stove door fully open, halfway or closed?

[KiO]

Hi All, I have learned a lot from browsing this site the past 5 years or so and enjoy making my own syrup for fun. My setup is an old wood stove that someone added to the back of to hold a 18"x32" flat pan. My question is about airflow. I do not have a blower or any forced air or baffles in the stove, just an old firebox. I am trying to determine if the stove runs best with the door full open or cracked open to some degree versus closed tight. From my short tests last night it seems like fully open produces a harder boil but it was extremely windy last night so I want to test it again next boil. Just wondering what others might think. My first thought was the cold air from having the door wide open would hurt my burn or slow the fire down but I'm not sure it did, however I did produce a lot of coals that decreased the size of my firebox as the night went on. Any thoughts are appreciated. I will try to add a picture of the setup as well for reference.

[Gord]

Partially open, maybe 1/2 - 1" works best for me to make the fire hotter.

[ecolbeck]

Since you have a nonstandard evaporator I would just test it out and see what works best for you. Having the door open will feed extra air to the fire which is good but it will also allow uncontrolled cold air to cool the pans which is bad. Finding the optimal setting may just take some experimenting.

[DairyVet]

Hard to say from your photo, but would it be possible to cut vents in the bottom of the stove to let air come up through the fire? It looks like a gravel floor, so coals falling out shouldn’t be a big fire risk to the rest of your sugar house.

[Pdiamond]

You have a couple of things against you. by opening the door you are letting in cold air to the fire which cools the fire. The other is that you are using an old woodstove with a metal top. Your pan is not being exposed to the flame directly, so it will take longer to boil. with a regular evaporator the pan/pans are exposed directly to the flame and a boil is achieved much faster. An evaporator is not designed to burn like a woodstove, gentle and slow, it is designed to burn hot and fast and yes some of that heat does go up the chimney. You can get a good idea of watching some of the videos on making maple syrup from some of the suppliers, CDL, Smoky Lake, ...etc Good Luck

[ebliese]

I can't really answer your question but I can commiserate with you. My first year sugaring I had an old woodstove with a damper stuck open. At some points, my firebox would be so full of coals that I had to shovel them out to make room for more wood. I had 29 taps on yard trees. Thankfully I didn't have 40 taps like I was thinking. I had no idea. So, all in all, you're in a much better spot than I was.

[Swingpure]

Could you have carbon monoxide spillage with an open door?

I once cleaned the ashes out of my wood stove and so much heat was coming off the metal ash pail, I thought why don’t I leave it by the wood stove. It was not long before my carbon monoxide detector went off.

Totally different example, but it just made me wonder about an open wood stove door, in an enclosed room.

[berkshires]

How is the air supposed to get into it? Is there an ash drawer you can open up? You really don't want the door open.

I modified an evaporator for my first several years sugaring. Here is a link:. http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?29303-Evaporator-from-small-wood-burning-stove-cheap!

Gabe

[KiO]

Thanks for your responses. The door had two handles to open and close as vents that allowed air into the box. Both handles are gone now (seized and broke off) and there are two vents on the door that allow some air in. Maybe I enlarge those vent openings to get more airflow in with the door closed and see if that helps.

My main pan is behind the pot sitting on the stove, I use that as a preheater pan. The main pan sits over the back extension and is open to the flame/heat as it goes from the wood stove to the back and out the stove pipe. I'll have to take a better picture from the side so it is easier to see.

I could try cutting a hole or two in the bottom of the firebox as someone mentioned. I do have a gravel floor and I'm in a lean-to off of my shed with a back and side wall and the front wide open.

Thanks again for your ideas. I'll keep experimenting and find what works best for the setup.

[Pdiamond]

You might want to try cutting an opening the size of a stainless steel square pan. Set it up so that it fit down into the fire but not so far that you can't remove it to empty. Just another thought.

[sublime68charger]

I run on a Fisher stand alone wood stove and for startup I leave 1 door open till I have fire going then I close door maybe leave it open 1" or so.
the 2 air inlet dampers built into the doors I leave them wide open as much as I can but once I have a fire built and going in the stove I keep the doors closed as I want the Hot air/Heat going up and not out the door.

I also due this on my 2 barrel stoves as well. you want to direct the heat up toward the pan with the sap and not out the door opening of the stove.

Just my thoughts. Not the best pic but this is the fisher going with 3 pans a running on the top of it. 1 door is visiable but there is 2 doors on the stove.

[KiO]

After some trial and error last night, it seems like leaving the door open about an inch or two is best to force some air in and not allow enough cool air in to cool the pan or fire. I added another picture of my setup to clarify how I use it. My flat pan on the back sits over an opening exposing the bottom to the fire and my steam trays sit on top of the wood stove acting as a pre-warmer. The stainless stock pot sitting on the flat pan acts as another pre-warmer. Thanks again for the advice. 22937