US Stove (US1269E) - any tips?

[H.V. Baxendale]

My "Split Air" heat/AC unit wasn't cutting it when the temperatures dropped outside. When it was 20 degrees outside, my split air barely got us to 60 degrees inside. I picked up a little wood stove (US1269E) at Tractor Supply and installed it (single wall pipe 6' to an elbow, then 4 feet out the wall to a T, with 6' of pipe up to the raincap). Since firing it up, we've been toasty warm on cold nights. The problem is that I can't seem to get the temperature of this stove above 300 degrees (according to my Imperial stove pipe thermometer). It's heating about 1,000 square feet and it gets mighty hot in here when it's going... I usually leave the windows open to regulate the heat. I know I need to get the temperature up to around 400 to burn cleaner and avoid too much creosote, but this stove just doesn't seem to burn hot enough. There are no controls to allow more/less airflow. I got frustrated and added a damper, which doesn't increase airflow. Cracking the door open a bit really gets the temps up, but also fills the cabin with smoke, so that option is out. I checked the goofy air intake below the stove and made sure the internal ducts weren't plugged. All looked ok. It's just a crappy design. Worried about creosote buildup at these low temps, so thought I'd clean the pipe... but can't access the pipe from inside the stove due to the goofy 2nd air chamber. This stove has been more frustrating than anything. I should have found a rusty old antique one at a local farm sale... but if you heat fast, you get what's available.
- can't control air intake: anybody got solutions to increase air intake?
- can't clean the pipe with the secondary burn chamber between me and the pipe: how do you do that? Disassemble the chimney pipe?
- can't seem to get the stove pipe temps up to 400: am I the only one having such a problem with this particular stove?
- anybody got tips or hints on using this model stove effectively?
(If only I could get my hands on the old antique stove from Grampa's hunting camp... that was a neat little pot bellied stove that was a snap to operate!)
Thanks,
- Bax

 

[kborndale]

A 4 foot horizontal run on only a 12 foot chimney is a draft killer. How long since your wood was split and stacked? If it hasn't been over a year your wood is most likely quite wet as well. Both of these factors will lead to excessive creosote production and low temps.

 

[BillBurns]

I have this stove. Im happy with . It heats up my whole house, which isnt huge at all but 3 bedrooms. I have this same problem with mine. It is a crappy design, but it was cheap, the looks fit my house ( buit in 1886 ), and it works. Its a pain, but to get the temp up, I add more wood. And crack the door like 1/8th of an inch. Seems like the outside temps and pressure make a lot of difference. I have that same guage, I thought it was faulty, so I bought an IR gun. Same reading, so it works, This stove take a lot of owner input to run right. Ive had mine for 4 years, in PA, and it saves me 1000s on heating oil. I do clean my flue monthly, and it has a little build up, but takes me less than 20 mins, so I do it.

 

[stoveliker]

Most people have a section of telescoping pipe that is easy to take out (by unscrewing it and shortening it so it can be taken out).
Then it's easy to clean the pipe from the inside.

 

[begreen]

300º on the stovepipe is about 600º flue gas temperature which is in the ballpark for the stove. How hot is the stove top?

Can you post some pictures of the install inside and out?

 

[BillBurns]

All I know is, my house leaks air like Swiss cheese ab=nd there are drafts everywhere. Cold spots I call them. Anyways, it heats my house really well for the price and size. Some on here will tell you its junk. I have less than 1500 into my whole setup, and that includes a load of wood. Single wall inside, double thru the wall, then double up to the T cap I put on. I think the T is a good fix. It lets air out both sides, no rain gets in, and I cover it with mesh materiral the spring and summer. Im very happy with the stove all in all. I had mine 4 years now, use hardly any oil.

 

[H.V. Baxendale]

Here's a photo of the stove setup and the chimney pipe outside the house. Note in the pic of my pipe (outside) you can see creosote that ran down the outside of the Tee pipe.

The temperature of the stove top is high enough to boil water... so I guess that's at least 200 degrees.

