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[Flyfishjt]

Ok I know this is a loaded question cause I know the nature of the beast but I'm just wondering before I post my views of my new earth woodsman I've been burning about a month. I know how most other brands burn and they seem to all smoke at the beginning of burn cycle but then somewhat clear up the hotter the fire gets no matter the wood used (green or dry) but even if I burn well seasoned wood she smokes like an ole locamotive under full power and it bugs me cause I know that's wasted btus buging my neighbors a half mile away. I was under the impression that having a forced draft on front of door she wood burn hot enough and faster to maybe not smoke during mid burn cycle. I've tryed cutting air back by covering intake and also tryed moving fire position inside and doesn't seem to matter. I'm almost wondering if it's not getting enough volume?

[Scott7m]

Ok I know this is a loaded question cause I know the nature of the beast but I'm just wondering before I post my views of my new earth woodsman I've been burning about a month. I know how most other brands burn and they seem to all smoke at the beginning of burn cycle but then somewhat clear up the hotter the fire gets no matter the wood used (green or dry) but even if I burn well seasoned wood she smokes like an ole locamotive under full power and it bugs me cause I know that's wasted btus buging my neighbors a half mile away. I was under the impression that having a forced draft on front of door she wood burn hot enough and faster to maybe not smoke during mid burn cycle. I've tryed cutting air back by covering intake and also tryed moving fire position inside and doesn't seem to matter. I'm almost wondering if it's not getting enough volume?

Hmm...   With forced draft it shouldn't be bad after a couple minutes.  What are you burning

[fireboss]

Are you over loading it

[Flyfishjt]

I may have been guilty of overloading it the first week but now I'm wondering cause I've tryed just about everything I can think of. Dry wood,fire placement, covering air inlet to cut air back.

[fireboss]

You definateley don't want to restrick the air flow if anything sounds like you need more air flow and try an even smaller wood load you need to get that fire ripping

[scarface77]

Hope this helps... I have a Earth Mountain Man 500 and yes it smokes like a locamotive until you get a good coal,ash bed going. I've tried the air flow restriction and found out it operates better and more efficient with the tear drop damper wide open! The more air it gets with a good coal bed of 5 to 6 inch chunky and halfway through the burn cycle I put in 2 mabe 3 nice pieces to keep up with the coal bed and it only smokes a little on the restart and when it shuts down. Once you get the routine of keeping a good coal bed going things should clear up. I have mine set at 180 with a 15 degree difference. During the day today and yesterday my burn cycles are around an hour and idle times are around 5 hours. I keep the load around 10 inches from the loading door so air gets under my grates and throughout the firebox. When she fires up a little smoke and 20 mins. later its like a clear vaper until she shuts down. The firebox is always clean. Happy burning and hope this helps out.

[AirForcePOL]

What size is the wood you are burning?  If you load big rounds do you also load a few smaller pieces with it?  I find that if I just burn rounds it smokes more and also takes longer for the stove to recover.

[uncle]

I too have the Mountain Man 500 and am impressed with the small amount of smoke for the most part. I burned some scrap lumber once and that smoked something terrible.
I burn dry wood with a good coal bed. If my bed gets smallish, I'll put some dryed Pine or some bark chunks to build it back. I made a damper/solenoid to shut the air off when not in a burn cycle and that works great.

Brian

[kc]

Interesting read.   I am starting my second season on a Mountain Man 500 after struggling some my maiden season but realizing that much of the issue was wood (and a green horn's learning curve).   I installed the stove last December and didn't have half the wood I needed and when I went scrounging for wood I had issues with the fire going out and increase wood use.   Plus I noted it smoked more and creosote build up increased.   This season I built a 20x8 wood shed next to the stove and filled it by the end of October and so far my burn this season has been great.   With good, dry, seasoned wood - most of it oak I have been getting consistently a good bed of coals and the fire doesn't go out, it burns cleaner and the whole thing is so much better than last season. 

I also learned another trick when loading the stove.  Several of the times when my fire went out I noticed a log was dead center up front blocking the air flow from the damper.   The coals are always more numerous towards the stove pipe in back so when I load it I put two pieces parallel with the air flow up front but apart and stack more on top and just throw pieces in to fill the back.   This creates an "air tunnel" up front which lets the air get to the coals and wood in the back part of the stove.

It feels good to get in a rhythm and my MM 500 is doing great.


kc