When the Fire Goes Black

After regularly using my new woodstove, I’ve come to understand all of its quirks and features. One behavior the stove exhibits still unnerves me, even though it signals the stove is operating at peak efficiency. I call this stage of operation “going black.”

At this stage, the fire has been burning for a while and consists of a mix of red-hot coals and partially charred wood. The stove temperature has climbed above 600°F. Once these conditions are met, I push in the damper to direct gases and smoke through the catalytic converter, initiating a secondary burn—often visible as blue flames. Afterward, I reduce the air intake to its minimum setting.

That’s when the stove goes black.

The flames seem to retreat into the partially burned wood, leaving only red embers glowing beneath the chunks of blackened wood. The first few times this happened, I worried I had snuffed out the fire, but that wasn’t the case. The wood continues burning without flames, steadily crumbling into ash. Remarkably, the stove can sustain this state of burning for several hours, producing no visible smoke outside and sometimes reaching temperatures between 700°F and 900°F.

I’ve posted three photographs of my stove after it has gone black.

The Stove Gone Black

Red Coals and The Converter Glowing Red

The Temperature Reading of the Stove in Black Burning Mode 

—Mitchell Hegman