Loading Stove

yes.

To get the most bang for the buck out of my wood, I run the stove based on the inside and outside temps, sun exposure. So the house runs the stove, not the other way around. We did this backwards for a lot of years, had windows open to cool the place, dried the hell out of the air. My stove is plenty big for the well insulated house. So we have to really watch how we run the stove. Last night I let the stove go out half way through the night, knowing we will loose 5 degrees in the house, even when it was 6 outside this morning. This saves a lot of wood and makes the house far more comfortable.

Load her up and let her run her full cycle.

Stateguy said:

To get the most out of your wood Is it more benifical to load your stove with wood then to put one or two peices at a time

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That really depends upon your needs.

How we load our stove depends upon the outside temperature and what that is expected to do during the burn. It also can depend upon how long we may be away or if it is a night burn vs a day burn. We have no problem going to bed with 3 splits in the stove if the temperature will only be down to the mid to high 20's. On the other hand, if the temperature will be down to 10 or especially below zero, then we fill it...at night or if we are to be gone all day. If we or one of us is to be in the house during real cold days, we'll usually put 4 or 5 splits in.

In addition, if we are to be in the house or near, during the daytime we tend to burn any splits or rounds that have any sort of a knot. We want the really straight and knotless wood for night fires when we have to fill the stove.

Many will say it is best to fill the stove but I have never been of that opinion.