|
February 25/09
Warm heater. Previous fire 24 hrs.
White Birch, 20% moisture
Very large load. Two very large pieces (12.8 lbs ea) at bottom. 3 small pieces on top
10 pieces. 3.3 lbs kindling. 81.9 lbs total. Pieces larger than yesterday: 8.9 lbs vs. 5.9 lbs
Very staged burn. Clean start. No overamping.
Low CO. Low PM. Compared with run HK-K35, CO is lower, PM is higher.
Air control closed at 120 minutes. Data for calculation based on 120 minutes. Flue damper left open 1",
closed 6 hrs later.
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data (Note: time on gas graph is offset by 12 minutes)
Opacity
|
|
|
February 24/09
Warm heater. Previous fire 24 hrs.
White Birch, 20% moisture
Very large load. Two very large pieces (12.8 lbs ea) at bottom. 3 small pieces on top
10 pieces. 3.3 lbs kindling. 81.9 lbs total. Pieces larger than yesterday: 8.9 lbs vs. 5.9 lbs
Very staged burn. Clean start. No overamping.
Low CO. Low PM. Compared with run HK-K35, CO is lower, PM is higher.
Air control closed at 120 minutes. Data for calculation based on 120 minutes. Flue damper left open 1",
closed 6 hrs later.
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data (Note: time on gas graph is offset by 18 minutes)
Opacity
|
|
|
February 23/09
Very warm heater. Previous fire 15 hrs.
White Birch, 20% moisture
Big load. Two very large pieces (12.3 lbs ea) at bottom. 3 small pieces on top
11 pieces. 3.5 lbs kindling. 68.3 lbs total. Pieces larger than yesterday: 5.9 lbs vs. 4.6 lbs
Very staged burn. Clean start. Slight, prolonged overamping at 23 minutes
Moderate CO. Low PM. Compare with run HK-K34
Air control closed at 94 minutes. Data for calculation based on 94 minutes. Flue damper left open 1",
closed 6 hrs later.
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data (Note: time on gas graph is offset by 16 minutes)
Opacity
|
|
|
February 22/09
Hot heater. Previous fire 7 hrs.
White Birch, 20% moisture
Small pieces, big load, stacked front to back.
Ignition from top.
15 pieces. 3.3 lbs kindling. 73.0 lbs total. Pieces larger than yesterday: 4.6 lbs vs. 3.2 lbs
Very staged burn. Clean start. Moderate overamping at 25 minutes
Moderate CO. Low PM.
Compare with run HK-K33
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data (Note: time on gas graph is offset by 8 minutes)
Opacity
|
|
|
February 22/09
Warm heater. Previous fire 13 hrs.
White Birch, 20% moisture
"Austrian style fuel". Very small pieces. 18 pieces. 3.9 lbs kindling. 60.4 lbs total. Pieces larger than yesterday: 3.2 lb vs. 2.1 lbs
Stacked front to back. Ignition from top
Very staged burn. Clean start. Overamping starting at 35 minutes.
Moderate CO. Low PM. Compare with run HK-K32
Data for calculation stopped at 70 minutes, when air control was closed.
Flue damper left open 0.5".
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data (Note: time on gas graph is offset by 8 minutes)
Opacity
|
|
|
February 21/09
Warm heater. Previous fire 8 hrs. Hot firebox.
White Birch, 20% moisture
"Austrian style fuel".
Very small pieces. 17 pieces. 3.5 lbs kindling. 39.7 lbs total, stacked teepee style.
Very fast, clean start. CO peak at 12 minutes.
Fast burn - 50 minutes
Moderate CO. Low PM. Compare with run HK-K31
Data for calculation stopped at 50 minutes, when air control was closed.
Flue damper left open 0.5".
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data (Note: time on gas graph is offset by 3 minutes)
Opacity
|
|
|
February 21/09
Warm heater. Previous fire 24 hrs.
