When are you going to light your first fire for the season?

[moresnow]

Cleaned the pipe. Cleaned the stove. Vacuumed the Cat front and back. Loaded up a medium load and touched her off. Soooo nice

First of the year

 

[walhondingnashua]

Burned in the cabin in the Upper Peninsula all weekend. Cleaning the stove and pipe in the house tonight and lighting first fire tomorrow.

 

[SpaceBus]

I finally have a handful of fires under my belt on the new Jotul F55. Also lit the first break in fire on the new Jotul F45 downstairs. Its 40F out right now (mid day), was 21F this morning.

Cleanest the inside of the F45 will ever be:
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First break in fire:
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Inside a brand new F55. Only complaint is the back firebrick that is not flush with the sides, makes it a bit harder to load. It holds a lot of wood.

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The F55 basking in the sun, waiting for the coals to burn down.

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Your jotul fireboxes look just like my Morso firebox with the stepped rectangular secondary manifolds, just much wider and taller!

 

[SpaceBus]

Wife got cold, and I wasn't exactly overheated..
View attachment 249333

This is how most of the fires I've lit this season have been.

 

[Kevin Weis]

Got 2 breakin fires done. Two more and I'm ready to go.

 

[Woody Stover]

Got 2 breakin fires done. Two more and I'm ready to go.

You can proudly put your stove in your signature..

 

[Zack R]

Another hard break in fire on the downstairs Jotul F45. Getting the paint really cured this time. With 30+' of chimney and only the two 45 degree bends this thing really has some serious draft.

 

[Knots]

Another hard break in fire on the downstairs Jotul F45. Getting the paint really cured this time. With 30+' of chimney and only the two 45 degree bends this thing really has some serious draft.

I have an F55 with ~26 feet of straight pipe. I had to tape off most of the opening for the secondary air. It really pulls...

 

[SpaceBus]

Another hard break in fire on the downstairs Jotul F45. Getting the paint really cured this time. With 30+' of chimney and only the two 45 degree bends this thing really has some serious draft.

View attachment 249406

Try shutting down the air earlier and watching flue temp vs stove top. I bet that number is even more misleading since that's a clad stove.

 

[Zack R]

Try shutting down the air earlier and watching flue temp vs stove top. I bet that number is even more misleading since that's a clad stove.

That was the hottest part I could find (although that number did get closer to 800F as time went on). Most of the stove was closer to 500-600F. On the sides where the cast iron jacket is separated from the stove to allow air flow its much cooler, more in the 200-300F range.

On the F45 I can close the air all of the way and it still pulls strong, if I do that on the F55 it will choke it out so I I close it about 75% of the way instead.

 

[Woody Stover]

On the F45 I can close the air all of the way and it still pulls strong, if I do that on the F55 it will choke it out so I I close it about 75% of the way instead.

Huh. I didn't think you could smolder a non-cat stove. What is the chimney setup on the F55?

 

[Zack R]

Huh. I didn't think you could smolder a non-cat stove. What is the chimney setup on the F55?

By choke it out I mean the fire is still going but visible flames die off and the temps start to slowly go down. If i move the air control about 75% closed it runs as usual with secondaries and dark blue flame.

I imagine when I run it harder (fuller loads and more coals) as the weather gets colder I'll be able to move the air primary control all the way closed.

 

[Woody Stover]

By choke it out I mean the fire is still going but visible flames die off and the temps start to slowly go down. If i move the air control about 75% closed it runs as usual with secondaries and dark blue flame.
I imagine when I run it harder (fuller loads and more coals) as the weather gets colder I'll be able to move the air primary control all the way closed.

Gotcha. How tall is the stack on the F55?
Something I've wondered about..in certain situations, can a secondary stove somehow still burn clean, even if you don't see flames coming off the secondary? I haven't had enough experience on my SIL's new T5 yet, to know all the ins and outs of it. I've only operated cat stoves, or an old smoke dragon.
All I know is that it was pulling like crazy on only 15' of stack, I couldn't squelch the fire by closing the air all the way, stove top was pushing 700, and it was like 45 outside! No control!

 

[SpaceBus]

My stove used to keep going with the air control turned all the way down and the hottest part raging at 700df. Then I stopped looking at stove top temp and only looked at the pipe thermo. Now I can close it down earlier, run it 20-25% open in the shoulder season and then get most of the heat out of the wood. In mid winter it's more like 5-15% open but I still started turning down sooner. Begreen suggested it in several threads and I did the same and it worked, total control over the fire. I obsessed so much over stove top temp and it's better for me to just not know what it is. Once I get the insulated liner dropped in I'll have to be even quicker with the turn down, it runs like a greased pig with an 8" square tile liner!

 

[geoxman]

Been working on a hedge row for the past couple of years, plenty cut and stacked. I have a bunch of locust, elm, mulberry, oak and hickory left over from last year.
Just lit my first fire today with some old elm and threw on a few locust logs on top. Feels great!!

 

[Woody Stover]

My stove used to keep going with the air control turned all the way down and the hottest part raging at 700df. Then I stopped looking at stove top temp and only looked at the pipe thermo. Now I can close it down earlier, run it 20-25% open in the shoulder season and then get most of the heat out of the wood. In mid winter it's more like 5-15% open but I still started turning down sooner. Begreen suggested it in several threads and I did the same and it worked, total control over the fire.

