How to make a wood stove more efficient?

[dave_dj1]

Many years ago one of the magazines (Mother Earth or Popular Mechanics) had an article. You put the first layer of wood in and lay a few glossy colored pages from a magazine, then more wood, then more pages etc etc. It worked for my old parlor stove. The principal is the colored pages won't burn, they only get burnt looking so it keeps the upper layer from catching, once the first layer burns and the pages crumble then the next layer catches and so on. You may want to experiment. Some stoves are just plain in efficient and not much you can do. A couple things with your stove, I don't see a stove pipe damper and it looks as though the door gasket is leaking air in. My grandfather heated his house for many, many years with an old Franklin stove (fireplace) he learned how to bank the fire at night and he used what he called chunk wood instead of fine splits for night time burning. As stated above, insulation upgrades, better windows and not knowing the size of your house the stove may just be undersized.

 

[Marshy]

Building a proper bed of coals prior to filling the firebox for the night is just as important as banking it. Larger splits take longer to burn also so figure out the largest pieces you can fit in through the door and use those for night.

 

[NvrDwn]

It looks like you have a reducer on the pipe coming of the to of the stove. yes/no? that may be the cause of it smoking when you damp it down. to your questin about bricks ,you may be able to place some on the sides but i don't how you would be able to keep them in place

It's a flap inside the pipe. Horizontal would be a lot of heat out of the chimney. Vertical being closed. For the night i try for about / position. To much more and it builds to much smoke and the other way to much heat loss. I burn anything I get my hands on except pine. I currently am burning tulip poplar with a big log of locust once or twice a day (usually morning and night) My oak is seasoning and ill be running out of the locust soon. I have some tree of heaven i was going to burn (was told it was black walnut) but this wood seems to be like a sponge and is basically worthless.

 

[farmer steve]

@NvrDwn. What I meant was the size pipe coming out of your stove. The stove outlet looks bigger than the pipe going up to your chimney.

 

[NvrDwn]

@NvrDwn. What I meant was the size pipe coming out of your stove. The stove outlet looks bigger than the pipe going up to your chimney.

Ah, yes it does.

 

[Deleted member 150358]

The lack of a door seal seems like one real detriment to control. Not familiar with the stove at all.

Is it made to have a fiberglassed rope seal?

 

[Trapper_Pete]

Yes, yes, no.

It works very well at warming the house quickly. When I first used it I got it to 92 in the house. Its 1800sqft. It's a very fine line that moves with the type of wood i use. I can fill it with wood get a good fire going then damp it way down but itll still get extremely hot, or, smoke will start coming out of the door. Sometimes i can get it just right and other times not so much.

a thermometer for the stack is a good tool on the single wall stacks with old stoves , your looking for enough heat up the stack to keep from creosote up but not give up much more than you have to

it sounds like that big stove will cook you out in a hurry , when wood was basically free for a little labor and many houses lacked much in the way of insulation , you just cranked out the heat and your not very well insulated house leaked it out slower than your stove could make it you called it a win.

my parents house got very well insulated , Dad sold an installed early foam insulation that expanded in the wall in 78 so the 1950 ranch house went from open wall cavities to good insulation , he also put about 14 inches of fiberglass in the attic. later they got new windows and had the house vinyl sided it is very tight now. they don't use the stove much any more but when they do one fire about cooks you out so they build it small and hot and it is mostly for recreation and emergency heat than actual heating.


could you make a fire box inside your fire box and would it allow you to make a small hot fire that kept from over heating your house and provided more even heat , yes but it would still not carry you through the night

what do you set your thermostat to?
I set my thermostat to 65 and I sometimes get the house in the dining room where the thermostat is to 78-80 with my stove before bed in the living room where the stove is 90 is not unheard of , my wife gets cold when she sits , but her recliner is closest the stove and she will get to basically beach attire when she is normally sweat pants , sweat shirt , wool socks , and a blanket at 68-70 thats when you say but it's a dry heat it certainly warms the bones. if you close off the bed room doors and heat the living room or area where the stove is then it will often keep above 65 till morning . it sort of depends how you like to sleep cool or warm. personally I like cool for sleeping so closing the doors heating the living room , dining room and kitchen that are open works for me.

I will second that I think you would be much better served by a smaller air tight epa stove . I like Quadrafire for their reburn system and how little I need to clean my chimney 1800sq feet if you can probably heat it very well with a 3100 if it is very well insulated you could probably go with the 2100 , they are an investment but you can get many years out of them and if you can keep steady heat and cut your oil/gas /lp consumption , you can save money if your cutting your own wood.

the 2100 may not have the room in the fire box for a long burn but I can get about 7 hours on the 3100 step top when dampered down I pull all the way out then go back in about 1/4 . I loaded up the stove last night before bed 11:30 pm no I don't get 8 hours of sleep at 6:30 Am I had sufficient enough coals and my stove top temp was 125 degrees that I raked the ash back pulled the coals forward to the air feed at the front of the fire box tossed some approximately 2x4 by 16 inch splits on and opened the primary air fully in a minute the new wood caught and when it was going well I added more larger wood again.

outside temp is about 25 and my furnace never kicked in set to 65.

when it is 20 below zero I can load up the same way but the furnace is going to kick in about 4 am unless I get up and feed in the middle of the night.


if you want really even heat exactly 72 at all times , that is what OWB out door wood burners and hot water base board are for , but if you like intense sauna like heat to really warm your bones and radiate heat to the rest of the house an indoor free standing wood stove is the tool.

you can obviously control a lot with how much and what size wood , but better air controls help a lot to reduce the frequency of tending.

