Vermont Casting 2160 manual Successful Wood Burning, Burn Only High-Quality Fuel

Successful Wood Burning

Burning wood and coal is often said to be more of an art than a science. You will easily master the art if you start by using good, dry fuel and by understanding how the stove’s air supply system operates.

Burn Only High-Quality Fuel

This heater is designed to burn natural wood only (or coal, when the catalytic combustor has been removed and the optional coal kit installed). Do not burn fuels other than those for which this heater was designed. Never burn pressure-treated wood, painted or stained wood, or glossy newsprint.

High efficiencies and low emissions are possible when burning air-dried, seasoned woods as compared to softwoods or freshly cut hardwoods. Avoid burning “green” wood that has not been properly seasoned.

The best hardwood fuels include oak, maple, beech, ash, and hickory that has been split, stacked, and air- dried outside under cover for at least one year. If hardwood is not available, tamarack, yellow pine, white pine, Eastern red cedar, fir, and redwood are softwoods that are commonly burned. They too should be prop- erly dried. The length of the wood should be the same as that specified for your particular stove. Avoid using wood that has been dried more than two years. Often gray in color, this wood burns very quickly, resulting in short burn time and diminished stove performance. If you must burn it, mix it in with greener wood to slow the burn. The length of the wood should be 23” (580mm).

When burning coal with the combustor removed, we recommend that you use only premium grade anthra- cite. Three sizes of coal are commonly burned: pea coal, a very small size averaging 3/8” to 3/4” (10- 20mm); nut coal, a medium size of 3/4” to 1¹⁄₂” (20- 40mm); and stove coal, the largest size at 1¹⁄₂” to 2³⁄₄” (40-70mm).

NOTE: Coal may be burned in the Sequoia only when the 8” (200mm) flue collar is used, and then only with optional coal kit #5531 installed.

Both wood and coal should be stored under cover to maintain dryness. Even for short-term storage, keep wood and coal a safe distance from the heater and keep it out of the areas around heater used for refueling and ash removal.

Use the Air Control Settings

that Work Best for You

No single combination of control settings will fit every situation. Each installation will differ depending on the quality of the fuel, the amount of heat desired, and how long you wish the fire to burn.

Dutchwest Sequoia

Control settings also depend on your particular installation’s “draft," or the force that moves air from the stove up through the chimney. Draft is affected by such things as the height, type, and location of the chimney, local geography, nearby obstructions, and other factors.

Too much draft may cause excessive temperatures in the stove. On the other hand, too little draft can cause backpuffing into the room and/or the “plugging” of the chimney and catalytic burner.

How do you know if your draft is excessively high or low? Symptoms of too much draft include an uncontrol- lable burn or a glowing-red part of the stove or chimney connector. A sign of inadequate draft is smoke leaking into the room through the stove or chimney connector joints.

In some newer homes that are well-insulated and weather-tight, poor draft may result from insufficient air in the house. In such instances, an open window near the stove on the windward side of the house will provide the fresh air needed.

Another option for getting more combustion air to the stove is to duct air directly from the outside to the stove. In fact, in some areas provisions for outside combustion air are required in all new construction.

Your Sequoia is designed to incorporate outside combustion air, and directions for installing an outside air duct may be found in the Assembly section.

When first using the stove, keep a record of the results you achieve from different control settings. You will find that specific control settings will give you a fixed amount of heat. It may take a week or two to determine the amount of heat and the length of burn you should expect from various control settings.

Most installations do not require a large amount of combustion air, especially if adequate draft is available.

Do not for any reason attempt to increase the firing of your heater by altering the air control adjustment range outlined in these directions.

Use the following air control settings as a starting point to help determine the best settings for your installation:

NOTE: To make the settings for these directions as clear as possible, imagine that the face of a clock is mounted behind the primary air control lever. Then, follow the directions to set the lever at the correct “time”. (Fig. 20)

Sequoia Control Settings for Wood Fires

Burn Rate	Primary Air	Combustor Air
Low	6:00	1/2 turns
Medium	7:00	Fully Open
High	8:00 or greater	Fully open

(The coal-only control always remains closed, or rotated fully clockwise.)

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