I didn't really want to light it off until I had finished moving arond the livingroom but my wife was cold (thermostat is set to 68F, outside was about 45F), so I agreed to a smallish fire. I figured the likelyhood of burning the house down was minimal, and I wanted to smoke test the stack anyway.
Now we didn't have the bottom heat shield on the stove (it's "in the mail", f'ing obidiahs), and so she volunteered her cooking sheets, which we put on bricks. I was concerned about the 18" of class A to the T, and then having ~10 inches of stovepipe into that, turned out 28" is actually fine for a horizontal run. The thing drafted on the first try. No backpuffing or whatever else.
Now, we had done ZERO wood prep. This is the stove with the refractory I rebuilt with rutlands for their moon tiles or whatever that's made out of. It also has a DOA catalyst, which I haven't replaced. (For good measure I put the catalyst, holes and all, back into place). The wood was soaked from the rains. We loaded it up with paper and lit it off. The paper burned and went out. I did it again. I did it a third time, finally I said to hell with it. Watching TV, the stove suddenly lit off, which I felt was strange but it's entirely possible the stove was simply warm enough to cause the wood to go up. This gives you some idea on the volume of paper I was burning.
The fire was basically one round maybe the size of my fist or a bit bigger, and a bunch of fingers under that. Just given that small load of wood, my wife had the place up to 80F in the span of about two hours. Even given the fact that the stove isn't nearly refurbished, it still puts out heat like a banshee.
Anyway, she's a convert, I'm sweating.
TODO: Yell at obadiahs to get me the bottom heat shield, start storing tonights wood indoors.
EDIT: Obadiahs got in touch with me and apologized, they also offered to refund me the shipping and put the price towards the difference.
Now we didn't have the bottom heat shield on the stove (it's "in the mail", f'ing obidiahs), and so she volunteered her cooking sheets, which we put on bricks. I was concerned about the 18" of class A to the T, and then having ~10 inches of stovepipe into that, turned out 28" is actually fine for a horizontal run. The thing drafted on the first try. No backpuffing or whatever else.
Now, we had done ZERO wood prep. This is the stove with the refractory I rebuilt with rutlands for their moon tiles or whatever that's made out of. It also has a DOA catalyst, which I haven't replaced. (For good measure I put the catalyst, holes and all, back into place). The wood was soaked from the rains. We loaded it up with paper and lit it off. The paper burned and went out. I did it again. I did it a third time, finally I said to hell with it. Watching TV, the stove suddenly lit off, which I felt was strange but it's entirely possible the stove was simply warm enough to cause the wood to go up. This gives you some idea on the volume of paper I was burning.
The fire was basically one round maybe the size of my fist or a bit bigger, and a bunch of fingers under that. Just given that small load of wood, my wife had the place up to 80F in the span of about two hours. Even given the fact that the stove isn't nearly refurbished, it still puts out heat like a banshee.
Anyway, she's a convert, I'm sweating.
TODO: Yell at obadiahs to get me the bottom heat shield, start storing tonights wood indoors.
EDIT: Obadiahs got in touch with me and apologized, they also offered to refund me the shipping and put the price towards the difference.