Lots of ash/unburnt coals not much heat. The company says I'm outta luck

[Chas0218]

I have a smartstove w01. I am having issues getting a ton of heat and I am having issues with coals building up. My wood is dry. My set goes like this

2.5ft 6in double wall pipe running straight out of the stove vertical.
1 double wall 90 elbow
1.5ft of double wall horizontal then goes another 1.5 through my wall as a single wall pipe into a 6in flexible stainless steel liner that runs the length of my outside masonry chimney.
The chimney is 23 feet from where it meets my stove pipe to the top of the chimney. Above the masonry chimney I have a 2.5ft stainless steel extension to get my over the peak of my roof.

The outside air hook up is attached by a 4in flexible dryer vent that runs roughly 10 feet from the outside to the back of the stove.

The two ceramic plates over the burners inside the woodstove are pulled slightly forward to allow more heat to go up the flue. If the plates are slid back blocking the flue but allowing for better secondary burn they stove gets hot but dies out very quickly and I am left with a ton of ash.

My chimney originally started as just a masonry chimney on the outside of my house that ran 23ft and stopped at the peak of the house. The company told me to run a liner and add some pipe to get it over the peak. This has helped but I am still getting a lot of ash and medium heat. I am okay with the heat but the coal is a pain in the butt. Every morning I have to dump 4 gallons of coals.

After I did all this to the chimney the company said i was out of options that's the best that stove can do because my chimney is on the outside of the house and the air is cooling down before it gets a chance to escape the chimney. This has been a 3 month aggrevation and a lot of money has now been put into it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

1st thing you need to fix is that outside air intake, it is way too close to the stove. I'm surprised you haven't melted it yet. Just re position the hose so it is outside of the clearance to combustibles distance. No need to do anything more. If your wood is above 20% you aren't going to get good heat off the stove period, I know this first hand with the larger Madison ssw02.

I have the Madison (02) smart stove it works just like the smaller stoves, it sounds like you are restricting too much air. I usually leave the lever pushed in about 1/8". If you look down the front of the stove and see the end of the rod in the spring handle I push that so it is even with the front of the stove. This will help keep the flue warmer and less creosote build up. You likely won't get as long of a burn but much less coals. If I pull the air lever all the way out it will leave me with a ton of coals at the end of the burn cycle.

I run my stove so with an IR thermometer the stove top ranges from 500*-600* the outside temp of the single wall is around 350* 18" above the stove top maybe a little more depending on the wood. My wood ranges from 18-22% m.c. taken at room temp on a fresh split side. The higher m.c. wood (~25%) I have burned burns really dirty and doesn't give off a lot of heat.

The ash is a by product of the burnt wood so you will constantly be cleaning that out. I usually get 4 burns before I have to clean out my ashes. If you take your poker and push front to back then lift it will move the larger coals to the top of the ash and allow you to pull/spread them out ready for a re-load of wood.

So my setup is a triple wall outside chimney with 18' of chimney outside. I do not have an outside air intake like you.

 

[Chas0218]

From your picture it looks like you aren't putting enough wood in there and leaving the door open too long. Is the air intake rod pushed in all the way when you shut the door? If it isn't then that is why it dies so quickly.

Here is the process for my stove operation and what you should be doing.
Load Wood
Crack door
Let wood catch fire
Shut door make sure air rod is pushed in all the way
Let it keep going for 5-10 minutes until flames are going up the front of the glass
Push in rod 1/2 halfway wait 2 more minutes
Push in rod 1/4 way wait 5 minutes
Make sure fire is still going if not push back in and start over
Pull rod out all the way if fire is still cranking away then push in until rod is even with front stove lip (~1/8")

 

[Highbeam]

But I thought he said single wall pipe, not stove collar. How did I miss that?

It's a long thread but he has double wall pipe and something like a "short piece of single wall right on top of the stove" before it goes into the double wall which I suspect is just the flue collar that is very often visible under the first section of double wall.

I still haven't heard verification that he knows which way to adjust the air intake to make it hotter. It's backwards on this stove and a simple explanation for the symptoms.

 

[coaly]

Yep.
Doesn’t say much for the manufacturer if they attribute the poor performance to a chimney issue and never confirmed proper operation.
That’s why I suggested to make sure of no restriction of intake air. (Closed air control or thermostat)
Between cooling of liner and liner exposure at top, it’s possible to have enough draft to burn with door open and die closed. It would be nice if manufacturers standardized control operation. It’s just natural to pull out for more heat.

 

[bholler]

Yep.
Doesn’t say much for the manufacturer if they attribute the poor performance to a chimney issue and never confirmed proper operation.
That’s why I suggested to make sure of no restriction of intake air. (Closed air control or thermostat)
Between cooling of liner and liner exposure at top, it’s possible to have enough draft to burn with door open and die closed. It would be nice if manufacturers standardized control operation. It’s just natural to pull out for more heat.

I agree with everything you said but I just have too many unanswered questions to blame the stove yet.

This is also part of the problem with cheap box stove stoves that are self-installed. There is no dealer support if you have a problem all you can do is call the manufacturer who doesn't have anyone and has never had anyone on site