Trying to make stove more efficient

[jordanh]

My father in law gave me his old Vermont Castings Intrepid I woodstove over the holidays. It was built back in 1982. I remember when they got it put in their new house and I was dating his daughter while we were in college.....that thing would plumb run you outta the house....doors and windows would be open and 20F outside and you would want to be on the back porch rather than the living room or kitchen. House was about 1200'.

So I had high hopes for it heating the center of the house by sticking it in the corner of our living room. Our house is about 1500' and we have been wanting a back up heat source since the whole house is strictly electric baseboard heat...no gas.

First week it was bitter cold....zero and below at night and single digits during the day. Didn't have great wood but got the stove up to 500F on the surface......didn't seem to do much but keep the corner it was in warm.

Heating better now with the hickory and milder temps (20's-30's). FIL keeps saying I need a damper in the stove pipe in addition to the one on the stove to help retain the heat and keep it from going straight up the pipe...its a straight run out the back of the stove to the chimney cap of about 13-14' with a clear 3' clear above the roof...so good draft.

I just don't understand how adding a damper to the stovepipe is going to help and could potentially lead to back puffing and heavier quicker creosote buildup.

Thoughts from the experts/experienced?

 

[woodbooga]

The only time our pipe damper gets used is on the rare occasion that the pipe gets too hot - defined as makes spit at the end of my finger sizzle (real scientific).

 

[Paso One]

I remember when they got it put in their new house and I was dating his daughter while we were in college.....that thing would plumb run you outta the house....

Thoughts from the experts/experienced?

I think your father in law planned it ( run you out of the house )

You don't expect it to heat that way now do you???

 

[fiasco]

Stove may need new gaskets and/or a thorough cleaning to get it burning good and hot. Some old ashes blocking the air intake may keep it from warming up. The Vigilant had its air intake down low in the back, and I recall it could get clogged up after awhile. But it's been 17 years since the last time I used a Vigilant, and have never used an Intrepid.

I let my new non-cat Encore get waaaaay too loaded with ashes (ran it for more than a week straight during the ice storm), and started having low temperature and backpuffing issues. I had to spend a bit of time sucking ash out of the stove (including the recirculating chambers in the back) and fixing a couple gaskets that were damaged/loose (I bought the stove just before the CFM bankruptcy, so I suspect quality control may have been on vacation that week....ooops).

After a good cleaning, the stove behaved totally differently, just like new. The living room can hit 80 without too much effort.

Good wood is also a big factor. Crappy green wood = chimney fire waiting to happen. Ask me how I know. Better yet, don't.

 

[jordanh]

LOL...yes.....he tried his hardest to run me off....now he thinks I'm great to have survived his hazing and still be married to his little girl 17 years later.

I cleaned the heck outta that thing...found alot of ash in the secondary area behind the fire brick that I easily sucked out with the vacuum hose BEFORE I hooked up the stove...it would have sucked to have waited until after as taking out the fireback and firebricks and getting it all back in is apparently not too easy.

Alot of the caulk had dried and fallen out...so before I ever fired it up I got the metal to metal caulk and hit every joint...even the one's that seemed okay. I did not tear it down and put it back together....but still should be good and tight. Maybe this summer I'll take it out and spend a week or two taking it apart, cleaning everything and getting back to bare metal inside, repaint with heat resistant black and put it back together caulking both inside and outside joints.

 

[Zodiac45]

The damper definately will help too hold heat in the stove.
On my old Glenwood cookstove I start it off wide open (damper and no oven on) till I got a good fire crackling. Then hit the oven switch (pulls the smoke around the oven and out the bottom vent of the stove) and throttle the damper back too about 45 degrees. The temp increases dramatically after 30min. Whenever I reload, I open the damper too straight and pull the oven bypass. Throw in the wood, re-engage the oven and lastly close the damper until I get a little smoke (from the pipe joint near the damper or the damper hole itself), then open till the smoke stops and a hair more.

 

[BIG JAKE]

Jordan-500 degrees on the stove top sounds a little low-don't be afraid to burn wood in your stove. 500 to 900 degrees is the range for steel stoves if you have a thermometer on the top. I'm not sure if you're cast iron unit will get that hot but my experience between steel and cast iron stoves says thermal characteristics of cast is different than steel-cast iron take a little longer to heat up and to cool down than does steel but that may be only because cast stoves often weigh more than steel. So you're on the low end for heat output. Peak efficiency for non-cat stoves are best at higher temps which is the point where even the smoke burns(secondary combustion)-If you're not burning in this range you're heat output will suck. This is for air-tight stoves or stoves in which you have total control of the burn rate by means of the air inlet. Air tight stoves do not require a flue damper because they are NOT needed to regulate burn rate/heat output as with pot bellied or franklin (older) stoves. If you have rope gaskets in the door/doors it is an airtight unit. Test the door gaskets by closing door on a dollar bill. If you can pull the bill out, replace the gaskets or adjust door tighter. The other way to test is shut the air intake completely and fire should go out or nearly. If not, find/stop the air leak. Gaskets compress over time and slowly you'll lose the seal. If your father in law is around have him show you how to burn it you'll probably find he was either burning much hotter or your wood isn't seasoned good enough. Also, best results with wood stoves is to burn them continuously as far as heating goes. Vermont Castings is a good brand and been around a long time. Good luck.

 

[jordanh]

I have probably been a little cautious with it.....I like to aim for 500F....its gotten up to 700F even damped down on the stove and I close the air inlet nearly 100% to get it back down. Everything I had read on the stove and online and even the stove thermometer indicates the range for safe operation is 300-500 and 600+ is too hot....so that has been my guide so far. May try running it hotter and see how it goes.

 

[sesmith]

Ditto to what BIG JAKE said. An airtight stove does not need a damper in the flue. If you can't control the burn with the air intakes, either the stove is leaking or poorly designed (and that brand is not poorly designed). You should be able to shut the drafts and have the stove go out, or at least smolder out. Get a pretty hot fire going then close down the draft so you're starving the stove for air. Then carefully go around all your seams and doors outside with a lighter. If the flame gets sucked in you've found a leak. First fix any leaks and replace any leaking gaskets. If you find no leaks, get your father in law to show you how he burned it. You may find you're just not burning it hot enough or your wood isn't seasoned enough. I've done some things to my sheet steel stove to improve secondary burn but I wouldn't attempt that on a cast iron stove.