Valcourt FP15 Waterloo Arched finally arrived and installed.

[AlaskaNorth]

We have hair started using the Valcourt Waterloo. It’s a beast. We are concerned about the ability to slow down the burn rate. She RIPS through wood like there is no tomorrow.

What did you guys do to choke the OAK a bit. Maybe that would slow it down?

Our fear is when full loaded she just runs at an uncontrollable rate and with just a few pieces of wood she only last about 90 minutes.

Over time I have just learned the flow for us. We have a very tall chimney and it drafts very well. On windy day it eats wood faster. We also have very dry and limited wood selections in Spruce and Birch. I make sure it's running well, and I slowly temper it down to it's lowest point eventually. I also installed an electronic damper on the Outside Air Intake and will typically close that as well.

 

[gordjopling]

Have you checked your gaskets? How tall is your chimney, you may need a key damper or two.

Our chimney is maybe average in height, approx 24 feet. Gaskets are good. Installer came back and check those.

I’d like to know more about what you used as an electronic damper??? That sounds very interesting.

Attached is a photo of it with just 4 logs painting 20 minutes ago. I’ll need to reload in an hour.
Raging right now.

It’s awesome. And we have the forded air kit just blasting into the basement it’s quite amazing.

Would just love the fuel to last a bit longer.

 

[gordjopling]

Over time I have just learned the flow for us. We have a very tall chimney and it drafts very well. On windy day it eats wood faster. We also have very dry and limited wood selections in Spruce and Birch. I make sure it's running well, and I slowly temper it down to it's lowest point eventually. I also installed an electronic damper on the Outside Air Intake and will typically close that as well.

Our chimney is maybe average in height, approx 24 feet. Gaskets are good. Installer came back and check those.

I’d like to know more about what you used as an electronic damper??? That sounds very interesting.

Attached is a photo of it with just 4 logs painting 20 minutes ago. I’ll need to reload in an hour.
Raging right now.

It’s awesome. And we have the forded air kit just blasting into the basement it’s quite amazing.

Would just love the fuel to last a bit longe

 

[AlaskaNorth]

I installed flex duct for the outside air intake instead of rigid pipe. I put a zone control electronic damper in and I control it with smart devices. I have quite the automation with Home Assistant setup. The fireplace Distribution blower will route heat to any room calling for it etc. As for getting longer burns, I feel your pain. I have made sure to regulate with the amount of fuel I add. This is BIG box and it's deceiving how fuel it can accept. If I load this thing up it's going to torch through the fuel. If I get a good bed of coals and only add 2 to 3 pieces at a time it works out well.

Are you sure the air control is correct? Fully closed is all the way to the right and the sliding tab pulled out toward you. I always run the unit fully closed to the right and use the tab for finer control. I might push the tab all the way in and open it if I add some logs to let them catch, one they do I close it half, then full 20 mins later.

 

[gordjopling]

I installed flex duct for the outside air intake instead of rigid pipe. I put a zone control electronic damper in and I control it with smart devices. I have quite the automation with Home Assistant setup. The fireplace Distribution blower will route heat to any room calling for it etc. As for getting longer burns, I feel your pain. I have made sure to regulate with the amount of fuel I add. This is BIG box and it's deceiving how fuel it can accept. If I load this thing up it's going to torch through the fuel. If I get a good bed of coals and only add 2 to 3 pieces at a time it works out well.

Are you sure the air control is correct? Fully closed is all the way to the right and the sliding tab pulled out toward you. I always run the unit fully closed to the right and use the tab for finer control. I might push the tab all the way in and open it if I add some logs to let them catch, one they do I close it half, then full 20 mins later.

Ya. Our air control is correct.

We’ve sort of got it regulated. I blocked off the entire OAK. Just put a large magnet over it. It’s helped bit. But man we still get a really quick burn.

At this point. We can’t load it before bed (say 11:00pm) and be sure there will even be coals in the morning. We really don’t know what time we lose heat at night. It’s a bit disappointing.

The rest of the time when we are able to add a couple logs every hour or so, it’s brilliant. Beautiful fire and great heat. Just wish we could burn longer.

 

[AlaskaNorth]

Yeah..that's my experience as well. I really don't the the OAK is needed very often if at all. I even reached out to my installer with the same experiences you're having. Do you have the blocker plates installed on the lower rightE where the OAK comes into the unit? Mine didn't have it installed and I noticed cold air seeping into the room. My installer corrected it and that seemed to help.

I have good results not splitting the wood up as much as you normally would. Like big quarter rounds. At night I load those. In the morning sometimes I have ok coals and can just put a log in but most mornings there's just a handful of embers. Remember, all this EPA crap doesn't allow you to choke these down anymore.