How do you load your stove

Here is a pretty full load, room for more if I scoop a few inches of ash out.(BKP has 6 inches below the door)

Ed On cold start I do a cross load pattern and it lights quicker. I find that using large splits works well and the small gaps I put the unavoidable little splits that you get no matter what you do Normally I use smaller pieces on top and light the top of the pile not the bottom. This gets your secondaries going much faster and creates way less smoke ! It also lights more even because the hot coal drops down on the unlit wood instead of the cold stove floor. Then I let the flue hit 400 and start to gradually shut down the air till its holding a good slow burn. When its time to reload on our stove is about the 250F range I scoop the coals to the front and load up again usually front to back or North to South.

Pete

When i reload my stove is about 250 300 or if the coal bed is not so good. I can load east west or north south in my stove and i usually put in 5 splits in.

Now this fall i have been starting my stove and getting it to 500 and just let it die out cause not to much heat is needed right now.

What Pete said works great for me too, when its warmer out (40 deg + ) and damp or raining I half to open the air feed more than when its cold to get a proper burn and not smolder. I have no problem packing the wood in close north \ south on reload, the mid temps mess with complete burns for me sometimes too, alot better controlled burns for me when its cold out. Enjoy !

etiger2007 said:

Hi fellow burners I want to know how you load your stove and please attach a pic of it. I seem to leave the splits with too much air in between them. I think with the new stove I get the burn times i want but its not January either. The few fires I have had when I packed the splits tight I got some logs that would smolder and the fire didnt burn as clean as I would like using the chimney as my gauge. I want to pack in as much wood as I can for the longer burn but I want a clean burn too. Yes I want it all. I can load n/s/e/w. So how do you load for a long yet clean burn ?

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Right now, I am playing around with the 30. So, I am in the same boat as you with trying to figure things out.

You might need to keep the door cracked, or cracked longer, on the reload when it is packed full depending upon your draft/stove/wood.

begreen said:

That's full. Is that the entire load for October?

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Oh no, that's a picture from last winter.

I usually just open the side door, fit as many splits as I can in, then close the door. Sometimes it's 6 splits, sometimes it's 7, sometimes it's 8.

etiger2007 said:

Hi fellow burners I want to know how you load your stove and please attach a pic of it. I seem to leave the splits with too much air in between them. I think with the new stove I get the burn times i want but its not January either. The few fires I have had when I packed the splits tight I got some logs that would smolder and the fire didnt burn as clean as I would like using the chimney as my gauge. I want to pack in as much wood as I can for the longer burn but I want a clean burn too. Yes I want it all. I can load n/s/e/w. So how do you load for a long yet clean burn ?

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The way I really like to load the stove is to call the wife and have her do it.

Winter months, push coals to front of stove. Put large split or round in bottom rear. Put faster burning wood in bottom front. Fill with remaining wood. This has never failed us yet.

If logs smolder, that is a pretty good sign that the wood is not ready to burn.

Ok, so after realizing that I was starting my fires inefficiently, I tried the top burn start up....worked like a charm. First load was N/S 5 random splits with roughly 4 1/2 hour burn and large coal bed. Neand bxt load this afternoon was four small splits E/W. Took off and burned a channel down the center with more of a complete burn. Still on that burn now.

There are a couple of things I do to try to get temperatures up quickly and eliminate smoke later in the burn.

First, I put two ~1/2" x 1/2" by 8" pieces on the bottom of the firebox running north/south. This gives me an channel for the air coming in from the primary to the back of the stove. I'll fill this channel with small pieces of kindling wood, some paper, and a firestarter. Then, I'll put one of these 1/2" x 1/2" by 8" pieces vertical in the back of the stove as well to keep the big piece I use in the back away from the back firebricks so air can circulate well around that. If I don't do that, I tend to get smoldering at the end of the burn but before the coaling stage (this happens even with 18% moisture content wood). Then, I put a large piece in back, and a large piece in front, and smaller pieces on top. If I do this, the fire will burn in a gasification mode for a long time, and won't smolder.