Your take on the most efficient flame/burning technique in your stove

Hey guys, just wondering what your thoughts are on how the fire/flame is compared to the efficiency, kind of the most bang for your buck, and how it's related to the stove temperature. I've noticed a few different types of secondary burns with my stove.

Ghost fire/northern lights- The stove is hot, the air is throttled back, and flames dance and whisp in the firebox without really throwing jets of flame from the tubes. A very slow burn on the edge of stalling.

Low burn- hot stove, air throttled back, and some dancing flames, and flames jetting from the secondaries, almost appearing like it was some kind of gas burner from the tubes. In this example and above, the wood is charred but there is none or minimal flame coming directly off the wood.

Normal burn- Some flame coming off the wood, secondaries firing nice jets, some flame and secondaries sneaking up into the channel between the baffles.

Whoops burn- Flame everywhere in the box, in the air and off the wood, secondaries lit and spinning and roiling, flames shooting up top between the baffles. Not quite an overfire, but not what you want to do every time you load the stove.

I'm sure there's more, so feel free to add your "I burn dis way fellers" here. Where do you run your stove, and why? Where do you think the most efficiency is (not heat)? I'll explain my preference after a few guys get 'er going, and it kind of doesn't make sense lol.

Sorry for the wall of text, guess I have no life.

 

Good Q. How's things in P.A.? Used to live in Nipigon in the poplar plywood mill. Lot's went from there to P.A. in the 60's. anyway, I am not a normal woodburner, or otherwise either, I am told. LOL. I don't get my knickers in a knot about how much efficiency I can squeeze out of a given amount of wood. I like clean!!! Clean as in minimal particulate effluent into the atmosphere and clean glass so we can enjoy just the sort of things you describe. the better EPA stoves are reasonably efficient, low emissions and keep glass pretty well clean all the time. We used a Napoleon 1400 for many years and it was just such a stove. Two colder than normal winters and an old stiff body led me to a wood stove shop. I was soon the owner of a cat/hybrid big heat stove. I am of the opinion (just mine let me emphasize) that they all have a place but none are perfect or for everybody. We are not destitute so price of the stove was far from the main decision driver. Just wanted a fair deal. I will say for sure it requires more skill and effort to keep the glass somewhat clean. The flame conditions you describe all take place in sequence with a cat/hybrid. Starts off going full blast then is throttled back to less flame and little secondary burn unless it is run hot. Eventually is has little flame and lot's of charcoal and then just a bit of charcoal and the cycle is repeated. Keeping the glass somewhat clean is the kicker. In order to do this the air damper must be open about a quarter of the way. The flames are not too bad for the initial 2 - 3 hours then it's CAT time primarily and forget the flame show. We both love the flame show when its on. We both love the extra heat. We both bemoan dirty glass. Our wood stove is a big part of our winter lives out in the boonies. We are just a couple of warm Canucks like you ... and truly blessed.

 

Oh, things are not too bad in Prince Albert, same old place it ever was. Kind of changed in the mid eighties, and then some years back, the mill shut down, so it's not quite a booming city, if it ever was. Gateway to the north, they call it....lots of tourism/service industry and gov't jobs.

About the flames, it's more curiousity, I won't be losing sleep over it that's for sure. I found a sweet spot that makes the temps get higher to a point, but the flue temps drop. So I'm thinking this is where the efficiency is maxing out (I'll get into that in another thread later) I run a little Englander 17-VL, so you could run this thing like those old wood or coal fired locomotives, and you still couldn't burn 4 cord in a winter. Too small a firebox!

 

That an awesome stove and set up. We have no flue temp capability yet. We go by the thought that cat takes off at 500-700 degrees C and keep the indicator on the stove below max and cross out fingers. We're new at the cat/hybrid game and have lots to learn as we get more into it. It's been so darn warm we have to try and keep the heat output sensible within reason. (like <90 F in the main room where we often hang out) We commented earlier today to each other that some minus 35C weather will be a good opportunity to let this baby rock and see what it is capable of. Me thinks we'll still be in T shirts. Regency calls the technology 'ecoboost. We have an ecoboost F150 also. If we like the stove I may have to change my Avitar to 'ecoboostbob' LOL. Peace Bro! good to hear from you.

 

I let the appearance of what I can see or not see coming out my chimney to guide me to the point of where I'm burning clean. That dictates how the fire will be burnt. Living in the 'burbs I try to keep the smoke to a minimum. So it usually means there is a pretty active fire, what was characterized as 'normal burn' in the OP. I also use what can result in a 'whoops burn' to quickly bring it up to temp on reloads.

 

Yup! Well seasoned wood and experimenting with the draft/air setting and finding the happy spot is where we're at also. At first I was not sure if the stove was getting too hot but now we've been at it for a while I think there is little chance of that at least while we're only burning half loads. If and when we hit minus 30-35 we will load it up full and then monitor things carefully until we get a feel for cold weather burning. We bought it for heat and I can say for sure - lack of heat will not be an issue with this stove.

 

Liking this thread. Love the OP's descriptions of the various fire shows. I'm a newb this year and have been looking at the chimney for smoke and fiddling with the air all the time. So far, I've been just trying to keep the smoke out of the chimney. My humble observations are that yes, I a get all types of flames that the OP says at different times. In the beginning, I open up the air all the way to get the fire going and get the firebox up to temp. Sometimes, I get the "oops" fire, or as we call it the "gates of hell" fire. As long as it's in a coolish firebox with new wood, I don't mind it much, at least until the box gets up to temp, secondaries are lit and the wood gets a good char. Then, as we throttle back the air, we get progressively less fire off the logs (going from yellow to blue) and more secondary flames going through normal, low and "ghost" until we just have charcoal and no flame. Very fun fiddling.

 

Correction - until gauge gets into the 500 - 700 degree F. The gauge must register to about 800 - 900 degrees F. Forgive me, we live with F and Celsius and litres and gallons and two sizes of gallons. One plus though we're no longer using pennies or one and two dollar bills. Now if our loonie would just go to par.

 

On our first trip to Canada my wife wondered why the money was named after old Warner Brothers cartoons....Looney Tunes.

 

I am not sure what I can add to this interesting conversation, because I cannot see my fire while burning. I just burn to minimize smoke from the Allnighter, and am looking forward to installing the 30-NC.

But I'm watching this thread for sure!

 

Cause we are! LOL.

 

My wife keeps asking me "where you going?" I just say to check the chimney. As soon as the temp gauge goes into the hot and ready zone the smoke is mostly gone and ... away we go. Eventually I will just 'know' its right to engage the cat.

 

Secondary burning stoves are the bomb! Especially if you're a firebug....watching the flames dance is mesmerizing.

 

N

Nothing better IMHO

 

I think you will love the new stove. Secondary burn on the EPA stoves is awesome.

 

I might add, nothing better, unless it's a slow-mo video of the flames in action.