Hello! I have a 1978 Pine Barren stove I use to heat my shop. It has a blower on the back which blows air through the heat exchanger tubes that are open on the front of the stove. I installed a key damper in the stovepipe adapter. This does a great job heating my well insulated shop.
Looking at the front of the stove, the two primary air intakes are at the bottom of the door, below the buck head; the secondary air intake is just above the door in the center, below the heat exchanger tubes. There is a fixed tube that protrudes 7 or so inches into the firebox; secondary air is regulated by pulling the slotted tube (with the pull ring on it, visible on the front of the stove) out of the fixed tube once a fire is well established. This usually ends up about 2" "out." The keyhole damper is closed during operation. I have a magnetic stove top thermometer as well as a magnetic stove pipe thermometer which I use to regulate the burn during the day. In the evening just before going in for dinner, I close the primary air intakes almost completely (one conpletely; the other cracked upon just a bit) and the secondary also, leaving it pulled out 1/4" or so. The stove is still warm (150-ish on the stove top thermometer) in the morning with a fair amount of coals, and the fire leaps into life with some stirring of the coals and addition of kindling. This morning all I had to do was throw a couple of big pieces of softwood in there and it came to life very quickly.
Closing the air intakes like I'm doing works very well for keeping heat in the stove with a slow burn and thus keeping the shop temp tolerable (it was 3°F overnight). But I know I'm creating creosote by doing this. Daily, I slap the stove pipe with gloved hands to knock the flaky stuff down, but I wonder if I should be doing something different.
If I keep the fire in the "burn zone" starting with a full load of wood, it's burnt to ashes in 3 or 4 hours and the stove - and shop - is cold in the morning and takes forever to come up to a tolerable temp.
Any input?
Looking at the front of the stove, the two primary air intakes are at the bottom of the door, below the buck head; the secondary air intake is just above the door in the center, below the heat exchanger tubes. There is a fixed tube that protrudes 7 or so inches into the firebox; secondary air is regulated by pulling the slotted tube (with the pull ring on it, visible on the front of the stove) out of the fixed tube once a fire is well established. This usually ends up about 2" "out." The keyhole damper is closed during operation. I have a magnetic stove top thermometer as well as a magnetic stove pipe thermometer which I use to regulate the burn during the day. In the evening just before going in for dinner, I close the primary air intakes almost completely (one conpletely; the other cracked upon just a bit) and the secondary also, leaving it pulled out 1/4" or so. The stove is still warm (150-ish on the stove top thermometer) in the morning with a fair amount of coals, and the fire leaps into life with some stirring of the coals and addition of kindling. This morning all I had to do was throw a couple of big pieces of softwood in there and it came to life very quickly.
Closing the air intakes like I'm doing works very well for keeping heat in the stove with a slow burn and thus keeping the shop temp tolerable (it was 3°F overnight). But I know I'm creating creosote by doing this. Daily, I slap the stove pipe with gloved hands to knock the flaky stuff down, but I wonder if I should be doing something different.
If I keep the fire in the "burn zone" starting with a full load of wood, it's burnt to ashes in 3 or 4 hours and the stove - and shop - is cold in the morning and takes forever to come up to a tolerable temp.
Any input?
![[Hearth.com] Overnight burn advice?](/talk/data/attachments/335/335518-c4b32bce69afd4f9fb90ef9e0e1d4189.jpg?hash=jWuqv42-dk)
![[Hearth.com] Overnight burn advice?](/talk/data/attachments/335/335519-b3c4ec5cf2b42a7d2aae399651ab291b.jpg?hash=2Fq2vBGBKx)
