Wood stove heat

I'm learning a lot here Squishy, keep talking. I've burned wood most of my life and felt pretty effective, now i wanna know more
 
Well it's like anything, depending how crazy you want to get about it, there's lots to know.

Second to safety the most important thing is the wood. It is after all the main ingredient. You want less than 20% moisture content measured at room temperature on a fresh split. So a little two prong moisture meter is pretty handy but. Getting a year or three ahead on your wood and having it cut split and stacked under cover in most areas will pretty much guarantee cured wood.

As for safety I prefer multiple smoke/co detectors and don't forget to check them for batteries and age. Most co detectors have a expiry tag on them in the 5-7 year range and most smoke detectors are good for 8-10. With the smoke alarms it's a good idea to write the date on them with a sharpie or something(on the backside) so each year when you check(really should just replace them annually but atleast check them) you can see how old they are.

And a IR gun should be a must have for a wood burner. If you've ever wondered if that combustible mantel, trim, or whatever near your appliance is getting to hot. Check it out. A rule of thumb is 100f over ambient(room) temperature is the max you want to see. Wood starts to pyrolize above those temps and over decades can lower its combusting point down to under 200f. That's how places that have 'burned this way for forty years!' suddenly burn down.

I'll field any questions I can, part of the fun of the chimney work for me is the learning process. I'm just scratching the surface so far.
 
I'm still a full rookie. I am looking forward to continue building my experience, I'm up to about a 100 chimneys now. This spring my full certification will come through and then I can secure insurance for installations and major repairs. That's when it'll get interesting I think.

I'm enjoying it. Roof access is tough and somewhat exposed at times. Lots of good views though, just like treework. I've had many times so far where I've thought. Man I should get a pick of that. But as with treework I find it cumbersome to carry a phone let alone taking the time to pull it out and snap pics. Also I'm developing strong work practices of containing soot and limiting my exposure to it. The phone is a 'clean' item so I wouldn't contaminate it with dirty gloves/hands.

I pride myself on leaving no mess and not damaging anything. And so far I've been quite successful with that. Again similar to treework.
 
On any given year I burn quite a bit of Ash , w out putting on the green pile and waiting a year. Technically I'm wrong for Burning green wood?
 
Altissimus said:
On any given year I burn quite a bit of Ash , w out putting on the green pile and waiting a year. Technically I'm wrong for Burning green wood?
Click to expand...

If you are burning green wood. I'll say MC of 22% or greater you are wasting a ton of your available btu's because the moisture is robbing them from your fire to evaporate. Also I'll assume you're burning a pre-EPA stove because most all modern stoves run poorly and don't throw a lot of heat without properly cured fuel.

That's the quick reply because I gotta run. Wet wood creosotes stuff up and is literally like wasting your fuel.
 
I'll try the split test, see where my mc is at. I've always just done an end check.

You alluded to something awhile back about stoking. When my fire is hot but needing more wood, i just toss wood in, shut the door and leave the dampers alone. That's incorrect i think based on what you said. Can you expound?
 
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This thread is getting interesting!

I just noticed that I started this thread almost five years ago...wow, does time go by fast.
 
Willie. There's a big difference between types of stove. Most modern EPA approved stoves from about mid 90's and up use a reburner system involving a baffle and tubes and a secondary air supply. Even if your tube stove only has one control it still has secondary air supplied, you're just not controlling. The EPA is. Lol. Then there are catalytic stoves too which are a different animal. The. Legendary burns times of the blaze King line up are achieved via a cat.

Pre EPA or non reburner stoves are a different animal too.

But for the majority of people I think are using a baffle reburner type stove unless they happen to have a cat or a ole smokey.

So for a reburner stove it is meant to be loaded in cycles and your heat will be supplied in cycles. They are meant to be loaded right up, air wide open getting really hot, the wood will off gas, then you settle in for the burn, air cut back and let it cruise. Stovetop temps should reach 500+ and the chimney should have no smoke. As the load turns to coals it will cool down some and that's fine, once the load has turned to coals, you can start turning the air back up and keep getting decent heat or let the coals ride and extend load times. Once it's burned right down to very few coals, maybe two to three hundred on the stovetop you crank the air open and load it right up again and get the temps up good and hot. Rinse and repeat. I load my stove three times a day usually. Morning, when I get home, and before bed.

Throwing the odd piece on now and then isn't recommended, burn in cycles. Load it right up heat it right up and then get your air cut back. When my stove is up to temp and a load is settled in my stovetop temps can hold steady from 500-700 while my flue temps are much lower and it cruises like this for hours and hours. The stove is literally eating its own smoke. The secondary air gets routed through the stove, becomes super heated, and pours out of the holes in the tubes and lights off the smoke, burning it before it leaves the stove. So you get the full potential of btus from your fuel.
 
I've been topping my trees for thirty years and now you're telling me there's a better way?!😯
I'll try it out next few days. I can choke my fire right out so I'm sure the EPA wasn't invited over. I do have the re burner tubes and can control air in and exhaust out.
 
Willie. If you have access to the backside of your stove, read the sticker and tell me what it is. If you don't know.
 
If you can't finger it off the sticker. Snap a pic of it. Or if your stove is installed tight, stick your phone back there and get a pic to read the make/model off of.
 
Yeah, I bought a smaller avalon at my other place. This one has a serious firebox on it
 
Okay , both of mine are EPA rated ... Another question about the fan for the Avalon. Currently run w out fan though I do see many kits are available on EBay. I use the small square computer fan anway above Stove. I wonder if I don't want to buy fan kit could I remove the knockout panel underneath and cob up the computer fan from outside ... Would it work? Even though control would manual on off , I would be pushing air between the double walls and out the front like it's designed.
 
I'm not sure, this has a factory fan in the back. My other one, i bought a factory fan that fit on the front easily
 
I don't see why you couldn't try that Altimmus. If I'm understanding you correctly.


Hearth mounted stove Willie. Pretty cool. Is that vented through an exterior or interior masonry chimney? Does it have a full liner? Does it have a block off plate? That would be a plate above it that effectively 'seals' off the chimney.
 
If your stove has tubes Willie I bet it is epa approved. A better pic of that data plate when cool should reveal a date somewhere. But if it has tubes I'd recommend to try burning it as I described.
 
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