[Stoves] Lots of smoke after a few minutes of clean burning

Andrew Heggie aj.heggie at gmail.com
Sun May 8 06:51:22 CDT 2016


On 8 May 2016 at 11:11, Mangolazi <mangolazi at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi Andrew,
>
> The smoke wasn't bluish, it was white-gray. The flame didn't go out but it barely peeked out from the chimney. I didn't try lighting the smoke, maybe I should try it the next time.
>
> I'm trying to understand how the flame and smoke can change so quickly, even though the twigs used were roughly uniform in size and moisture. I get a clean burn about 3 minutes after ignition, a roaring flame at 5 minutes, then smoke starts appearing at 7 minutes. Don't laugh, I timed it :)


The grey/gray colour indicates soot so I think Julien's explanation is
the likely reason.

Taking timings is good scientific observation.

I used to use a crayoned line on the outside of the container to
indicate the progress of the descending pyrolysis front.

As Paul said restricting primary air should increase the time it takes
for the burning pyrolysis front to reach the bottom, at which stage
the burn turns and becomes an ordinary updraught fire.

Andrew




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