Stove setup, creosote, wood, etc questions

[bigealta]

check your thermometer, they can be pretty far off.
what type are you using?

 

[Ashful]

I somehow missed that one before. My apologies. Excellent info, especially the bit about not fretting on choice. Definitely answered my questions. One last question is how loud is the fan?

Thanks

It's variable speed, so you choose! I find that even the lowest setting, which is completely silent next to my computer running, still moves enough air to make an enormous difference in heating performance. But, if I come home from vacation to a dead-cold house, I will turn up the fans to the "noisy" setting, and rip a full load with the air control on max to get place warmed back up.

My favorite feature of these stoves is that I can run them on any air setting, including wide open, with no worries about it going nuclear and melting down. There is a bimetallic thermostat that, as long as the exhaust bypass damper is closed (as it should always be after combustor light-off), will regulate the inlet air to the setting you choose. Most of the time I run them at a low or medium setting, targeting 12 or 24 hour reload windows, but I will run an extra load completely thru on the highest air setting, when I feel it's needed.

With my old (Jotul) stoves having manual air control, I had to watch them carefully at higher output settings. Those stoves were admittedly some of Jotul's worst designs, but I get the sense from others that any stove with a manual air control has the potential to go nuclear when leaving it on a higher air setting.

 

[BKVP]

Th

I don’t think I’ve seen @stoveliker posting recently, but he burns a BK Chinook. Maybe he’ll be able to chime in to give you information you’re looking for.

@Ashful and @moresnow have the Ashford and the Sirocco respectively. It’s my understanding that the three stoves all have the same firebox, but the exteriors are different. The Ashford has a cast iron cladding, the Sirocco is plain steel, and the Chinook has a steel convection jacket. Does that sound right, BK folk?

That is correct!

 

[BKVP]

There were 2 active Chinook 30 members, but I think they went fishing!

 

[Jhelmick]

check your thermometer, they can be pretty far off.
what type are you using?

I have a fluegard that I pay most attention to. I also have an older rutland and a newer imperial on the stove top. The imperial reads higher than the rutland by about 100 degrees so I usually pay more attention to the rutland.

 

[Ashful]

I have a fluegard that I pay most attention to. I also have an older rutland and a newer imperial on the stove top. The imperial reads higher than the rutland by about 100 degrees so I usually pay more attention to the rutland.

Most of these thermometers can be calibrated by loosening a screw in the center and adjusting the needle to a known reference. Ideal would be an iron frying pan and known temperature near your operating point, but most of us settle for eyeballing 70F at room temperature.

 

[Jhelmick]

Most of these thermometers can be calibrated by loosening a screw in the center and adjusting the needle to a known reference. Ideal would be an iron frying pan and known temperature near your operating point, but most of us settle for eyeballing 70F at room temperature.

Cool. Will have to check it out. Thanks