 

[NvrDwn]

a thermometer for the stack is a good tool on the single wall stacks with old stoves , your looking for enough heat up the stack to keep from creosote up but not give up much more than you have to

it sounds like that big stove will cook you out in a hurry , when wood was basically free for a little labor and many houses lacked much in the way of insulation , you just cranked out the heat and your not very well insulated house leaked it out slower than your stove could make it you called it a win.

my parents house got very well insulated , Dad sold an installed early foam insulation that expanded in the wall in 78 so the 1950 ranch house went from open wall cavities to good insulation , he also put about 14 inches of fiberglass in the attic. later they got new windows and had the house vinyl sided it is very tight now. they don't use the stove much any more but when they do one fire about cooks you out so they build it small and hot and it is mostly for recreation and emergency heat than actual heating.


could you make a fire box inside your fire box and would it allow you to make a small hot fire that kept from over heating your house and provided more even heat , yes but it would still not carry you through the night

what do you set your thermostat to?
I set my thermostat to 65 and I sometimes get the house in the dining room where the thermostat is to 78-80 with my stove before bed in the living room where the stove is 90 is not unheard of , my wife gets cold when she sits , but her recliner is closest the stove and she will get to basically beach attire when she is normally sweat pants , sweat shirt , wool socks , and a blanket at 68-70 thats when you say but it's a dry heat it certainly warms the bones. if you close off the bed room doors and heat the living room or area where the stove is then it will often keep above 65 till morning . it sort of depends how you like to sleep cool or warm. personally I like cool for sleeping so closing the doors heating the living room , dining room and kitchen that are open works for me.

I will second that I think you would be much better served by a smaller air tight epa stove . I like Quadrafire for their reburn system and how little I need to clean my chimney 1800sq feet if you can probably heat it very well with a 3100 if it is very well insulated you could probably go with the 2100 , they are an investment but you can get many years out of them and if you can keep steady heat and cut your oil/gas /lp consumption , you can save money if your cutting your own wood.

the 2100 may not have the room in the fire box for a long burn but I can get about 7 hours on the 3100 step top when dampered down I pull all the way out then go back in about 1/4 . I loaded up the stove last night before bed 11:30 pm no I don't get 8 hours of sleep at 6:30 Am I had sufficient enough coals and my stove top temp was 125 degrees that I raked the ash back pulled the coals forward to the air feed at the front of the fire box tossed some approximately 2x4 by 16 inch splits on and opened the primary air fully in a minute the new wood caught and when it was going well I added more larger wood again.

outside temp is about 25 and my furnace never kicked in set to 65.

when it is 20 below zero I can load up the same way but the furnace is going to kick in about 4 am unless I get up and feed in the middle of the night.


if you want really even heat exactly 72 at all times , that is what OWB out door wood burners and hot water base board are for , but if you like intense sauna like heat to really warm your bones and radiate heat to the rest of the house an indoor free standing wood stove is the tool.

you can obviously control a lot with how much and what size wood , but better air controls help a lot to reduce the frequency of tending.

I set mine no less than 68. Dont want it to cool for the baby.

 

[Trapper_Pete]

I set mine no less than 68. Dont want it to cool for the baby.

I used to do the same .

have you though about putting the thermostat in the baby's room and blocking most of the vents in the rest of the house either if they have a damper or the magnetic covers?

if it isn't difficult to run the wire having two thermostats isn't normally and issue if you leave one in the off position.

we chose the warmest room in our house when the furnace ran as the nursery , didn't get my wood stove till my youngest was almost 3.

 

[Marshy]

Does that stove have a baffle in it?

 

[Ted Jenkins]

First there is nothing wrong with your stove and most people agree and state here that there is not a problem with your stove. Six one is exactly correct. If you were to say how can I make my poorly designed stove have a longer run time. To make your stove have a longer run time you will have to make some modifications. The chimney should be the same size all the way to the top for best results. A damper in the exhaust is a poor excuse for anything. In other words do not waste any time with a damper. The reason for this is that when it the chimney gets hot it keeps the inside clean and will draw best. The door does not fit well to the stove body. I am all most 100% positive that you do not have any cast iron in your unit so go crazy with welding. So it should not be any issue to fit the door to fit perfect or add a channel with a insulation strip or. When I want long time burns I select the perfect wood for it. For me a 18 to 20'' by 12'' Oak will easily go 16 hours with out any problem. Clay brick or concrete anywhere near your stove will not do much unless you are talking tons. As I have a few tons of tile and motor in my house which actually does make a difference. As was mentioned insulation is important. All my walls have at least R40 values and special storm resistant windows which would explain why my house can stay comfortable for at one day without heat. So you have a few things to do to enable your house become your castle. When you get everything perfect you will want to move. Thanks