Others messing with your stove.

[thebaron23]

Anyone else cringe at the thought of someone else playing with their stove?

My brother-in-law is staying with us a few weeks while doing a course. I left for work today around 4am with a stuffed firebox and the stove on cruise. Nice clean glass.

At some point he decided to refill the stove, stuffed it to the gills, closed the air all the way and walked away.
I came home to a completely opaque window with a river of tar running down it.

Just had to rant! Next time Ill just let the fire die off in the morning and crank the furnace!

 

[begreen]

Well, better than the opposite. Had the old Jotul with a brand new back on it get the back cracked when a friend was watching the house. The only way that could happen was a serious overfiring or two or three.

 

[thebaron23]

Well, better than the opposite. Had the old Jotul with a brand new back on it get the back cracked when a friend was watching the house. The only way that could happen was a serious overfiring or two or three.

I can just imagine the smell that would put off overfiring like that! The odd time I sail into the red for a few minutes you can smell it almost instantly from across the house.

 

[BigJ273]

Wont even let the wife touch it.

 

[buc74]

I don't let anyone (other than my wife) mess with our wood stoves. Even if someone gets up to our vacation home before us I ask them to just turn up the furnace until I get there.

 

[begreen]

I can just imagine the smell that would put off overfiring like that! The odd time I sail into the red for a few minutes you can smell it almost instantly from across the house.

The F602 is easy to over fire. It just takes minutes of distraction to spike up quickly. I confess, it also happened the first times I ran the stove. Thus the new back on it. Now it has a rear burn shield that I put in to prevent this from happening.

 

[marty319]

The wiener dogs knows not to touch

 

[EatenByLimestone]

About 10 years ago my MIL smudged my stove by filling it with magazines.

 

[AndrewU]

About 10 years ago my MIL smudged my stove by filling it with magazines.

We’re pretty sure my MIL is in early stages of dementia. She won’t be allowed to mess with the stove, at all.

 

[FPX Dude]

F'n BIL's, they're stupid

 

[Sawset]

Anyone else cringe at the thought of someone else playing with their stove?

My wife is about the only one who has insisted on running the stove too. Otherwise others, even "house sitters", just leave the stove alone or don't use it. We would mention to just use the furnace, and they ablige. Wife can be fairly independent and bull headed though, and would get worked up when I would rearrange her work. But extreme passive aggressive prevailed. We tend to lock into a mode of complete ownership when someone invades our turf - and she wanted it - and I wasn't budging. She's observant, so we're good to go. No worries about dripping tar or that hot pipe oven roasted smell.

 

[john26]

My wife refuels our stoves from time to time I usually get a phone call from her she knows what she is doing but she likes me to double check her. One issue we have is 2 different inserts with primary air controls that are opposite. I generally try to pack the stove at least full a half hour before I leave the house in the morning so she doesn't have to mess with it but she likes 78 to 80 degrees in the house. I do notice a little more soot on the widow she she reloads.
I do cringe when I am at mom and dads house and he is running his Buck 18. He likes to run it with the primary wide open through the day. Dampers it down about 1/4" open at night or if they leave the house and it kind of smolders. I tried running it once the fire went out with the primary all the way closed. So early this summer I took him a load of oak that had been standing dead 2 years, cut for 6 months and put it in his covered wood bin. He called the other day and said "the stove is too hot I had to cut it back" It was 350F on stove top but that is a jacketed stove.

 

[coreboy83]

Bigtime nope. Only me and the wife may touch it

 

[Lord Preston]

Seems like every stove behaves differently.. And different people with different stoves have varying opinions about how to burn wood. So ya.. it makes me nervous.. On top of that every woodstove setup appears to have a sweetspot to find.. kind of like getting used to the clutch in someone elses car with a manual transmission..

 

[AndrewU]

I’m pretty sure I’ll be the main person in the house running the stove, but I’ll want to get the wife and older boy at least trained on its use. The younger boy when he’s a few years older too. Girls only if they’re interested, won’t force that. Just so if I’m busy or out of town (hunting, business trip, etc) they can safely run it, and avoid turning on the furnace.

 

[WoodBurnerInWI]

Anyone else cringe at the thought of someone else playing with their stove?

I often wonder about this in regards to people who have their cabins and cottages for rent year round on sites like Airbnb. I wonder how those people deal with strangers messing with their stoves and fireplaces? I bet they have good insurance!

For my stove at home, only me and the wife are allowed to use it.

