Wood Heat Thread ~ post pics

I read about using wood ash and water. I do not clean the glass.

 

I use Comet cleanser and a green scotchbrite pad. Go gentle and rinse often to avoid scratches but should be okay.

 

Wet paper towel stuck into the ash. Then pretend it’s toothpaste and the glass is plaque.


Works really well. Might take a couple of paper towels though and don’t try it hot. Or at least too hot, dries the paper towel out too fast.

Also I’m talking about the inside where the soot builds up. I don’t think I’ve ever cleaned the outside.

 

newspaper and water. Messy, but effective. Sometimes scrape with a razor blade if I don't want to wait for cool off. With any wet cleaning wait for the glass to cool enough to touch and keep your hand there.

 

Bar Keepers Friend does not use abrasives, so might be a better product that will not scratch.

 

Wet paper towel and ash will do ours nicely almost all the time. I follow it with another wet towel for rinse, then a dry one to get it dry enough to squeak.

When we had a (yet another!) runaway burn last week I gave up and completely covered the secondary burn opening, made sure the fire was completely starved of air, then went up to bed. Window was black in the morning. It's supposed to be self-cleaning so I did a regular burn which got 80% of it off. Used a razor on the rest, then the paper towel + ash thing. Back to new looking.

 

Runaway burn? Wood too dry?

 

Interesting you said you rent a place and heat it with a pellet stove?

They must have different insurance laws in AR than in MO. A friend and myself owned a rental property and our insurer said NO WOOD HEAT IN ANY rentals. They even made us take out the wall thimble from a previously installed triple wall flue system!

 

The place was in New Mexico, and I rented it from someone. I didn't own it and rent it to someone else.

 

I totally understand -- I was surprised your landlord allowed you to use a wood burning device in a rental property. Around here i that is a big no-no, unless the landlord does not care. The insurance policy on the property is invalid if there is a loss

 

Hech, he gave me 5 or 10 bags of pellets when I moved in to hold me over until I could buy my own bags. The pellet stove was the main source of heat when I moved in. He installed gas wall heaters while I was living there, but I still used the stove to supplement the wall heaters. Pellet stoves are pretty common in NM. I carried renters insurance for my stuff, but I couldn't tell you if he had insurance on the house. His father or grandfather built the house originally.

 

Could have been the policy of the insurance company too.

 

It's an EPA stove with an unregulated secondary burn system. We've had that system run wild a couple of times. I think the culprit is too much draft. I thought about a flue damper but first I'm experimenting with partially covering the secondary burn air inlet. Damn thing is the size of a softball.

 

As far as the "newer" "EPA" burn stoves, I have no real time knowledge whatsoever. In my mind, I am wondering if, as you state, letting it "run wild" is bad or good for the system? Older stoves need a real hot burn once in a while to burn out the creosote that can build up. Trouble is if you already have too much creosote buildup -a extra hot burn can ignite the whole creosote build, and you have a flue fire to deal with. Wood burning can get to a tricky balance, which is why I try to burn only year old (or more) really dry wood. Of course, I go thru a lot more wood, but the dryness lowers the creosote build, which is a good trade off in my mind.

 

Is that the T6? Looks nice.
We have a small Jotul at the old cabin but the new place we are building will require something a little bigger.

 

My guess is that the landlord did not have any insurance on the building, or there was no insurance co inspection before the policy was written. Mo. is a very conservative state with the exception of a couple of metro areas, so I doubt if we (Mo.) would have insurance laws that are any different than the nationwide
standards

 

Nice looking stove!!

 

Here is a pic I had handy. This is our Jotul at the cabin. Totally off-grid here. (the switch on the wall is connected to a small solar panel that runs a DC fan when the sun is out and if we turn it on.) The lamp is an Aladdin. There is another one to the left. This is a "typical" end of the day shot. The "boy" in my avatar is on the couch. In that barrel to the right on the stand is some fatwood that I use to start the fire. Ash bucket below that. To the left, out of frame, is a small rack that holds enough wood for a cold weekend. The two tile & wrought-iron stands are used as hot plates. They are touching the stove and get quite warm. Great for keeping the coffee hot. Sorry the pic is so dark.

 

Hope this pic shows up. From last weekend.

 

T5