IV. OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS
NOTE:
For the first few days, the stove will give off an odor
and a small amount of smoke. This happens when the high
temperature paint is bonding to the metal. It is normal, will
stop when the paint is cured, and will reoccur every time
you repaint or touch up the paint on your stove. Do Not use
any additional grates or support to elevate your fire.
1. Crumble three or four full sheets of newspaper and
place them on the firebrick floor of your Sierra stove.
2. Crisscross two layers of dry kindling on the paper. Add a
few larger splits of dry wood on top of the kindling.
3. Make sure the primary air control is fully open. Be
certain that the bypass level is open or up.
4. Light the paper under the kindling with a match or
lighter. Do not use gasoline, lighter fluid, charcoal
starter, kerosene or any other such fuel to start a fire in
a woodstove. You may use any type of woodstove fire-
starter. See your Sierra dealer.
5. At higher altitudes, or when starting a fire on a very cold
chimney, it may be necessary to leave the door cracked
open to encourage a hot fire.
Never leave your stove
unattended with the door unlatched! Never leave the
door crakced more than 5-10 minutes.
6. When the kindling has been consumed and larger splits
are burning well, load the stove to the level you deire,
using dry, well-seasoned wood. (Wet wood does not
heat well)
DO NOT BURN COAL IN THIS UNIT.
Close
the doors and continue to burn the stove on high and
with the
bypass open until the wood becomes fully involved.
7. Once your chimney and stove are warmed up and
drawing well, close the air inlets to the desired heat
output. Reload when convenient, but always while you
still have a good bed of coals to reload. Never close the
bypass immediately after adding fresh wood to the fire.
8. When opening the door to reload or poke the fire, open
the bypass first. Then open the air inlet all the way for 10
to 20 seconds. Crack the door and hesitate just a few
seconds before swinging it open. All this is to prevent
flashbacks which occur when a very smoky fire suddenly
is given a lot of oxygen. If your Evolution has a tendency
to spill smoke out the side door, close the air inlet while
the side door is open.
NOTE:
Every stove-chimney combination functions a
little differently. Be patient, and expect the stove to be
different in January when its cold outside, than it was in
September when it was relatively warm. Once a chimney
is warmed up, its draft is a function of how much warmer
it is than the air around it. On still mild fall evenings,
stoves can appear finicky and difficult, but the very next
night, in the midst of a fall storm, act like a completely
different stove.
9. When removing ashes from the ash pan, place them in
a metal container with a tight-fitting lid. Assume that
there are still hot coals mixed in them for at lest three
days.
DO NOT
place them with the garbage or in the
garbage or near anything combustible. The best idea is
to leave them outside, three feet away from the house,
in a metal container, for three days.
10.If your stove has a blower, do not run the electrical cord
in front or near the fire box.
V. USING A CATALYTIC COMBUSTOR
Definition and Purpose of a Catalytic Combustor
Catalytic combustors for woodstoves (cats) are simular in
principle to catalytic converters on automobiles. The big
difference is that the heat generated by your woodstove is
put to use heating your home instead of being dumped out
the tailpipe of your car. Catalytic combusters cause wood
smoke to burn at very low temperatures, releasing enrgy
that would otherwise be lost in the form of smoke. As
smoke passes through the combustor, a rare metal
(Usually platinum or palladium) coating on the cermaic
base of the combustor changes fuel molecures in the
smoke so that they burn at 500 to 600 degres Fahrenheit
instead of more normal 1000 to 1200 degress Fahrenheit.
In addition to making stoves burn cleaner, combustors
improve thier heating efficiency. On the average you will
receive from 30 to 50% more heat from each piece of
wood, up to 90% less cresosote, and because the cat
burns most of the smoke, 90% less air pollution than you
would from burning a comparable stove. Of course, rsults
may be higher or lower depending on operation, chimney
draft, and combustor age.
Operation
- Achieving catalytic Light-Off: During each
burning cycle, the temperature within the stove should be
raised high enough to cause the catalyst to become active
up to “Light-off.” The most conveneint time to do this is
during fuel loading while warming up the wood and the
chimney. Witha new combustor, smoke temperatures
between 500 and 600 degrees Fahrenheit will begin
catalytic buring. (Since the combustors sti right above a
roaring fire, this is not hard toa chieve if you follow the
instructions in
Starting a Fire
) As a combustor ages, its
catalytic activity decreases, so an older cat, (beyond three
years old) needs more heat during the start-up. 700
degrees will generally be sufficient for light-off even on an
old combustor.
Your Sierra S8000 has an option from the dealer, a
catalytic indicator which will take the guesswork out of
knowing when you have light-off.
Cordwood Fuel - General Requirements
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
wood cut for one, two or even more years 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 overstated as the vast majority of the
problems related to the operation of a wood stove is
caused by the wood used was too damp or had dried in
poor conditions. These problems include:
• 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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