 

[Gearhead660]

I have tried teaching the wife. She wants it to be like a fireplace, just throw some wood in, no adjusting. She is coming around to adjusting the air. Will teach the kids when old enough and show interest.

Otherwise, no touchy the stove.

 

[Sawset]

I often wonder about this in regards to people who have their cabins and cottages for rent year round on sites like Airbnb.

This is in Norway from when my daughter visited. They stayed in out of the way bnb's, and every one had a stove. Actually, the gov. recomends a stove as backup because most of their heat comes from electric (hydro) and if power went out at -40f, it could be a national emergency. I asked if there was any training or precautions - not that she was told.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

No one ever touches the stove... I even ask them not to.. My sister inlaw thinks she knows how to run a stove.. I make sure to remind her not to touch mine.. she also thinks the guy thats supplies her wood has it completely seasoned when its dropped off at her house.. I asked her how do you know its fully seasoned.. she replies.. because he says it is..and it feels dry..

 

[peakbagger]

Up in Baxter State Park in Maine, there are remote cabins and bunkhouse sprinkled around the park. Folks make reservations to head out to cabins all winter. It can and does hit 30 below in winter. The rangers who keep an eye on the place use snowmobiles but everyone else has to ski or snowshoe in quite a distance with all their gear. Many of the cabins and bunk houses are not insulated but are equipped with one brand of stove made by a company called FIre. Its a plate stove with cast iron door with the Fire logo on front similar to a fisher design with a steel pipe running through the stove interior from one side to the other presumably to up heat transfer. They seem to hold up to whatever the guests do to them and have been there for years. The park supplies the wood, usually a mix of cedar and hardwood that is usually not that particularly dry.

 

[Zack R]

One thing I like about my Jotul F45 and F55 is that they are easy to use (one airflow control), and easy to teach others on.

There are three possible outcomes from misusing them though:

1. Not enough wood/ closing down the air too early = low heat, smoky fire, inefficient burn, possible creosote buildup
2. Full of wood but forget to close down the air = overfire, stove damage, waste of wood
3. Improper cycling = Adding "one piece at a time", inefficient burn with marginal heat, more smoke, possible creosote buildup

My instructions to others:

1. Fill it all the way up with wood, set air control fully open, start the fire
2. Let the stove get up to 500F (I will let it go to 600F but tell others 500F), Scale the air control back to 50%
3. Check it again in 5min, if the temp is still rising then scale it back to 25%, look for a strong secondary burn.
4. Check it again in 5 min, if the temps are stable and above 450F but below 600F then leave it alone. Make slight adjustments in the air control to bring the temp up or down a bit to find this zone.
5. Once its down to coals and the temp has dropped below 250F open the air control back up to burn the coals and prepare for a reload (if needed).

Thus far I've been able to teach my wife and mother in law, both do a fine job running the stoves.

 

[Grizzerbear]

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This pretty well sums me up about my stove and others fondling it.

 

[Trunkinator]

One thing I like about my Jotul F45 and F55 is that they are easy to use (one airflow control), and easy to teach others on.

There are three possible outcomes from misusing them though:

1. Not enough wood/ closing down the air too early = low heat, smoky fire, inefficient burn, possible creosote buildup
2. Full of wood but forget to close down the air = overfire, stove damage, waste of wood
3. Improper cycling = Adding "one piece at a time", inefficient burn with marginal heat, more smoke, possible creosote buildup

My instructions to others:

1. Fill it all the way up with wood, set air control fully open, start the fire
2. Let the stove get up to 500F (I will let it go to 600F but tell others 500F), Scale the air control back to 50%
3. Check it again in 5min, if the temp is still rising then scale it back to 25%, look for a strong secondary burn.
4. Check it again in 5 min, if the temps are stable and above 450F but below 600F then leave it alone. Make slight adjustments in the air control to bring the temp up or down a bit to find this zone.
5. Once its down to coals and the temp has dropped below 250F open the air control back up to burn the coals and prepare for a reload (if needed).

Thus far I've been able to teach my wife and mother in law, both do a fine job running the stoves.

Are you meaning stovetop temp? How are you monitoring temp? IR gun or magnetic thermometer?

 

[Tar12]

After a intensive training course...lol.... my wife can run this BK Princess like a champ....it is a easy to run stove anyway...one of many reasons that I bought it...she understands that that the stove will react differently to different species of wood and moisture content and really pays attention to it and ensures it settles into a proper cruise....

 

[Zack R]

Are you meaning stovetop temp? How are you monitoring temp? IR gun or magnetic thermometer?

Stovetop temp with a magnetic thermometer.