by matt walker » Tue Oct 14, 2014 5:23 pm
Just a quick little update here...things are drying out nicely. It hasn't been very cold here, upper 50s low 60s, so I'm forcing myself to burn a bit morning and night to dry things out, even though I don't really need to. This thing is right on the edge of working at these temps, I'm sucking so much heat out of the exhaust that it's just barely drawing enough to work. I need to keep it warm, and wait until nightfall/early morning for colder outside air temps so it flows properly. It's amazingly efficient, but that's at the expense of solid draw in all conditions. I probably wouldn't even be burning now though, if I weren't trying to dry it out. I'm sure once things cool off even a bit outdoors it's going to be flawless. So far, I'm very pleased with it. First impressions are that it puts a ton of heat into the room, isn't any more trouble to start, and I like that I can put larger fuel in it. Only downside so far is that it does have a hot door and is less safe around little ones, but no more so than a normal wood stove. I just had gotten used to having a heater that had no real burn points on the outside down low. Anyway, here's a shot of the testo from a few minutes ago. Like I said, low stack temps mean the thing is right on the edge, but man, what an edge!