How do you "drive" your stove?

[slowp]

The new EPA stoves are a PITA.... I have a PE summit that I swear has the temperament of woman. One day it is fine and the next it is like playing with satan..
.

I resemble that remark. My new stove, and it meets our state regulations which I believe are tougher than Colyfonia's, is pretty much idiot proof. You push the bottom air intake lever back then forward til it stops, a tick tock begins. That's a timer. It'll shut down on its own. You push the other all the way forward and light it. It goes and a bit later you readjust it. It then heats the house. Let me see, I've had an earth stove, a Fischer, a worthless fireplace insert, and a long time ago a franklin type. This stove seems to be a good one and it is a Quadrafire. I burn mostly Doug-fir.

So, maybe you need to read the instructions? opcorn:

 

[sesmith]

this site is driving me nuts. i started a thread about short burn times last year, and everybody told me i need an exhaust damper.

So did it help? Think about it. If the stove is airtight, and you can shut down the fire completely by closing the air intake, why would you need to use an exhaust damper to control the burn rate? If your burn is too fast, either you have too high expectations, there's an air leak, you're not loading it enough to get the burn you want, the stove is undersized for the area you are trying to heat, or the wood you are burning just burns fast. Anything I'm missing here? Dampers were really handy on the old, leaky, non airtight stoves to help control the burn. I really question whether they have any use with a modern stove.

 

[chainsawaddict]

So did it help? Think about it. If the stove is airtight, and you can shut down the fire completely by closing the air intake, why would you need to use an exhaust damper to control the burn rate? If your burn is too fast, either you have too high expectations, there's an air leak, you're not loading it enough to get the burn you want, the stove is undersized for the area you are trying to heat, or the wood you are burning just burns fast. Anything I'm missing here? Dampers were really handy on the old, leaky, non airtight stoves to help control the burn. I really question whether they have any use with a modern stove.

well, i switched stoves to an airtight with a damper, my old stove went through way too much wood, and had short burn times, this stove my problem is im not getting a "complete" burn.

Sorry, i kinda switched horses midstream there.

 

[sesmith]

Meaning you're getting a lot of coals left after the burn or you're getting a lot of black soot left in the stove after the burn? If it's a lot of coals, I remember some discussion about some of the new epa stoves leaving lots of coals and the coals building up. Maybe some of the people here that remember this or own these stoves can chime in here. I've got an older (1980's vintage) airtight stove that I retrofitted last year to add secondary burn tubes. This helped the burn, heat output and efficiency, but it does have a tendency to build up more coals. I just rake them to the front and burn them at the end of the burn before adding more wood. If the problem is that you're getting a lot of black sooty stuff left, then you're choking the fire too much...add more air and leave that damper open. HTH.

 

[chainsawaddict]

Meaning you're getting a lot of coals left after the burn or you're getting a lot of black soot left in the stove after the burn? If it's a lot of coals, I remember some discussion about some of the new epa stoves leaving lots of coals and the coals building up. Maybe some of the people here that remember this or own these stoves can chime in here. I've got an older (1980's vintage) airtight stove that I retrofitted last year to add secondary burn tubes. This helped the burn, heat output and efficiency, but it does have a tendency to build up more coals. I just rake them to the front and burn them at the end of the burn before adding more wood. If the problem is that you're getting a lot of black sooty stuff left, then you're choking the fire too much...add more air and leave that damper open. HTH.

Im getting a pile of coals. This stove is a late 70s airtight. If i dont solve this problem, Im probably gonna have to switch stoves, its not even cold out and im having some problems.:censored:

 

[Haywire Haywood]

This might be no help at all, so take it for what it's worth.

This spring when I was burning less than seasoned wood, I was getting a lot of coals.. I mean they would build up like 4" deep. I figured out that the coals were blocking the holes where the primary intake air was supposed to come in. The effect was a self damping fire. I started keeping them raked away from the intake and opened the control up for more air and they would burn down.

I think the root cause was the half green wood but the blocked holes complicated the problem.

Ian