In loving memory of Kenis D. Keathley 6/4/81 - 3/27/22 Loving father, husband, brother, friend and firewood hoarder Rest in peace, Dexterday

Time Lapse video: Long locust burn in Woodstock's Ideal Steel stove

Discussion in 'Modern EPA Stoves and Fireplaces' started by BrianK, Jan 7, 2014.

  1. BrianK

    BrianK

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    Hi folks,
    I picked up a GorillaPod mini video tripod and a SnapMount SM2 Tripod Mount to hold my iPhone and figured out how to use the TimeLapse app from xyster that I downloaded for my iPhone.

    gorilla pod.jpg

    I just took a 16 hour time lapse video of a big load of 3 year seasoned honey locust, generously donated by Scotty for this test.

    You can see at the beginning of the video that I had about 9 large locust splits and three small ones packed in fairly tight. I would call this burn a medium to medium high burn. I started this burn cycle with a cold stove with cold ash bed at 6:00pm, a first floor temp of 68 and outside temps at 4 degrees. (We were running the natural gas furnace for 24 hours prior because I wanted to burn down coals and empty some ash prior to this burn cycle.) At 7pm, stove was throwing off massive amounts of heat, first floor temps were 79 degrees, outside temp 0 degrees, with high wind, and I cut the air back from 50% to 25%. At midnite I needed more heat so I opened air up to 40% at which point in the video the secondairies reappair after briefly stopping. That was six hours into the burn, outside temps were -12 degrees and first floor temps were 72, and I went to bed.

    I left the house thermostat set around 66. I don't want my pipes to freeze in the basement so I prefer the natural gas furnace to kick on in the early morning for a couple hours. The women of the house also prefer it that way, just because.

    I set the TimeLapse app to record for 16 hours and create a 1 minute long time lapse video, so every 4 seconds of the video is equivalent to about an hour of the burn cycle. I.e., at 30 seconds in the video, 8 hours have passed in the burn cycle. This also gives a good idea of just how long the secondaries last throughout this burn cycle.

    I put the magnetic stove top thermometer over the hot spot on the front of the stove right above the door. This is the single hottest spot on the entire stove and is usually about 100 degrees hotter than the stove top thermometer next to the flu collar. Most of the heat comes off the top front of this stove. You can watch the thermometer go up quickly at the start then slowly descend till the end as well as the time period the stove produced usable heat by comparing the thermometer to the total video time. I opened up the air to 100% three hours before the end of the video to burn down the coals and you can see the coals flare up a bit then die down again right before the end of the video.

    I also had a box fan blowing on the iPhone from behind to keep it from overheating during the programmed time lapse which probably cooled the stove a bit prematurely. (When I first tried to use the time lapse app to record a burn, the iPhone overheated and turned itself off early and I didn't want that to happen again.)



    Now watch it a second time, keeping an eye on the thermometer needle throughout the cycle. You can also see when the cat was engaged and follow the air settings change at the bottom left corner.
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2014
  2. BrowningBAR

    BrowningBAR

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    16 hours during this weather? That's pretty good.
     
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  3. BrianK

    BrianK

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    I didn't know how long to set the video, so I arbitrarily picked 16 hours. Watch the video and follow the needle on the thermometer. I'd say it was producing good strong heat up till about 50 seconds, approximately 12 hours. After that the temp drops off a good bit in the final coaling stage. I opened up the air to 100% three hours before the end of the video to burn down the coals.
     
  4. Tenn Dave

    Tenn Dave

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    Thanks Brian. That video was very cool.
     
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  5. Certified106

    Certified106

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    Cool video thanks for sharing!
     
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  6. BrowningBAR

    BrowningBAR

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    Works for me. Now I just need to find a way to afford it AND wedge the thing into the kitchen fireplace.
     
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  7. Todd

    Todd

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    Very impressive burn. Thanks for sharing.
     
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  8. Scotty Overkill

    Scotty Overkill Administrator

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    Very cool video! So, being a first time locust user, what'd ya think? Black locust is a bit better than honey, I'm just now hitting the black locust in my stacks. I must say that was an impressive burn cycle for the stove!
     
  9. BrianK

    BrianK

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    Thanks Scotty, and thanks again for donating the wood.

    Love, LOVE, LOVE the locust!

    Fine very hot and long burning wood, left very little in the way of ash or coals.

    And that stuff took off great. I used a couple small pieces of kiln dried oak and one block of 3x6 oak in the middle to get everything going from a cold start with no hot coals. That locust took off like tinder. No trouble getting it started.
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2014
  10. concretegrazer

    concretegrazer

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    Very nice! Honey locust is some of the best! Now you need some hedge.:thumbs:
     
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  11. Machria

    Machria

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    What was the max temp the thermo hit? It looks like it maxes out in the beginning?

    WOW on every level!

    1. WOW to the effort of the video! Nice going Brain, and thanks!
    2. WOW to the App, that is WAAAAY cool. Off to download!
    3. WOW to the stoves performance, and Woodstocks efforts!
    4. WOW for the donated wood!
    5. And for the heck of it, why not, WOW for tomorrow with is Wednesday, what WOW is REALLY for! ;)
     
  12. BrianK

    BrianK

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    It maxed at just a little over 800 but I'm not sure how accurate that is. When I check it with the IR thermometer it reads about 720 at the same spot at that temp. I reloaded about 17 hours after that burn cycle started, around 11:00, from a small amount of hot coals. Here's the same thermometer in the same spot now:
     

    Attached Files:

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  13. Machria

    Machria

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    YIKES, that's HOT! (Not said like Parris H!)
     
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  14. concretegrazer

    concretegrazer

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    I have that brand of thermometer it stinks. Slow to heat up then when it hits around 500 it'll jump to 700.
     
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  15. BrianK

    BrianK

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    I just watched the video again. You're right, that thing did max out during the video, probably almost 900. Judging by my checks with the IR I'd say that spot probably hit 760-790. Stove top usually trails that spot by 100 degrees so stove top probably hit 660-690, definitely a new high. Its pumping out one helluva lot of heat at that point. In this old drafty house, with outside temps below zero and wind, the first floor of my house went from 68 to 79 in an hour on that burn!

    I think I finally "got it out of third gear" with that load of locust on high. :whistle:

    Interestingly, my double wall stove pipe probe thermometer never read higher than 750 during that high burn.
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2014
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  16. charlie

    charlie

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    Thanks for setting that all up Brian... That will also be a great video for Woodstock to have as well... That's one heck of a heater and not to steep on the projected price either. Looks like you guys are staying plenty warm as well.. Again great job!
     
  17. Machria

    Machria

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    Can you re-do it? I don't like the camera angle! :D
     
  18. BrianK

    BrianK

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    Its supposed to get back up to 50 on Sunday. I was thinking of doing another one this weekend with the locust on a slower burn. (I have new toys! Bought with an Amazon card from Christmas! I gotta play with them!) I want to take this video with the iPhone vertical to include the stove pipe probe thermometer readings. That might change the camera angle. ;)
     
  19. rdust

    rdust

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    Great video! Only thing missing is a clock for a time reference.
     
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  20. BrianK

    BrianK

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    Oh ... Yeah! Good idea. Next time. Know of any heat resistant clocks?