Firebox door left open overnight - firebox not very hot.
White Birch, 20% moisture
"Austrian style fuel".
Very small pieces. 10 pieces. 4 lbs kindling. 35.5 lbs total, stacked teepee style.
False start, more kindling added at 6 minutes
Slow burn, low opacity, high oxygen, steady CO
Moderate CO. Moderate PM. Low stack temp, high oxygen, lower efficiency.
Data for calculation stopped at 80 minutes, when air control was closed.
Flue damper left open 1" and shut 4 hrs later.
Condar Summary
|
Flue Gas Data (Note: time on gas graph is offset by 3 minutes)
Opacity
|
|
|
February 20/09
Warm heater. Previous fire 24 hrs.
White Birch, 20% moisture
4 large pieces, 3 medium pieces, 3 small pieces. 4.5 lbs kindling, 76.2 lbs total
Pieces loaded in hot heater, 8 hrs after fire, and baked in firebox for 14 hours.
Standard log cabin stacking. Side kindling, newspaper near top. Kindling not baked.
3 small pieces on top, next to the kindling.
Good bright ignition. Huge CO spike at 14 minutes. Fire overamped (see animation). CO never really cleaned up
High CO. Moderate PM.
Data for calculation stopped at 90 minutes, when air control was closed.
Cold air bypass open. Doors not taped. Flue damper left open 1" and shut 4 hrs later.
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data (Note: time on gas graph is offset by 5 minutes)
Opacity
|
|
|
February 19/09
Warm heater. Previous fire 24 hrs.
White Birch, 20% moisture
5 large pieces, 3 small pieces. 4.5 lbs kindling, 67.2 lbs total
Standard log cabin stacking. Side kindling, staged.
3 small pieces on top, next to the kindling.
Good clean ignition. Moderate CO spike at 25 minutes
Moderate CO. Low PM.
Data for calculation stopped at 90 minutes, when air control was closed.
Cold air bypass open. Doors not taped. Flue damper left open 1" and shut 4 hrs later.
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data (Note: time on gas graph is offset by 10 minutes)
Opacity
|
|
|
February 18/09
Warm heater. Previous fire 24 hrs.
White Birch, 20% moisture
6 large pieces. 1 small piece. 4.5 lbs kindling, 63.4 lbs total
Standard log cabin stacking. Side kindling, staged.
Wood was cold. The single small piece was put at the front of the second row.
Slow ignition due to cold wood, then overamping due to the small piece, then underamping (rebound from the overamping). See gas curves.
High CO. Relatively high PM.
Data for calculation stopped at 90 minutes, when air control was closed.
Cold air bypass open. Doors not taped. Flue damper left open 1" and shut 4 hrs later.
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data (Note: time on gas graph is offset by 10 minutes)
Opacity
|
|
|
February 17/09
Warm heater. Previous fire 24 hrs.
White Birch, 20% moisture
Small pieces. 9 pieces, 4.5 lbs kindling, 60.6 lbs total
Standard log cabin stacking. Top kindling. See stacking photo.
Well staged ignition, avoiding CO spike at start.
Data for calculation stopped at 90 minutes, when air control was closed.
Cold air bypass open. Doors not taped. Flue damper left open 1" and shut 4 hrs later.
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data (Note: time on gas graph is offset by 13 minutes)
Opacity
|
|
|
February 16/09
Warm heater. Previous fire 24 hrs.
White Birch, 20% moisture
Large pieces. 8 pieces, 4.5 lbs kindling, 69.4 lbs total
Standard log cabin stacking. Side kindling, staged from top.
Data for calculation stopped at 100 minutes, when air control was closed.
Cold air bypass open. Doors not taped. Flue damper left open 1" and shut 6 hrs later.
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data (Note: time on gas graph is offset by 13 minutes)
Opacity
|
|
|
February 15/09
Warm heater. Previous fire 24 hrs.