Another oddity - this stove seems to burn best in the front. So when I add wood, I pull the unburned wood from the rear of the stove to the front and put the fresh wood on top of the charred remains of the first load. I kinda cycle wood back-to-front like that with each refill of the stove.

Most of my wood was cut in April (to make room for the building), but not split until a couple of weeks ago (when I finally got a wood splitter). Other trees were cut down around April, but I didn't cut those trees/limbs into logs until months later (maybe July or August timeframe), and didn't split it until a few days ago. I reckon this isn't ideal. We should be cutting wood THIS year to burn NEXT year... but sometimes you have to work with what you've got out here in the woods. :-(

I will swap the lowest pipe (the one right above the stove) with a telescopic pipe, so I can open it up to brush/clean. On the outside of the house, I opened up the Tee and took a look up there... the Tee itself looked nasty, but the rest of the vertical chimney pipe didn't look bad at all! Probably because creosote was black on a black pipe and the Tee was bare metal and shiny.

I unscrewed the bottom of the Tee and found a lot of sloppy gunky creosote in it (pic below). I've only been using it for a week! Just for fun, I tried lighting the creosote paste with a butane lighter and couldn't get it to ignite. Maybe it's not as flammable as I feared (which is good... my imagination had the equivalent of a nuclear explosion ready to detonate at any unexpected moment in my chimney!).

I really want to like this US1269E stove, but it's difficult to use effectively.
- Bax

 

[bholler]

Here's a photo of the stove setup and the chimney pipe outside the house. Note in the pic of my pipe (outside) you can see creosote that ran down the outside of the Tee pipe.

The temperature of the stove top is high enough to boil water... so I guess that's at least 200 degrees.

Another oddity - this stove seems to burn best in the front. So when I add wood, I pull the unburned wood from the rear of the stove to the front and put the fresh wood on top of the charred remains of the first load. I kinda cycle wood back-to-front like that with each refill of the stove.

Most of my wood was cut in April (to make room for the building), but not split until a couple of weeks ago (when I finally got a wood splitter). Other trees were cut down around April, but I didn't cut those trees/limbs into logs until months later (maybe July or August timeframe), and didn't split it until a few days ago. I reckon this isn't ideal. We should be cutting wood THIS year to burn NEXT year... but sometimes you have to work with what you've got out here in the woods. :-(

I will swap the lowest pipe (the one right above the stove) with a telescopic pipe, so I can open it up to brush/clean. On the outside of the house, I opened up the Tee and took a look up there... the Tee itself looked nasty, but the rest of the vertical chimney pipe didn't look bad at all! Probably because creosote was black on a black pipe and the Tee was bare metal and shiny.

I unscrewed the bottom of the Tee and found a lot of sloppy gunky creosote in it (pic below). I've only been using it for a week! Just for fun, I tried lighting the creosote paste with a butane lighter and couldn't get it to ignite. Maybe it's not as flammable as I feared (which is good... my imagination had the equivalent of a nuclear explosion ready to detonate at any unexpected moment in my chimney!).

I really want to like this US1269E stove, but it's difficult to use effectively.
- Bax

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Well the horizontal run is to long the chimney isn't tall enough and most of it is not chimney pipe

 

[stoveliker]

And your wood is likely sopping wet.

 

[bholler]

And your wood is likely sopping wet.

That too

 

[kborndale]

The problem is your wood and the installation, not the stove. No stove would work well with what you are doing.

 

[all night moe]

Take your interior stove pipe and use two 45* bends. One off the stove and the other at the wall thimble. That will eliminate most of the horizontal run and the two 90* turns.

Outside, get rid of the stove pipe above the cleanout T. Install the same brand chimney as the T, above it. Use the proper height to establish draft. Don't forget bracing. Lastly, you need the support brace under the T and a cap for the bottom cleanout. Oh, and dont forget the chimney cap on top.

