Firing up EPA woodstove for the first time tonight, any suggestions

[Motodeficient]

I found someone about 1/2 hour away that has a small amount of hardwood for sale that he doesn't need. It has been split for a year, he thinks its about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cord. He said I can pick it up for $80. Sounds like a decent deal to me for some wood that is actually dry, not "seasoned". I think I will go grab it tonight. I have a small utility trailer and a dodge dakota, I hope I can fit that much wood in on wood trip.

 

[CWME]

I am in Gorham ME and have 5-6 cords of seasoned pine all split and ready to go. I know it is not hard wood but it is free to a good home if you are interested.
I have more than I can use and am willing to share

 

[scotvl]

I am in Gorham ME and have 5-6 cords of seasoned pine all split and ready to go. I know it is not hard wood but it is free to a good home if you are interested.
I have more than I can use and am willing to share

With all the garbage I read in the news every day its nice to see some humanity once in a while, rep for you.

 

[madman39]

Im envious, my ex has got my house and stove! But she ant got no wood!!!!!

 

[CWME]

With all the garbage I read in the news every day its nice to see some humanity once in a while, rep for you.

Wish I could take the credit but I can't. A local arborist I go to Church with volunteered his time and equipment to help my Wife and I out last January. We needed to clear our lot for our new house and he cut all the trees for free. He let me keep the wood for our firewood needs.

I cut split and stacked it. With out his generosity I wouldn't have the wood to offer.
Thanks for the rep though!

Mr. Martel of Limington ME deserves the credit

If anyone within driving distance of me wants some PM me and I will give you my address.

 

[wendell]

Well, I repped you none the less.

 

[Beaver eager]

You will burn nearly half the wood as those older stoves so that's the best thing about the newer stoves. I burn 3 1/2 cords a year and thats keeping the house at 75 degrees all winter long. I split about half of the wood to 4" but the other half is larger for an all night or all day burn. I have never tried the top down burn and I'm not sure how to go about doing that really without letting the fire go all the way to nothing and starting from scratch? I keep mine going almost constant from late Oct to early march.

 

[Marc]

You will burn nearly half the wood as those older stoves so that's the best thing about the newer stoves. I burn 3 1/2 cords a year and thats keeping the house at 75 degrees all winter long. I split about half of the wood to 4" but the other half is larger for an all night or all day burn. I have never tried the top down burn and I'm not sure how to go about doing that really without letting the fire go all the way to nothing and starting from scratch? I keep mine going almost constant from late Oct to early march.

Top down method is only for starting a fire. If you're around enough to keep your stove going all the time, keep doing that!

 

[Motodeficient]

I am in Gorham ME and have 5-6 cords of seasoned pine all split and ready to go. I know it is not hard wood but it is free to a good home if you are interested.
I have more than I can use and am willing to share

I sincerely appreciate your generosity! I think i will be ok, I picked up about 2/3 cord of bone dry hardwood last night. I am hoping this will buy me the time to let my wood dry just enough. Thanks again!

 

[mrdinks]

Like I said earlier there is a learning curve, when you get it lit and have a nice roaring fire leave the door cracked and don't get in a hurry to close things down. I think this is the biggest mistake one makes at first.I never feel comfortable until the bricks turn from black to white. When the bricks are white they are hot enough to keep drawing air and then you can shut down and enjoy the true advantage of the stove.
Keep smaller logs in your stove for the first hour then load it up good. I can not tell you how many times I have gone from a fire that I thought was going to melt the glass to nothing but smoke just by closing things down to soon.

 

[Motodeficient]

Yes I had to leave the door cracked for an hour and a half.

 

[sunfish]

Like said, you need dry wood and you will need to split smaller for this stove. And even smaller for start up. The large pieces will work when you have a good bed of coals.

I don't have to crack the door on my Jotul when starting.

 

[Wife'nHubby]

Welcome to wood heat! You will love it! The whole key, as someone else stated, if truly seasoned wood. I've got about 8 cords stacked right now. About 4+ of that I know is ready for this winter as it was split/stacked April thru June of 2009. We truly only started heating our home solely with wood starting in February of this year so I don't know for sure how much wood we will go through in a full heating season.

