Post by: 92xj on May 06, 2015, 06:11:10 AM
This past weekend I had an issue that I am not sure what caused it and what I need to do to avoid it in the future.
I set up the stove as absolute level as possible and got a fire going. I was in the process of burning a good bit to get a good coal bed before throwing on a North Idaho log for the night. While the fire was going before the Idaho log was placed inside the stove would start chugging, for lack of better words. How I would describe it would be it sounded like a grouse drumming and was puffing like a train. It what puff smoke out the air intake holes like you were puffing on a cigar, puff of smoke out, pause for a quarter second puff pause all while sounding like a choo choo choo choo, etc. There was very little if any wind out and for sure wasn't blowing in the exhaust pipe. My set up is the pipe comes straight out the top of the stove for 3 feet, then angles out the tent at a 50 degree angle or so. This is the first time it has ever done this with this setup that I have previously burned with no issues. When it would do this I would just close the air vents to keep the smoke out of the tent and have to wait for the fire to die out and then open the door. If opening to soon and the rush of oxygen entered the stove a flare up would happen, which I know and when happened was not surprised at all. I thought maybe the front of the stove might have been a degree or two higher than the rear where the exhaust comes out, I found a level and played till it was 0. Any ideas what this could be?
Also, how and when do you clean out your stove? Do you scrape all the build up out? Do you clean the inside of your exhaust pipe? I have a decent bit of build up in the stove and pipe. The pipe I just hit on the outside to let the flakes fall off before putting up but don't ever scrub and spend a lot of time making sure I get everything out. Just curious what you do.
Post by: Miles on May 06, 2015, 06:28:34 AM
Post by: 92xj on May 06, 2015, 06:38:05 AM
Post by: jackmaster on May 06, 2015, 06:41:23 AM
Post by: headshot5 on May 06, 2015, 06:49:12 AM
Post by: Miles on May 06, 2015, 06:53:26 AM
Post by: CP on May 06, 2015, 06:55:11 AM
Post by: 92xj on May 06, 2015, 07:07:40 AM
I will do a full clean of the spark arrester making sure there is zero restriction. I will also open the air intake a tick more and see if that helps. Google told me it could be called "Whuffing" and happens with a ripping fire with it's super heated air.
This did happen on start up when I had the fire ripping, wanting to burn a good bit and get some good coals started.
I will clean and test this weekend at the house on the patio. Of course it won't happen now that I'm not in the woods in the tent, but that's ok. I at least have an idea of what was going on.
I am also running wood that is super dry, like 5-7 years in the tricities summer hear kind of dry and a mix of all different kinds of hard wood. Once this stack goes away I will purchase alder and start using that to build the base for the night burn on the Idaho Logs. On a side note, those logs are freaking amazing. Keep the heat all night, the longest I have tested is 10 hours and after that 10 hours I still cant touch the stove it's so hot. So nice not to have to get up in the middle of the night and feed the stove.
Thank you guys for the help and advice.