I'm burning mostly hardwoods here keeps good heat . I've been able to keep the house in the mid 70s since we started using the new stove
My new stove
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So does anybody else hear what sounds like spring opening in the back of there summit or stove when it heats up?
I've been burning 24/7 so far after getting this stove and have been very impressed with the heat output and the awesome fire. However every once in a while I have a fire that starts great and after the air is closed the secondaries stop after 5-10 minutes. Is it possible to restart that or is cracking the air open slightly a no no ?
2PistolPacker
Member
I have well seasoned wood also some of the oak and hickory is a little so so but not bad. I normally don't shut the air down til I see 450-475 and some times I don't get secondaries restarting for an hour , trial and error I reckon
Yes, if it starts to smolder, open the air lever back up, and let a good fire re-establish, then cut the air back. What I am hearing is still telling me the wood ain't dry enough.
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Another thing to consider......
If the wood has bark on it still, and it was not under cover and dry prior to the this season beginning, it will have a good bit of moisture between the bark and the wood.
I was spoiled with the last couple years of wood in my barn. This year I pulled the stack that has been sitting out on pallets uncovered. I usually cover it, but chose not to with this stack. Anything with the slightest punky sapwood, will be moist in the punk. I even pulled some bark off to find ice between the bark & wood. Everything else is getting stacked in the barn again. Anything stacked outside, will be covered by end of summer.
If the wood has bark on it still, and it was not under cover and dry prior to the this season beginning, it will have a good bit of moisture between the bark and the wood.
I was spoiled with the last couple years of wood in my barn. This year I pulled the stack that has been sitting out on pallets uncovered. I usually cover it, but chose not to with this stack. Anything with the slightest punky sapwood, will be moist in the punk. I even pulled some bark off to find ice between the bark & wood. Everything else is getting stacked in the barn again. Anything stacked outside, will be covered by end of summer.
This stove is a whole lot pickier than the buck but it doesn't do too bad . The heat output is awesome . I cover b my wood in aug . However with this last summer being so damp I left it covered it gets good wind blowing between the stacks but some of my oak is 21-23% still and some is less than 20% . I'm going to open some of it up ( spli it down a little) to help dry it
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Apparently our cat loves the summit also as he chills here a lot! Excuse the mess we are bringing in wood for the week
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Matt93eg
Burning Hunk
Nice stove. I went from an old smoke dragon to a new EPA stove last year. Took me a while to figure it out which made it frustrating at times but this year with better wood and having the stove figured out for the most part I am getting much better performance out of it without the frustration. Hope you continue to enjoy it. As far as the Cat goes, looks like he does the same thing as our cat. You can see her in my avatar on the left. That's HER spot in the winter 
Should've took apic of the wild fire I had in my stove . Took the flue up to 1200* from 200* in like 15 min stove top was 450* when I shut it off , lost secondaries but wow it was getting hot quick . Secondaries started right off the bat 5 min into the fire and everything was charred good when I shut it down , scary
2PistolPacker
Member
Ignore the stove top temps and use your eyes to determine when to start closing the air. When a stove is starting a reload or even a fresh load of dry wood it needs to be checked every 5 minutes. 15 minutes is too long to take your eyes off of a fresh fire.
Yes certainly . I'll do that . It was a reload in a good bed of coals . Secondaries have come back now , even the cat was getting nervous 
Matt93eg
Burning Hunk
Right on with that info. I have found that if I keep a check on a fresh reload every few minutes everything will be fine, The few times I walked off and got distracted with something else, then when you remember the stove you almost get a little sick feeling in the stomach and haul butt to it. Those few times is when I thought I was going to have a problem on my hands. I hear some guys keep a timer with them to go off every 5 minutes or so until they get the stove dialed in for that load of wood. Not a bad idea in my opinion.
I did that this morning and had the stove turned down within 15 min after reload as it took off quick again . White oak is what I'm burning right now. I've been putting in 2 big splits and same amout if small and medium splits . It's not so much the stove top as it is the flue that gets hot fast
Matt93eg
Burning Hunk
White Oak is great firewood when seasoned
. I had a few white oak pieces that were "uglies" so I burned them on some of the cold nights we had last week. Burned great. I mostly burn red oak cause I have access to so many that are already either dead and on the ground but are still solid or standing dead. Lots of White Oaks there to but don't seem to get to many dead ones. I do have a standing dead white oak I will be getting sometime in the future. I think as far as burning red and white oak are about the same but Red sure seems to split easier on average to me. White seems to be a bit more stringy.
I have a couple tanding dead red oaks to take down and a mulberry that busted in half about halfway up the tree in another property . I like splitting oak especially straight grained oak is like slicing bread
This run away fire keeps going on. It's really starting to make me a little nervous. Air leak maybe? Tho not sure where from but I get serious secondaries with any size load I put in from the start and it gets hot quick had to shut down before wood was completely charred earlier.
The wood does not need to be completely charred before shutting down the air. I often am starting to close it down before all the wood has even ignited. If the fire is vigorously burning above the wood and secondary burn has started, start shutting down the air, regardless of charring or temps.
I'll try that BG . Thanks . I let tithe coals die down last night and reloaded on what was left in the fire box , went well . I believe I may have started a couple fires a top some really hot coals and that may have also been a problem. I also just sat and watched how it was burning and tried to get a better feel for the air / secondary combo. I have been having problems keeping the secondaries going after the air has been shut down
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