Wood stove heat

Well I had typed out a short novel which was somehow misplaced/lost.

Basically stovetop and stovepipe are the two temps to be concerned about. And accuracy isn't really all that important. Certainly not to the tenth of a degree of a pot of water on your stovetop. But if it's working for you Frankie and your house is warm and not burning down then by all means keep using your system. I use a auber with a thermocouple to my stovepipe which reads to a remote unit on the main floor to monitor my stovepipe of my basement stove. It is accurate to 1dg f and super fast acting. It can be seen in the pics above and the remote upstairs unit is the one being held by the bear.

Basic bimetallic magnetic stovetop/stovepipe thermometers are fine and accurate enough to help improve the efficiency of burning greatly. A stovepipe probe thermometer is even better. Also a simple handheld infrared temp gun can be used as well.

My stoves are both Pacific Energy. The insert is a super 27 and the freestander is the summit. Excellent robust stoves ime. I can't say enough good things about them. Efficiency, construction, durability(stainless baffle, no tubes or ceramic boards).

Happy burning everyone! I've got to get my porch loaded up for the week!!
 
treesmith said:
I've never cleaned my chimney, but I went overkill when I built. I had my mason build the chimney with 13" flue liners, and with a 6" stove pipe feeding it, it just crusts, breaks free, repeat. I haven't looked down it in several years, but it's never come close to building up much at all. Every year I rake a good pile of gunk out of the clean-out at the bottom.
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Can I ask Scott if you have a cap on the chimney? If you burn decent wood at proper temps it's not uncommon for a masonry chimney to be somewhat self sustaining, espescially if there is no cap. The bit of rain that gets down helps to wash the flaky creosote off. One warning is creosote when combined with water/moisture can form sulphuric acid and start eating away at whatever it's in contact with. One of the reasons caps are a code requirement. So it would behoove you to keep that cleanout cleaned out. Also try to have a look at the top few feet of the chimney. If bad creosote is forming that's generally where it will mostly be and once a masonry chimney is glazed up it's a real bitch to clean. I've run chains in numerous to attempt to removed it while not removing the mortar between the liners or worse cracking or breaking liners. Nasty work. My own shop chimney has no cap and stays spotless all on its own, washes any buildup down into the stove.

I don't recommend aiming for the 'self cleaning' chimney. And even if yours is it still deserves atleast an annual inspection.
 
Thanks for spending the time to write such detailed posts Squishy....I'm learning a lot. We have an old Saxon insert, it's pretty basic but does the job.
 
Have had two caps over the 18 years we’ve been in the house. They rust away and blow off after three or four years. Have been without for several years now.
 
I've seen many run that way for years, even decades. Just things to be aware of. Sometimes a smaller stovepipe dumping into a large masonry chimney can have a tendency to cause the draft to weaken and cause buildup right where the stovepipe dumps into the masonry too. Many masonry chimneys can be inspected fairly easily by using a mirror and a high powered flashlight to look up the cleanout if the top of the chimney is to difficult to access.
 
How fast does creosote build up? I know it's a varied answer but say one year aged oak burning in a stove.
 
Depends on flue Temps , once a year I run a brush through both Chimneys without big buildup as I try to burn clean , probably pull the connector upstairs into to the Masonry two or three times a Winter and shop vac the pipe and thimble just to be sure.
 
If you burn dry , seasoned hardwood firewood creosote should be a non - issue provided the stove is installed correctly! A good litmus test to determine “seasoning” is to take a piece you believe is seasoned and split it in half , now check the freshly split area with a moisture meter. If you see 15% ~ 20% (or less) you should be GTG ... IF you see 25%~40% the wood isn’t properly seasoned and can cause issues , not to mention it will spit , hiss and do everything BUT keep the dupa warm !
 
Water tank on top, hot water coil, 2 blowers. Not a bad find i think. The front has a few welds needed, but that's it.
 
Altissimus said:
Depends on flue Temps , once a year I run a brush through both Chimneys without big buildup as I try to burn clean , probably pull the connector upstairs into to the Masonry two or three times a Winter and shop vac the pipe and thimble just to be sure.
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Right on. So that brings me to my next question on the Vigilants where do you set the secondary burn "keyhole" flapper wide open or? I have been running it about 1/4 position open and the damper in the vertical position.
 
I'll grab more pics tomorrow as im working on it, it's got a water tank on top, then a coil in a sidewall. The blower comes out on each side, which is a sidewall, and it's supposed to have a thermostat so it's automatic, shutting itself off as the stove cools.
 
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