White Birch, 20% moisture
Large pieces. 7 pieces, 4.5 lbs kindling, 64.1 lbs total
Pieces stacked front to back. Kindling as shown
Bad stacking, bad kindling location. Pile didn't catch, newspaper was added at 23 minutes
Pile poked twice. Slow burn, elevated oxygen, continuous low level CO..
Data for calculation stopped at 120 minutes, when air control was closed.
Cold air bypass open. Doors not taped. Flue damper shut 2 hrs after air was shut.
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data (Note: time on gas graph is offset by 18 minutes)
Opacity
|
|
|
February 14/09
Slightly warm heater. Large load 48 hrs previous, damper closed
White Birch, 20% moisture
Very large pieces. 8 pieces, 4.5 lbs kindling, 73.5 lbs total
Pieces stacked front to back. Kindling on right side, lit from top
Very fast and clean start. 2pc left-to-right on rear grate, to provide delayed ignition from
the grate location. This was a mistake - load overamped, very high CO
starting at about 10 minutes
Low PM, high CO. Efficiency loss from CO alone was 4.6%
Data for calculation stopped at 90 minutes, when air control was closed.
Cold air bypass open. Doors not taped. Flue damper shut 2 hrs after air was shut.
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data (Note: time on gas graph is offset by 19 minutes)
Opacity
|
|
|
February 12/09
Very warm heater - large load yesterday, with damper closed, weather warmer than during most of the testing.
White Birch, 20% moisture
Very small pieces. 16 pieces, 4.5 lbs kindling, 61.4 lbs total
Pieces stacked front to back. Kindling on top.
Sluggish start. Chimney was cold, 59F. Slight spillage on start. Water condensed on the glass, big CO spike.
Data for calculation stopped at 90 minutes, when air control was closed.
Cold air bypass open. Doors not taped. Flue damper shut 2 hrs after air was shut.
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data (Note: time on gas graph is offset by 8 minutes)
Opacity
|
|
|
February 11/09
Slightly warm heater - damper had been left open, ashbox air control closed. Cold air bypass was open.
White Birch, 20% moisture
Small, 11 pieces, 4.5 lbs kindling, 62.6 lbs total
Pieces stacked front to back. Kindling stacked between two pieces on right(see stacking pattern)
Zero CO spike at the beginning. Extremely clean start. Overamped at 19 minutes.
Low oxygen value (good efficiency)
Data for calculation stopped at 81 minutes, when air control was closed.
Flue damper left open. Cold air bypass open.
Same as yesterday, except door and ashbox door taped shut (reduced leakage).
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity
|
|
|
February 10/09
Slightly warm heater - damper had been left open, ashbox air control closed. Cold air bypass was open.
White Birch, 20% moisture
Small, 11 pieces, 4.5 lbs kindling, 62.6 lbs total
Pieces stacked front to back. Kindling stacked between two pieces on right(see stacking pattern)
Zero CO spike at the beginning. Extremely clean start. Overamped at 19 minutes.
Low oxygen value (good efficiency)
Data for calculation stopped at 81 minutes, when air control was closed.
Flue damper left open. Cold air bypass open.
Same as yesterday, except door and ashbox door taped shut (reduced leakage).
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity (Note: time on gas graph is offset by 8 minutes),
|
|
|
February 9/09
Slightly warm heater - damper had been left open, ashbox air control closed.
No seal on doors.
White Birch, 20% moisture
Large, 7 pieces, 4.5 lbs kindling, 62.8 lbs total
Pieces stacked front to back.
Kindling stacked between two pieces on right (see stacking pattern)
Zero CO spike at the beginning. Very low CO overall.
Very low PM.
Very steady oxygen value.
Data for calculation stopped at 90 minutes, when air control was closed.
Flue damper left open. Cold air bypass open.
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity
|
|
|
February 8/09
Slightly warm heater - damper had been left open, ashbox air control closed. No seal on doors.
