How much wood?

If done correctly and with a properly installed stove: yes, it is safe. First, wood should be dry with an internal moisture content of less then 20% and the splits should have a good size. Be also very careful with softwoods although the same procedure applies. The stove should have a properly installed 6" chimney or liner. All clearance requirements should be fulfilled. In an already warm stove do the following:

Rake all the coals towards the front door, drop wood behind the coals and on top of it. Leave about an 1" to 2" gap to the burn tubes in the top. Wait with the door open until the wood has ignited. Close door, wait maybe a few minutes until your wood gets engulfed in flames, then start closing down the air. Close it until flames become slow moving ("lazy"), wait until they are more vigorous again, then close air some more until flames are slow again and so on. If at any point the fire starts to go out, open up the air a bit again, wait a few minutes and continue closing it again. At the end, air should be closed to almost closed depending on draft, quality of wood etc. and you should see flames in the top coming from the burn tubes and only a few flames coming from the wood itself. Monitor the stovetop temps after you closed the air to see how far the stove heats up. Don't use the thermometer as a guide when to close the air during the adjustment period. With a soapstone lined firebox and cast-iron surround they will lag the actual firebox temps by a lot. Use the visual appearance of the fire as your guide.

That procedure is best tried during a weekend day, when someone can monitor the stove most of the time before doing it for an overnight burn.

It's a learning process with to many variables to say you have to do it "this way". Start with small fires and learn your wood and your stove and build up from there to your comfort level. There is no one right answer.

All that room ain't there to just look at, filler er up, and enjoy. As long as you are in tune with how to operate your stove.

Woodro said:

Hi everyone, first I have to say I love this forum! I have been reading it for a long time but finally decided to sign up. Anyways, I see many people talk about loading their stoves completely full. I have burned wood for years but am in my first year with an epa stove. Anytime I have seen someone load a stove full they about burned their house down. I have a Hearthstone Manchester and only put about 3 splits in at a time, is it safe to load more?

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I have to agree with you, i also love this forum! i loved my epa stove once i learned the (mechanics) on were an how to place the wood. You can pack your stove full, i do all the time. The orientation of the wood and air gaps between the peices are a huge part when you pack it in. If you have too big of gaps between dry wood, and it gets going that's a recipe for overfire. If your wood is really dry (15-20%)then i suggest placing your peices east/west. If your wood is like mine about 22-25% then i put it north/south because the air flows thru the wood quicker, but if i grab some 15-20% peices and put them north south out always gets too hot. Here's a reload with dry wood, as mentioned rake coals to the front and fill er up. Keep the smaller peices twards the front coals and air for quick ignition. That load burned for 3 hours, i flipped the pile, it went back up to temp for another hour and i had to reload after 5 hours. burn

Here's when she's cold how i do it, 30 mins later is the second picture. [emoji13]

If my stove is cold I start the fire on top to heat the tubes.
Do get to know your stove and the way your wood acts. Just take it one step at a time. Then burn baby burn.

Let er' eat!!

Yes.