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© 2021 United States Stove Company
OPERATION INSTRUCTIONS
wax, and similar substances to start a fire in an
affected wood heater.
Burning these materials may result in the release
of toxic fumes or render the heater ineffective
and cause smoke. Deadwood lying on the forest
floor should be considered wet and requires full
seasoning time. Standing deadwood can usually
be considered to be about 2/3 seasoned. 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 logs. 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 element but not the sides. A good indicator of
if the wood is ready to burn is to check the piece
ends. If cracks are 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.
It is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that you use DRY
WOOD only in your wood stove. 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 overstressed; the vast majority
of the problems related to the operation of a wood
stove is caused by the fact that the wood used was
too damp or had dried in poor conditions. These
problems can be:
• ignition problems
•
creosote build-up causing chimney fires
• low energy yield
• blackened windows
• incomplete log combustion
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 but make sure the
temperature never rises higher than 475 °F (246
°C) on a magnetic thermometer for installation on
single wall stove pipes. The thermometer should be
placed about 18” (457 mm) above the stove. Higher
temperatures can lead to overheat and damage
your stove.
TESTING YOUR WOOD
• When the stove is thoroughly warmed, place one
piece of split wood (about five inches in diameter)
parallel to the door on the bed of red embers.
• Keep the air control fully open and close the
door. If the wood ignites within 90 seconds from
the time it was placed in the stove, 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 (green). Do not use this wood in
your stove. Large amounts of creosote could be
deposited in your chimney, creating potential
conditions for a chimney fire.
TAMPER WARNING
This wood heater has a manufacturer-set minimum
low burn rate that must not be altered. It is against
federal regulations to alter this setting or otherwise
operate this wood heater in a manner inconsistent
with operating instructions in this manual.
EFFICIENCIES
Efficiencies can be based on either the lower
heating value (LHV) or the higher heating value
(HHV) of the fuel. The lower heating value is when
water leaves the combustion process as a vapor, in
the case of woodstoves the moisture in the wood
being burned leaves the stove as a vapor. The higher
heating value is when water leaves the combustion
process completely condensed. In the case of
woodstoves this would assume the exhaust gases
are room temperature when leaving the system,
and therefore calculations using this heating value
consider the heat going up the chimney as lost
energy. Therefore, efficiency calculated using the
lower heating value of wood will be higher than
efficiency calculated using the higher heating value.
The best way to achieve optimum efficiencies is to
learn the burn characteristic of you appliance and
burn well-seasoned wood. Higher burn rates are
not always the best heating burn rates; after a good
fire is established a lower burn rate may be a better
