Can I Get Some Help With My Woodstove Please?

[SKR8PN]

As you can see there are many ways which are also stove dependant. It might take you a couple of seasons to learn your stove. I'm on my third winter and we finally getting the hang of our stove.

The type, size, and amount of wood will also affect how long your fire burns. It takes time and experience, what works for one person's stove and location may not work for you.

SKR8PN said no pine. As I said, what works or doesn't work for one person doesn't mean it won't work for you. Sometimes pine is the only thing available. I burned pine and juniper in New Mexico with no problem. It does have to be cured though. Conifers can create a lot of creosote which can be extrememly dangerous. Burning green oak and hickory can also create creosote.

Red fir and tamarack work great if that's what is available, more in the northwest. Oak and hickory aren't usually that common where fir and tamarack grow.

Do some internet research on firewoods; compare BTUs, ease of splitting, sparks, etc. Basically burn what is available and make sure it is cured, one year optimally.

Here in Ohio...........GREEN (wet) ANYTHING will build up creosote and cause problems if you don't keep your chimney clean..........but any PINE is a real no - no.........at least around here with the type of stoves and chimneys we have.

It might have a lot to do with the extra cold temps and humidity as well........

 

[TanksHill]

 

[rebecca100]

The fire chief here told us to put a handful or two of salt in a good burning fire every once in a while and it would help keep the chimney clean. Don't really know if it works or not, since we don't have a chimney. We have just plain old stove pipes that we can take down and beat out whenever needed, so we haven't ever tried it. Couldnt hurt anything though.

 

[WindyHill]

Okay, I'll try and address the several posts that you folks have added (all of which I appreciate very much).

First of all, it's a small stove lined with bricks, with baffles at the top interior. There is no ash pan, I simply have to scoop them out from the interior. I do not have a "chimney", so much as one stove pipe that goes directly to the ceiling, then changes into a double insulated pipe which goes out my roof. The stove is located on the lower side of my gable roof, so the pipe was made higher than the peak, which from my understanding is correct. As I said before, there is no "flue" or any other control anywhere on the pipe or the stove, except for the air intake knob on the lower front of the stove. I do have the optional blower that attaches to the back of the unit that comes on when it hits around 300 degrees and works thermostatically.

I never use pine. Some people I know do, but my father was a woodcutter back in the day and told me not to, so I just don't. I only use mixed hardwoods, oak, birch, maple, hickory, etc. I have a VERY seasoned pile from last year, but when the delivery guy dumped this years' wood right in the middle of my lawn, I had no choice but to take it from the new pile, since I couldn't get it all moved by myself. So what I am using is "less seasoned" if that makes sense, but not green.

Below is a link to the model of my stove. Notice it says it will burn for 8 hours. It will NOT. It's never burned for 8 hours ever. I need to constantly add wood. Also, it says it can take 16" logs. I started using the stove at the end of last winter (when I first got it) and discovered 16" logs are a joke. It's too small of a stove. The wood guy suggested 12", which I am using this year, and works much better as far as fit and air flow. The stove is very small.

I put the largest logs I have (wood guy calls them "overnighters") in at night, with a full and good coal bed, and it's always out by morning. Just total ash, with a couple of tiny sparks if I'm lucky, not even enough to re-light it.

Here's the link for my model. Any other thoughts??

http://www.lopistoves.com/product_guide/detail.aspx?id=242

 

[dacjohns]

We had a Lopi stove when we lived in New Mexico, we loved it. If I remember though we did cut our wood a little smaller, trying to get a large chunk of wood through the door did prove difficult at times. Getting to know the quirks of the stove took a while too. If I recall we had a little pull thing on the front of the stove for controlling the air. I don't think the stove would ever keep going all night but the house was still warm the next day. We also lived in a manufactured home so we had to have the outside air kit. I don't think that made a difference in burn rate.

I think you said if you close the air intake the fire goes out. Have you been able to open it just a smidgen? A smidgen is scientific term for a little tiny bit.

We don't even worry about getting an eight hour out of a stove. For us adding smaller pieces of wood throughout the day gives us a more even heat. But then we are still learning with this stove.

I imagine you have fire bricks on the bottom of the fire chamber. Since you don't have an ash pan you do need to let the fire go out occaisionally so you can clean out the ash. That's what we did.

