New cape cod insert installed today

[Fod01]

I took a peek a the website. Did you get the 'Green Start' option? Looks from your pics like its lighting from the side.
How far apart were those pictures taken? Its still too dark in there... I'd be running full air for a bit longer before shutting down the primary.

Good luck with the stove, it looks great!
Gabe

 

[prezes13]

Yeah that's a good point when you start with fully open primary control (buttom knob all the way in) do you get nice flame going?

 

[JASFARMER]

Yeah that's a good point when you start with fully open primary control (buttom knob all the way in) do you get nice flame going?

I do have the green start option. I have the air knob all the way in when starting or reloading but it really doesn't flame up. The only way I can get good flames is to leave the door cracked open for a while. When I do that it really takes off but when I shut the door and leave air wide open it just dwindles down to nothing. I went to my uncles and got some oak he's had split and stacked in his garage for 4 years. The meter says its 9 on a drag split so I will try it. To me it just seems more like an air flow issue.

 

[Tenn Dave]

What does your dealer say about this?

 

[Grisu]

Do you have a full liner all the way to the top? Is it insulated? How tall is the chimney? Is your house usually rather airtight? Have you tried opening a window close to the stove to see whether that improves the burn? What are the current outside temps?

 

[prezes13]

Not too add an insult to an injury but I have relatively short flue13-14' it's in insulated, my house was built in 1994 it's relatively well insulated and I don't have draft problems at all. Very seldom I have to crack open door to start fire. Even in the 40 degree weather.

 

[JASFARMER]

Do you have a full liner all the way to the top? Is it insulated? How tall is the chimney? Is your house usually rather airtight? Have you tried opening a window close to the stove to see whether that improves the burn? What are the current outside temps?

I have a insulated full length liner to the top of chimney. If memory serves me correct it is 21 feet in length with no elbows just straight up from top of insert. My house was built in 1976 it has newer windows, don't know what's behind the plaster though. I personally think it is well insulated but can't tell you exact r-value. I've never really noticed a draft. The oak I got today seemed to help. I let the fire get really going good before I closed the door completely and I think that helped also. Talked to dealer and he is leaning towards the wood being damp. He saw my wood while installing and said it is very good wood but I should bring some in the house for a day or two and let dry. He told me to experiment with it till next week and if I still have questions he would bring some wood and sit and watch the fire with me and show me some things while it is burning. Current outside temps today were mid 20's. I have the room the insert is in up to 75 by burning on high all day. I think it is burning better because my glass cleaned off from the over night burn.

 

[begreen]

Bringing in some wood for a few days before burning is a good idea. If it is close, but not quite dry a few days to a week can make a difference.

 

[JASFARMER]

Bringing in some wood for a few days before burning is a good idea. If it is close, but not quite dry a few days to a week can make a difference.

Yeah that's what I do for my moms wood furnace but it is in the basement with cellar doors and plenty of room. I have very little to no room so I can just bring in about 2 armloads. I forgot to mention it does seem like the heat is dispersing into the main level better. My house is a split level with four levels. The insert is in the first lower level.

 

[begreen]

The house temp will often even out when burning 24/7.

 

[JASFARMER]

The house temp will often even out when burning 24/7.

I'm trying to figure out where to place a couple fans to disperse the heat better. Should I try to blow warm air away or cooler air towards the insert

 

[prezes13]

you want to blow cold air towards the insert. Buy some Eco Bricks and mix them with your wood see what happens. I put two large splits E/W and four bricks N/S once it is all going nicely I can pretty much close my primary air all the way and I have nice secondaries going for two or so hours. With the air open "high burn" you are sending a lot of heat up the chimney.

