Essentials

That depends on whether the use will be camping/hunting or home/cabin installations. Basically The RE & RME are outdoor sports stoves for camping, hunting, ice fishing etc. The CST and CSS models are UL1482 certified and can be installed in residential house, cabins, shops, and out-buildings.

Yes, the CST and CSS models are certified and UL approved for residential home installations. This makes them an ideal backup heat source, where constant electric power is unreliable, due to severe winter storms. The Certified models can also be installed in detached garages or shops, old cabins, line shacks, barns, etc.

The certified stoves have gone through rigorous safety testing, receiving a UL1482 certificate that will be accepted by any code authority having jurisdiction to allow installation of wood fire appliances in structures. Each stove comes with an Installation, operation and maintenance manual and certification plate with the testing laboratory’s approval on them. The non-certified stove are for use in outdoor sports only, such as hunting, camping, ice fishing, etc.

Our original design had a 2-1/2″ deep ash drawer and we recommended gel fire stater. Customer input resulted in redesign to a 5″ deep ash drawer. The benefit of the deeper ash drawer is going longer periods between emptying the ash drawer. Gel fire starter just doesn’t work as well in the deep drawer. Try stacking wax/wood fire sticks “tepee” style. This will provide a 5″ high starter flame. Additionally, check for any obstructions near the back of the stove or stove pipe. Finally, check to make sure the stove pipe leaving the stove to a side wall is sloped from the stove to the wall at a minimum 30 degrees up. This is important for starting a good draft, especially in cold weather.

There are several possible causes for the stove smoking when lighting. Check the stove and stovepipe for obstructions. Make sure you are using newly purchased pellets. Pellets tend to draw moisture when laying around in opened bags. Early in the fall the pellet manufacturers may attempt to sell last season’s pellets, which may have drawn moisture. Some discount retail stores sell southern pine pellets, which contain over 10% moisture. Our stoves will not burn southern pine pellets. Make sure the stovepipe exits the stove at a 30 degree up angle, and has no more than 180 degrees of total bends. Any top cap device, such as spark arresters and china caps will restrict the air flow of our stoves.

The best pellets on the market are Premium or Super Premium grade containing less than 8% moisture and no recycled materials. The rule of thumb for normal operation is that the stoves will burn less than 8% moisture content pellets in moderate weather at lower elevations. Less than 6% and preferably 4% moisture pellets should be used at mid elevation of 3000 – 6000 feet. Super premium pellet containing less than 2.5% moisture should be used at 8000 – 9,000 feet and extreme cold temperatures.

Pellets can be left in the hopper for a day, if they will be used the same day, for instance hunters returning after a day hunting and relighting the stove for the evening. The pellets should be stored in a sealed container, if there will be several days between use. We strongly advise against wintering over pellets, especially when used for hunting and camping.

The stove manuals each have a “Shutting down the stove” sequence. It is very simple to do, but very important to do correctly to avoid smoke back draft into your tent or structure. Tightly close the manual shut off gate on the hopper to stop any further pellets from entering the fire chamber. It is important the leave the ash drawer open to continue to allow air into the burn chamber. It will take between 20 & 30 minutes for the remaining pile of pellets to completely burn out.

We have stoves successfully in use at 9,300 feet. We have had hunters use them at 10,000 feet without problems. Of course the challenge at that altitude is oxygen and pellet moisture content. The first thing a gravity feed stove must do under any circumstances to successfully burn, is to reduce the moisture content in the pellets to zero, before it creates any heat. So at high altitude it is extremely important to use only Super Premium pellets containing less than 2.5% moisture. Even then, it sometimes requires “cracking” the ash drawer open a bit more to allow more air to enter burn chamber to make up for the lower level of oxygen. The caution here when ” cracking” open the ash drawer is to watch that the side of the burn chamber does not develop a cherry red spot a condition referred to as “over firing”. While there is no immediate danger, prolonged “over firing” will lead to steel fatigue and effectively shorten the life of your stove.