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NOTICE:
To minimize the risk of smoke spillage when opening the door with a fire in your furnace, crack
the door open no more than 1” and wait for at least 10 seconds before opening it more to allow pressure
stabilization inside the furnace.
TESTING YOUR WOOD
When the furnace is thoroughly warmed, place one piece of split wood (about five inches in diameter) parallel
to the door on the bed of red embers.
Adjust all air controls to there maximum settings and close the door. If ignition of the piece is accomplished
within 90 seconds from the time if was placed in the furnace, your wood is correctly dried. If ignition takes longer,
your wood is damp.
If your wood hisses and water or vapor escapes at the ends of the piece, your wood is soaked or freshly cut.
Do not use this wood in your furnace. Large amounts of creosote could be deposited in your chimney, creating
potential conditions for a chimney fire.
THE FIRST FIRES
The fresh paint on your furnace needs to be cured to preserve its quality. Once the fuel charge is properly
ignited, only burn small fires in your furnace for the first four hours of operation. Never open the air control’s more
than necessary to achieve a medium burn rate.
Make sure that there’s enough air circulation while curing the furnace. DO NOT connect your furnace to the
duct work during this curing process. The odors could be smelled during the 3 or 4 first fires. Never start your
furnace outside. You will not be able to see if you are over heating.
LIGHTING YOUR WOOD FURNACE
1.
Make sure that your furnace has been installed as per the instructions outlined in this manual and the proper
power is supplied to it.
2. Open the fuel loading door.
3.
Note: If there already is a bed of hot/glowing coals in the combustion chamber, proceed directly to the
Preheating step.
4. Place several pieces of small dry kindling in the front of the combustion chamber directly on the firebricks.
5.
Lay a few twists of newspaper over the kindling.
6.
Lay more dry kindling (crisscrossing) on top of the previous layers and possibly a few more twists of newspaper
if needed.
7.
Light the lowest newspaper in the stack.
Note: In some draft situations you may be required to leave the door cracked no more than ½” only till a fire is
established in the stack
No chemical product should be used to light the fire.
PREHEATING YOUR WOOD FURNACE
1.
Once the kindling is burning well or the glowing coal bed is stirred up, lay 2 or 3 pieces of well-seasoned
cordwood down so that the flame from the kindling fire can circulate around the logs and close the door.
Note: You may need to add more kindling to help ignite the cordwood.
2.
Before loading your furnace fully you will want a well-established fire in the combustion chamber. This
typically takes 15-20 minutes.
It is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that you use DRY WOOD only. The wood should have dried for 9 to 15 months, such
that the humidity content (in weight) is reduced below 20% of the weight of the log. It is very important to keep
in mind that even if the wood has been cut for one, two or even more years, it is not necessarily dry, if it has
been stored in poor conditions. Under extreme conditions it may rot, instead of drying. This point cannot be over
stressed; the vast majority of the problems related to the operation of a wood furnace is caused by the fact that
the wood used was too damp or has dried in poor conditions.
These problems can be:
• Ignition problems
•
Creosote build-up causing chimney fires
•
Low energy yield
•
Blackened windows
•
Incomplete log combustion
Smaller pieces of wood will dry faster. All logs exceeding 6” in diameter should be split. The wood should not be
stored directly on the ground. Air should circulate through the cord. A 24” to 48” air space should be left between
each row of logs, which should be placed in the sunniest location possible. The upper layer of wood should be
protected from the elements but not the sides.
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The top down method of fire building is recommended for this appliance. After making sure that the stove air
intake controls are fully open (both air controls open to there maximum setting). Place the largest pieces of wood
on the bottom, laid in parallel and close together. Smaller pieces are placed in a second layer, crossways to the
first. A third layer of still smaller pieces is laid crossways to the second, this time with some spaces between. Then
a fourth layer of loose, small kindling and twisted newspaper sheets tops off the pile.
Higher efficiencies and lower emissions generally result when burning air dried seasoned hardwoods, as
compared to softwoods or to green or freshly cut hardwoods.
DO NOT BURN:
1.
Garbage;
2.
Lawn clippings or yard waste;
3.
Materials containing rubber, including tires;
4. Materials containing plastic;
5.
Waste petroleum products, paints or paint
thinners, or asphalt products;
6.
Materials containing asbestos;
7.
Construction or demolition debris;
8.
Railroad ties or pressure-treated wood;
9.
Manure or animal remains;
10.
Salt water driftwood or other previously salt water
saturated materials;
11.
Unseasoned wood; or
12.
Paper products, cardboard, plywood, or
particleboard. The prohibition against burning
these materials does not prohibit the use of fire
starters made from paper, cardboard, saw dust,
wax and similar substances for the purpose of
starting a fire in an affected wood heater.
Burning these materials may result in release of toxic fumes or render the heater ineffective and cause smoke.
Do not burn manufactured logs made of wax impregnated sawdust or logs with any chemical additives.
Manufactured logs made of 100% compressed sawdust can be burned, but be careful burning too much of
these logs at the same time. Start with one manufactured log and see how the stove reacts. You can increase
the number of logs burned at a time to making sure the temperature never rises higher than 475 °F (246 °C) on a
magnetic thermometer for installation on single wall stove pipes or 900 °F (482 °C) on a probe thermometer for
installation on double wall stove pipe. The thermometer should be placed about 18” (457 mm) above the stove.
Higher temperatures can lead to overheat and damage your stove.
Dead wood lying on the forest floor should be considered wet, and requires full seasoning
time. Standing dead wood can usually be considered to be about 2/3 seasoned.
Splitting and stacking wood before it is stored accelerates drying time. Storing wood on
an elevated surface from the ground and under a cover or covered area from rain or
snow also accelerates drying time. A good indicator if wood is ready to burn is to check
the piece ends. If there are cracks radiating in all directions from the center then the
wood should be dry enough to burn. If your wood sizzles in the fire, even though the
surface is dry, it may not be fully cured, and should be seasoned longer.
TYPE
WEIGHT
(LBS. CU. FT., DRY)
PER CORD
EFFICIENCY
RANKING
SPLITS
MILLIONS BTU’s/
CORD
Hickory
63
4500
1.0
Well
31.5
White Oak
48
4100
.9
Fair
28.6
Red Oak
46
3900
.8
Fair
27.4
Beech
45
3800
.7
Hard
26.8
Sugar Maple
44
3700
.6
Fair
26.2
Black Oak
43
3700
.6
Fair
25.6
Ash
42
3600
.5
Well
25.0
Yellow Birch
40
3400
.4
Hard
23.8
Red Maple
38
3200
.3
Fair
22.6
Paper Birch
37
3100
.3
Easy
22.1
Elm/
Sycamore
34
2900
.2
Very
Difficult
20.1
Red Spruce
29
1800
.1
Easy
16.1
Your furnace was designed
to burn wood only; no other
materials should be burned.
Waste and other flammable
materials should not be
burned in your furnace. DO
NOT USE CHEMICALS OR
FLUIDS TO START THE FIRE.
DO NOT BURN GARBAGE,
GASOLINE, NAPTHA, ENGINE
OIL, OR OTHER INAPPROPRIATE
MATERIALS. Any type of wood
may be used in your furnace,
but specific varieties have
better energy yields than
others. Please consult the
provided table in order to
make the best possible choice.