White Birch, 20% moisture
Small wood, 11 pieces, 4.5 lbs kindling, 64.2 lbs total
Pieces stacked front to back. Kindling on top, favoring right side (see stackin pattern)
No CO spike at the beginning. Very steady oxygen value.
Data for calculation stopped at 71 minutes, when air control was closed.
Flue damper left open. Cold air bypass closed.
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity
|
|
|
February 7/09
Slightly warm heater - damper had been left open, ashbox air control 1/2 open.
White Birch, 20% moisture
9pieces, 4.5 lbs kindling, 61.6 lbs total
Pieces tacked front to back. Kindling on top, favoring right side (see stackin pattern)
No CO spike at the beginning. Very steady oxygen value.
Data for calculation stopped at 71 minutes, when air control was closed.
Flue damper left open. Cold air bypass open. See surface temp curves
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity
|
|
|
February 6/09
Cool heater - damper and ashbox door had been left open from yesterday's burn
White Birch, 20% moisture
12 pieces, 4.5 lbs kindling, 64.4 lbs total
Smaller pieces, stacked front to back. Kindling on top.
No CO spike at the beginning, a very significant result.
Data problems with Testo analyzer, see notes below gas graph.
Ashbox door closed, air inlet left open 50% to simulate a slightly leaky heater. Damper left open.
Cold air bypass closed.
Very good numbers, but not reliable due to data loss. See notes with gas graph.
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Equipment problems. First 18 minutes missing, data loss due to power failure. Values estimated from memory.
Testo malfunction between 42 minutes and 80 minutes - data interpolated between adjacent values.
Ashbox door was closed at 101 minutes, and air control closed 50%. Only gas data up to 101 minutes was used to
calculate efficiency and emissions.
|
|
|
February 5/09
Warm heater
White Birch, 20% moisture
9 pieces, 4.5 lbs kindling, 63.6 lbs total
Smaller pieces, kindling stacked tighter than HK-K15, to slow down start
Slower start. CO and PM spikes, delayed and smaller than HK-K15.
Air left open, flue damper left open. Data collection stopped at 120 minutes.
Very low efficiency at the end, which reduced overall average to 70.0%, slightly lower than others
This is a reference run to get surface temperature data for a cycle with damper open plus ashbox door open (worst case).
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity
|
|
|
February 4/09
Warm heater
White Birch, 20% moisture
8 pieces, 4.5 lbs kindling, 60.6 lbs total
Smaller pieces, very fast start in kindling stack.
CO spike at beginning, PM spike.
Air closed at 72 minutes with glowing coal bed.
Flue damper left open.
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity
|
|
|
February 3/09
Warm heater
White Birch, 20% moisture
6 pieces, 4.5 lbs kindling, 62.3 lbs total
Two large logs on bottom.
Air closed at 100 minutes with glowing coal bed.
Flue damper left open.
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity
|
|
|
February 2/09
Cold heater
White Birch, 20% moisture
6 pieces, 4.5 lbs kindling, 63.0 lbs total
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity
|
|
|
January 19/09
Warm heater
Air closed at 115 minutes. Damper cut back. Closed at 275 minutes.
Somewhat tight stacking, resulting in a bit of PM.
Large kindling, slower start.
White Birch, 20% moisture
7 pieces, 4.5 lbs kindling, 63.0 lbs total
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity
|
|
|
January 18/09
Warm heater.
Air closed at 112 minutes. Damper left open.
Very staged burn, with evenly shaped half logs.
No overamping, very low CO
White birch, 20% moisture
7 pieces, 4.8 lb kindling, 63.5 lbs total
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity
|
|
|
January 17/09
Warm heater. Surface temperatures are being tracked for damper comparisons, and data will be added later
Damper closed at end of run.
White birch, 20% moisture
7 pieces, 4.3 lb kindling, 60.3 lbs total
Oxygen calibration error. Oxygen values were adjusted in the Condar spreasheet. See Testo spreadsheet for
details.
