The big day is here!

[begreen]

The stove finish will smoke a bit as the paint bakes in. It will need to get up to over 500º in the 2nd or 3d burn. Open up the door and put a fan exhausting out the smoke. If possible, do this while your wife is out shopping. Once the stove has had a couple 500-600º (stovetop temp) fires the paint will stop offgassing and the smell will improve considerably.

 

[MedicineMan4040]

The stove finish will smoke a bit as the paint bakes in. It will need to get up to over 500º in the 2nd or 3d burn. Open up the door and put a fan exhausting out the smoke. If possible, do this while your wife is out shopping. Once the stove has had a couple 500-600º (stovetop temp) fires the paint will stop offgassing and the smell will improve considerably.

Will do. Thanks for the advice.

 

[MedicineMan4040]

Check the local regs. What state is the wood in?

Wood is in TN. I'm now in Virginia.

 

[stoveliker]

Virginia - Don't Move Firewood

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has issued several quarantines to protect the state’s natural and agricultural resources from

www.dontmovefirewood.org

 

[MedicineMan4040]

Virginia - Don't Move Firewood

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has issued several quarantines to protect the state’s natural and agricultural resources from

www.dontmovefirewood.org

Just pulled up a map where my wood sits......Ash borer quarantine zone.

 

[begreen]

Just pulled up a map where my wood sits......Ash borer quarantine zone.

Yup

Regulations in Tennessee - Don't Move Firewood

Sometimes, even the experts at Dear Don't Move Firewood don't have all the answers. Here's our latest inquiry, with a guest answer from Tim Phelps at the Tennessee Division of Forestry. Dear Don't Move Firewood, I understand that we should not move firewood where I live in Tennessee... I live in...

www.dontmovefirewood.org

 

[MedicineMan4040]

Success story I think.
This the first little break in burn and at around 300degrees the machinery oils started to
cook off......yes Begreen, glad the wife is out for the day

I'll let the stove go cold and repeat the process 3 more times over the next 2 days building bigger
and bigger fires as I go.

But super happy to report the chimney draws well, really well. I know on my Vermont castings Aspen
I'd have to leave the door cracked 1-1.5 inches for a long time. Not so with this Osburn. I like the Super
Cedar, let it get going, then closed the door and all was good. Damper fully open though as was the
air intake on the stove.

So at this point i consider the wood stove a success story.

 

[joop]

congrats and enjoy

 

[begreen]

Ah, that's a pretty picture. In a steel stove the breakin can happen quickly. The next fire can take the stove up to 400º. Then the next up to 600º. Remember that the stove will get hotter with less air. This is because the draft will pull additional air from the secondary tubes for more complete combustion. You will find that in normal operation most of the air control will be in the last 25% of the control range.

They should have installed the stainless andirons for you. They sit under the front bricks. Are you breaking the SuperCedar puck into smaller quarters or eighths? With good kindling and dry wood that's often all that's needed to start the fire.

 

[Caw]

I personally hate the andirons, I think they just get in the way and are ugly. Good loading can prevent logs rolling into the glass and you can fit more wood in there. The glass can handle a rogue log once or twice a year. But that's personal preference!

 

[MedicineMan4040]

My first fire was a small one and I'm greatly surprised out how much heat rendedered.

Now I did go up to the living room to feel the chimney pipe (un chased but we're scheming on that).
I was surprised at how hot the pipe was. I couldn't keep my hands on it all all.
Is this normal? I now know why 2 inches of clearance because I then held my hand 2 inches away and
it felt fine.
Andirons. I think I can put those in. I think I believe in them but have never used them. I can see them getting
in the way.
SuperCedar. Yes! I cut it in 8 parts. Super dry cedar kindling too and smaller than wrist cured birch for the burn.

Yep, the chimney pipe in the room above got hot. Just saying.......

 

[begreen]

I was surprised at how hot the pipe was. I couldn't keep my hands on it all all.
Is this normal? I now know why 2 inches of clearance because I then held my hand 2 inches away and
it felt fine.

With the air wide open a lot of extra heat goes up the flue. And small diameter wood burns hot and quickly. A probe flue thermometer is very useful for seeing the flue temps. It's more helpful than a stove top thermometer IMO.

 

[MedicineMan4040]

Keep that knowledge coming Begreen. It really is appreciated.
So an operation question please. Say all the wood is aflame and I want to calm it down.
Would you adjust the air intake on the bottom of the Matrix or adjust the damper you
had me install? One or both?
I also found out the turn knob on the damper gets really hot.

 

[joop]

the air on the stove first,if you find that the fire still rolling pretty hard then flu damper. air on stove you shut down a bit at a time giving 5 to10 min for fire to relax

 

[begreen]

Modern stoves are designed to not smolder. If the fire is calmed down too much then more smoke will be coming out of the chimney in the form of unburnt wood gases. If you want less heat, burn shorter fires by loading less wood or using thicker splits.

