Ready to Join The Gang - Time For a Wood Stove!

[begreen]

It'll probably take a long time with a fire that small...

Yes, it would take loading 4-5 splits on that starter fire to warm things up. Then it should be at temp in about 20-30 mins.

The current outside temps are working against you, especially if the chimney is short and more so if the liner didn't get insulated. When you start up the insert at 45F or below it will start behaving quite differently and there should be no smoke spillage. Here is a short video which has good tips for starting the fire. Watch the "Efficient Woodstove Operation" video.
http://woodheat.org/wood-heat-videos.html

 

[mol1jb]

Good looking install.

 

[Log Splitter]

Yes, it would take loading 4-5 splits on that starter fire to warm things up. Then it should be at temp in about 20-30 mins.

The current outside temps are working against you, especially if the chimney is short and more so if the liner didn't get insulated. When you start up the insert at 45F or below it will start behaving quite differently and there should be no smoke spillage. Here is a short video which has good tips for starting the fire. Watch the "Efficient Woodstove Operation" video.
http://woodheat.org/wood-heat-videos.html

I've actually seen a couple of those exact videos, haha.

We should be getting some sub 40 nights over the next few days, so I'll have to give it its TRUE test then.

 

[begreen]

Sounds good. The Summit has a big belly. Fill it at least half way for a decent test.

 

[Log Splitter]

Sounds good. The Summit has a big belly. Fill it at least half way for a decent test.

Will do.

The installer laughed and said I'm gonna be walking around in my banana hammock this winter

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Will do.

The installer laughed and said I'm gonna be walking around in my banana hammock this winter

Pfft. You only walk the first couple times. After that you skip.

 

[Squisher]

Nice stove. Congrats. PE's are well built stoves that are user friendly and servicing friendly.

 

[Log Splitter]

Nice stove. Congrats. PE's are well built stoves that are user friendly and servicing friendly.

Servicing? What?!

This thing isn't guaranteed to be issue free for 50 years? Regretting my decision already

Been playing around with it some more. Weather is still silly warm here, so my house smells like an ash tray. I need to work on remembering to not just pull the door open, but open a crack and wait some and then slowly open. In time, in time.

I can already tell,this thing will easily stay burning through the night. The box is huge. Threw in a few small splits and they're still glowing now, a few hours later. And it does so far seem to be getting down the hallway. But then again, it's like 60 outside, so raising things down the hall 15 degrees is a joke.

I'm most curious to see how well this thing radiates when it's fully loaded. Right now, with only a few small splits, without the fan, you can't feel much unless you're a couple feet out. I'm hopeful that when running hot and heavy, the radiant heat will at least get the living room/dining room area.

 

[begreen]

The insert has barely warmed up. The first time you do warm it up fully there will be a strong paint smell and some smoke coming off the insert until the paint bakes in. Be prepared to open a window or nearby door, turn off the ceiling fan and remove the smoke detector battery temporarily. If you have a fan that you can point out the window or door it will help exhaust the fumes. This will happen the first time the stove body gets up to 550-600F and will diminish. Fortunately this just happens for the first few fires, then you are all set.

 

[Log Splitter]

The insert has barely warmed up. The first time you do warm it up fully there will be a strong paint smell and some smoke coming off the insert until the paint bakes in. Be prepared to open a window or nearby door, turn off the ceiling fan and remove the smoke detector battery temporarily. If you have a fan that you can point out the window or door it will help exhaust the fumes. This will happen the first time the stove body gets up to 550-600F and will diminish. Fortunately this just happens for the first few fires, then you are all set.

Might have to keep the wife and kids out of the house the first time I fire this sucker up for real.

So let's be real. Do you guys now look forward to the first really cold night of winter?

 

[Squisher]

Nawww. I enjoy being able to effortlessly overheat the house.

By servicing I meant for sweeping. They are imo some of the easiest stoves to clean. A PE is a slam dunk for a sweep.

 

[Log Splitter]

Yeah from what I understand it's a sweep, pin pull, and drop.

Only issue I've noticed so far is the fan. It's erratic with how it sounds. Occasionally has a rattle on the left side. Then sometimes if I don't' progressively increase the fan speed, and simply start at high, it will be exceptionally loud and airplane over head sounding. Other times I'm on medium and it sounds very inconspicuous. Weird.

 

[begreen]

I just cleaned our stove and flue. It takes about 30 minutes if all is prepared and ready to go. You need a replacement gasket for where the baffle sits on the secondary air feed tube. Or make your own.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/quiet-day-good-time-to-clean-the-chimney.157005/

By the description, the blower could have a bad speed control. Contact the dealer.

 

[gregbesia]

Great looking stove and fireplace. Looks like a good timing on that install with the cooler weather coming.

 

[beatlefan]

So let's be real. Do you guys now look forward to the first really cold night of winter?

Absolutely!

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Come the end of February, mid March were ready for warmer weather too.

 

[Log Splitter]

By the description, the blower could have a bad speed control. Contact the dealer.

