First wood stove - looking for guidance

[namedpipes]

There is a reason (OK, several ) that people move from those places to warmer climes.


https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/to-build-a-fire.pdf

Haven't you heard of global warming? Warmer climes are coming to us!

 

[atmay]

My $0.02:

Zero bends in the stovepipe if you can.

Keep as much of the pipe in the house as possible.

If it has to exit the house early, insulate what's on the outside.

Outside air kit.

Go back in time and buy wood 3 years ago.

 

[namedpipes]

My $0.02:

Zero bends in the stovepipe if you can.

Keep as much of the pipe in the house as possible.

If it has to exit the house early, insulate what's on the outside.

Outside air kit.

Go back in time and buy wood 3 years ago.

Those are wise words.

 

[mwalsh9152]

I need to pick up a new stove or two next year. The one in the finished part of the basement is a worn out Hearthstone II, I need to replace it with something smaller that wont bake you out of the room, and isn't a wood hog. Upstairs is a convertible Vermont Castings convertable stove/fireplace. It's a wood hog roo since it doesn't seal up.

Speaking of craigslist finds.....I just turned three free red oaks 5 minutes from my house into this pile I need to stack for a year or two from now.

 

[KBCraig]

The only thing I don't like about my Lopi Freedom, is the damn burner tube pins.

I finally gave up. I replaced the front one a couple of times, then lost it again. Now the second is long gone, too. The back one is still in place, which gives me a good reference when I let the stove cool down for cleaning, and just reach in and turn the front two back where they're supposed to be.

 

[atmay]

The only thing I don't like about my Lopi Freedom, is the damn burner tube pins.

I finally gave up. I replaced the front one a couple of times, then lost it again. Now the second is long gone, too. The back one is still in place, which gives me a good reference when I let the stove cool down for cleaning, and just reach in and turn the front two back where they're supposed to be.

Mine are all hanging rather precariously right now. Do you have problems with the air tubes rotating in place?

 

[KBCraig]

Mine are all hanging rather precariously right now. Do you have problems with the air tubes rotating in place?

Yes, you can't help but bump them when you're loading the stove, so they wind up with the holes pointing down, or even backwards.

I keep channellocks on the mantle to turn them if they're still too warm. Also comes in handy for pulling out the primary draft.

 

[atmay]

Yes, you can't help but bump them when you're loading the stove, so they wind up with the holes pointing down, or even backwards.

I keep channellocks on the mantle to turn them if they're still too warm. Also comes in handy for pulling out the primary draft.

Good to know. They're all still pinned in place for now,but I'll have to keep an eye out. Thanks for the info.

 

[garandman]

FWIW I bought a pair of 14" leather welder's mitts at Harbor Fright for $5. Great when you are reaching in to load up the firebox.

 

[miniion]

Go back in time and buy wood 3 years ago.

Half the battle right there. Can't agree more.

 

[Paul455]

In 2012, Super Storm Sandy took down a giant oak tree on my backyard. It was over 3 feet in diameter, and about 70 feet tall.

I hired a tree company to cut it up and take it away, as the pieces were too big to handle. There was about 5 dump trucks of firewood taken away.

If I was on NES then, I would have given the wood away for free.

 

[garandman]

We try to burn Oak at night: I only have about 20%. The rest is Ash, Maple and Birch: not bad, but Oak will burn longer and leaves a good bed of coals.

I love our soapstone stove, gotta say.

 

[CTpatriot]

You will never find seasoned wood at this time of year, from a firewood seller biz. No matter what they say...

Plenty of seasoned wood standing around in the woods.

 

[namedpipes]

Plenty of seasoned wood standing around in the woods.

Private landowners keep shooting at me and it's illegal to pull dead wood from the state forests without a permit :/

sent from my chimney using smoke signals

 

[Squished]

Private landowners keep shooting at me and it's illegal to pull dead wood from the state forests without a permit :/

sent from my chimney using smoke signals

Isn't that ridiculous?

 

[mwalsh9152]

We try to burn Oak at night: I only have about 20%. The rest is Ash, Maple and Birch: not bad, but Oak will burn longer and leaves a good bed of coals.

I love our soapstone stove, gotta say.

My soapstone stove throws great heat, but it's in a smallis downstairs area and blows you out of the room because it only runs wide open.

I threw a duraflame in it that the old owners left today, brough it up to a comfortable temp, but not for what those cost!

 

[MisterHappy]

This year I went with compressed-woood block fuel

Envi 8 brand

So far, I've found them to be very controllable, I can keep it very, very low. Four blocks in my airtight Elmira, damped down keeps it warm from 9-5.

Only caveat is that they're extremely sensitive to wet - I lost a few six-packs because the shrink wrap was slightly ripped, and rain got to it. I salvaged most of them, but they turn to piles of sawdust, as soon a moisture hits them.

Hated to pay that much, but real wood is so freaking pricey.

 

[pastera]

The compressed wood blocks send my stove into over fire.

With a 32' chimney, I can't turn down the primary air enough and the secondary tubes light off like glowing blow torches.

Another great product is the soot eater - Did my mid season chimney cleaning this morning in about half an hour.


Sent from my C6530 using Tapatalk

 

[Delkancott]

Plenty of seasoned wood standing around in the woods.

