Lennox Hearth CA210, SWI210 OPERATING TECHNIqUES AND HINTS, ACHIEVING CLEAN, LONG BURNS, GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR FIREPLACE INSERT, MAXIMIZING YOUR FIREPLACE INSERTS OVERALL EFFICIENCY

Recent developments in wood-burning technology have made wood-burn-

ing a cleaner and more convenient way to heat your home. Overall efﬁciency

in a wood-burning appliance is a combination of combustion efﬁciency

and heat transfer efﬁciency. Whether heating your entire home or just a

room or two, your understanding of how to best operate your stove or

insert will enhance its overall efﬁciency and performance. What this can

mean to you is longer, cleaner burns, less wood use and more heat.

The following sections will outline techniques you can use to “get the

most out of your ﬁreplace insert.” Please read them carefully.

OPERATING TECHNIqUES AND HINTSGETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR FIREPLACE INSERT

It is important to know that for high, combustion efﬁcient, clean burns,

you will need to have sufﬁcient temperatures inside the ﬁrebox for

thorough combustion. The best method for determining if you have

sufﬁcient temperatures is to watch the brick lining in your ﬁrebox. When

you ﬁrst light your ﬁreplace insert, the bricks will turn a dark brown or

black. After 20 to 30 minutes of a hot ﬁre, most of the bricks should

return to near their original light brown or yellow color. This means the

bricks have reached a high enough temperature for your ﬁreplace insert

to achieve high combustion efﬁciency.

Second and just as important, is achieving a high level of heat transfer

efﬁciency. Slowing the rate of ﬂow through the stove or insert enhances

heat transfer, thus allowing more time for heat to be transferred into your

home. To do this, be sure to thoroughly preheat your ﬁreplace insert and

then reduce the amount of primary air by closing the draft control (lower

left) to about 1/2 to 3/4 open. This will decrease the excess oxygen in

your ﬂue, which carries heat up your chimney, but should still be enough

air to allow the ﬁreplace insert to produce its maximum heat output.

(More air may produce a lightly greater amount of heat, but will greatly

increase wood consumption). When the area being heated reaches a

comfortable temperature, slow the burn rate by closing the control to

further improve heat transfer.

To get the most out of your ﬁreplace insert, you will need to combine

good combustion efﬁciency with good heat transfer practices. The fol-

lowing are some tips on how to operate your ﬁreplace insert to achieve

the highest overall efﬁciency.

1. Thoroughly preheat your ﬁreplace insert before slowing the burn rate

by closing the draft control.

2. Measure the ﬁreplace insert temperature at the hottest point on

the ﬁreplace insert top or face. Use this information to repeat burn

rates.

3. Once preheated, add wood (if needed) and partially close the draft

control (lower left).

4. Operate your ﬁreplace insert as much as possible in the low to medium

burn ranges.

5. Do not lower the draft setting so low as to completely extinguish

the ﬂames in the ﬁrebox. Check for at least some small ﬂames 20

minutes after setting the draft control.

6. Do not continually operate your ﬁreplace insert in the high (wide

open) setting. This wastes wood by carrying a great deal of heat up

the chimney and can damage your ﬁreplace insert and chimney.

7. Go outside and check your chimney. More than a very small amount

of smoke indicates wasted heat, creosote build up and pollution.

MAXIMIZING YOUR FIREPLACE INSERT’S OVERALL EFFICIENCY

To achieve long burn times, after having thoroughly preheated the

ﬁreplace insert, let the ﬁreplace insert top cool down to 275 to 400

degrees (on Elites, locate thermometer on the face of the insert just

above the door). Now load the ﬁrebox and set the draft control. At this

point, you may need to burn the ﬁreplace insert with the draft open for

a few minutes to ignite the wood. All Lennox Hearth Products stoves

and inserts are EPA tested for emissions at low burn with the air control

completely closed. Whether or not you should burn your ﬁreplace insert

with the air control completely closed will depend on the following factors:

• How you load your wood

• Your chimney type, height and draft

• Your wood type and its moisture content

• The temperature of the ﬁreplace insert

• Which model stove or insert you have

Experiment with different loading conﬁgurations to achieve longer burns.

Try loading the wood from side to side and nesting it in the ashes to prevent

airﬂow under and around the wood. Fresh wood should be loaded to the

back of the ﬁrebox or to the sides. Hot coals or half burned wood should

be brought toward the front of the ﬁrebox. The way you load your wood

can seriously affect burn times. If the new load does not ignite within a

few minutes, try crisscrossing the load to allow more airﬂow around the

ﬁre, or try a slightly hotter ﬁreplace insert temperature.

Determining the lowest setting for efﬁcient low burns. This will require

some experimentation on your part. Try closing the air control all the way

with the ﬁreplace insert temperature at 325 to 350 degrees. If the ﬂames

are completely extinguished, open the air control halfway and then slowly

close it until there is only a small amount of ﬂame. It is important to check

the ﬁreplace insert about 20 minutes after setting the draft control as

it takes this long for the ﬁreplace insert temperature to stabilize. There

should still be some small ﬂames on or above the wood load.

Use 325 degrees as a starting point. You can try starting temperatures

25 degrees higher or lower to achieve desired burn times, start 25 degrees

lower if the ﬁreplace insert burns the wood too quickly or 25 degrees

higher if there are no ﬂames in the ﬁrebox for more than a few minutes

after loading the wood. You may or may not need to burn the ﬁreplace

insert with the air control open for a few minutes prior to setting the draft

for a low burn, this will depend on the factors mentioned above. Be sure

not to smolder a ﬁre overnight. Check your chimney for large amounts

of smoke as this indicates very poor combustion.

It is important to realize that stove technology has changed. Stoves

and ﬁreplace inserts have changed a great deal in the last few years. This

has led to substantial changes in the methods of operation in new stoves

as compared to older stoves. In old stoves without full brick linings and

ceramic insulation, the rule was “get the stove as hot as possible before

setting the draft on low for overnight burns.” On newer, high technology

Lennox Hearth Products stoves, this is not necessary. Although it is still

important to have the stove hot enough to burn efﬁciently, it will require

less preheating. Once you have determined your optimum operating

temperatures for various burn rates, we believe you will ﬁnd your stove or

ﬁreplace insert an extremely convenient way to achieve your heating needs.

Do not reload the ﬁreplace insert for long burns when the stainless

secondary tubes or bafﬂes are glowing red, or when the ﬁreplace

insert is uncomfortably hot to load. This indicates the ﬁreplace insert

is too hot to load for a long burn. Also, do not load wood for a long burn

on a deep bed of hot coals. Try stirring the coals a few minutes before

loading the ﬁreplace insert for a low burn to allow some of the unburned

coals time to burn.

ACHIEVING CLEAN, LONG BURNS