 

[H.V. Baxendale]

It's single walled pipe inside the house (to radiate heat), with a fancy thimble. Outside the cabin is the double-walled insulated tee/cleanout pipe; above that is double-walled pipe going up to the rain cap. I didn't use the same fancy stainless steel pipe for the vertical out there, because it was a lot more expensive and it was a lot heavier, too. Another brand of double-wall pipe was cheaper and A LOT lighter, so I went with it. Even though it wasn't the same brand, it fit just fine.

The OEM mounting arrangements for supporting the weight of the Tee wouldn't work because they kept the pipe far too close to the house (wouldn't clear the overhang), so I had to fabricate my own standoff. You can see it in the photos in the thread above.

Next time I go to town, I'll pick up a couple of 45 degree pipes and a telescopic length (so I can take it apart to clean the pipe). Then I'll angle the stove pipe here in the house to get rid of my long horizontal and hopefully increase the draw. I'll probably have to live with it for about a week before I can get to town, though (we're living kinda remote here in the woods).

Due to the low slope angle of the roof, the height passes the safety test for chimney height, but probably isn't drawing as well as a taller pipe would draw. How much taller should the chimney be in order to make it draw better?

Thanks,
- Bax

 

[stoveliker]

The "fancy" pipe is the only type of pipe approved for outside use.
If your home is your largest investment, and it is insured, you may want to reconsider as installs that don't meet code can run into issues with insurance if you want them to pay out.

 

[kborndale]

All that "sloppy creosote" is going to ignite and burn your house down. I would not continue using the stove until you can properly exhaust it. I'm not talking about if it happens, I'm talking about when it happens. Is that stovepipe you have outside actually touching the house as it looks like in the picture? It needs 6" of clearance. It won't last very long being exposed to the weather anyways. Look at how much creosote you have after a week of burning! Almost nothing about your install is safe.

 

[begreen]

This setup has all the makings of a creosote factory for a serious chimney fire. At the very least, replace the stovepipe outside with class A chimney pipe that matches the tee's brand.

 

[all night moe]

All the above will insure a safe woodstove operation. The black pipe outside is stovepipe. Double wall or not, it is made for interior use. The Class A chimney, like your T, is insulated and made for pass throughs and exterior use. Not only will it keep you safe, it'll help keep your chimney warm and provide good draft.

Also, get the right T support and move that chimney back towards the house. Where its supposed to be.
You can either:
A- Use two class A 30* offsets to go around the eve, not recommended.
or
B- pass through the eve with the appropriate kit, highly recommended.

 

[begreen]

On the inside, in order to shorten the interior horizontal section to zero, replace the 90º turn with two 45º elbows and an offset. The top 45 elbow can connect right at the thimble.

 

[H.V. Baxendale]

Awesome, Begreen! That's exactly what I'm going to do! Thanks for the advice!
- Bax

 

[all night moe]

Your biggest creosol maker is on the outside.

 

[bigealta]

Your wet wood is killing you. You can do everything above that everyone has said and it's still gonna be a mess. Your wood it WAY WAY to wet.

Try to find some tops of dead standing trees, try to scrounge some dry wood from craigslist, facebook, neighbors, town dump etc.

And yes still fix all the incorrect chimney pipes.

 

[bigealta]

And the stove seems farther than needed away from the wall? Is that stove calling for 36" clearance? Getting it closer to the wall will shorten that horizontal run which would be a good thing.

Edit: it looks like the manual says 14" or 18" clearance to rear wall?

 

[all night moe]

stove seems farther than needed away from the wall? Is that stove calling for 36" clearance? Getting it closer to the wall will shorten that horizontal run which would be a good thing.

I was thinking the same thing. I figured the OP had enough to worry about.

 

[H.V. Baxendale]

OP has some work to do...

 

[begreen]

Changing out the outdoor pipe to class A chimney pipe and eliminating the 90º turn + horizontal run in the interior stovepipe will help keep the flue gases hotter which in turn will keep draft stronger and reduce creosote accumlation. Put a flue thermometer on the stovepipe about 24" above the stove in order to track flue temp. A normal reading on the magnetic flue thermometer once the fire is burning well will be around 200-350ºF.