Update on Hearthstone Homestead heating problem

[rocheck]

Went to the trading post (70 miles) and got stove thermometer. When we got back put a good size fire of very seasoned
mesquite in the stove and it has been buring for over two hours. The Homestead has three soapstone panels on the top of the
stove, temp on the center panel (the warmest one) is 325F. The stove is filled with a large bed of very large red mesquite coals
and some wood that is still flaming. Air input is open about 15%. There is no flue damper on this setup.

Temp outside last night dropped to 23 deg. There was a good fire going at bedtime, I put on more wood about 3am. At
6:30 this morning temp in the stove room was 61 deg and stove still had a fire going in it with large bed of very good coals.
During the day, outside temp got up to 47F and stove finally warmed up the room to 71F. Temp outside is dropping again and so is temp in the stove room even with a good fire going in it and a large red coal base.

Whatever the reason, this stove is not supply sufficient heat to warm the room. Ideas, comments, or suggestions???

 

[BrowningBAR]

Went to the trading post (70 miles) and got stove thermometer. When we got back put a good size fire of very seasoned
mesquite in the stove and it has been buring for over two hours. The Homestead has three soapstone panels on the top of the
stove, temp on the center panel (the warmest one) is 325F. The stove is filled with a large bed of very large red mesquite coals
and some wood that is still flaming. Air input is open about 15%. There is no flue damper on this setup.

Temp outside last night dropped to 23 deg. There was a good fire going at bedtime, I put on more wood about 3am. At
6:30 this morning temp in the stove room was 61 deg and stove still had a fire going in it with large bed of very good coals.
During the day, outside temp got up to 47F and stove finally warmed up the room to 71F. Temp outside is dropping again and so is temp in the stove room even with a good fire going in it and a large red coal base.

Whatever the reason, this stove is not supply sufficient heat to warm the room. Ideas, comments, or suggestions???

How are you closing down the air supply?
How tall is your chimney?
Any chance you can take some pics of the fire?
Are you getting secondaries rolling off the burn tubes?

My first thought is that you may benefit from a pipe damper (if you are using truly dry wood), but I really need more info.

Explain your set up and how you work the air controls.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Whatever the reason, this stove is not supply sufficient heat to warm the room. Ideas, comments, or suggestions???

The stove is not heating the room because the stove is not getting hot enough.

 

[MarkinNC]

Crank that baby up until you hit 500 or more and see what happens to your room temp.

 

[rocheck]

Stove is mounted on the hearth of a fireplace, the rear vent of the stove is piped through a sheet metal shield into the fireplace where it goes into a triple wall pipe and up the chimney. Chimney is approximately 15 feet tall with pipe and spark arrestor extending about 12-18" above the top of chimney.

Air control I am using is on the lower left of the stove, near the floor. I build a good fire in the stove with the air control wide open and sometimes the door cracked enough to speed up the process. As soon as the fire is going good, I shut the door and then
shut the air supply down to about 50% and let it burn that way for 20-30 minutes. I then open air supply again to 100% and let it burn that way for 15-20 minutes and then shut the air down to about 15%. After going through this process, I will normally get the rolling, reduced air type of flame for a while and then just a good bed fo glowing red coals.

Since my original post I am guessing about 30 minutes ago, temp has dropped to 290F and room temp is also dropping.

I will try to get pictures tomorrow that I can post.

 

[thewoodlands]

Went to the trading post (70 miles) and got stove thermometer. When we got back put a good size fire of very seasoned
mesquite in the stove and it has been buring for over two hours. The Homestead has three soapstone panels on the top of the
stove, temp on the center panel (the warmest one) is 325F. The stove is filled with a large bed of very large red mesquite coals
and some wood that is still flaming. Air input is open about 15%. There is no flue damper on this setup.

Temp outside last night dropped to 23 deg. There was a good fire going at bedtime, I put on more wood about 3am. At
6:30 this morning temp in the stove room was 61 deg and stove still had a fire going in it with large bed of very good coals.
During the day, outside temp got up to 47F and stove finally warmed up the room to 71F. Temp outside is dropping again and so is temp in the stove room even with a good fire going in it and a large red coal base.

Whatever the reason, this stove is not supply sufficient heat to warm the room. Ideas, comments, or suggestions???

We heat from the basement with the Lopi Liberty with the blower attachment. The wood we're burning has been c/s/s for 1-2 years, outside temp tonight is 14 degrees, livingroom upstairs is 70, the bedroom is 69.

We start off getting the stovetop temp up to 625, the flue temp (single wall) at 450 then close the air down most of the way. The wood we're burning is Cherry.