 

[WindyHill]

We had a Lopi stove when we lived in New Mexico, we loved it. If I remember though we did cut our wood a little smaller, trying to get a large chunk of wood through the door did prove difficult at times. Getting to know the quirks of the stove took a while too. If I recall we had a little pull thing on the front of the stove for controlling the air. I don't think the stove would ever keep going all night but the house was still warm the next day. We also lived in a manufactured home so we had to have the outside air kit. I don't think that made a difference in burn rate.

I think you said if you close the air intake the fire goes out. Have you been able to open it just a smidgen? A smidgen is scientific term for a little tiny bit.

We don't even worry about getting an eight hour out of a stove. For us adding smaller pieces of wood throughout the day gives us a more even heat. But then we are still learning with this stove.

I imagine you have fire bricks on the bottom of the fire chamber. Since you don't have an ash pan you do need to let the fire go out occaisionally so you can clean out the ash. That's what we did.

Yes, mine has the same thing that you "pull" to close it. Well meaning visitors keep trying to tell me you PUSH it to close the air, and I have to show them: NO, you PULL it to close it.

Last night I tried opening it just a "smidgen" (I feel so scientific, ha ha), but it was still totally out today.

Yes, the bottom and sides are both lined with bricks, and I do frequently have to scoop out the ash; it's so small I wouldn't be able to fit wood in if I didn't.

I'll practice more today with closing it, so I can see what it actually does while I'm AWAKE, and what happens. It's just so frustrating to have to blast it all day and night in order to keep it going, I'm going through wood like crazy. I can close it part way and it will burn slower, but not by much, and certainly not through the night.

 

[rebecca100]

That did look kinda small. I have never dealt with one like that. If your pipe goes straight up, then maybe you are getting too much of a "suction". I know that sounds stupid, but hot air rises and it will create a suction(if you have an ash door you can see this suction actually happen by opening it and putting a piece of paper in front of it, just be sure to remove the paper when you are through). Dampers are not very expensive and are easy to install. You might try that to slow down the air flow through the pipe, which would also slow down burning rate and MAYBE allow you to close the draft without the fire going completely out. Just an idea. You will probably do best to call the company you got it from and explain the problem to them. Perhaps that type of heater has to have a damper to function properly. We don't have a damper on ours, but our pipe goes 2 lenths out the wall and then up which slows it.

 

[Beekissed]

I agree with Rebecca....install a damper in your pipe and see if you get a better draw control going and use your other adjustment as your backdraft control.

If it were I, I would sell this little stove and get another kind....end of problem!

 

[Ryan McEachern]

You will go through way more wood with the circulating fan on, I find. Try it a few nights with that part unplugged. The radiant heat from the stove will still heat the house, but slower.

All the other points people have made are good. I grew up in a house with a smaller stove, and my wife grew up burning wood as well. In our first house together we had a VERY small stove. When we built our house I put in a large Blaze King stove and have been totally satisfied.

The trick to getting long burn times out of the smaller stoves is to remove as much air space as possible in the firebox before you go to bed. This means having a large variety of shapes and sizes of wood to choose from. Your goal is to make the firebox the most like a solid brick of wood built on top of a bed of coals as possible.

You will want the circulating fan OFF. The amount of damper you will need open will depend on how good your door seal is. On a new stove with a very good door seal, you will need to open the damper a very sight amount (could be as small as an 1/8" or less even). On an older stove with an older door seal, or a few leaks in other places, you may have good luck with dampening it right off.

One of the problems we have up here now is that some of the stove companies have started selling stoves that CANNOT be dampened down all the way, in an effort to make their stoves pass certain emmission standards. If that is the case with your stove, you may never be able to get an overnight burn.

Installing a chimney damper will help if the draft is so strong that it is pulling fresh air through the door seal, or through an air damper that is not designed to fully close.

Good Luck!

 

[~gd]

Brand new stove? Owners manual? You should have one. Maybe there is another control you don't know about.

If it is a name brand stove you should be able to find a manual on the internet if you have the one that should have come with it.

Even though wood stoves are basically the same they can differ in how they operate. I need more information before I can give you any better advice.

I have an owner's manual for it but it doesn't clearly describe how to use the air control. It just says to close it partially to maintain a "slow burn". No other details.

Definitely no other controls I don't know about. It's a very simple stove.

I can get a good coal bed going before bed, load it with wood and in the morning the wood is gone and the coals are out. I MIGHT get a couple of tiny cinders, that's it.

Not sure what other info I should give?

What kind of wood and the size of the wood bits would help. Chunks of hard wood burn slower and last longer than 1-2 inch branches of soft wood. we would throw on some small branches of hard wood to get fast heat in the house and large chunks to hold it overnight