Too much draft?

[EbS-P]

How does the secondary combustion look. Lazy wispy flames or blow torches either the games a good bit away from the tube?

How far up are you measuring the flue temps?

Pack it tight. Rake coals to front or to a single side.

 

[j7art2]

How does the secondary combustion look. Lazy wispy flames or blow torches either the games a good bit away from the tube\\ k\\?

How far up are you measuring the flue temps?

Pack it tight. Rake coals to front or to a single side.

Fully packed with the wood fully caught and air down to 10% or less, they're pretty lazy and whispy. If i don't pack it full, it seems they get a little more wild. I guess it's still a bit of a learning curve, certainly different than chucking a few logs into the wood furnace I used to have.

My latest quick heat method in this guy in the milder weather is 3 N/S, 2 on top E/W. I gotta watch it a little to make sure I don't get too hot in the flue this way, but it works pretty well for an early morning fire in the milder weather.

 

[begreen]

Criss-crossing splits introduces a lot more airspaces between the wood. That contributes to faster and hotter burning. Try loading it all E/W if a slow burn is desired.

 

[j7art2]

Following up on this: It's been 2 weeks now since the company installed a damper and the results are as follows:

My burn times on average last 1-2 hours longer and about a 90-100 degree increase on the stove top temperature. Achieving 475-515 degrees now is easily done (and could probably go even higher yet) and often times I can turn my air down to 0, close the damper to 80% closed, and still be at 900 degrees in the flue if my wood is fully engulfed. Twice now we've had to crack the windows because it's been 80 degrees in the main room, something we've not experienced at all since getting the stove prior.

What a difference.

 

[weee123]

I know flue pipes are designed to run at 1000* continuous, but am I the only one who thinks 900* is still a little too hot? Like a lot of wasted heat going up the flue?

Glad you finally started getting the hang of the stove. It’s definitely an art and takes practice and lots of trial and error. Running the stoves around 10% to closed seems to be where they are happiest.

 

[begreen]

I know flue pipes are designed to run at 1000* continuous, but am I the only one who thinks 900* is still a little too hot? Like a lot of wasted heat going up the flue?

Glad you finally started getting the hang of the stove. It’s definitely an art and takes practice and lots of trial and error. Running the stoves around 10% to closed seems to be where they are happiest.

Hopefully, that is just a spike in the flue temp and not continuous. Usually, if the air is turned down more aggressively and sooner these high spikes can be avoided, but one needs to be attentive. This is where a digital thermometer's real-time readout is helpful. You can see the rise as it is happening as opposed to chasing it after the fact.

 

[bholler]

Following up on this: It's been 2 weeks now since the company installed a damper and the results are as follows:

My burn times on average last 1-2 hours longer and about a 90-100 degree increase on the stove top temperature. Achieving 475-515 degrees now is easily done (and could probably go even higher yet) and often times I can turn my air down to 0, close the damper to 80% closed, and still be at 900 degrees in the flue if my wood is fully engulfed. Twice now we've had to crack the windows because it's been 80 degrees in the main room, something we've not experienced at all since getting the stove prior.

What a difference.

Close the damper all the way and turn down the air sooner.

 

[j7art2]

I've been operating at a continuous of about 700-1000 all year, with or without the damper. Damper helps to a degree bring things down, but I feel like small adjustments now are often much bigger than before. I generally can't even get a good solid flame held without keeping the door cracked until the flue is around 600 degrees using quality firewood measured with an MC.

I feel like I'm still losing a ton out the chimney, but not nearly as much. Flames are lazy now and lick slowly most of the time. These high temps are still achievable with the damper for me. Maybe I can close the damper more than I am currently, but the one time I closed it a little too much, I started to smell the faint whiff of smoke coming from the stove. I couldn't determine the location where it was coming from and couldn't see it, but since then, haven't closed it over about 50-60%.

There'll be times where I can close the air off to 0% and have the damper closed 60% and be cruising at 800 in the flue, then other times I've got the damper closed 25% and the air at 50% with the same results on a different similarly sized load. MC of the wood is all around 16%.

