Has anyone got or used this stove? I purchased one last year and I am not having very good luck with it.
The problems I am having:
1: After burning it for about 12 hours the coals are so high that you cannot put in any more wood.
2: It's kind of a all or nothing stove. Meaning that you have to have it burning fully loaded and hot or it will not burn at all. You cannot start a small fire in it just to knock the chill off the house or like this time of year where all you need is a little heat.
3: In the advertisement it stated a burn time on a full load of 14 hours and I see now they have backed that off to 7 hours. My experience has been 2 to 3 hours on a full load.
I worked with the factory on these issues and they kept telling me that my wood was not seasoned well enough. I purchased a moisture meter was showing around 12 to 15% and the manual says it should burn up to 20%. The next thing they told me that my draft was not good enough because I only had 12 feet of flue pipe, so I added 3 more feet to get it to 15ft. where they wanted it. I also purchased a Dyer Mark XX gauge to keep a check on my draft. They want it to be .05 to.07 which I was running before I added to the flue pipe to make it 15ft. Now I am running about .1 to.12. They told me that if the draft was over .07 it would turn the wood into ash and not leave any coals. I wished it would do this. I have to shut it down every 12 hours and either let it burn the coals down for 12 hours or empty them out. They sent out a guy to inspect my installation and by that time I had ran threw all my seasoned wood and the wood I had was 15 to 20% moisture. His verdict was my wood was not seasoned well enough even though it was within the tolerance of the manual. This year I have wood that has been seasoning for 2 years. I like to split my wood in slabs where it is about 2 to 3in. thick and about and about 8 to 12 inches wide. These do not seam to burn very well and I have to split them into 3 to 4 inch wide to burn well. With them that small it goes threw them like wildfire. I am constantly feeding the stove. Any bigger than that and they just smolder like they are not getting enough air. The last thing they wanted me to do is put in a fresh air duct because they feel that my old 1940s model house is sealed to tight and it is not getting enough air. I smoke and if the wind is blowing outside it is hard to light up because of the wind going threw the house. I am working on sealing the house up better. I grew up in a house with a wood stove in the basement and we could load that stove up before bed time and still have a little fire or plenty enough coals to fire it back up in the morning, load it again and still have enough fire left after getting home from work to stoak it back up and would only have to clean it out once every 3 to 4 days. And we used wood that we cut that summer to fire the stove. Seasoned 8 to 10 months. My wood has been seasoning for 2 and some 3 years. Stacked and the top covered. Some I even made a kennel drying setup to try and dry it out better. Is what I am experiencing normal for a EPA stove? Any ideas to help it burn the coals down faster? Any ideas on why it burns wood faster than the old boxwood stove I used to have before I replaced it with this stove? I was afraid that old boxwood stove would burn down the house and I could get a more efficient stove that would not burn so much wood. Have conceidered putting the old stove back in.
Thanks
Brian
P.S. Don't look at the boards it is setting on these are last years pictures and that was just to get me threw the winter. I have it torn out right now putting tile down under it and behind it. Making a very nice looking setting for a very nice looking stove, just it don't work right.
The problems I am having:
1: After burning it for about 12 hours the coals are so high that you cannot put in any more wood.
2: It's kind of a all or nothing stove. Meaning that you have to have it burning fully loaded and hot or it will not burn at all. You cannot start a small fire in it just to knock the chill off the house or like this time of year where all you need is a little heat.
3: In the advertisement it stated a burn time on a full load of 14 hours and I see now they have backed that off to 7 hours. My experience has been 2 to 3 hours on a full load.
I worked with the factory on these issues and they kept telling me that my wood was not seasoned well enough. I purchased a moisture meter was showing around 12 to 15% and the manual says it should burn up to 20%. The next thing they told me that my draft was not good enough because I only had 12 feet of flue pipe, so I added 3 more feet to get it to 15ft. where they wanted it. I also purchased a Dyer Mark XX gauge to keep a check on my draft. They want it to be .05 to.07 which I was running before I added to the flue pipe to make it 15ft. Now I am running about .1 to.12. They told me that if the draft was over .07 it would turn the wood into ash and not leave any coals. I wished it would do this. I have to shut it down every 12 hours and either let it burn the coals down for 12 hours or empty them out. They sent out a guy to inspect my installation and by that time I had ran threw all my seasoned wood and the wood I had was 15 to 20% moisture. His verdict was my wood was not seasoned well enough even though it was within the tolerance of the manual. This year I have wood that has been seasoning for 2 years. I like to split my wood in slabs where it is about 2 to 3in. thick and about and about 8 to 12 inches wide. These do not seam to burn very well and I have to split them into 3 to 4 inch wide to burn well. With them that small it goes threw them like wildfire. I am constantly feeding the stove. Any bigger than that and they just smolder like they are not getting enough air. The last thing they wanted me to do is put in a fresh air duct because they feel that my old 1940s model house is sealed to tight and it is not getting enough air. I smoke and if the wind is blowing outside it is hard to light up because of the wind going threw the house. I am working on sealing the house up better. I grew up in a house with a wood stove in the basement and we could load that stove up before bed time and still have a little fire or plenty enough coals to fire it back up in the morning, load it again and still have enough fire left after getting home from work to stoak it back up and would only have to clean it out once every 3 to 4 days. And we used wood that we cut that summer to fire the stove. Seasoned 8 to 10 months. My wood has been seasoning for 2 and some 3 years. Stacked and the top covered. Some I even made a kennel drying setup to try and dry it out better. Is what I am experiencing normal for a EPA stove? Any ideas to help it burn the coals down faster? Any ideas on why it burns wood faster than the old boxwood stove I used to have before I replaced it with this stove? I was afraid that old boxwood stove would burn down the house and I could get a more efficient stove that would not burn so much wood. Have conceidered putting the old stove back in.
Thanks
Brian
P.S. Don't look at the boards it is setting on these are last years pictures and that was just to get me threw the winter. I have it torn out right now putting tile down under it and behind it. Making a very nice looking setting for a very nice looking stove, just it don't work right.