Our woodstove is a hearth mount in the living room. I do know I can heat our 1700 sq ft house up to 78 degrees with no problem. (I try to keep the house under 80 degrees. ) I did position a very small fan in the hallway which blows the cooler air from the bedroom wing of our ranch home towards the stove. This makes for nice distribution of the heat. We opted for no fan on the stove due to noise issues. The small fan in the hallway is far enough away from our TV viewing that any noise from it is not an issue at all.

Enjoy!

Shari

 

[logbutcher]

You guys be careful leaving the door cracked.......it's something I never do unless I'm sitting right at the stove. In just a few minutes a stove can be ruined by too hot a fire that can result in having a door open. If you have to leave the door open for half an hour your wood is not seasoned enough.

Listen to the man. Super advice.

Cracking doors are fine for STARTUP. Never use an ash door for this. Never.

IF you do leave a door cracked for a startup, use a loud alarm to remind you.

Too easy to get involved in a bodice ripper on the pot. (Under no circumstances ask how I know. :bang: )

 

[USMC0802]

What temp should the stove be at for the secondary burn tubes to ignite? I had my surface temp up to 375*, but it didn't look like the tubes were lit.

As far as the top down burn, you can use it to start the fire, but then on a reload, move all the coals to the front and reload the stove with splits in the back. You can either push the coals up against the bottom of the stack or you can shovel them on top of the fresh load and restart your top down burn.

 

[slowp]

I READ THE DIRECTIONS that came with the stove. I believe it said to have 3 medium hot fires before getting serious heat going. That seasons the stove and burns all the smelly paint stuff off. That's why they suggest building the first three fires when it is warm enough to open all the windows in the house, which you need to do.

This will be my stove's second winter. I fired it up last night and burned dampish wood in it just fine. The kindling was dry--about as dry as it gets without bringing it indoors.

I do not store any wood but the kindling indoors. I will keep a few chunks on the covered porch. I still get a nice fire--and I live in the rain forest.

Smaller chunks will burn better in any kind of fire, so maybe that is the answer. I have never had a fire keep all night, but then again, I live in a mild winter climate. I go through a lot of kindling.

 

[logbutcher]

What temp should the stove be at for the secondary burn tubes to ignite? I had my surface temp up to 375*, but it didn't look like the tubes were lit.
As far as the top down burn, you can use it to start the fire, but then on a reload, move all the coals to the front and reload the stove with splits in the back. You can either push the coals up against the bottom of the stack or you can shovel them on top of the fresh load and restart your top down burn.

Much too low for combustion of wood, too low for heating the burn tubes for a reload or startup. :jawdrop: That's only the SURFACE temp. You need to get that way up before damping the air down for a long burn cycle: try getting it to 600 F to 700 F BEFORE shutting the air. That way the tubes or cat can recombust the unburnt gases for heat, a clean and efficient burn.

Stopping @ 375 F is a recipe for making creosote.

JMNSHO

P.S. Marine--you stepping away from your new stove ?

 

[USMC0802]

Much too low for combustion of wood, too low for heating the burn tubes for a reload or startup. :jawdrop: That's only the SURFACE temp. You need to get that way up before damping the air down for a long burn cycle: try getting it to 600 F to 700 F BEFORE shutting the air. That way the tubes or cat can recombust the unburnt gases for heat, a clean and efficient burn.

Stopping @ 375 F is a recipe for making creosote.

JMNSHO

P.S. Marine--you stepping away from your new stove ?

Everything I read about soapstone is that 350-550 surface temp is ideal and that you don't want to go over 600. I had next to no smoke coming out of the chimney when that stove was at 375.

 

[laynes69]

I would be at least 450. I agree they need higher temperatures. Even though the stoves temps are higher, it doesn't mean the wood will burn faster. The EPA stoves can burn hot and burn for hours. If you can't get the stove up to temperature then your wood is too wet or you have possible draft issues. Get that baby roaring and damper back in a couple stages and let it ride. You shouldn't have any smoke fromt the chimney. If your seeing alot of steam, then maybe the wood isn't quite ready.

 

[wendell]

Everything I read about soapstone is that 350-550 surface temp is ideal and that you don't want to go over 600. I had next to no smoke coming out of the chimney when that stove was at 375.

What stove are you running?