fancy pants wood stove

Paul Wheaton · #1 10/10/08, 09:36 AM

I'm in a new place with a wood stove that looks pretty normal, but it isn't.

It has a small draft that I'm pretty sure is rooted to the outside. Getting the draft from outside is excellent.

The roof of the firebox has four pipes with little holes in it. When the door is closed, and there is good flame, it looks like air is coming into the firebox from the little holes. And the smoke is drawn up near the front of the firebox.

With the draft wide open and the door closed, it seems to not get enough air. But if I leave it for a while, it eventually does seem to get enough air.

I'm guessing that there is some engineering going on in this thing that I'm not savvy to. Anybody know what is going on?

timfromohio · #2 10/10/08, 09:59 AM

Sounds like you do have an external hookup for combustion air and what you describe on the roof of the firebox sounds like the baffles common in more modern, EPA-cerfitied stoves (high efficiency rating) that utilize secondary combustion. I have one insert and one free standing stove, both utilizing this technology. The reason the smoke is drawn up to the front of the firebox is that the stove (I'm assuming it has glass in the door) is designed to have a hot air wash over the glass to keep it relatively clean (you'll still need to clean it, but it stays a lot cleaner than the windows on older stoves). The secondary combustion design has the combustion byproducts recirculate for the secondary burn - this is to try and burn up small particulates that did not burn the first time around. The results are: (1) a more efficient stove, (2) less pollution up the pipe, and (3) neat looking swirly blue flames once the stove is up to temperature and the secondary combustion is going.

If you want to learn more, check out the forum on www.hearth.com

Another great site, like this one, full of very helpful folks.

Keep us posted as you learn more about your stove.

**Cabin Fever** · #3 10/10/08, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Wheaton

.....With the draft wide open and the door closed, it seems to not get enough air. But if I leave it for a while, it eventually does seem to get enough air.

I'm guessing that there is some engineering going on in this thing that I'm not savvy to. Anybody know what is going on?

Your woodstove sounds pretty much like the two we have. As the chimney heats, the draft slowly increases. We generally keep the door cracked open a bit until the fire is blazing good and hot.

Paul Wheaton · #4 10/10/08, 12:55 PM

Burn efficiently, eh? I'm all for that. And for the clean stuff too. I guess it's one of those things where I probably should understand it better to make good use of it. There's a lot at that site. I've read about four articles so far. While I feel like I now know more stuff, I still don't understand my stove. Is there a picture somewhere on the mighty internet that might help me to figure this out? I would try a google image search, but I'm not sure what I'm looking for.

Paul Wheaton · #5 10/10/08, 01:12 PM

There's a stovepipe thermometer on the top of the firebox ... I figure it doesn't do much good to put it on the stove pipe because the pipe could be double or triple walled ... so it's currently on the firebox and reads 800 which is in the "too hot" range. I'm guessing that while the might be too hot for a single walled stove pipe, it's probably just about right for being on the firebox. Even though this firebox is a bit different than what I'm used to.

What do you folks with more experience with this sort of thing think?

timfromohio · #6 10/10/08, 01:38 PM

Usually the thermometer is on the pipe, not far from the stove - but like you said this only works with single walled pipe. I'm actually installing my second stove this weekend and using double-wall stove pipe so I'm not sure where the best place for the thermometer would be?

Regarding your particular stove, you can register on hearth.com in the forum section and post a picture. I'm certain that somebody on that site can tell you what you have. The folks on that site helped me tremendously in constructing the hearth for my new stove (meets NFPA 211 code) as well as provided a lot of advice on the best way to install.

In case you didn't see the forum section, there is a drop down menu on the main page - the link to the forum section is located as an option in that drop down menu.

One other thing - before start using the stove alot make sure the chimney has been cleaned/inspected. Safety has to be the #1 priority.

Alice In TX/MO · #7 10/10/08, 01:53 PM

This sounds like my Earth Stove.

cfabe · #8 10/10/08, 02:31 PM

Sounds like you've got a modern air-tight EPA stove with secondary air combustion. The little holes along the top are to bring extra oxygen to the smoke to burn off more of the hydrocarbons and clean up the exhaust. If you really get the stove going well you can actually see small flames appear at these holes.

Is there an air control someplace on the stove other than the damper in the stove pipe? This is what you'd use to control the fire rather than the damper.

I used to have a small airtight stove and I also found that when starting the fire it worked best if I left the door cracked for 10 minutes or so until the fire got going well, then closed it and let it do its thing.

Paul Wheaton · #9 10/10/08, 03:05 PM

There is no air control on the stove pipe. The only air control is the draft which I'm pretty sure gets its air from outside.

bluetick · #10 10/10/08, 07:45 PM

In case you haven't done this already, take a flashlight and search the back of your stove for some kind of manufacturer's label. You might want to get the manual for the stove from the maker.

Bonnie L · #11 10/10/08, 08:12 PM

Is it a quadra-fire? We have to leave the door open a bit to get it going good.

Haven't heard from you in a while. How are your goats?