What flue temps are you seeing? I have a surface meter, maybe 15" above the stove top.
I fired her T5 tonight, top-down start in the back, where the fire would have to work its way upstream to get more wood burning. It went pretty well, I cut air pretty early, and flue temp surface meter leveled off at maybe 450, stove top looked like it would go a little over 700 and level out, the way the load was burning. I told her to keep an eye on it, and call me if it headed north of 750. I didn't hear from her.
But it was still 50 outside when I started that load, so low draft was moderating the burn..
I'll try being even more aggressive cutting the air tomorrow when I burn another load. But at the same time, I want to get stove temp up quickly for a clean burn, so it seems like it's going to be a balancing act between getting reburn temp quickly, yet not getting too much wood burning and gassing.
Then, after these two 40* nights, it gets warmer and we won't burn again for several days.

 

[SpaceBus]

What flue temps are you seeing? I have a surface meter, maybe 15" above the stove top.
I fired her T5 tonight, top-down start in the back, where the fire would have to work its way upstream to get more wood burning. It went pretty well, I cut air pretty early, and flue temp surface meter leveled off at maybe 450, stove top looked like it would go a little over 700 and level out, the way the load was burning. I told her to keep an eye on it, and call me if it headed north of 750. I didn't hear from her.
But it was still 50 outside when I started that load, so low draft was moderating the burn..
I'll try being even more aggressive cutting the air tomorrow when I burn another load. But at the same time, I want to get stove temp up quickly for a clean burn, so it seems like it's going to be a balancing act between getting reburn temp quickly, yet not getting too much wood burning and gassing.
Then, after these two 40* nights, it gets warmer and we won't burn again for several days.

I've been loading some 1x12 material left over from projects split down to 2" wide along with some small splits. Maybe 8 lbs of fuel total. My flue temps are lower than I'd like with the giant flue, they never go above 350df surface temp. This is partly due to my stove design and of course the oversized flue. We shall see how things go in the future with a proper insulated liner. We've had a few mornings in the 30's but it's been 40's mornings and nights lately. It's crazy warm here today from the Noreaster, so no fires today. The wind would probably be difficult to deal with anyway.

 

[PaulOinMA]

First fire last night, October 16. Gypsy immediately took the little shearling throw on the couch when my wife got up. Whiskers didn't join me on the porch for a cigar (not that he has one), preferring the back of the loveseat in the 70-degree den.

Quite the nor'easter last night. 90 mph wind gust in Provincetown. Worcester received 3 1/4 inches rain.

 

[SpaceBus]

First fire last night, October 16. Gypsy immediately took the little shearling throw on the couch when my wife got up. Whiskers didn't join me on the porch for a cigar (not that he has one), preferring the back of the loveseat in the 70-degree den.

Quite the nor'easter last night. 90 mph wind gust in Provincetown. Worcester received 3 1/4 inches rain.

It is still going here.

 

[Chas0218]

I've burned once when the overnight was 36* but until we get down to overnights consistently in the 40s I will hold off as long as possible. I'm trying to get down to 5 cords/year for burning. I want to stop burning the end of April hopefully sooner but that doesn't usually happen in N.Y.

 

[ohlongarm]

Had to happen last evening ,raw windy and damp,first light up in the BK Parlor.
Elm ten years old it felt like bricks instead of wood ,up to temp at 6PM,
Ten thirty now still burning and producing heat but waning,house never deviated one degree in this time frame,love those BK's.

 

[HisTreeNut]

The CHO of the Household (Cheif Heating Officer, was cold today, and I came home to my son stoking the fire for her. So much for waiting until November to begin burning...
[[[sigh]]]

Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk

 

[Woody Stover]

I stopped looking at stove top temp and only looked at the pipe thermo...Begreen suggested it in several threads and I did the same and it worked, total control over the fire.

What a difference a day makes! I built a top-down load in the T5 with a couple big White Ash on the bottom, then a couple small splits, soft Maple and Red Elm, a couple kindling and a SuperCedar chunk, starting the fire in the back of the box. I started cutting air at 250 on the surface flue meter. The secondary was firing and plume was clean at 15 minutes. I shut the air and key damper soon after that, the big rounds were starting to catch, secondary still firing, so I left it in the hands of my SIL shortly after.
Again, it was 50 outside, so strong draft wasn't a factor. But I feel that by the time cold temps and strong draft gets here, I'll be able to control the stove in spite of that..one way or the other.

 

[Woody Stover]

My flue temps are lower than I'd like with the giant flue, they never go above 350df surface temp. This is partly due to my stove design...We shall see how things go in the future with a proper insulated liner.

You may find that with the chamber on top of your stove extracting heat from the exhaust, it may keep the flue a bit cooler and strong draft won't affect you as much as it might with a different stove..

 

[SpaceBus]

You may find that with the chamber on top of your stove extracting heat from the exhaust, it may keep the flue a bit cooler and strong draft won't affect you as much as it might with a different stove..

Yeah, the top definitely extracts more heat out of the flue. Unfortunately the chamber is the first place fly ash, soot, and creosote start to accumulate. At least it's fairly easy to clean. My wood last year was crap, so maybe this year there will be even less.