Todd
Minister of Fire
Jags said:
That's what I have noticed as well. In about 10-15 minutes after packing my stove up tight to the baffle the load shrinks and settles down to where there is a good 2" gap on top.
What do you consider a "full" stove?
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That's what I have noticed as well. In about 10-15 minutes after packing my stove up tight to the baffle the load shrinks and settles down to where there is a good 2" gap on top.
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
certified106 said:
I don't complain about burn times. Why would you say that?
I, like any full time burner, realize that long burn times are very very important but the heritage has always met or exceeded the advertised burn times. It does what it is supposed to. I would love a 30 hour burn time but have no right to expect that from a medium sized non-cat stove.
corey21
Minister of Fire
certified106
Minister of Fire
Highbeam said:
You have never said the stove didn't' do what was advertised. I just meant I could see how you would want a longer burn as that much wood won't get all that long of a burn in the Heritage. If I couldn't go at least 10-12 hrs between reloads on my stove it would be hard to make it work with my schedule.
Todd said:
I am not sure one gets a whole lot more heat out of this. Most stove makers recommend not going too much over the firebrick level. For sure in stoves with vulnerable baffle boards this seems like a practice to be avoided, no?
BeGreen said:
It is true that most don't want a load to go over brick high, but even if it does, it will settle pretty quickly below that point. The IR is wide and deep compared to many, and not so tall. Limits the distance from brick to tubes.
With vulnerable baffle boards this practice might cause some trouble. I don't really see how you would get a stick of wood past the burn tubes and into the board on an IR. I suppose it possible, but I have not - and I am not a meticulous loader. I shove the stuff in and watch it burn. I realize that this doesn't hold true for all stoves.
LLigetfa
Minister of Fire
My firebox has brick on 5 sides, so I can jam it right full to the tubes if I want. I load E/W and so don't want to get too close to the glass for fear of it falling forward onto the glass. RSF says not to put wood closer than the andirons which are 4 inches away from the glass.
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
certified106 said:
Got it. The ability to burn overnight and even better, all day while at work, is of great value. I had no idea how important this was until spending several years restarting fires once or twice a day.
Martin Strand III
New Member
Cramming a firebox as full as you can
to get a long burn seems to go against
common sense. Why?
We know
1. Wood burns most 'efficiently' in a
hot stove.
2. Wood needs a fair amount of oxygen
(stochiometric air plus 200% - 300%
more*) to burn 'efficiently'.
*"Wood needs 200% to 300% excess air,
or complete combustion will be hard to
achieve and we will see elevated CO levels
in the stack." --Norbert Senf, Lopez Labs
3. Dialing down incoming air to prevent stove over
heating from a larger fuel load usually causes
a dirty burn.
4. Dialing down incoming air is a waste of the
heat value of the fuel. Smoke = lost heat.
5. Your metal stove was designed to contain the
fire within the firebrick lined fire box to
prevent damage to your stove.
Aye,
Marty
Grandma used to say,
"Common sense is not so common."
to get a long burn seems to go against
common sense. Why?
We know
1. Wood burns most 'efficiently' in a
hot stove.
2. Wood needs a fair amount of oxygen
(stochiometric air plus 200% - 300%
more*) to burn 'efficiently'.
*"Wood needs 200% to 300% excess air,
or complete combustion will be hard to
achieve and we will see elevated CO levels
in the stack." --Norbert Senf, Lopez Labs
3. Dialing down incoming air to prevent stove over
heating from a larger fuel load usually causes
a dirty burn.
4. Dialing down incoming air is a waste of the
heat value of the fuel. Smoke = lost heat.
5. Your metal stove was designed to contain the
fire within the firebrick lined fire box to
prevent damage to your stove.
Aye,
Marty
Grandma used to say,
"Common sense is not so common."
Martin Strand III
New Member
remkel
Minister of Fire
Seasoned Oak
Minister of Fire
Some stoves are harder to pack than others. Both my harman and my englander 30 have 3 CF fireboxes but i can get a lot more wood in the harman as the top loading door lets you pack it right to the top. Also your not fighting the fires heat cuz once you put the first few splits in the new wood is between you and the fire.
Full is when I can't close the door without serious risk of cracking the glass, waiting patiently while it roars away, sweating if I'm going to go to bed or maybe just have to run through the house with a flaming split to throw it in the yard while the wife looks at me like I've gone crazy and starts eyeing the fire extinguisher.....and then it settles enough so I can juuuuuuust sneak the latch closed. THAT is full. Not that I've ever done that, ummm, but I've heard that is sort of an indication of, you know, fullness.
