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Old 03-05-12, 12:12 AM   #31
Geo NR Gee
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The secondary burn modification is complete and ready for a test fire. All of the parts used to make this modification are used pieces of metal repurposed from things like a old treadmill, and some old pipe. Of coarse the stove was built in 1985 too.

Below is the "L" with the air holes that the pipe goes into. Notice that the holes are staggered.


I found that my wood clamps help when drilling the holes in the pipe. It also made it much easier to use the center punch as well.



Everything is welded, the fire bricks are in and ready for the first new secondary burn modification fire.


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Old 03-05-12, 06:45 AM   #32
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Very cool. How do you plan on verifying they actually do what they're supposed to do and/or what kind of improvement they've made?
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Old 03-05-12, 08:57 AM   #33
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Daox View Post
Very cool. How do you plan on verifying they actually do what they're supposed to do and/or what kind of improvement they've made?
You can see a better burn thru the glass and no smoke coming out of the chimney. Its REALLY obvious when you see one that is a normal wood stove and one that is a secondary burn stove. Its really incredible to see.

This Youtube video shows two stoves. One is a EPA Certified Secondary wood stove and the other is a conventional wood stove.

Advanced Woodstove Technology - YouTube
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Old 03-05-12, 10:18 AM   #34
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I found a PDF that has a wealth of information on stove design:
Designing Improved Wood Burning Heating Stoves

There are two that look like good candidates for your retrofit.

First, the 33 gallon in 55 gallon heat exchanger on page 21. An insulated interior barrel lets the flue gasses keep their heat. With the right air flow, this becomes a secondary burn chamber. This is basically a retrofit to turn your regular stove into a rocket stove.

A similar setup, the Library Stove on page 36, uses a heavily insulated burn chamber. You could do something similar with your stove using stove brick on the bottom and a mix of clay and perlite on the walls and top. The insulated burn chamber means higher temperatures for a more complete initial burn. The two 55 gallon drums give a large surface area for radiant heating.

There are some high-mass stoves in there as well. I don't think they would be suited for a shop since they have a huge lag from heat created to heat radiated. However, they are well suited to home heating; they are better at extracting heat since they have a very long chimney with a very large mass around it and produce a low, steady heat like a radiant floor. Permies.com has a lot of discussion on the rocket stove mass heater. They claim that exhaust from a well designed stove should have no visible smoke and be about the same temperature as dryer exhaust. I have played around with small rocket stoves with some success, but I don't have the metalworking skills to make one suitable for the house and I don't have enough space for a big cob stove.

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Old 03-05-12, 01:01 PM   #35
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Thanks for the info. I think sometimes I get too much cold air, when strong wind blows in my outside air inlet. I ordered a damper to deal with that. When the air is calm, it doesn't get enough air. My inline fan isn't hooked up yet, so I hope that will do the trick. I am just trying to maximize the amount of heat I get out of it. I have a free source of would if I cut it myself, but it is cottonwood so it burns fast. I have to cut it anyways, so I might as well burn it. My chimney is a multiwall steel pipe surrounded by drywall, so I don't think I can get the temperature.
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Old 03-05-12, 03:22 PM   #36
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Well, my secondary burn modification to my wood stove is a success. After the fire was started and burning for about 10 minutes, there is a lack of smoke coming out the chimney. Its just amazing.

In the firebox I can see the flames are now a dark red mostly and dancing. The additional openings for the secondary burn air did not effect the closing of the factory damper and in fact you can really see how much better the fire burns at the top of the stove when it is dampered.

In all it took about 4 hours to fabricate it from start to finish. The cost was.....nothing really but some electricity and some welding supplies which were minimal.

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Old 03-14-12, 02:49 PM   #37
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Does anybody have any idea how hot/cool the chimney flue should be? Mine is about 375 at the stovetop, 214 at 12" from the stovetop, 185 at eye level, and 100 near the ceiling. Its only the reading from the outside of the flue.

I haven't found out what the lowest temperature should be to keep the soot from building up. I have a clean burn, but I am thinking of capturing more of the heat coming off of the chimney flue.
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Old 03-14-12, 02:57 PM   #38
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Quote:
Originally Posted by benpope View Post
I found a PDF that has a wealth of information on stove design:


rocket stove mass heater. They claim that exhaust from a well designed stove should have no visible smoke and be about the same temperature as dryer exhaust. I have played around with small rocket stoves with some success, but I don't have the metalworking skills to make one suitable for the house and I don't have enough space for a big cob stove.
I was re-reading Benpope's post and saw the last section, I highlighted it in bold. Thanks Benpope!

I've disconnected my dryer and only use the dehumidifier to dry my clothes, so I have no idea what that should be.
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Old 03-14-12, 02:57 PM   #39
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I would think that as long as your burn is very hot you shouldn't have to worry about soot at all. What you'll eventually loose is the natural draft.
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Old 07-24-12, 03:41 PM   #40
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I have just put a secondary air intake on my gas bottle/oildrum insulated woodburner. The first thing I have noticed is less smoke and higher temperatures on the boiler plate. I think my other problem was insufficient primary air flow, caused by having a 4" steel chimney, but only a 2" primary intake.

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