Anything over 20% goes into next years piles and I've been pretty particular about that. I don't check every piece, but I multiple batch check every tree that I can.

I saw a post not long ago in the SBI forum about my particular stove that another owner was having a similar issue and hated the Osburn 3500 compared to his old 2000. He had to add a damper and modify his air intake to even get it to perform close to the old 2000. I considered PMing him and asking him what kind of modification he did, but I'm not sure I want to go that route. The damper is good enough for me I think -- I don't understand the operation of the stove well enough to feel confident in modifying the air intake.

The stove did me pretty good all winter, albeit it being a fairly mild one here. 95% of the winter I wasn't using propane with the main room being 70-80 and the coldest room of the house being 60-70. I wouldn't give it a 5/5 stars by any means (3/5 initially) but the damper bumps it up to at least a 3.5 or 4 out of 5.

 

[EbS-P]

Here are a couple more thoughts.
As you keep working towards a perfect burn.

Read up my thread here. It has some good info. https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/diy-turbulator-anyone.196348/

Run the damper as close to full close as you can. I must start a fire with it open but after 5-10 minutes I can move it to full closed with air control full open.(I use lots of kindling). Then any adjustments I make are with the air control only.

I must open the damper back up to reload or I get lots of smoke roll out.

My diy turbulator has led to a more even temperature of the stove top. It’s not less than 65 degrees center to corner. When above 400.

Air sealing the house has made a difference on my air settings. I had some big holes letting lots of cold air in and hot air out. Now with a tighter envelope I need to run higher air settings to maintain a fire in my jotul. I don’t have enough time with my Drolet to fully understand/observe how it is responding to house envelope changes but it is completely noticeable on my jotul I knew “the spot” by heart that was the perfect low burn rate without snuffing the fire. Now the old spot will snuff the fire.

I believe SBI’s 2.4 cu ft firebox is an easy breather and will run very hot on anything above 20ft.

With a damper and DIY turbulator the stove is very controllable. But if I do a hot reload with pine. It will spike exhaust temps close to 1000 degrees at the collar with the damper and air full closed.

 

[kborndale]

Also remember that the temperature outside will have a major effect on your draft. When it's 10 degrees out your draft will be much stronger than when it's 45 degrees out.

 

[j7art2]

Run the damper as close to full close as you can. I must start a fire with it open but after 5-10 minutes I can move it to full closed with air control full open.(I use lots of kindling). Then any adjustments I make are with the air control only.

Thank you for this info - I know the damper has holes in it, but I assumed it wouldn't be enough to close fully. This post encouraged me to push it a little and see as I was initially worried about the smoke smell I had prior. I've now since had 3 fires and I've been able to close it completely, or at least to 90%. The smoke smell I had may have been a remnant of opening the door prior or something (I also get phantom smells unfortunately after getting the big C) but this was pretty helpful information to know what order works for you. I used to do both a little at a time back and forth, and the last 3 fires I've been able to REALLY dial down a lot more following this order.

I'll check into the turbulator too; i've gotta sit down and look at the post a little more thoroughly and see if I can make one work for me. If it's easy enough to build and doesn't require permanent modification of the stove, I'd be willing to give it a shot.

Thanks again.

 

[EbS-P]

Thank you for this info - I know the damper has holes in it, but I assumed it wouldn't be enough to close fully. This post encouraged me to push it a little and see as I was initially worried about the smoke smell I had prior. I've now since had 3 fires and I've been able to close it completely, or at least to 90%. The smoke smell I had may have been a remnant of opening the door prior or something (I also get phantom smells unfortunately after getting the big C) but this was pretty helpful information to know what order works for you. I used to do both a little at a time back and forth, and the last 3 fires I've been able to REALLY dial down a lot more following this order.

I'll check into the turbulator too; i've gotta sit down and look at the post a little more thoroughly and see if I can make one work for me. If it's easy enough to build and doesn't require permanent modification of the stove, I'd be willing to give it a shot.

Thanks again.

Paint curing smoke smell lasted for 15 hot fires on mine. It’s different than wood smoke smell