GIBIR

 

[BrowningBAR]

Stove is mounted on the hearth of a fireplace, the rear vent of the stove is piped through a sheet metal shield into the fireplace where it goes into a triple wall pipe and up the chimney. Chimney is approximately 15 feet tall with pipe and spark arrestor extending about 12-18" above the top of chimney.

Air control I am using is on the lower left of the stove, near the floor. I build a good fire in the stove with the air control wide open and sometimes the door cracked enough to speed up the process. As soon as the fire is going good, I shut the door and then
shut the air supply down to about 50% and let it burn that way for 20-30 minutes. I then open air supply again to 100% and let it burn that way for 15-20 minutes and then shut the air down to about 15%. After going through this process, I will normally get the rolling, reduced air type of flame for a while and then just a good bed fo glowing red coals.

Since my original post I am guessing about 30 minutes ago, temp has dropped to 290F and room temp is also dropping.

I will try to get pictures tomorrow that I can post.

Nothing seems out of the norm in terms of your controls. The rolling flame indicates, to me, that you are getting secondary burns, so your fuel seems acceptable.

Are you packing the stove full?

 

[BrowningBAR]

Went to the trading post (70 miles) and got stove thermometer. When we got back put a good size fire of very seasoned
mesquite in the stove and it has been buring for over two hours. The Homestead has three soapstone panels on the top of the
stove, temp on the center panel (the warmest one) is 325F. The stove is filled with a large bed of very large red mesquite coals
and some wood that is still flaming. Air input is open about 15%. There is no flue damper on this setup.

Temp outside last night dropped to 23 deg. There was a good fire going at bedtime, I put on more wood about 3am. At
6:30 this morning temp in the stove room was 61 deg and stove still had a fire going in it with large bed of very good coals.
During the day, outside temp got up to 47F and stove finally warmed up the room to 71F. Temp outside is dropping again and so is temp in the stove room even with a good fire going in it and a large red coal base.

Whatever the reason, this stove is not supply sufficient heat to warm the room. Ideas, comments, or suggestions???

We heat from the basement with the Lopi Liberty with the blower attachment. The wood we're burning has been c/s/s for 1-2 years, outside temp tonight is 14 degrees, livingroom upstairs is 70, the bedroom is 69.

We start off getting the stovetop temp up to 625, the flue temp (single wall) at 450 then close the air down most of the way. The wood we're burning is Cherry.


GIBIR

I have found it works quite differently with a Hearthstone. If you have the air controls full open in the hopes of achieving a high stove top temp, you will be waiting a very long time. Your stove pipe will be hot, but your stove will not.

For reference on of how I operate the stove:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/83823/

 

[rocheck]

Stove is about 60% full of seasoned mesquite that is burning with good "secondary burn" flames with air shut down to about
15% right now. Temp on top of the stove is holding about 290F.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Stove is about 60% full of seasoned mesquite that is burning with good "secondary burn" flames with air shut down to about
15% right now. Temp on top of the stove is holding about 290F.

I'm baffled.

What is the stove pipe temp?

 

[leeave96]

Stove is about 60% full of seasoned mesquite that is burning with good "secondary burn" flames with air shut down to about
15% right now. Temp on top of the stove is holding about 290F.

If your temps don't go up, your damper setting might be set such that you will cruise a that temp for the burn. Full open is not so good and sometimes full or near closed is not so good either. Don't know how long you've been burning this burn (to get the 290 deg temp), but the stones take a bit of time to get hot vs a steel plate stove. If you are holding steady at 290, open up (or close down more) and play around to see how you temps react.

Sounds like you got a good set-up, you might just need to continue to experiment until you find the sweet spot damper setting for your stove.

Good luck,
Bill

 

[BrowningBAR]

Stove is about 60% full of seasoned mesquite that is burning with good "secondary burn" flames with air shut down to about
15% right now. Temp on top of the stove is holding about 290F.

If your temps don't go up, your damper setting might be set such that you will cruise a that temp for the burn. Full open is not so good and sometimes full or near closed is not so good either. Don't know how long you've been burning this burn (to get the 290 deg temp), but the stones take a bit of time to get hot vs a steel plate stove. If you are holding steady at 290, open up (or close down more) and play around to see how you temps react.

Sounds like you got a good set-up, you might just need to continue to experiment until you find the sweet spot damper setting for your stove.

Good luck,
Bill

Yeah, try keeping the air controls set at about 50-60% open for a full load just to see what happens.

 

[rocheck]

Stove top temp is now up to about 400 deg with GOOD secondary burn going on. I will see if temp continues to increase
with air at 15% for a while. Will reload stove and try new settings later this evening.

