pieces on those, smaller stuff in the middle and on top. Conversely if it’s east to west, 70 percent coals in the back, 30 percent up front, and big pieces in the front.

Still consistently getting a 8-9 hr burn on pine with an east to west load and air open 1/8th.

I think I’m getting a better understanding and burn times on the insert. I look foreword to next winter being armed with a better understanding and drier wood. I have enough cut for next year already, still working on the following 3 years piles, which each are 1/3 full. Took a break from cutting these last couple of weeks, life got in the way along with the snow turned into mud.

 

[sweedish]

Overall, I’m pretty happy with this insert, and it seems to be keeping this house comfortable. I got this one verses a different one was due to being able to get an advertised 12 hr burn, which this easily does on hardwood.

As far as it heating this 3300 sq ft house, it does a pretty good job, I did miss the really cold part of the winter though.

Whether or not it would heat someone else’s house, that’s hard to say because there are many variables on that, house setup, sq footage, how is the insulation, etc. I would like to improve mine at some point.

I would highly recommend just putting a damper in from the get go, there are stoves for sale that are almost as big and only need a 6” flue. So this thing must just barely need one. Draft changes with the weather, and worse case scenario is you leave it open.