Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I posted this info on another's thread. Thought I should start my own........
The stove is an Englander 13-NCH.
Here's what it says in the manual:
FIRST FIRE –
Remember to ventilate well.
Allow the stove to cure before burning for long periods of time at high temperatures.
Flat spots on the painted surface are normal.
Shiny spots on the painted surface (before burning) are normal.
The fire box is lined with bricks and....
"FIBER BOARD: CARE & MAINTENANCE
THIS WOOD HEATER UTILIZES NEW TECHNOLOGY, WHICH INCLUDES A
CERAMIC FIBER BOARD THAT IS LOCATED IN THE FIREBOX,
AND RESTS ON TOP OF THREE (3) STAINLESS STEEL TUBES. "
The first day I had a small fire for about 4 hours.
Yesterday, I had a small to medium fire for about 6 or 7 hours.
I screwed up and didn't research how to cure the stove. I was so busy making sure that it got installed correctly and safely, that I didn't really think about "curing" it.
Now I'm worried that I might have messed up the stove.
Should I just go ahead and use the stove with small to medium fires?
I believe that it will be fine since you haven't had large and hot fires for extended periods. You could always place two magnetic thermometers on the top plate of the stove, one near each back corner not too far from the pipe. This will tell you how hot the fire is. Did you have combustion air piped into the back of the stove from outside?
On my stove the instructions were very specific about seasoning the stove and the use of two thermometers. But on yours nothing in the manual is indicated relating to temperature/seasoning, so you should be fine. Just go ahead and enjoy your stove with small to medium fires, and once you get a couple of thermometers on the stove, search for and download instructions about what burn temperatures are the correct ones for any stove. These can be found all over the Internet.
Thanks, RayinAK! I'll get a thermometer when I go to town tomorrow. I can't find anything in my manual that tells what temp my stove should be. Nor can I find it online. Where can I find it?
We have an air vent from the rear bottom of the stove that goes under the house and to the outside.
I also read in the manual to check for creosote build up, but it doesn't say how to check it! The manual seems to be lacking in general info.
Meanwhile, for this first week, I'll keep the fires low, but not too low. LOL
At least I can build a fire!!!
Thanks, RayinAK! I'll get a thermometer when I go to town tomorrow. I can't find anything in my manual that tells what temp my stove should be. Nor can I find it online. Where can I find it?
We have an air vent from the rear bottom of the stove that goes under the house and to the outside.
I also read in the manual to check for creosote build up, but it doesn't say how to check it! The manual seems to be lacking in general info.
Meanwhile, for this first week, I'll keep the fires low, but not too low. LOL
At least I can build a fire!!!
Thermometers help you tell how hot the fire is. If the instructions are not in the manual, then follow the general instructions for wood stoves found online. Creosote builds on the stove pipe or chimney, and most times it's caused by low temperature wood burns. With my stove the stove pipe goes back throughout the back wall, and then up outside the house but inside an enclosure. I have two magnetic thermometers on the stove's top, one near each back corner of the top. With this stove I keep the burn temperature from 300 to 425 degrees. But for your stove it should be different. Ask your stove's manufacturer for ideas, and I am certain they will respond with some information for you.
Thanks for the links.
All the thermometers have the "safe" or preferred temp range marked. That should be a big help.
My manual says that "if any part of the stove or pipe start to glow", then I'm over-firing the stove!
I think I could have figured that one out myself.
Thanks for the links.
All the thermometers have the "safe" or preferred temp range marked. That should be a big help.
My manual says that "if any part of the stove or pipe start to glow", then I'm over-firing the stove!
I think I could have figured that one out myself.
It also depends on the stove and the type of stove pipe you have. If you have a steel boiler, more than likely the walls aren't very thick like the walls on mine. Also, I used stainless steel double wall/insulated pipes. With this pipe the only way I could check the flue temperature would be by installing a remote thermometer since the pipe runs outside the house. To install this thermometer I would have to drill a hole on the pipe and insert and attach the thermometer's probe. The temperature is displayed inside the house. But if you use regular or single wall stove pipe by the stove (above it), you can use a magnetic thermometer to tell you the flue temperature, plus another one on top of the stove.
Cold fires cause creosote built-up, and very hot fires cause other problems on the stove pipe walls. What you want to do is to allow the temperature to built-up above being cool and below being very hot. But if yours stove uses a catalyst, the burn temperature has to come up to around 600 degrees to ignite the catalyst, then you can choke it down and the catalyst will continue burning the gasses further.
Since mine does not have a catalyst, I bring the temperature up to between 350 and 450 and keep it there, but since I have no idea about other stoves, I can't tell about yours. When the temperature in my stove is around 350 degrees, no smoke can be seeing coming out the pipe on the roof, just a little white water vapor. If it's around 30 degrees outside, then almost nothing can be seeing outside. It burns very clean.
Check with some of your neighbors to see if they use wood stoves regularly. Experienced users in your neighborhoods could provide additional and very useful information.
This is my stove. It's non-catalytic. We also have double wall stove pipe from the stove to the ceiling support box and from there, it's dura-vent triple wall chimney. We have a straight shot thru the roof and 4 1/2 ' above the roof (with a support bracket).
I was reading some online, and discovered exactly what you said. Small hot fires rather than big smoldering ones. And to watch the heat as well as the chimney smoke. When I check mine, it's barely visible.
I'll get the thermometer and make sure that I take the "creosote" situation very seriously.
I really appreciate your input!
Thanks, RayinAK! I'll get a thermometer when I go to town tomorrow. I can't find anything in my manual that tells what temp my stove should be. Nor can I find it online. Where can I find it?
We have an air vent from the rear bottom of the stove that goes under the house and to the outside.
I also read in the manual to check for creosote build up, but it doesn't say how to check it! The manual seems to be lacking in general info.
Meanwhile, for this first week, I'll keep the fires low, but not too low. LOL
At least I can build a fire!!!
Creosote builds up over time. You check it once or twice a year by looking down your stove pipe or having someone do it for you. I check mine about never, but that's because I burn our stove hot enough to keep it from forming. Actually, I have checked it a couple of times over the years and there have never been any build up.
I also wouldn't worry about if you didn't initially season it correctly. It sounds like you didn't do anything that would be a problem.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