What temp should I try to achieve on the stove top to get a good warm cozy room?

I went over to our old house (2200 sq ft) yesterday. It was 45 deg inside when I went in the house, it has a freestanding Regency 2400 in the living room. I built a good fire with sawmill pine slabs. Within 50 minutes the room temp was up to 67 F and the far end of the house had risen to 57F. This is the type of heat we have been used to and are trying to achieve in the new housebut have been unable to with the Homestead.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Stove top temp is now up to about 400 deg with GOOD secondary burn going on. I will see if temp continues to increase
with air at 15% for a while. Will reload stove and try new settings later this evening.

What temp should I try to achieve on the stove top to get a good warm cozy room?

I went over to our old house (2200 sq ft) yesterday. It was 45 deg inside when I went in the house, it has a freestanding Regency 2400 in the living room. I built a good fire with sawmill pine slabs. Within 50 minutes the room temp was up to 67 F and the far end of the house had risen to 57F. This is the type of heat we have been used to and are trying to achieve in the new housebut have been unable to with the Homestead.

Let's try to get the stove top up to 550 and see what the room does.

 

[Todd]

I used to have this stove and it really didn't put out much heat til it got up to 450-600. If your stove is sitting in a fireplace it may be losing the heat up the fireplace unless you have a good block off plate. Fill that stove up as full as you can and get it rippin good for 15-20 minutes then turn it down to a lower setting. If you have good dry wood it should get up to 500+ in an hour.

 

[BrowningBAR]

I went over to our old house (2200 sq ft) yesterday. It was 45 deg inside when I went in the house, it has a freestanding Regency 2400 in the living room. I built a good fire with sawmill pine slabs. Within 50 minutes the room temp was up to 67 F and the far end of the house had risen to 57F. This is the type of heat we have been used to and are trying to achieve in the new housebut have been unable to with the Homestead.

You will get quicker heat from a steel stove. Also, the Homestead is a smaller stove.

 

[rocheck]

OK, lets see what will happen. Its 8:27pm and I just completely filled the stove with mesquite.
Temp on stove top is about 400F. I will let it burn with wide open damper until wood is buring
well and then go to 15%. Here we go.....

 

[rdust]

OK, lets see what will happen. Its 8:27pm and I just completely filled the stove with mesquite.
Temp on stove top is about 400F. I will let it burn with wide open damper until wood is buring
well and then go to 15%. Here we go.....

Go down is stages, 100%, 50% then fine tune the final air setting. Let the stove top temp and look of the fire tell you when to turn it down not the amount of time. Usually when you close down from 100% the fire will settle in a little, I'd let it build back up and then turn it down again. For my final setting I would look for a slow moving flame on the wood and good secondaries.

So much easier now that I have a cat stove.

 

[BrowningBAR]

OK, lets see what will happen. Its 8:27pm and I just completely filled the stove with mesquite.
Temp on stove top is about 400F. I will let it burn with wide open damper until wood is buring
well and then go to 15%. Here we go.....

If you just loaded up the stove, you need to open up the air to burn in the new wood.

 

[rocheck]

Air control is wide open and BIG fire going on a stove full of wood. Temp is up to about 450F.
Will see if it will go higher. It has taken about 30 minutes to raise the temp from 400 to around
450F

 

[BrowningBAR]

Air control is wide open and BIG fire going on a stove full of wood. Temp is up to about 450F.
Will see if it will go higher. It has taken about 30 minutes to raise the temp from 400 to around
450F

Normal, this is when I start to close down the air. My first step would be to reduce air to about 70% and hold it for about 10 minutes, than 50% for another 10 minutes, and so forth.

If you truly have a raging fire and you wood is well charred, you might want to reduce the air to about 70% just to make sure your stove pipe/line isn't getting ridiculously hot.

 

[rocheck]

Stove top temp is 525F, damper at about 50%, wood is well charred, and good secondary burn
going on right now.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Stove top temp is 525F, damper at about 50%, wood is well charred, and good secondary burn
going on right now.

There you go. Keep it at 50% a little longer and then take two or three more stages of slowly reducing air, waiting several minutes (5-10) between reducing stages.

You should peak out between 550 and 600 when you are all done.

 

[rocheck]

OK, will try a couple more reductions and also monitor stove top temp. Its
interesting that room temp has not varied since all this started. Will see
how long it takes to impact room temp

 

[BrowningBAR]

OK, will try a couple more reductions and also monitor stove top temp. Its
interesting that room temp has not varied since all this started. Will see
how long it takes to impact room temp

Just do things slowly. You do not need to close the air all the way down if it's not needed. The goal is a hot stove and a warm room.