Trouble with new stove

[vizette]

What's your ash look like?
Seriously though, if I throw something with mild moisture in I usually get some chunky ashes, unless I'm burning hot with other dry wood. If it's all dry, when I finally scoop it out it's basically just powder.

I've seen the tubes glow before but that's always been an accident. That is when I throw in some potentially not-as-dry wood, or a real big solid gnarly piece that sucks out some of the energy and brings the temps down (as well as clamp down on the air supply).

 

[StihlPotlicker]

I’m talking like been on the ground for maybe 10 years or more. But no not cut up. In fact I have burned some fence post I pulled recently that have been in the ground for 50 years. I really don’t think my wood is wet but I am going to buy a meter to know for sure.

I also try burning some scrap lumber to to see what kind of temps I can get.

If hedge wood is like oak, then it needs cut and split so it can get air flow. I milled up an oak log for my FIL that had been on the ground for 4yrs, and it was still wet.

 

[StihlPotlicker]

Well it definitely passes the cheek test not sure how I can get any dryer wood.

I can get the stove to get to 500 maybe 550 at times but I’ve never seen the tubes glow or burn like a burner. I’m still going to go buy a meter so I can stop being told my wood is too wet. Hell maybe I’m a dumbass and it is…

At this point I just don’t think I’m going to be able to get as much as I anticipated out of this stove.

Appreciate all the help from everyone nice little community guys got here.

View attachment 1046650

That's a bummer you can't get it burning better, I was just talking to my sister last night about her new cat wood stove, and it wouldn't heat their 950 sq ft house when we had a cold spell over Christmas, but her husband thinks they will ruin the cat if they get stove too hot, but she read in the manual, and tried telling him they need to get it hotter. was I told correctly that you will ruin the cat if you don't get it up to operating temp?

 

[StihlPotlicker]

I agree if possible I would always use a free standing stove. I use my insert at the beginning and end of the season. Very little of the entire season. That thing is a useless toy in comparison to the blazeking I have in my unfinished basement. All I do is take my cellar door off and let the heat make its way up. I don’t use a blower or fan on the blazeking at all either.

growing up we had a big Fisher in the basement that heated the whole house too, but after all of us kids moved out and the rents put on an addition, they put one of those fireplaces extraordinaire in and now they don't run the wood stove in the basement anymore.

 

[Del_]

That's a bummer you can't get it burning better, I was just talking to my sister last night about her new cat wood stove, and it wouldn't heat their 950 sq ft house when we had a cold spell over Christmas, but her husband thinks they will ruin the cat if they get stove too hot, but she read in the manual, and tried telling him they need to get it hotter. was I told correctly that you will ruin the cat if you don't get it up to operating temp?

I don't think it ruins the cat but the cat may plug up with unburnt residue.

 

[Bill G]

I bought a new EPA stove an Empire archway 1700 insert about a month ago and am having a hard time getting it to heat very well.

It’s installed in fireplace with 20ft SS liner. It doesn’t seem to be an issue with draft. I am able to get fires going no problem and don’t have any smoke in the house.

I’m burning seasoned hedge wood and seem to be getting good hot fires but oddly the stove doesn’t seem to get hot. Most of the time it operates around 350 -400.

I spoke to the retail guy and he thinks I’m not getting good secondary combustion. How can you tell if you are getting a secondary? He said the tubes should glow and look a gas burner which they do not.

Ive tried playing with the damper - Loading onto a coal bed I’ll leave the door cracked until I have a good fire. I’ll shut it up and try closing the damper some, halfway, all the way, but I don’t ever get any different results.

I’m actually able to heat better by building up the fire then leaving the door open.

Any advice on how I can operate this thing better would be much appreciated. Bit frustrated so far trying to get this working considering what I have into it.

Thanks

Do not burn hedge if you intend on keeping your stove. Hedge is for fence posts not firewood.

