Vermont Casting 1990 Conditioning Your Stove, Starting and Maintaining a Wood Fire

produce soot or large flakes of char or fly ash that can coat the combustor and cause smoke to spill into the room. Coal smoke also can poison the catalyst so that it won’t operate properly.

In general, the fire must be sufficiently well-established to ensure catalytic activity is initiated. When first starting a fire, maintain a medium- to high- firing rate for at least twenty minutes. This ensures the stove, catalyst, and fuel are all stabilized at the proper operating tempera- tures. This may be long enough to warm the chimney well enough to support a good draft; some installations may need more time. Please read the Draft Manage- ment information starting on Page 25 to see if your installation has features that may require more time to warm up.

Even though it is possible for the fire to get quite hot within a few minutes, the combustor may stop working or the fire may go out if the fire is allowed to die down immediately as a result of closing the damper. Once the combustor starts working, heat generated by burning the smoke will keep it working.

To determine whether the combustor is operating, ob- serve the amount of smoke leaving the chimney when the damper is activated and when it is not. This proce- dure is described on Page 29.

Conditioning Your Stove

Cast iron is extremely strong, but it can be broken with a sharp blow from a hammer or from the thermal shock of rapid and extreme temperature change.

The cast plates expand and contract with changes in temperature. When you first begin using your Intrepid II, minimize thermal stress by allowing the plates to adjust gradually during three or four initial break-in fires follow- ing Steps 1-3below.

Starting and Maintaining a Wood Fire

Burn solid wood fuel only in the Intrepid II, and burn it directly on the grate. Do not elevate the fuel. Do not burn coal or other fuels.

The damper must be open when starting a fire or when refueling.

1.Open the stove damper, and open the primary air control fully.

2.Place several sheets of crumpled newspaper in the stove. Do NOT use glossy advertisements or colored paper, as they can poison the catalyst. Place on the paper six or eight pieces of dry kindling split to a finger-width size, and on the kindling lay two or three larger sticks of split dry wood approximately 1-2” (25-50mm) in diameter. (Fig. 39)

Intrepid II Woodburning Stove

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Fig. 39	Start the fire with newspaper and dry kindling.

DO NOT USE CHEMICALS OR FLUIDS TO START THE FIRE. DO NOT BURN GARBAGE OR FLAMMA- BLE FLUIDS SUCH AS GASOLINE, NAPHTHA, OR ENGINE OIL. Also, never use gasoline-type lantern fuel, kerosene, charcoal lighter fluid, or similar liquids to start or “freshen up” a fire. Keep all such liquids well away from the Intrepid II while it is in use.

3.Light the newspaper and close the door. Gradu- ally build up the fire by adding a few 3-5” (76-127 mm) diameter splits. If this is one of the first few “break-in” fires, let the fire burn brightly, and then let it die out.

During the break-in fires, don’t let the stove get hotter than 500°F (260°C) as measured on an optional stove- top thermometer. Adjust the air control lever as neces- sary to control the fire. Some odor from the stove’s hot metal, the paint, and the cement is normal for the first few fires.

NOTE: Some chimneys need to be “primed,” or warmed up, before they will draw sufficiently to start a fire. To correct this situation, roll up a couple pieces of newspaper, place them on top of the kindling and toward the back of the stove, light them, and close the doors. This should heat the chimney enough to initiate a draft.

Once the draft is established, open the front door and light the rest of the fuel from the bottom. Do not light the main bed of fuel until the chimney begins drawing, and repeat the procedure as often as necessary if the initial attempt is unsuccessful.

4.If your Intrepid II has been broken-in previously using Steps 1-3, continue to build the fire gradually. Add larger wood with a diameter of 3-4” (76-102 mm). (Fig. 40)

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