So I had my new house finished and went with a summit stove been burning a few weeks now and am pleased with the stove. It's been keeping the house around 73 degrees running on low. My only concern is running the stove this low all the time may cause alot of creosote. Am I paranoid or are the epa stoves real clean burnin?. I have a standing seam roof with a 6/12 pitch so going up on the roof isn't something I want to do often. To get past a truse they had to put 2 30 degree elbows in the chimney (double wall stainless). Does it sound like this could be a problem or not much to worry about? Again I haven't got much of a clue with the epa stoves. I am planning on purchasing a soot eater tool and going to clean from the bottom up just wondering how often I should clean the chimney with this sort of set up.
Low burning on an EPA tube stove can cause creosote, especially if your wood is not well-seasoned. EPA tube stoves do burn cleanly with enough air for combustion, however, a stove with the air intakes consistently choked off will not burn cleanly. Take a look at your chimney exhaust while burning to get an idea of what's happening in the firebox. Is the exhaust thick blue, wisps of blue smoke, white steam, ???? When I had an EPA tube stove, it was common practice to let it rip with the air intakes wide open to blast off soot on the glass and inside the firebox. While it may be overkill at first, a monthly inspection and cleaning of your chimney pipe with the Soot Eater will ensure safe operation. No one ever had a chimney fire because they kept their chimney clean. The frequent inspections early on will also give you a good idea of how clean the burn is and you can adjust accordingly. The best place to start is with quality firewood that measures less than 20% on a moisture meter (measure the outside of a split, chop it in half and measure the inside. The average should be 20% or less).
Wood is a big part of the equation but when you say run low do you mean once you get it hot you turn the air down or you don't need as much heat as it puts out so you're running it low? Either way Golf's advice is good and you'll see what's going on by checking it often.
I have a T6 which is the fancy version of the Summit and easily go two years without cleaning my chimney. Even when I do clean it is not much more than a palm full of fluffy dust but the reason for this is because I am burning 4 year old wood that is dry and seasoned. All of that being said the Summit is a great stove capable of impressive burn times and burns very cleanly when given the right fuel. The posters above are on to something good when they are asking about your firewood situation and we need to know the type of wood as well as the dry time on it. With the fact you are unsure of the setup I would be checking my chimney every month at first and then spacing it out as you are comfortable. Also can you expound on the slow burn. I burn mine at the lowest air setting all the time and as long as you are getting secondary action and no smoke out of the chimney you should be good to go.
Thanks guys. Most all the wood I have been burning isn't well seasoned but was cut split and stacked before June. I have been trying to use up the stuff that was dead when I cut it up and am trying to burn what ever wood I have that is light in feeling and sounds hollow when I clunk it together. Mostly burning cherry,walnut and some oak. The oak I am burning is stuff I got at the sawmill that was throwaways when they hit hollow spots in the logs, it didn't have any bark on it. I haven't been hearing much sizzling from the wood when it gets in the stove. I cut as much wood as I could to get ahead for next burning season so I have better wood to burn, but really this stuff dosnt seem to burn bad now as good of heat as I am getting out of it. I run the stove on high when I fill it for about 10 or 15 min until the logs are going good then I turn it down on low . Stove is in the basement total sq footage of the house including the basement is about 2350 sq ft
I've got the PE fusion. It has no problem burning with no visible smoke on the lowest setting. I burn wide open until the logs are going very well and they have gone beyond a simple surface char:they get a cracked look that you will recognize after a while. Then I turn it down. Seems to work best if I go to half throttle to make sure I haven't turned it down too soon, then as low as I want which is usually all the way down. If you go all the way down and the wood isn't well lit or it is still wet it will smoke and deposit creosote. But the engineers did not design it to have a low setting that should never be used. The lowest setting is fine once the wood is ready for it. If your wood is not fully dried (it isn't) , it will take longer with the air open before it is ready to slow it down.
Too many variables to make that statement, keeping track of flue temps is the best insurance that you are not burning too low.
Oldspark, you are 100% correct in what you've said. I realize that my statement could imply that low is always OK. My intention was to clarify that the lowest setting isn't necessarily or inherently a problem. This was brought home to me recently when I switched to a different batch of wood. Once the wood is ready for it, I can turn down to the lowest setting and get a clean burn without smoke but if I leave it on low overnight, I end up with a stove full of charcoal. The lowest setting simply doesn't support burning the coals all the way to ash. Other woods behave differently and can burn to nothing with the air all the way down. Turning it all the way down once the wood is ready doesn't cause a creosote problem with that wood in my stove. I do believe that the engineers designed the stove so that the lowest setting is appropriate in at least some circumstances. I do not mean to imply it is appropriate in all circumstances with any stove.
Not all stoves can be turned down that way EPA or not was my point. My new stove can not be turned down to the lowest setting but my old Summit could be turned down lower but rarely did I ever turn it down all the way. close but not all the way.