 

[begreen]

I'm trying to figure out where to place a couple fans to disperse the heat better. Should I try to blow warm air away or cooler air towards the insert

Do you have a table fan? Here is a trick for distributing the heat. It works quite well assuming that there is a line of sight path between the cooler area and the stove room. The idea is to blow the cooler air down at floor level, toward the stove. For more even heat in the house put a table or box fan in a cooler room within sight of the stove room, placed on the floor, pointing toward the woodstove room. Run it on low speed. It will blow the cooler air down low, toward the woodstove. The denser cool air will be replaced with lighter warm air from the stove room. Running this way you should notice at least a 5F increase in the room temp after about 30 minutes running. And the stove room temp should drop by a corresponding 5+ degrees.

 

[Nelson]

Bringing in some wood for a few days before burning is a good idea. If it is close, but not quite dry a few days to a week can make a difference.

Second that notion. My wood isn't quite where it needs to be but I have noticed that if I have it in the house for a day or two, it does wonders. Quite a few pieces that had just a few cracks in them, had multiple cracks after a day or two inside.

 

[JASFARMER]

So after a day of making progress I am back to not having good flames and not seeing the secondaries take off. Also I noticed after three days of burning I the insert is not making good ash. It seems more like charcoal. Very little ash. It is roughly 1-1.5 inches deep. Is it possible this is hindering my burning. I haven't been able to really see those secondaries take off like everyone tells me.

 

[prezes13]

I hate to say it but it all sounds like a wood problem. I know you said that it's under 20% moisture content. Would it possible that either your moisture meter is wrong or your measuring technique is off?

 

[Grisu]

Do you let the wood come up to room temp before splitting and measuring with the MM?

I suggest to rake the coals forward towards the door every time you reload. That will help in burning them down so you will have less of an issue with an excessive amount of coals.

Have you tried cracking a window close to the insert to see if that helps draft?

 

[JASFARMER]

Do you let the wood come up to room temp before splitting and measuring with the MM?

I suggest to rake the coals forward towards the door every time you reload. That will help in burning them down so you will have less of an issue with an excessive amount of coals.

Have you tried cracking a window close to the insert to see if that helps draft?

I tried cracking a window earlier today and didn't notice a bit of difference. The air inlet is in the front of insert so I will have to be careful when raking towards the front not to cover the "little dog house". The wood I tested earlier has been in my house for two days approximately 4 feet from fireplace. I cut up an old wood pallet earlier and split it small and it really took off good and the secondaries were dancing flames like I think it's supposed to. Put some oak on after about 30 minutes (9 moisture meter reading) and it just fizzled down and no flames from secondaries. If I cack the door open it takes right back off. Maybe I'm not letting it get going long enough before putting in hardwood.
As far as measuring technique I don't know the standard protocol except for stick meter in wood and read. Part of me says wood problem and part of me says air flow in the insert problem.

 

[begreen]

The wood sure sounds too wet. To test, resplit a couple thick splits of the oak wood at near room temp. Then, on the freshly split face of the wood press the prongs firmly into the wood and read the measurement.

 

[Grisu]

You want to measure internal moisture. That means you split a piece in half and press the pins in the fresh surface.

 

[begreen]

A simpler test is to just place the freshly split face of the wood up against your cheek. If it feels damp and cold the wood is not ready to burn.

 

[JASFARMER]

You want to measure internal moisture. That means you split a piece in half and press the pins in the fresh surface.

That is exactly how I do it. I also have two different brands of meters. They both are within 1 point of each other.

 

[begreen]

Could be you have a mixed batch of splits at varying degrees of dryness? You can often tell by weight. A wet split will be heavier. If you bang together two wet splits they will go thud. When you bang together two dry splits you will hear a musical note, like claves.

 

[prezes13]

It doesn't sound like you have a problem with the stove it's either wood itself or your operator error. You should let all the wood catch on fire before you start shutting the primaries down.

 

[JASFARMER]

It doesn't sound like you have a problem with the stove it's either wood itself or your operator error. You should let all the wood catch on fire before you start shutting the primaries down.

Your saying let the wood get really engulfed then shut the bypass ( top lever pushed in ). I would rather it be operator error than wet wood. I am in the process of taking pics right after a reload