More questions!!!

I've always liked to fiddle with the stove to see what different settings do and how to best utilize my wood. For my stove, there's a point of diminishing returns when it comes to stove temp/flue temp (without too much influence from damper) being around 500-540 F on the face of the stove. The flue probe will read roughly the same, sometimes higher or lower depending. It's when I start going above that temp that it loses efficiency (it's burning well, but throwing excess heat up the chimney) and flue temps rise higher in relation to stove temp. It might say 600 on the stove, and 700-725 on the probe. I've referred to it as being like a 4 barrel carb before, you get a little more performance and a lot worse mileage. I have no clue if other stoves are like this or not, but mine sure is.

I couldn't tell from your post, are your flue temps still high AFTER settling the air back on the stove, and then after rotating the damper closed slightly? Again, with my stove once you have the air cut back, you only need slight tweeks of the damper to notice big things. Like right now I have a load going, stove temp 500, flue temp 500 or a touch higher, stove air throttled back about 3/4 or a hair more, and damper twisted about 1/6th. This will run great til it coals/ashes, and the flue temp will probably drop lower than the stove in awhile. But every stove is different, so you just need to find your happy burn.

As bushpilot says above, some guys run cooler temps, some hotter, and at the end of the day we all have warm homes.

 

To be honest I haven't messed with the damper much since I put it in yesterday

The flue temp seems to have been running high even after I throttled the primary air the whole way down. I believe I have read somewhere though that these thermometers (condar flue probe) can be a bit sluggish in their readings. Maybe it is just slow adjusting.

All in all the damper and cementing the ash plug seems to have made a big difference. I can't wait to get my new gaskets in to see what that might do for me.

Considering the learning curve, the issues I've been having and using marginal wood, I am really quite pleased with the stoves performance so far. Especially since I figured out a bunch of my heat was going in the the drop ceiling

I guess I will really find out how well I'm doing once we get some decent weather and I can climb up on the roof to check the flue and do a quick sweep to see what may be in there.

 

Yesterday I installed my new door gasket as well as a new glass gasket on the center piece of glass on the bay window. My stove now has all new gaskets. It has definitely helped as far as how much control I have over the fire. However it still burns way hot.

What I usually do is load up the stove when the STT is at 400* or below. I will run it wide open until the flue temp hits 500*. At that point I start cutting the air back in increments.

Even with the primary air shut down and the damper closed my flue temp usually reaches around 900*. The STT peaks around 750-800*.

I'm not worried so much about the STT, I just feel like I'm wasting a lot of heat up the stack with flue temps that high.

Any suggestions? Pics below are with air closed down as far as it will go and pipe damper closed fully.

 

Every stove and every setup is different Marvin but we can all learn from each other’s experience. I don’t think anyone can reliably tell you how you need to run your stove, but hopefully you’ll get some ideas that you can try and find something that works in your situation.
The only time I run the pipe temperature up to 500 is on a cold start. On a reload if I catch it before the STT drops below 250 I just leave it open long enough to spread flames through most of the load and I see the pipe come up around 300 then I engage the cat and set the draft to about half immediately and lower it from there over the next 10-15 minutes. That way my STT climbs at a nice steady controllable pace.
If I want big heat fast I let the pipe get back up to 400 before I re-engage the cat and it will usually climb to about 500 before settling back down, and the STT comes up quicker as well.
I used to run the smoke dragons like you describe in order to get the temperature up and burn off some creosote before choking the fire down again, but that’s old school thinking that doesn’t apply to an EPA stove. I don’t know if that’s what you’re thinking, but old habits do die hard sometimes.
Hope that helps. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

I suppose that could be my problem. Maybe I'm not cutting the air soon enough. I know my tube stove will run differently than your cat stove. I'm just asking about general advice. I have just been puzzled because the flue temp consistently runs 100-150* higher than the STT since I installed the damper. I would have expected it to lower flue temps. I know brenndatomu has mentioned flue temp should drop as STT rises when you cut the air. I'm just not getting that and can't seem to figure out why. Sorry I'm just rambling at this point

Happy Thanksgiving to you as well sir! I hope it is a good one!

 

Marvin .. My friends have a tube stove.. I've never seen anything that high.. I am very curious if you have excessive draft. The damper should solve that.

 

Give it a little time a closed damper should almost take the fire to smoldering. Unless there is a major leak somewhere. Crack in stove body? Broken weld? Etc?

 

I guess I need to start experimenting a bit more. I wouldn't have thought I would have excessive draft but it seems as though I do.

My chimney is located outside so I actually thought I may have a weak draft. Although I do live on top of a hill and the nearest obstruction is a small patch of trees but even that is probably 45 yards from the chimney.

 

If you are re-loading when the STT are 400*, you must have quite the pile of coals...that will make your new load off-gas HARD! Waiting until you have less coals, and cutting the air back sooner will help control things a bit more...

 

I haven't done a leak check for the stove body yet. It responds very well to shutting down the air as far as the flames dying down. It just seems to want to run really hot.

 

Ok I'll try waiting. Patience has never been a strong point of mine

 

Marvin.. My chimney outside in a chase.. Basically class a with plywood and siding on it.. I'm on a hill, draft measured at 27 Pascal, in July.

 

That's about -0.11" water column...plenty for sure, not off the charts, but high for an exterior chimney, should oughta chooch pretty good! Must be a tall one...
FYI, for those not familiar...many companys spec out -0.06" WC as the draft range they want...so -0.11" would be almost double...

 

I haven't read all the threads, but it sure does seem you still aren't controlling the air.
I'd be checking that the stove's draft control was actually working right. Maybe even finding where it comes in and blocking that off a bit if the opening seems rather large.
If I shut my air off to the stop the fire almost goes out.
Different stove, but still ...

 

Thanks brenndatomu.. I couldn't find chart and didn't remember.

Marvin .. I am less worried with your stack temperature because it's a probe. My thermometer on single wall reads half of probe. Needs to read 275 or 550 real temp before engaging cat.. IF your tubes are burning all particulate, its just warm air going up. Hard to capture all heat.

 

I normally try to reload around 250-275 F stove temp when the coals have hung around for awhile and the stove temp is dropping slowly. This is the best way to stretch my wood/heat cycle. When more heat is needed or I try to reset the clock on babysitting, I'll reload at 300-325 stove temp. The warmer the stove is/has more coals, the quicker I tend to throttle back the air. As in, immediately on a hot reload. I know it goes against conventional wisdom (and people will argue against what they don't want to understand or goes against what they believe even if its true) but there's more to making a fire than running stove to 500 and shutting down air in increments, or char all wood, and then turn down air.

Next time you do a hot reload (bunch of coals, and 400 F), put wood in, close door, throttle back air half way and see what happens. Everyones system is different, but if I had to guess, this is how it might go. Your wood will sit there for a minute and do nothing. You'll see some smoke curling up from the pieces touching coals. Suddenly you get a starter flame that ignites any smoke, or you get a northern lights firebox whispy fire. It might stay or might stall and happen a few times before it stays lit. Shortly, or eventually depending on your draft, the fire is going well. Shut down air some more. Who knows might work or might not, nothing wrong with trying.

Have you verified by eye that the air plate that regulates air attached to the air lever is physically closing and blocking the air? I had that problem before, and it made my stove breathe way too easy.

I'm rather amazed that your stove can continue to climb in temp with air full back and damper closed.

 

If this is with everything shut tight? I'd say your primary is still open quite a bit. Can you see the plate under the stove?

 

Marvin try this. I am no expert but this is how my stove runs best also.

 

Yes I have verified the primary air closing. It is in the front directly under the door.