I've been toying with the fan quite a bit and haven't been able to recreate that issue of the odd airplane sound.

The only issue I have now is the rattling sound on the left hand side. I'll have to look through the manual to see how to take the cover off so I can better detect what's causing it.

 

[Log Splitter]

Lots of toying around with this unit. I can tell that experience in different situations, depending on the weather, temperature, burn duration goals, etc. are going to take a while to catch up on.

Here's a random scenario:

I made a moderate sized fire around 5:30 PM. 4-5 decent sized splits. Played around with it for the first 90 minutes, switching back and forth between a raging inferno, and then running it on low. It's now 10:30 and it's a crazy huge bed of glowing coals.

I want to load it for the final time tonight so I've added in a couple splits running north south, and then a threw in a few very large splits going east/west on top. Whether or not that makes sense, I don't know, but that's what I did.

Do I need to open the airflow for a little bit to let coals catch and really light the logs, or will time and radiant heat simply take care of that? House is at a good temp now, so I simply want to make sure the stuff in there will ultimately burn, and that I won't lose my bed of coals because I left it on low and threw in some giant pieces of wood and didn't open up the air flow.

 

[begreen]

Reloading on a large bed of coals can cause a hot fire to ensue. Try to not do that. I would not give it any more air.

 

[Log Splitter]

Reloading on a large bed of coals can cause a hot fire to ensue. Try to not do that. I would not give it any more air.

Gotcha. Is there any reason you would not want a hot fire, or is that simply responding to the condition I stated before about temperature already being good? Is this a safety hazard?

And if I'm not supposed to reload on a large bed of coals, does that simply mean I shoudl have waited longer before reloading?

 

[begreen]

You want a predictable fire. Throwing a large fuel load on a "a crazy huge bed of glowing coals" could lead to an overfire.

Instead of adding more wood, open up the air a bit to help burn down the coal bed down before reloading. Your stove will provide 10-12hr burn cycles so time your reloads for a good lifestyle fit. Lets say you normally go to bed around 11pm. A good 12 hr cycle would be to reload at around 8 or 9pm then so that you can get the wood burning, then close down the air and watch it go into a steady burn. When I reload I want to go to bed knowing that the fire is at a steady temp and not climbing.

For starting out I recommend doing your first large loads of wood in the morning so that you can track the fire progress. Did you get a thermometer for the face of the insert yet? That will help a lot.

 

[Log Splitter]

You want a predictable fire. Throwing a large fuel load on a "a crazy huge bed of glowing coals" could lead to an overfire.

Instead of adding more wood, open up the air a bit to help burn down the coal bed down before reloading. Your stove will provide 10-12hr burn cycles so time your reloads for a good lifestyle fit. Lets say you normally go to bed around 11pm. A good 12 hr cycle would be to reload at around 8 or 9pm then so that you can get the wood burning, then close down the air and watch it go into a steady burn. When I reload I want to go to bed knowing that the fire is at a steady temp and not climbing.

For starting out I recommend doing your first large loads of wood in the morning so that you can track the fire progress. Did you get a thermometer for the face of the insert yet? That will help a lot.

- "This is great. I can hardly wait to try this at home. Thanks, I really appreciate you teaching me all this stuff"
- "You're very welcome. Be sure to let me know how it turns out."
- "You bet I will!"

Had to throw this in there. Those videos are hilarious. Quite informative, but can't help but laugh at the conversing between the two.

I bought the Condar inferno. Should be here Monday.

I'm going to be up for a few more hours, so I'll be sure to monitor the fire. I'll probably sleep out on the couch tonight too to make sure all is running properly. I've been taking mental notes on each load to better understand patterns so I can more efficiently run this beast.

So let me ask this. Lets say that I've determined that to heat my house under current conditions, the stove should be at 500 degrees. After I get the stove to 500 degrees, if the fire is burning and nothing is touched, I imagine there would naturally be an inverse relationship between time and stove temperature. In order to keep the temperature on a straight line, would I have to very slowly increase air flow so that as the wood volume decreases, I'm burning the diminishing amount at a higher rate?

I'm sure I'm over analyzing this, and it's not practical to employ so precisely, but i want to make sure my thought process behind it is sound.

 

[begreen]

Yes, stove output will decline over time, but with a full load the stove can still be putting out good heat many hours after being loaded. Think of wood heating as pulse and glide. The thermal mass of the stove, masonry and room will keep temps from dropping too fast.

 

[Log Splitter]

Besides a catalytic stove, what are good practices for those long, overnight burns....and finding the balance between hot enough, but lasting long enough?

When I'm loading up my oven on a bed of hot coals, after I open the air and let things roar for a bit, after I reduce the air, we have quite a bit of smoke leaving the chimney. My thermometer comes in the mail today, so I'll finally be able to see if the stove is dipping to a level lower than it should be. I imagine that's the issue, and the solution is to not close the air to the lowest setting, but maybe open it up a little more...

 

[Squisher]

Sounds like the thermometer will help. When everything is up to temp and 'cruising' there should be no smoke.