Keystone 18 hour "burn"

Todd, I enjoy reading your posts about Keystone. The long burn times are amazing. I remember you from the other forum. Question: I have a small 1200 sq ft ranch. 5 1/2 inch liner , 15 ft. Long in masonry fireplace. Right now I'm using Englander insert with no problems. Do you think it's possible to run Keystone in my location, on such a short , undersized chimney, or Fireview would work better ?

 

So the fox fire method is to char the wood? Then immediately set the draft to 0-.3 and leave it? If you could, please give a short detailed description of exactly how you are doing this?
I would like to trial this method once on the fireview exactly how you are burning the keystone.

 

15' should be fine, I only have about 13' and my stove drafts pretty good. I'd like to have a few more feet but I don't think its worth the cost of extending my chimney.

I'm heating 1200 sq ft in WIS so you should be OK in CON unless you have really poor insulation and leaks.

I use to burn a Fireview with a 5.5" liner that was about 18" and had no issues. You may have a problem connecting it to the Keystone, may have to find a special adapter?

 

Got it. Thanks Todd. I have to take a trip to Woodstock this Spring or Summer.

 

That's pretty much it, with the stove top at 200F or so.

 

I agree with Todd. I think either the FV or the KS would draft fine. Are you using a 13NCI now? How well does it keep up? You are welcome to post here but would get more eyes on with a new thread.

 

ETA: I said earlier that I rarely drop the draft in stages. I rarely do for the sake of it, but charing the wood, then dropping the draft to zero or near it, will leave a haze on the glass. This is my morning routine when going to work. But when I load up for the night burn, I usually burn with the draft set at 1-1.5 for about an hour, to burn the haze off the glass from the morning routine. I guess that is dropping the draft in stages, kind of.

 

Fox, I apologize for hijacking the thread. Yes , I am using 13NCI for about 6 winters now. I am happy with it for the most part. My biggest problem with it is no overnight burn. After reading so many great comments about cat stoves , I would like to try one . I wonder how it wood perform in my small house.

 

No apology necessary. No doubt the FV or KS would give you an easy overnight burn. Does the 13NCI produce plenty of heat for your needs? Its about the same size as the KS.

 

Yes. I get enough heat from my 13NCI. Sometimes even too much . When is 32F outside and above , I have to put 2 splits at a time or it gets too hot for our comfort. I suspect there is no insulation in my walls, so I have to maintain fire all day .

 

Thanks for the reply Fox. I have tried the method you speak of before, I am not too comfortable with the extra smoke generated on the front end of the burn, but I will give it a go next weekend with some 4 + year old oak.

I've had zero problems with overnight burns in my fireview and have a tall stack that drafts really hard. As long as there is a good load of wood, proper procedures are followed, like clockwork 10+ hours the stove top is still at or above 200 with an easy reload. I'm heating a draft old 155 year old log farm house with balloon framing in MN.

Still not out of the question of adding a IS or Progress to rid myself of burning corn/pellets to keep the furnace off.

 

It's possible that by the time you get to that high a stove temp, you have a lot of wood gassing and it will be hard to slow it down for a low SST burn at that point. Something I'm messing with to try to light off quicker is to ramp up with smaller stuff in the front on the coals, then a wall of rounds or bigger splits in back of that, with no coals underneath. The wall will be slow to light, keeping the load more tame, while at the same time keeping the flame in the front top of the box to heat up that area for the light-off.

It is certainly desired by me; The no-flame burn uses less wood, and as long as I can hold house temp, great. Why do you feel that it's undesirable to snuff the flame? So, how much height did you add to your stack, and how tall is it now?

Both stoves are easy breathers, shouldn't be a problem. Goin' to Woodstock, huh? Sounds like the Keystone army will be increasing by one stove, soon.

If you've got the right temps and conditions in the stove, weather you determine those with a stove top meter (the worst way with soapstone IMO because it lags so far behind fire box conditions,) a probe or a flue meter, you should be a strong light-off and glowing cat within 15 seconds...surely in less than a minute, and not much smoke outta the stack.

 

My last reload-
Engaged cat @ 200F stove top, 400F cat probe, set draft at 0.
Smoke completely cleared up immediately.

 

I have a probe thermometer and engage no earlier than 800 usually at 1000 degrees. Have the second generation SS converter coupled with the SS scoop kit.

 

I does sound a little backwards but I've seen the results. My stove top temp drops when I open the draft a little to get a flame show. I believe it's just like you say, even though the stove is making more heat it's radiating out of the entire stove not concentrated just under the stove top by the cat.

 

Do you get smoke when engaging at cat temps any lower than this?
I'm also using a second gen SS.

 

I can get no smoke at lower temps but over all guaranteed performance at 800-1000 and usually that is the temp of the probe by the time I get the front splits to start charring, I generally run the stove at 1 with the bypass open to drive out moisture and get the splits charred. Once the load lights, I have to step down to one in a real hurry or the stack temps get pretty high.

 

About where are your stove temps when you close the bypass? Stock probe? If so, notice how temp hardly rises when you light the cat? That's due to the probe not reaching a position above the face of the cat. My Dw and Buck, cat probe takes off when the cat lights, and will settle in around 1400.

 

My cat continues to be finicky. I've played around with it and tried Fox type burns but most times it will stall. It seems to like it much better if I engage at #2 and wait about 15 min until stove top is over 400 and cat temp over 1000, then I can pretty much set it where ever I'd like.

I did order a new steel cat from WS 2 weeks ago, still haven't received it. Maybe its back ordered, I'll have to check.