 

[StihlPotlicker]

Do not burn hedge if you intend on keeping your stove. Hedge is for fence posts not firewood.

burns too hot?

 

[Bill G]

burns too hot?

It burns too hot and is best suited for fence posts. It is worth a ton more as posts also

 

[ericm979]

A wood moisture meter is $20. You do need to use it right though. I first measured on a fresh split like you're supposed to but didn't know you're supposed to measure along the grain not across it.

My stoves secondaries never glow. Being at the top of the firebox and with air flowing out of them, and made of stainless steel, I think the stove would have to be far hotter than I want it to get in order for them to glow with heat.

But with the stove running well an hour into a fresh load there should be a lot of jets of flame that appear to be coming out of the holes in the tubes. Or big sheets of flame in the top of the firebox.

My stove is technically an EPA zero clearance fireplace which is similar to an insert made to go into an existing masonry fireplace. They are both stoves inside a multiple layered box. On mine there is only a small amount of single layer firebox exposed above the door. I had to find a small stove thermometer to fit. I rarely see temps above 400. At 500 is feels like the stove is running away and I'll open a door to let in cold air to cool down the chimney. I have a 35' chimney which can draft pretty good when it gets going.

It looks like you might have a bit more of the single layered firebox exposed than my stove but I still think that you might not see the same temps there as you would on the top of a regular stove.

 

[Bill G]

A wood moisture meter is $20. You do need to use it right though. I first measured on a fresh split like you're supposed to but didn't know you're supposed to measure along the grain not across it.

My stoves secondaries never glow. Being at the top of the firebox and with air flowing out of them, and made of stainless steel, I think the stove would have to be far hotter than I want it to get in order for them to glow with heat.

But with the stove running well an hour into a fresh load there should be a lot of jets of flame that appear to be coming out of the holes in the tubes. Or big sheets of flame in the top of the firebox.

My stove is technically an EPA zero clearance fireplace which is similar to an insert made to go into an existing masonry fireplace. They are both stoves inside a multiple layered box. On mine there is only a small amount of single layer firebox exposed above the door. I had to find a small stove thermometer to fit. I rarely see temps above 400. At 500 is feels like the stove is running away and I'll open a door to let in cold air to cool down the chimney. I have a 35' chimney which can draft pretty good when it gets going.

It looks like you might have a bit more of the single layered firebox exposed than my stove but I still think that you might not see the same temps there as you would on the top of a regular stove.

I have never understood why folks try to use moisture meters on firewood. I suppose if you are dealing with kindling but not firewood

 

[SS396driver]

It burns too hot and is best suited for fence posts.

People say that about the black locust I burn . I smile as I throw it in the stove and keep warm .
View attachment IMG_5478.MOV
Weird it compressed the video and speed it up

OP your wood is wet I let oak and locust dry 2 years even down wood . There have been time I burned oak after 6 or so months but it looks like this .

 

[husky455rancher]

That's a bummer you can't get it burning better, I was just talking to my sister last night about her new cat wood stove, and it wouldn't heat their 950 sq ft house when we had a cold spell over Christmas, but her husband thinks they will ruin the cat if they get stove too hot, but she read in the manual, and tried telling him they need to get it hotter. was I told correctly that you will ruin the cat if you don't get it up to operating temp?

Yeah you’ll shorten the life and make it less efficient. Your supposed to preheat it to 4-500 degrees I forget the exact number then you can engage the cat. He’s not gonna hurt it unless he engages the cat and leaves the door cracked and forgets about it for an hour or so. That won’t do it any favors haha.
My cat stove heats my unfinished basement and my 1200 sqft living area easily. The cat can get hot enough to glow red. This is completely normal it’s nothing to be concerned about. If he’s worried I recommend a cheap laser thermometer to take the temp of the stove. 700 degree stovetop isn’t gonna hurt anything. mines probably usually in the 600s normally but I don’t check it as often as I used to. I’ve had it a good amount of years and I got it figured out. I have replaced the cat maybe after 5 years and it performed like it was a brand new stove again. I would not even consider anything but a cat stove if I needed a new stove.

