drstorm
Burning Hunk
Go to a Tractor Supply store and pick up a few packs of the compressed saw dust bricks.Throw one in and see if its any different.They sell for 3.99 a pack of 3, twenty pounds a pack.
Running a Manchester, please help
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vwmike
Feeling the Heat
Its a hard one to wrap your head around sometimes until you've had good dry wood and see how the stove should actually run. As you close the air down with dry wood the fire slows and all the wood gasses start to burn and the stove burns hottter and longer, my summit easily will reach 600-700. With wet wood I have to leave the air open for a long time, then close it some once it burns off the moisture. By that time half the wood is gone and the stove is only 400-500, which is not enough to heat my house when I really need it to.
maple1
Minister of Fire
A good look in the chimney and stove pipe should tell how clean your burning. I agree with the above, a 10% reading is suspect.
I have a telescoping stove pipe that connects to the stove. Can I simply unscrew it and raise it up after the stove is cool to inspect? I looked down the chimney last week when I was putting up christmas lights and there was a little bit of creosote at the very top by the cap. I've been using the the clean glass and lack of smoke coming out of the chimney as an indicator although when I first started burning a month ago I was definitely burning dirtier. When I got home today my fiance had the chimney smoking like crazy and at a low temp. I loaded cherry splits and cracked the door for 10 minutes. Stove is at 450 now and climbing. When it was in the 40s outside I was cutting the air back to about 40% and getting good secondaries. Now that its colder could it be that I need to change up my system? I thought I had it down pretty good but I guess not
Stove is at 570 now with really strong secondaries. Could it just be that I was cutting it back way to early? I felt like I was ripping through a lot of wood to get it to a high temp so maybe I was just being stingy and cutting it back too soon? In other words is there a critical temp I should be at before I cut it back at all? Also what range should I be keeping the stove at? The stupid thermometer I have that I dont use says over 450 is too hot but I'm hearing a lot of you guys say you run it to 600. Its a cast stove with soapstone in it and the docs that came with the stove didnt say
Still sounds like less than ideal firewood.
My first year, I thought "I've got seasoned firewood, I'll be fine." *smirk* Clogged the chimney in the PE with in 3 months *good bye smirk*
How long has it been split, etc?
I stacked it in late September but nothing looked freshly split so I'm assuming the guy who delivered it was storing it split not in rounds. I had no choice but to get a delivery come September. It's just the way things worked out for me this year. I bought 6 cords though and I've not been running through it like I thought I would so I should have some good firewood for next year
Sounds like a typical case of first year syndrome
Do yourself a HUGE favor, and order another 6 NOW (or what ever you can swing), you won't regret it !
Seems like I recall several of these 'low draft' threads but they typically revolve around basement installs, split level, or two-story houses with a 'bump out' containing the stove. What they typically have in common is that the stove is on a lower level, but due to the general set-up only 12-15 feet of flue is needed for actual venting, but then some portion of the house extends up as high, or higher than the flue.
It's my .02 that the 'minimum requirements' for the stove flue are probably specified with the expectation it would be in a 'single floor' situation - like a ranch house or similar. When you put it in a house where another portion of the structure extends above the stove - that part of the structure can also act like a chimney. So now you basically have two flues fighting each other. Throw in some other factors which can reduce draft like moderate temps instead of bitter cold, humid air / rain, flue on the outside of the house or outside wall, less than adequate flue insulation, bath fans, kitchen fans, gas appliance flues, clothes dryers, or anything else which reduces draft and suddenly that 'just over the minimum' flue is really inadequate.
You could try temporarily opening a window in the stove room. The extra air would help satisfy other air leaks and allow the stove to run at full potential.
It's my .02 that the 'minimum requirements' for the stove flue are probably specified with the expectation it would be in a 'single floor' situation - like a ranch house or similar. When you put it in a house where another portion of the structure extends above the stove - that part of the structure can also act like a chimney. So now you basically have two flues fighting each other. Throw in some other factors which can reduce draft like moderate temps instead of bitter cold, humid air / rain, flue on the outside of the house or outside wall, less than adequate flue insulation, bath fans, kitchen fans, gas appliance flues, clothes dryers, or anything else which reduces draft and suddenly that 'just over the minimum' flue is really inadequate.
You could try temporarily opening a window in the stove room. The extra air would help satisfy other air leaks and allow the stove to run at full potential.
Sounds like a typical case of first year syndrome
Do yourself a HUGE favor, and order another 6 NOW (or what ever you can swing), you won't regret it !
Haha yes and I'm sure that I'm overthinking this because I'm a perfectionist and I wasnt as prepared for this season as I wanted to be. My only issue with ordering more right now is storage. I have tons of land to put it on but haven't really built anything to keep the wood off the ground so even the 6 I have are stacked on the ground with green tarps covering the tops. I know that it's less than ideal
That's interesting I didnt know that that could help. The days that I have been struggling with the fire are definitely overcast rainy days. My house is well insulated and very air tight. It is a split level as you described with the stove on the mid level off to the right side of the house and the left side of the house which is the other two levels is higher than it
T-roy_
Burning Hunk
With that in mind, what stove top temperatures are generally safe? I see people talk about the 5-600 range a lot
T-roy_
Burning Hunk
That would be well in the safe range. My stove routinely hits 750 after reloading.
T-roy_
Burning Hunk
Of course my stove is plate steel not soap stone. That may be the uppper end for that type of stove.
Hearthstone Manchester. It does not have the output of the first generation, but it doesn't seem like he's getting consistently good secondary burns so there may be other issues such as wood dryness, operation, etc.
Thanks. I remember Hearthstone but didn't remember if this was a soapstone or cast iron version.
The manual says be careful not to over fire the stove and then doesn't give any suggested operating range which I find ridiculous
Sorry to make a ridiculously long thread over this but I'm thinking everyone was right about the wet wood. I was using 6 inch splits of varying quality with good and sometimes bad results. yesterday I loaded it with the driest 4 inch wide splits I can find and I was finally at that point where I had to cut the air all the way back because the fire took off and had good lasting secondaries.
How did you guys set yourselves up for your first few seasons? I realize I'll have to burn mediocre wood for the year but should I buy more now? My plan was to see how much of the 6 cords I actually go through and then I'd have an idea how to prepare for years ahead.
Theres a lot more to know about stoves than I imagined at first but I'm having fun with it
maple1
Minister of Fire
Get as much wood as soon as you can. Split & stack. Don't stop until you know you have at least 2 preferably 3 years of wood in front of you.
Yes. And learn how to ID Oak so you can separate it out; It needs two years to dry..if the splits aren't too big. Three years if they are big.
It doesn't burn as long as more dense woods, but if you can get soft Maple stacked now, it will be dry by fall.
I will try to dig up a pic that shows how to ID Oak..
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