Stove prep

[snobuilder]

Before it is worthy to heat my feet it gets improved where lacking.
First off the clean out into the flimsy ash box was 3"x 3".
Ash box was replaced with an airtight unit. Bottom of firebox was cut out to fit a 11" x14" cast iron grate for super easy cleaning out . Second the huge wide open secondary air supply tubes were set up with fully adjustable control baffles .

 

[bholler]

Before it is worthy to heat my feet it gets improved where lacking.
First off the clean out into the flimsy ash box was 3"x 3".
Ash box was replaced with an airtight unit. Bottom of firebox was cut out to fit a 11" x14" cast iron grate for super easy cleaning out . Second the huge wide open secondary air supply tubes were set up with fully adjustable control baffles .View attachment 289379View attachment 289380View attachment 289381View attachment 289382

Ok you now have an unlisted stove. It needs 36" of clearance in all directions. And 18" of hearth protection

 

[MongoMongoson]

It will be interesting to see how it goes with the grate in the bottom. I find I get better burning and coaling when I have a little ash on the firebrick floor.

With your stove, is that grate open to the ashpan below?

 

[bholler]

It will be interesting to see how it goes with the grate in the bottom. I find I get better burning and coaling when I have a little ash on the firebrick floor.

With your stove, is that grate open to the ashpan below?

Yeah same here I always leave a layer of ash in the stove it works much better

 

[Trevor Tahclep]

Is that thing insurable, best check with your insurance.

 

[bholler]

Is that thing insurable, best check with your insurance.

Only if they insure unlisted stoves.

 

[snobuilder]

It will be interesting to see how it goes with the grate in the bottom. I find I get better burning and coaling when I have a little ash on the firebrick floor.

With your stove, is that grate open to the ashpan below?

Yes . I have 3 burns in it so far off gassing it and it holds enough embers to re start or keep fire going.
Ash drawer is 3 sided with sealed door.

 

[bholler]

Yes . I have 3 burns in it so far off gassing it and it holds enough embers to re start or keep fire going.
Ash drawer is 3 sided with sealed door.

That isn't what he was referring to. Most of us have found our stoves work much better when they have an inch or so of ash on the floor.

 

[stoveliker]

How much more heat is coming thru the firebox floor with all that brick removed, and will the integrity of the ash drawer be maintained when burning when it's exposed to more heat?

 

[bholler]

How much more heat is coming thru the firebox floor with all that brick removed, and will the integrity of the ash drawer be maintained when burning when it's exposed to more heat?

That is why the listing and clearances are no longer valid.

 

[stoveliker]

That is why the listing and clearances are no longer valid.

I understand. But some folks (I'm not saying the OP) don't care about listings and written instructions. Hence I'm asking the question that may result in some rethinking of the project.

 

[snobuilder]

How much more heat is coming thru the firebox floor with all that brick removed, and will the integrity of the ash drawer be maintained when burning when it's exposed to more heat?

Great question. Just checked it . Cold to the touch on the bottom. A bit warm at the back edge. Been burning 6 hours but at the end of its burn with a stove top temp of 300 .

 

[Trevor Tahclep]

Ok you now have an unlisted stove. It needs 36" of clearance in all directions. And 18" of hearth protection

That is what I was thinking as well, what ever certification that stove originally held is now null & void.

 

[bholler]

That is what I was thinking as well, what ever certification that stove originally held is now null & void.

Absolutely and any warranty. It could also seriously effect the efficiency as well

 

[snobuilder]

Did one last off gassing /paint burn this afternoon using some better wood, oak and cherry. I ran the stove to where I had a good ember base and added the larger splits to get the stove cooking and then closed the factory intake and flue damper adjustments in the same way I did the past 2 nights. So I go back to check on it after about 20 minutes and found it over achieving to temps in the over fire range way beyond the earlier burns. I had left the 2 secondary burn intake ports wide open as factory/ in compliance built. Big mistake! So it was time to test out the secondary air intake control baffles I added to this unit as recommended in another thread I researched. It worked perfectly as it should. Remove the O supply and temps were back to a controlled level in a matter of minutes!!
Not sure what thread I saw the pic of the modified intake port control baffles but big thanks to the innovative OP!

 

[bholler]

Without a full chimney on it I doubt it was running hot because of the secondary intake. My guess is you have a leak in the ash pan somewhere.

