Burning Techniques

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drhiii

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Oct 15, 2006
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I've developed some techniques with my stove (Napoleon 1400) and various available wood (pinon, oak, black locust, pine, and in an absolute pinch... cottonwood), but wanted to ask of this saged and energetic group opinions on a couple of things.

Direction of splits in a stove. I have a front loader. Air wash keeps the glass fairly clean. I've seen some discussion on north/south vs east/west log placement. What do ya'll's do with your particular stoves? On a front loader, do you go left to right, or front to back for instance?

Also, have you developed techniques for minimizing ash buildup?

I've been developing some techniques to deal with both things, and other elements like starting up, getting to a bed of coals, and sustaining a long burn (I can maintain a toasty house when it is 0 degrees out for 6-8 hours easily on a single load for instance), but am really interested to hear how other folks manage their stoves, wood and experience. Especially the two question above.

Tx... this is a great site to gather, kick back, and learn...

drhiii
 
I always load east/west because the firebox dimension is rectangular. If the firebox were square I would probably still go east/west because it would seem easier to load to me. Some people worry about logs rolling into the window and prefer north/south loading.
 
It really depends on the design of the stove, the orientation and dimensions of the firebox and where the air hits the wood. In the F3 and F400, there's only one practical way to load it, sideways. With the 602 and 118 and other box stoves, the only way to load it is endways.
 
I have found a way to get almost no ash. It is not a loading technique, but a change in what I am burning.

I went and bought 80 on those compressed logs. I thinkt he brand was bear mountain or something like that. Nomrally I would have to clean ash every day. I have been burning these things for a week and will probably not have to scoop for at least another week.

That will be two weeks burning from 7pm till about 10am in a small stove, not having to scoop at all!!

I can easily get an overnight burn with these things as well.

I know this is a little off topic, but you asked about dealing with ash. This is how I am going to deal with it.......I'm not!

WR
 
yeah but you bought those things. Wood is free if you can find somewhere to cut. I dont know about everyone else but has anyone swept a flue from an insert or freestanding stove that has burned nothing but those logs? It is nasty! my respirator and vac became clogged quick! And it seems oily and smears.
 
One thing I learned with my unit is that I leave the ashes in as long as possible. I used to empty them everyday and fill a 5 gallon container once a week. Now I let them build up, scoop a couple of shovels from the front edges each day or two and I only remove about 1-2 gallons a week. What I have found is having a hot fire on top of a load of ashes/coals burns them down even more and also the quad seems to work and get up to temp a lot faster with a good foundation of ashes under it.
 
woodlove said:
yeah but you bought those things. Wood is free if you can find somewhere to cut. I dont know about everyone else but has anyone swept a flue from an insert or freestanding stove that has burned nothing but those logs? It is nasty! my respirator and vac became clogged quick! And it seems oily and smears.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you may be talking about a chimney that had parrafin logs burning, like Duraflames. The Bear Mtn product has no fillers, just tightly compressed sawdust. They burn quite cleanly. As to purchasing, well I would guess that at least half of the folks with stoves buy their wood. If they are burning a high quality compressed log, they're burning cleaner, more predictable and often hotter fuel. If the price is right, I say more power to them.
 
unfortunately I do not have time to find and cut down wood. If I did, it would be at the expense of play time (4x4, dirt biking, shooting things etc).

As for the cleanliness of the burn. I personally think they burn cleaner than the seasoned oak I have been burning all season. There is certainly far less smoke coming out the chimney. With the oak, I would have to load the sh1t out of the stove to get it to burn all night. with the pressed logs, I put in 1 and a half or two at the most.

sorry, we are getting a little off topic........

WR
 
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