Burning wood that has seasoned down to 18% but has got wet due to rain blowing in on it

[dan blocker]

While killing time waiting to pick up the misses from her weekly shopping trip I popped into the local Lidl and they have a Chinese copy of the Canadian wood burner twin fan for £30, either that or it was a Welsh drone 😳

[Steven P]

I've had that one for about 18 months now, blades turn, hasn't gone wrong yet.

[JAG63]

20 hours ago, Steven P said:

I've had that one for about 18 months now, blades turn, hasn't gone wrong yet.

Same, doing a good job.

[Rob_the_Sparky]

Note: one fan, 2 fans, large fans, small fans.  Ultimately they are all powered from the same thing (never seen on with two of the power sources - peltiers?) so provide the same amount of power to the fans.  I.e. 2 fans is not equal to twice as much air...

[Stubby]

18 minutes ago, Rob_the_Sparky said:

Note: one fan, 2 fans, large fans, small fans.  Ultimately they are all powered from the same thing (never seen on with two of the power sources - peltiers?) so provide the same amount of power to the fans.  I.e. 2 fans is not equal to twice as much air...

I have 2x paired fans , so 4 turning . Definitely pushes out for than one . 

[Muddy42]

On 11/01/2025 at 10:52, Steven P said:

Does it struggle to light if the flu is warm? On an industrial coal boiler we had to put a brazier under the chimney to get the draft going, a day later with a warm chimney (not hot day 2) the draft would pull sheets of paper into the fire.... an extreme example but does it light better with a warm chimney?

 

No its fine when the flu is warm or used the day before. I've also adjusted the stove a bit to help with the through flow or air - smaller vermiculite chimney baffle to help expel the exhaust and open up the air intakes with a dremel.  

 

Yes I've used an electric heater before to heat an open fire flu.  However I then fixed that flue permanently by reducing the size of the fire opening with a glass strip. 

 

[Steven P]

1 hour ago, Rob_the_Sparky said:

Note: one fan, 2 fans, large fans, small fans.  Ultimately they are all powered from the same thing (never seen on with two of the power sources - peltiers?) so provide the same amount of power to the fans.  I.e. 2 fans is not equal to twice as much air...

 

I'd need to check but might be that with 1 fan the peltier isn't working flat out as it were, 2 fans and it will still work OK (you get different qualities and efficiencies - different power out, plus 2 fans might mean the cold side is cooler (more air), bigger temperature difference, more power out, too much for a simple internet search to tell me)

[Steven P]

31 minutes ago, Muddy42 said:

 

No its fine when the flu is warm or used the day before. I've also adjusted the stove a bit to help with the through flow or air - smaller vermiculite chimney baffle to help expel the exhaust and open up the air intakes with a dremel.  

 

Yes I've used an electric heater before to heat an open fire flu.  However I then fixed that flue permanently by reducing the size of the fire opening with a glass strip. 

 

 

I'm not a chimney expert but making the chimney smaller and expecting it to expel more gasses seams counter intuitive (I assume smaller baffle = smaller diameter hole in it?). Might be put a small fire in - a few sheets of paper while you go out to get the firewood and kindling in - to pre-warm a cold chimney as it were - before making the main fire helps? Or a add taller chimney.

[Muddy42]

48 minutes ago, Steven P said:

 

I'm not a chimney expert but making the chimney smaller and expecting it to expel more gasses seams counter intuitive (I assume smaller baffle = smaller diameter hole in it?). Might be put a small fire in - a few sheets of paper while you go out to get the firewood and kindling in - to pre-warm a cold chimney as it were - before making the main fire helps? Or a add taller chimney.

 

Sorry I mean the opposite.  My stove has a rectangular vermiculite baffle in its roof.  Originally this baffle was of a size that left about a half inch wide gap for smoke to exit.  I had some spare vermiculite board lying around so I made a smaller rectangle to give a bigger gap. All experimental and totally reversible.  The flue has a 5 inch x 7 m liner fitted so plenty long enough.  Yes what I do is lay the fire normally then put some rolled up newspaper on top to provide a flare up.  People talk about 'bottom-up" or top down fire lighting - this is the best of both!

 

Don't worry I've tried all the tricks - this eco design stove is just a bit sh!t compered to my other older stoves.

[GarethM]

Is the space between the liner and the brickwork filled with vermiculite?.

 

Just thinking it's touching the brickwork and taking all the heat away