I am currently burning wood that is about 12% MC. Is has been seasoning for about 3 years. It is mostly Maple and Ash. The truth is, I don't know if I like the MC down that low. Here is the Good and Bad of it. Good Lights up quick Burns hot Bad It burns way to fast. I am continually feeding wood into the stove Pay more attention to Over firing. I have gotten it a little to hot lately. Let me hear your thoughts. I am thinking I like a higher MC more.
I'm on my phone so I don't see your signature, what stove do you have? Is that from just air drying your wood,? That mc sounds low from air drying, but I don't check mine. I've never had a problem with 3 year air dried Ash or Maple. Are you sure your stove is ok, no small air leaks?
Are the doors and gaskets air tight? Sound s like you're not able to turn the air down far enough. You also may have an unusually strong draw on the chimney. Might add a damper? Just throwing ideas at ya.
Something sounds wrong with the setup. I am burning 2 year old pine in my T6 and have complete control over the fire. If anything should burn quick, hot, and uncontrollable it should be pine. I second the idea that you need to check all of your stove seams and gaskets. If it isn't that measure the draft on your chimney.
The good: it lights up quick and burns hot. The better: you turn the draft down and get more heat from the wood. Turning the draft down is what keeps it from burning too fast.
Maybe you are splitting to small? To much air to the far? Lots of variables it seems. I learned that lesson too when I replaced an old Ben Franklin type stove with this Oslo. Boohcooh learning curve to over come.
How do you go about this. My Buck 80 gets near thermonuclear too easy. The air controls are good and the door gaskets are tight so that leaves me with your suggestion.
I second the idea of adding a damper. It's helped me save a lot of wood and get some slower, nicer burns.
I had the same issue about two years ago with the F3. I added a key damper and used it on certain days. It did slow the draft down and I could tell it was keeping more heat in the room. I was at my local stove shop a few weeks ago talking with a Jotul rep and he said that the F3 is a pretty "free flowing" stove. It drafts really easy.
Here is a link to a manometer that could be used for under $40. If your draft is way to high you could always add a barometric damperOr add a key damper. http://store.solutionsdirectonline....e=googlebase&gclid=CLHkoYfQlcICFYLtMgodURsAQA
Sounds like a good problem to have! I'm getting pretty good at running my stove, but I've changed up my technique a bit since I've been burning drier wood. "Too hot" can be easily solved by just burning less wood! Smaller or less frequent loads have done the trick for me.
I have a damper, I do use. It still gets hot. My goal will be to use less wood or mix it with some of my less seasoned wood.
I'd want to absolutely rule out tall chimney draft and stove leaks before I went wasting fuel 0r burning inefficiently. I don't buy "too dry". I've had old wood that was breaking down and decomposing and it burned like paper but I doubt I could have burned it more efficiently by raising its moisture content. Besides I wouldn't have done that to my stove, chimney or neighbors.
That MC sounds awesome, just fully close your damper and turn you're air inlets down as far as they will go. You'll get a crazy efficient burn. Saying wood is too dry is like saying your gasoline in your car is not watered down enough. Better mix some water in that gas so it'll last longer.