 

[snobuilder]

Closing the huge secondary ports solved the issue so your knee jerk defense of the EPA design is wrong once again.
Ash drawer is tighter than a nuns c***

 

[bholler]

Closing the huge secondary ports solved the issue so your knee jerk defense of the EPA design is wrong once again.
Ash drawer is tighter than a nuns c***

Yes you cut off some extra air which brought it back under control. But you don't have it on a full chimney so there is no way it should overfire unless you have more air leaks somewhere.

Again the EPA did not design this stove. Us stove Co did. They quite honestly sell some of the worst crap on the market and it's all Asian imported stuff that generally doesn't hold up well. I see your ash pan seal is just flat gasket and only drawn down with a cam lock on the top. Hmmm

 

[bholler]

You won't find me defending and us stove co product. But you modified it tons point the original design really doesn't matter anymore

 

[snobuilder]

The easy ash clean out was done properly and done for convenience when burning everyday without having to let the fire go down to nothing. The factory designed 3" clean out hole was a joke for any serious user but it seems the norm for these modern stoves. Perhaps an EPA design dictate?
The secondary air control baffle was done as a remedy to what I see as a severely lacking safety issue for the end user.
If you chose to run a stove that doesn't have any control of the air supplied to what is basically a turbo charged firenado in these modern stoves then at least wear some heavy socks while burning.
At least you will then have something to stuff in the holes if she roars out of control (very efficiently of course).

BTW I like the idea of using less wood but I want control as well.
As far as less air pollution that whole idea is simply a joke IMO. Not much more than a bleeding heart teardrop in the ocean.
Your avg. politicians and EPA executives spew more pollutants into the air as they jet from coast to coast saving the environment from us little ppl.
Just My Personal Opinion.

 

[bholler]

The easy ash clean out was done properly and done for convenience when burning everyday without having to let the fire go down to nothing. The factory designed 3" clean out hole was a joke for any serious user but it seems the norm for these modern stoves. Perhaps an EPA design dictate?
The secondary air control baffle was done as a remedy to what I see as a severely lacking safety issue for the end user.
If you chose to run a stove that doesn't have any control of the air supplied to what is basically a turbo charged firenado in these modern stoves then at least wear some heavy socks while burning.
At least you will then have something to stuff in the holes if she roars out of control (very efficiently of course).

BTW I like the idea of using less wood but I want control as well.
As far as less air pollution that whole idea is simply a joke IMO. Not much more than a bleeding heart teardrop in the ocean.
Your avg. politicians and EPA executives spew more pollutants into the air as they jet from coast to coast saving the environment from us little ppl.
Just My Personal Opinion.

First off you don't need to let the stove burn down more than normal to remove ash I do it once every 3 weeks or so burning 24/7 just by shoveling into a bucket.

And again the EPA doesn't dictate design. They don't care at all about how ash is removed.

I burnt several different noncats and absolutely never saw the need to modify the stove once they were set up properly. Install it to spec and it will work properly.

 

[snobuilder]

👍 I may never need them and I will approach my heat cycle burns without relying on the baffles but I'm glad they are there.

 

[stoveliker]

I don't understand the "no control" thing.
Apart from the VC Aspen C3 (and there may be one or two more that I don't know), more.or less every modern stove has user control.

The only thing that is "hardwired" is a minimum air setting so as to avoid smoldering fires (bad for chimney and the outdoors). That is the opposite of an uncontrolled firenado. I think you have a misunderstanding of this.

 

[snobuilder]

I don't understand the "no control" thing.
Apart from the VC Aspen C3 (and there may be one or two more that I don't know), more.or less every modern stove has user control.

The only thing that is "hardwired" is a minimum air setting so as to avoid smoldering fires (bad for chimney and the outdoors). That is the opposite of an uncontrolled firenado. I think you have a misunderstanding of this.

The 4th pic shows the 1.75" x 3" x 2 tube steel ports that feed air to the secondary burn tubes above the firebox. No user shut off provided whatsoever in the EPA satisfying design. Not safe or smart.
No misunderstanding or worries on my end , I fixed that.

 

[stoveliker]

But the secondary air (in a stove where the airflow has not been altered) won't go uncontrolled with a fixed secondary air inlet. It'll have an oxygen-rich gas mixture I.e. it runs LEAN!

The gas provided into this lean mixture is controlled by the primary air, i.e. you. You can easily further lean-out the gas mixture by squeezing the primary air.

So, if you have uncontrolled firenados, you have too much primary air, and something is wrong with your primary air control or you have a leak.