For all of you guys that are stuffing the stove beyond recognition, are you leaving the drafy wide open for a while? I tried this with pretty dry wood and couldn't heat the stove up all that much
Stump_Branch
Minister of Fire
logger
Minister of Fire
TTigano said:
Not sure what type of stove you burn, but when I pack the Oslo til it doesnt fit any more on a hot bed, I usually leave the air open and within 5 min. (10 minutes tops) it should be blazing and I can start shutting down. This is only with a well established bed of embers and a hot box to begin with (300-400). Whenever I see new posters here, I always gotta ask about the wood. If it aint been split and stacked for a year or two, you're not going to get these results. Your "pretty dry wood" comment has me wondering for sure. Did you buy it or split it yourself and how long ago?
logger said:
The wood I have is wood that I bought... I did buy some wood that was sold as "seasoned" which was anything but. Unfortunately, It was delivered when I wasn't home and didn't get to see till the next morning. I chaulked it up to a loss as I just stacked it and tucked it away for next year. The wood was cut 2 years ago but left in log length and split only a month before I bought. Since then, I bought some wood at a very good price.... $160/cord delivered that had been cut down and split and stacked for a year. I am burning that now and it is between 20-25% MC.
Hogwildz
Minister of Fire
Pack it as full as you want to.
I have had the Summit up tho the bottom of the baffle, and as others have stated, the load shrinks/settles down a couple inches in no time, and there is plenty of air, even at totally low setting to allow for good, hot burn & combustion. Secondaries are proof in that pudding, as well as clear waves out the stack. Common sense says more wood, more fuel longer burn time. I have loaded to top of fire brick and to the bottom of the baffle, the only difference experienced here is longer burn times. Same goes for size of wood. Larger = longer burn time. I have found here at least, that If I use 2 huge splits to fill the box, they will burn longer, but not as hot. But again, there is less pathways for air at that point. A full load of regular large, medium/small splits even to baffle, still leaves plenty of channels between for air to get through to achieve good combustion.
I have had the Summit up tho the bottom of the baffle, and as others have stated, the load shrinks/settles down a couple inches in no time, and there is plenty of air, even at totally low setting to allow for good, hot burn & combustion. Secondaries are proof in that pudding, as well as clear waves out the stack. Common sense says more wood, more fuel longer burn time. I have loaded to top of fire brick and to the bottom of the baffle, the only difference experienced here is longer burn times. Same goes for size of wood. Larger = longer burn time. I have found here at least, that If I use 2 huge splits to fill the box, they will burn longer, but not as hot. But again, there is less pathways for air at that point. A full load of regular large, medium/small splits even to baffle, still leaves plenty of channels between for air to get through to achieve good combustion.
logger
Minister of Fire
TTigano said:
Still sounds like the wood could be the problem. I find anything above 20% is still too wet and more worth saving for the next year, but with a new stove I know you dont always have the option. When we bought our house and I put the new stove in, I had to buy wood the first year too. I bought four cords from four different people all saying it was seasoned.. yah right. I pretty much had to take them on delivery because I couldnt find well seasoned wood. Long story short, that was a rough year, but I cut and split every year before that and after that and can say that theres nothing like getting your own wood prepped ahead of the game. When you have it in your yard and know its seasoned its a different ballgame. I hope your splittin and stackin now if you are able to. You'd think I had two different stoves between the burns I had the first year vs the burns every year since. Probably why it doesnt burn so well for you when you stuff her and shut her down... green wood needs more oxygen and when you have the air open, your heats goin up the pipe too. Best of luck getting ahead of the game.
Adios Pantalones
Minister of Fire
I have the HI300 and I jam it to the top. I find that burns are better that way- in fact when it chars down a bit I may sneak a few skinnies in there. It seems to keep the secondary tubes hotter and to put a lot of combustible gas where it will light off best. Because we rely mostly on transfer of heat from the top of the unit (above the baffle, after the fire makes the turn) via air movement from the blower, there's not an efficiency issue.
Clarks ACE Hardware
Member
embers aplenty
Burning Hunk
When you've only got a 1.5 cu.ft. firebox. Loading to the gills is a necessity when it's really cold. I've let the wood touch the glass many times without any problems, although I do try to keep it back some. Spill over when opening the door happens fairly often with a small fire box. Cracking the door and jiggling it in and out a few times helps about that.
I'm guilty of shoving a few skinnys in from the side door after loading the big stuff from the front. Although I did learn my lesson a few months ago about not shoving them upward to much, as I cracked and broke my baffle board doing just that.
Did find a deal on ceramic fiber board with the help of this forum. For about $50 I got a piece big enough to cut me a new one and have 3 extras waiting in storage when needed. Kudos to hearth.com and http://www.skylinecomponents.com/In-Stock_CeramicFiber.html . :coolsmile:
I'm guilty of shoving a few skinnys in from the side door after loading the big stuff from the front. Although I did learn my lesson a few months ago about not shoving them upward to much, as I cracked and broke my baffle board doing just that.
Did find a deal on ceramic fiber board with the help of this forum. For about $50 I got a piece big enough to cut me a new one and have 3 extras waiting in storage when needed. Kudos to hearth.com and http://www.skylinecomponents.com/In-Stock_CeramicFiber.html . :coolsmile:
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