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[rosewood]

 anyone think adding air to top of firebox would help combustion and cut down on smoke?  been thinking of adding this for next season. maybe seperate blower on some kind of timer reset to get fire roaring faster,than shut off after15 minutes leaving primary blower going till end of cycle.

[willieG]

anyone think adding air to top of firebox would help combustion and cut down on smoke?  been thinking of adding this for next season. maybe seperate blower on some kind of timer reset to get fire roaring faster,than shut off after15 minutes leaving primary blower going till end of cycle.

it may be worth a try rosewood but it takes three things  to get that smoke burning...fuel (that is the smoke) heat (i'm not sure there is enough of that as the cold water turns the smoke back to tar quickly at the top of the fire box) and oxegen (air) and from everything i read on this...you would have to blow air through a tube in your fire box (from end to end) to preheat the air to help keep temps up high enough to ignite the gas

what about just blowing more air directly into the fire..i have noticed that just leaving the door open an inch or so can cause the fire to roar. i know most will say this is sending more heatup the stack..but ...you are sending more heat up the stack as heat instead of smoke...the question is ...are we getting any of this "heat" into the water...i say yes because i see very little smoke even at the back of the stove away from the chimney, but i have no real proof

i am considering just adding another solenoid into my door that lifts a gate and lets natural draft in the very bottom of the stove

if you do experiment with your idea ,plese post your results i would be very interested in them . perhaps it will help me in my next stove attempt

[rosewood]

willie,  my thoughts about more air at beginning of cycle is based on the open door theory. it seems like most owb all do this from start up, the ones i see '' central boiler, wood doctor '' and my homemade. my furnace smokes on start up but i wouldn't say its heavy ,more like light med. and seems to get around 170ish and then no smoke .and even quicker after a cycle or too. not sure if its because of the water temp not ''quenching the flames'' or because its been burning for 20 minutes by this point? im wondering if anybody has first hand proof that raising temp limits , has cut down on smoke on startup. currently i have limits set at 165 to 185.....not really a problem, just tinkering  trying to make an improvment. or maybe just uncureable

[willieG]

i agree whole heartedly on trying to improve them that is why i plan on my next stove not having water near the burn chamber..try to keep the fire as hot as possable for as long as poosable and make the first 5 feet or so of the chimney well insulated and it is in this spot i plan on adding heated oxygen to try and promote any left over gas to ignite...then collect the heat through tubes like a real boiler...it may be a waste of time..bu now adays ...time i have.