Author Topic: wood stove controls  (Read 9240 times)

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electrondady1

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wood stove controls
« on: January 07, 2011, 11:11:27 AM »
hey ! i now have a wood stove in my shop.
it works ok and heats the shop up nice .
but i want to make sure i'm burning the wood in a proper manner.

it's a heritige wood stove and has two controls .
one is the combustion air and the other is the flue damper.

 the combustion air control is easy to understand
it has a direct effect on the rate of combustion .
but i don't think i'm using the flue control with much understanding.
i keep both  wide open in the beginning to help get the fire going good.
but once the fire is established should i increase the damper setting to
help keep the heat in the stove and not escape up the chimney?

just trying to figure out the optimum conditions for a good and clean burning fire

Simen

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Re: wood stove controls
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2011, 11:27:20 AM »
The optimum combustion would be when the flames seems to turn into plasma; almost liquid. :)
I will accept the rules that you feel necessary to your freedom. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. - (R. A. Heinlein)

TomW

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Re: wood stove controls
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2011, 01:35:43 PM »
Here is how I "do" stove control:

Get the system rolling with both open wide.

Once fire is going good pinch off the inlet air some and close the vent damper.

From there on I control the rate of burn with the fresh air inlet.

Stoves vary so be sure you don't get smoke backing up out of the system with a closed flue damper and too much fresh air.

The initial wide open burn allows the system to heat up including the chimney which gets a good draught going.

Lots of ways to do it but closing the flue damper helps keep the heat down in the firebox where it belongs.

Just my way and it varies with the stove.

A hot chimney keeps itself cleaner so that is why you let er rip at first to establish a hot chimney.

I think it is more art than science and you will get a feel for "how" as you go.

Avoid low heat smoldering fires as this will gunk up your flue. Better off running it with small amounts of fuel burning well than a large load and smoldering slow fire.

I have burned wood in stoves for heat pretty much exclusively since the early '70s so your mileage may vary.

Tom

electrondady1

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Re: wood stove controls
« Reply #3 on: January 08, 2011, 10:38:14 AM »
thanks tom,
 just heading out to the shop now to start the fire.
a small hot fire seems the way to go.
i wish there were glass doors on this thing so i could tell what was going on inside .
things  change a lot when you open up the door.

i've been told about a manufactured "log" that you burn every once in a while that will remove or loosen creosote build ups .
it doesn't sound like you need them,but have you  ever heard about them
your opinion?

simen,  for next year, i will add air/hydrogen  and a secondary burn  chamber to ignite what ever unburned stuff  is left in the smoke.
maybe i can get the sort of flame that comes out of my gas welder!
plasma ? that may have to wait :))







 


TomW

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Re: wood stove controls
« Reply #4 on: January 08, 2011, 11:06:32 AM »

i've been told about a manufactured "log" that you burn every once in a while that will remove or loosen creosote build ups .
it doesn't sound like you need them,but have you  ever heard about them
your opinion?

Well, for decades I have tossed copper water tube / cable scraps into the firebox after one old timer told me that the copper puts off "something" that helps keep the chimney clean.

I remember checking on those logs and the powder you toss in the fire and it seems the active ingredient was copper sulfate or oxide so maybe the burning copper in the stove has a basis in science? Not sure if burning a fire with copper in there makes copper sulfate or oxide? Seems it would make copper oxide as it was heated?

Just something I have done for years. The copper seems to last a long time and I usually just resupply it and toss the "used" stuff on the scrap pile a couple times a season.

No guarantees and it may be an old husbands tale but what I do. Seems to work.

Google doesn't yield much easy info on what is in those logs.

The active ingredients are phosphorus pentoxide and
ammonium sulfate. The mechanism of action (according
to the patent) is unknown.

About all I could find.

For about  $50 you can get a brush and fiberglass rods to fit your chimney.

Mechanical cleaning is a must regularly but you can cut back how often by burning hot fires with dry wood.

Tom




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Re: wood stove controls
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2011, 12:16:30 PM »
Well, for decades I have tossed copper water tube / cable scraps into the firebox

Tom

And if nothing else... it makes for a pretty blue/green flame :)

Simen

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Re: wood stove controls
« Reply #6 on: January 08, 2011, 01:37:01 PM »
Electrondady:
Sorry, i assumed you had a stove with the latest constructions... Here in Norway, clean burning wood stoves have been mandatory for years... :) Here's some info from Jøtul: http://www.jotul.com/en-US/wwwjotulus/Main-menu/Information-and-good-advice/Clean-Burn/

Regarding cleaning stoves/chimneys by burning stuff; we've used Zinc for many years... Take a piece of an old zinc gutter and throw it in the fire... :) Stoves with catalysators might not like it though...
I will accept the rules that you feel necessary to your freedom. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. - (R. A. Heinlein)