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity
|
|
|
January 16/09
Warm heater. Surface temperatures are being tracked for damper comparisons, and data will be added later
Damper left open at end of run
White birch, 20% moisture
8 pieces, 4.3 lb kindling, 63.1 lbs total
Very nice clean, staged start. Fast start.
Slightly smaller wood (8 pieces)
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity
|
|
|
January 15/09
Warm heater. Surface temperatures are being tracked for damper comparisons, and data will be added later
Damper closed at end of run. (Jan 17/09: damper was found not to be closing all the way. See heatkit.com/research/2009/lopezk-labjack.htm)
White birch, 20% moisture
7 pieces, 4.3 lb kindling, 62.1 lbs total
Very nice clean, staged start.
Pieces stacked a little looser than HK-K07 (yesterday)
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity
|
|
|
January 14/09
Warm heater. Surface temperatures are being tracked for damper comparisons, and data will be added later
Damper left open at end of run.
White birch, 20% moisture
6 pieces, 4.5 lb kindling, 60.5 lbs total
pieces stacked close together. 2 bottom pieces did not allow air circulation,
slowed down the burn, resulting in slightly higher oxygen and lower efficiency
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity
|
|
|
January 13/09
Warm heater. Surface temperatures are being tracked for damper comparisons, and data will be added later
Damper closed at end of run. (Jan 17/09: damper was found not to be closing all the way. See heatkit.com/research/2009/lopezk-labjack.htm)
White birch, 20% moisture
6 pieces, 4.5 lb kindling, 63.2 lbs total
False start, had to light kindling newspaper at middle of pile.
First test with grate air open.
Noticeably better burn. Low CO, low PM
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity
|
|
|
January 12/09
Warm heater. Surface temperatures are being tracked for damper comparisons, and data will be added later
Damper left open, with cold air bypass open.
White birch, 20% moisture
6 pieces, 4.5 lb kindling, 63.4 lbs total
Large CO and PM spike about 15 minutes in.
5% efficiency loss due solely to CO, about 3% higher than normal.
Grate air inadvertently closed for entire run.
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity
|
|
|
January 11/09
Warm heater. Surface temperatures are being tracked for damper comparisons, and data will be added later.
Damper closed at end of run. (Jan 17/09: damper was found not to be closing all the way. See heatkit.com/research/2009/lopezk-labjack.htm)
White birch, 20% moisture
6 pieces, 4.5 lb kindling, 63.7 lbs total
Equipment malfunction from minute 0 to 35. Gas values during that interval estimated from previous test.
Kindling mis-start, see details below. Higher PM than previous tests, at 1.5 g/kg.
Grate air inadvertently closed for entire run.
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity
|
|
|
January 10/09
Warm heater. Surface temperatures are being tracked for damper comparisons, and data will be added later
White birch, 20% moisture
6 pieces, 4.5 lb kindling, 62.3 lbs total
Grate air inadvertently closed for entire run
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity
|
|
|
January 9/09
Warm heater. Surface temperatures are being tracked for damper comparisons, and data will be added later
White birch, 20% moisture
7 pieces, 4.5 lb kindling, 63.7 lbs total
Slightly lower PM due to warm heater. Very consistent CO and efficiency with yesterday
Grate air inadvertently closed for entire run
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity
|
|
|
January 8/09
This is the first run in the HK-K series. Cold heater, warmup run.
Aim is to run a set of consistent repeat runs, to energize the heater identically, for a series of chimney damper tests
White birch, 20% moisture
6 pieces, 4.5 lb kindling, 65.1 lbs total
Difficulty lighting the kindling from the top, with a cold heater.
Fuel pieces were a bit large, 10.1 lbs average
Grate air inadvertently closed for entire run
Condar Summary
 |
Flue Gas Data
Opacity
|
|
