Too many coals?

We've had this stove over 20 years and I'm still working on perfecting my technique with it.

 

I put in an Outdoor Air Kit mainly so I could open the primary air up when the high temp main burn is ending and the coaling stage begins. I always felt like opening up the primary air would pull so much more air out of the house and bring cold air into the house elsewhere reducing the efficiency. I also cut 2" pine or poplar cookies and short small splits to load east-west specifically for putting on top of the coals after raking them to the front by the primary intake air box.

The benefit of the OAK has been somewhat offset by putting in the barometric damper but I had to get that draft from the 33' of double wall chimney down to levels that weren't just eating my wood in an hour and sucking all the heat out the chimney. I can now get 5 hour 400 degree burns that heat the house more effectively and then burn down the coal buildup using techniques like Kevin (Huskihl) mentioned above so I can more quickly get another full load in.

I'm almost thinking about putting an OAK in to feed the barometric damper to lower the indoor air usage even more, but I'm not sure if that has been tried yet or if there could be bad side effects from that.

As Dennis (Backwoods Savage) mentions, it has been a few years of tinkering and experimenting to get it all figured out to get the most out of the stove in my situation at this house. Seems like every installation has it's own set of unique quirks, but there are many common themes that can be used to maximize most situations. They just may need to be used in combination and tweaked to work best for every unique installation. I try to keep learning because one of the first things I learned was that there is always a better way...

Hats off to the Firewood Hoarder Club for providing a melting pot of better ideas and sharing. I've learned a TON from this community over the years and still learning...

 

I usually never have too many issues with having the coal bed too high. I burn down with some small soft wood splits with air open. However this year I'm getting more "clinkers" then before. Im burning 98.00% well dry oak. (6 years split stacked).So I assume it's the species, but you know how assuming goes.

 

Totally species, and even individual tree dependant.

 

X2

 

That's what I did, it works good.
You burn hot/clean, so it will be fine for you too.
Some people say "you can't do that, it'll cool the flue too much", but as Dennis would say, hog wash!
If you think about how a barometric damper works, it'll never cool the flue more because you are feeding it colder air...this is exactly what a baro does, regulates the draft level by regulating temperature...they go hand in hand! So feeding the baro outside/cold air just means that it will feed less of it...flue temp remains the same, no matter the temp of the incoming air.
It's just the same as regulating the water temp in the shower...if your hot water is 130*, and the cold is 50*, it's gonna take less cold mixed in to make the shower head run at say 100*, as compared to if the cold water was coming in at 70*.

 

That makes sense. I may give that a try when I get some time to do some "plumbing".

 

I manage my coals by: raking coals to one side, and adding wood beside the coal row/pile (before getting to many coals), and then more draft/smaller sticks/ and-or low coaling wood specie to burn down the coals. Then cycle back to larger sticks...

 

I do burn hot and my chimney seems to have no real creosote build up even with the baro-damper in place. I haven't checked it yet since I started burning this year. I'm waiting till over Christmas break after I've run at least a cord through it and a little warm snap to run the brush up the chimney and ensure there isn't any build up at the coolest part at the top. I don't notice any lack of draft like what Scotty had reported due to his spark arrestor screen starting to clog. I have adjusted the baro to the most open point of it's adjustment and my draft still measures -.09" or so and the stove manual recommends a minimum of -.05". I've been running it there for about half a cord of Ash and Honey Locust with a bit of Sugar Maple and Bitter Hickory mixed in, all well under 20% MC. I won't do anything till I get a good read on the chimney.

brenndatomu ,
Is the OAK for your Baro direct coupled and sealed or loosely coupled with an air gap? Got any pix of your install?

I have a 5" wall penetration near the stove that isn't being used and I'm thinking of coupling that up to 8" pipe to go over the 6" Baro and seal it in with metal duct tape over the pipe just behind the mechanics to make sure the flapper isn't disturbed at all. You had mentioned in another thread that the Field Controls brand is way better than the cheapo ones I saw at some of the big box stores locally. I could get those to hang up but the Field's one works velvety smooth. All the professional installations I've seen on many furnaces I've been around have good quality smooth operating Barometric dampers.

 

Kinda both...I have an 8" pipe that I slid over the 6" baro...then some duct wrap/insulation loosely filling the gap. That way it allows a little makeup air for the furnace if it needs it, but not a huge cold air leak dumping in the basement.
My pipe comes in from outside at ceiling height, then drops to the floor before turning back up to connect to the baro...makes a place for the cold air to settle in, unless "pulled" in...cold air trap I guess.
I have to get some pics...here ya go, I was down for the morning load anyways.
You can see where I cut a window into the elbow so I can keep an eye on things...the "glass" is an old 2 liter bottle.

 

I like the improvised "lexan" viewing window... Visual confirmation of proper operation is always comforting.