 

[Bill G]

People say that about the black locust I burn . I smile as I throw it in the stove and keep warm .

They are lacking in information then. Locust is the best firewood you will find and yes it burns hot but no where near as hot as hedge. Locust also makes great fence posts. It is much straighter that Hedge and splits about as easy as opening a book. Had the site not been hacked years ago you could see a video of me splitting 23 pieces of locust in 1minute 23 seconds. I attempted 27 pieces but 4 fell over

 

[SS396driver]

They are lacking in information then. Locust is the best firewood you will find and yes it burns hot but no where near as hot as hedge. Locust also makes great fence posts. It is much straighter that Hedge and splits about as easy as opening a book. Had the site not been hacked years ago you could see a video of me splitting 23 pieces of locust in 1:23min. I attempted 27 pieces but 4 fell over

In my experience hedge burns no hotter in the stove than locust . Lasts a little longer with the air shut down hence the more BTU per pound .

 

[SS396driver]

Op the tubes should look like this . The stove air control is at its lowest setting .
View attachment IMG_5490.MOV
As you can see the smoke is burning off the wood is hardly glowing my stove burns the wood from the top down
View attachment IMG_5491.MOV

 

[Bill G]

https://www.environmentalchimneyservice.com/firewood-burns-hottest/

 

[farmer steve]

https://www.environmentalchimneyservice.com/firewood-burns-hottest/

They missed dogwood Bill. 31.1million btu's per cord. Puts it right behind hedge.

 

[Bill G]

They missed dogwood Bill. 31.1million btu's per cord. Puts it right behind hedge.

That very well might be. I am not supporting nor discounting anything in the link. It is just for info. We all have our favorites and what works and does not work for each of us. I personally am no fan of Oak in the house but I know many others are.

 

[Del_]

When wood is bought by the cord of course the more dense woods are going to weigh more, so they are worth more per cord. A cord is a given volume, 128 cubic feet.

A common misconception is that some woods contain a lot more BTU's per pound, when actually all wood is quite close in BTU's per pound. But there is some variance.

All firewood dried to the same moisture content contains approximately the same heating value per pound—about 8,000 to 9,500 BTU per bone-dry pound and about 6,500 to 7,500 BTU per pound for air-seasoned wood with about 20 percent moisture content.

What really is a game changer is how much water is in the wood.

All water is boiled away in a wood stove and it takes a lot of energy to burn wood.

So planning ahead and having seasoned wood is a good idea because the energy content is going up as the water evaporates away.

We burn all kinds of wood excepted for treated, stained, varnished or painted wood.

The lighter woods we leave in larger splits. Most of what we burn has been in pit wood shed for 3 years.

 

[MudgeHollowBeaver]

If you have secondary burn tubes I don’t think you have a cat. I have one stove of each. The secondary burn tube stove runs different from the catted one. The tubes will glow and look like a propane grill flame tube when it really gets ripping. Your simply not getting the fire hot enough. I would also let it run a bit with the door cracked. Leave your air wide open for a while. I suspect your closing it down too fast. Each stove takes time to learn how to make it work best. Trial and error. If you don’t have a meter after the fires been going a bit open the door and listen if the wood is sizzling. After a while you’ll know when you pick the piece up if it’s good or not haha.

Fully agree with Husky455rancher... the secondary burn stoves need to have a good supply of combustible gasses being 'cooked' out of the wood and combusting with superheated air from the secondary tubes. When all these factors are in place the secondary flames from the tubes act as 'broilers' onto the fuel pile to sustain the reaction. Also make sure that you are trying to start with a fairly full load of wood in the stove...maybe within an inch of the secondary air tubes. My Enviro Kodiak needs about a 20 minute burn on lighting before anything really starts happening.