The flue damper handle will get very hot. It's right in the middle of the hot 400-800º flue gases. Wear a glove when operating.

 

[MedicineMan4040]

Speaking of smoke.
On the first burn, which finallly reached 350-370 degrees on the stove pipe magnetic theromometer, after it
got going I went out side to look. No smoke, none at all.
Something else I noticed. It was a small and hot fire, but the Matrix was warm hours later.
I think we got lucky on many things, the no cutting of floor joists or rafters, and the good draft.

I did go outside yesterday and snapped a pic of my house. The chimney does rise about the 'envelope' of conditioned
space in the house.....not by a lot, a foot maybe. Seems I read that chimneys that are lower than the highest heated space
can ill perform? Have you all read or experience that?

 

[begreen]

Seems I read that chimneys that are lower than the highest heated space
can ill perform? Have you all read or experience that?

Not necessarily. It's a bit more complicated. Ours is below the roof peak and vents well.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

If your house leaks a lot your house can become a better chimney than your chimney.

 

[MedicineMan4040]

If your house leaks a lot your house can become a better chimney than your chimney.

Tell me more. Was that comment in response to my 'no smoke' at the top of the chimney....I was just
thinking my fire was very hot and efficient, so I didn't see any smoke but you could see rarifraction of
the air surrounding the chimney cap. During the burn, once established well, I opened the door quickly
and fully to see if any smoke would come into the room and it did not.

Continuing with your thought process of house being better chimney than the chimney; that's why I made
the comment that my chimney cap is higher than the conditioned air envelope of the house....me thinking
that had something to do with when a house becomes a better chimney than the chimney.
Also, for the last 3 weeks I've been working in the Cape Cod style knee walls, on the sloped ceiling, and on the
collared/flat ceiling making sure we are as sealed as we can be.....me thinking (maybe wrong again, I'm still learning)
that any leak prevented in the attic/upper most ceiling/wall penetrations minimizes the stack effect and the pulling
of air down thru the chimney and into the house.
Do I have this all wrong?

Yesterday with that first burn I was really happy because-
1. the good draft/quick start/little time needed to establish the fire with the door closed.
2. no backdrafting/puffing of smoke into the house when I quickly opened the door

But I know I'm not there yet......something I'm not thinking of yet?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I was referring to

“Seems I read that chimneys that are lower than the highest heated space
can ill perform? Have you all read or experience that?”

You have it right. I have not experienced it. We see it from time to time on the boards though.

 

[MedicineMan4040]

Thanks Matt.
I was pushing the topic because this house we bought (wife loved it/had to have it) is circa 1975, full on with
orange shag carpet in one bedroom and green shag in another, and that square pattern of compression only a water
bed can make on the third floor). I had to address those two rooms (floor replacement) before anything else haha!

But the house is leaky. I called an energy guy to see how leaky but they wanted $500 do do a blower door test. I think
that might be money well spent BUT the blower door test doesn't show where the leaks are So my crusade has
been on any and all of the obvious easy ones I can get too. Wife and even pulled down a ceiling fan we'd just installed
on the third floor so I could spray some insulating foam between the fan ceiling box and the sheet rock. She said you're
worried about less than a 1/4 of an inch. I told her it all adds up to a huge gaping hole in the house.

Sorry, got wordy

 

[joop]

plug one ,find 5 more

 

[jeffreyscott]

I'm always happy when people challenge themselves and everything turns out great!

 

[stoveliker]

Careful with (expanding, polyurethane) insulation foam near electrical boxes. They advice to use silicone to airseal there; inadvertent sparks can't light that on fire.
Obviously that doesn't add r value, but after silicone sealing fiberglass is fine.

 

[MedicineMan4040]

Stoveliker thanks! I was wrong, in the other 3rd floor bedroom we DID use silicone around the fan ceiling electrical
box....not foam. We'll use silicone again when we do the next one, but I was going to use foam if the gap was big enough.

Having said that, there is a Great Stuff foam product that is mentioned as fireproof/fire rated/something like that.

Now back to chimneys/stoves. I did notice that the woodstove/chimney installer did put some insulation around the chimney
right at the roof. I asked about it and he said it is what the woodstove seller carries and that he only carries name brand Selkirk products
(even the price roof support brackets I had to use since my chimney was greater than 5 feet off the roof). To me it looked like
rock-wool. Honestly I was glad to see them install it because I was worried about condensation. Where the chimney leaves the house, i.e. that knee wall area, it is conditioned space. I was thinking warm moist air on one side of the thin metal flashing....and last week 2F on the other side, and the resultant condensation.

Also noticed in the knee wall floor, the hole where the chimney passed through the ceiling. They put metal bracing straps around the
chimney. I didn't know you could do that, but in the very near future the roof will get re-roofed, so maybe that is some insurance the roofers don't mess up plumb in the chimney.