We cut mostly dead standing oak and while you'd believe it's seasoned, it's still real wet inside. It will definitely cure faster, but I'm always amazed at how much moisture a tree still has that's been dead more than 5 years.

 

[atmay]

We cut mostly dead standing oak and while you'd believe it's seasoned, it's still real wet inside. It will definitely cure faster, but I'm always amazed at how much moisture a tree still has that's been dead more than 5 years.

I recently got around to bucking some stuff that I felled about 6 mos ago. It was dead and close to the house, so it had to go.

It's still not ready to burn.

 

[garandman]

We cut mostly dead standing oak and while you'd believe it's seasoned, it's still real wet inside. It will definitely cure faster, but I'm always amazed at how much moisture a tree still has that's been dead more than 5 years.

We try to keep Oak for two seasons for seasoning. Ash, Paper Birch, Sugar Maple and the Red Oak we have all have similar BTU output according to charts. We also cut some Eastern Hemlock which is lower.

 

[AllaSnackbah]

We cut mostly dead standing oak and while you'd believe it's seasoned, it's still real wet inside. It will definitely cure faster, but I'm always amazed at how much moisture a tree still has that's been dead more than 5 years.

I just cut up and dragged out one thats been completely broken off hanging off the ground for at least 4 years and theres still moisture in it.

 

[namedpipes]

A moisture meter is maybe $20. When a freshly split piece measures 10-15%, burn it.

That is, take a random split, split it again, then measure the freshly opened face.

sent from my chimney using smoke signals

 

[evalance]

I keep all my wood in the basement, super dry, Still have some large pieces of oak I have to process this year but next winter it'll be rocking

 

[Boris]

I try to keep wood as far away from house as possible due to mold/insects and fungus. I got a bunch of fallen trees, ****ers burn just fine, may be not superefficient, but I got a very short stack since stove is upstairs.

One thing about burning bricks, they don't last for me, burn very hot but not for long. Overnight and overday I'd throw a few real logs to come back home to ambers that not need kindling to get fire going again.

 

[namedpipes]

I still have to supplement natural wood with the bricks. I don't have enough cut/split/seasoned btu's to make it through the whole winter.

A brick added from time to time through the day keeps a decent output for me. Yes I can easily over fire it if I put in a bunch of them, but that's true of properly seasoned wood, too.

I put in a few when I go to bed at 8 or so and the tot puts in a few more when he goes to bed around 2am.

The Lowe's/HD/TSC brands are utter crap. The Envi brand bricks and blocks all work well for me and leave hardly any ash. Sadly, I have to fetch them a pallet or two at a time or pay to have them delivered for nobody local carries them.

 

[xtry51]

My $0.02:

Zero bends in the stovepipe if you can.

Keep as much of the pipe in the house as possible.

If it has to exit the house early, insulate what's on the outside.

Outside air kit.

Go back in time and buy wood 3 years ago.

I would disagree on the first point. Small S bend out of stove 1/2 diameter of the pipe allows for low burning and greater air control. Makes single load long burns possible even when you have a hot bed of coals established. Make the rest straight, but I would at minimum do a short double 90deg with the damper in the middle. You're trying to keep the heat in the house and fast moving air destroys that.

 

[pastera]

I would disagree on the first point. Small S bend out of stove 1/2 diameter of the pipe allows for low burning and greater air control. Makes single load long burns possible even when you have a hot bed of coals established. Make the rest straight, but I would at minimum do a short double 90deg with the damper in the middle. You're trying to keep the heat in the house and fast moving air destroys that.

Air tight stove should control the movement not the flue pipe.

Residence time in the firebox is where you will achieve higher burn efficiency and greater heat transfer to the room. Slowing down flue gases simply allows unburnt hydrocarbons to condense out in your chimney creating a chimney fire hazard.

Sent from my C6530 using Tapatalk

 

[Boris]

Air tight stove should control the movement not the flue pipe.

Residence time in the firebox is where you will achieve higher burn efficiency and greater heat transfer to the room. Slowing down flue gases simply allows unburnt hydrocarbons to condense out in your chimney creating a chimney fire hazard.

Sent from my C6530 using Tapatalk

this, some stoves control burn rate by controlling air supply. The reburn chambers allow more heat to stay in, using a flue as improvised reburn chamber isn't a good idea.

 

[xtry51]

Air tight stove should control the movement not the flue pipe.

Residence time in the firebox is where you will achieve higher burn efficiency and greater heat transfer to the room. Slowing down flue gases simply allows unburnt hydrocarbons to condense out in your chimney creating a chimney fire hazard.

Sent from my C6530 using Tapatalk

this, some stoves control burn rate by controlling air supply. The reburn chambers allow more heat to stay in, using a flue as improvised reburn chamber isn't a good idea.

It's great to say "have an airtight stove", then there is reality. Second, I'm not using the stack as a reburn, I'm limiting the low end draw velocity only. This is how you control residence time. They are linked and limited by these things called physics and thermodynamics.

Chimney fires are only issues for lazy people who don't clean it. I clean ours once a month. It takes 5-10 minutes. Round brush, extension polls and a 5/8" check cordless drill first. Then a quick hand scrub with the square brush. Not rocket science.

Also unless you're seasoning your own wood, use the creosote logs to keep things from gumming up. Most "seasoned" wood is barely so.