OK, I have burned several nights worth of wood in my new stove. I only loaded 2 to 4 medium sized splits ( mostly pine and some oak ) each time once my flue connection temp hits around 200 to 250 I start dampering it down in increments. The first increment doesn't really seem to make much difference at all even though I damper it halfway. After bout 5 to 10 minutes I damper it again about half of the remaining distance which is about 75 percent of total damper arm movement. Makes a little difference but not much....Flue temp is usually around 300 and stove face is 300 to 350. I assume this is slowing the flue temp increase and increasing the stove box temps because less heat is going up the chimney. My final stage of dampering down is done ( about half of whats left) so 85 percent of total damper movement. Temps on flue around 325 to 350 and stove face has climbed as high as 525.
Question 1: Does this dampering process sound about right? I have been seeing the secondaries some but they are short lived probably because of just 3 or 4 med. size pieces and mostly pine. I have also watched the smoke coming out the chimney and it is not alot coming out which tells me I am doing ok I think?
Question 2: Even with the air all the way off...cuz I tried it for a while one night, the wood continues to burn pretty good and temps climbed to 525 or so and I was wondering if it would have kept climbing even worse if the stove was packed full. Comments? I know because its an EPA stove there is still some air allowed to come in. How can I stop that on a PE summit insert?
Question 3: If I pack the stove full or at least with much more wood, should I damper it down quickly once burning decent to keep it from ever getting going too good?
I am a little nervous bout loading it to the gills and dampering it all the way down..wondering if the temps will keep climbing and overfire.
Question 1: Does this dampering process sound about right? I have been seeing the secondaries some but they are short lived probably because of just 3 or 4 med. size pieces and mostly pine. I have also watched the smoke coming out the chimney and it is not alot coming out which tells me I am doing ok I think?
Question 2: Even with the air all the way off...cuz I tried it for a while one night, the wood continues to burn pretty good and temps climbed to 525 or so and I was wondering if it would have kept climbing even worse if the stove was packed full. Comments? I know because its an EPA stove there is still some air allowed to come in. How can I stop that on a PE summit insert?
Question 3: If I pack the stove full or at least with much more wood, should I damper it down quickly once burning decent to keep it from ever getting going too good?
I am a little nervous bout loading it to the gills and dampering it all the way down..wondering if the temps will keep climbing and overfire.