Poindexter
Minister of Fire
Someone asked for a pic of my door glass at the end of the last one. Its attached.
Joining the discussion about fan settings and thermostat settings and so on, let me describe a framework first and then get into what I think I have found.
At the extreme ends of heating season we have the shoulder seasons. Do I have lower temps and better insulation than many, and a pretty short stack; yes, but we all know what shoulder season is, even though we are thinking of different local conditions and installs when we picture it.
To me shoulder season is when I can put two really big splits in the Ashford, light a fire in the valley in between those two splits, run the Tstat wide open, have a clean burn with active cat and not run myself out of the house. The (relatively) small surface area that is on fire at any given time keeps the total heat output into the house (relatively) low per minute, but it is enough to keep the cat active and the house warm.
Next, for want of a better term is cool weather, stove is running pretty much 24/7. I can load it with about anything, get 12 hour burn cycles with the cat pretty much active all the time, and moderate the temp in the house with the Tstat knob on the stove.
I personally don't much care what the fan setting is, but I do want it on. It seems, at least in my install, that if the fan kit is running the heat coming off the stove is better distributed both in the main room and to the distant rooms. With the stove mounted fans off, air temp varies with distance from the stove and pushing cold air towards the stove - at least at my house- doesn't make much difference.
I think what I am observing is running the factory fan kit on the Ashford, at any speed, breaks up the air flow near the stove so the box fans pushing cold air along the floor towards the stove have an opening instead of running head on into the radiated wall of heat put out by the stove - and bouncing off. I am confident this varies quite a bit by installation, stove location in the room and so on, but I have concluded I don't care what the fan speed is, as long as the fan speed is not zero.
So 1) shoulder season, 2) cool weather, category three and last is cold weather. Looks like we are all (relatively again) having a cold snap this week. If you would rather name the three phases of stove season shoulder, cold weather and OMG I am fine with that.
The first thing I tried in cold (OMG) weather last time I had a cold snap here was stuff the Ashford full of the smallest driest splits I could find of the highest BTU wood I can lay my hands on. I let that thing rip. If the stove couldn't handle the heat at "3/3" I am sure the knob would only go up to "2/3". It can handle full throttle just fine. Once the house was warmed up I turned the Tstat down, and woke up to the sound of my oil burning furnace kicking on shortly after the stove went out. It was not an hour normally associated with household chores.
What I have noticed is I get a better burn at higher Tstat settings. On say 2/3 it burns pretty good for a good long while, but leaves some charcoal stacked on the back wall. On 1/3 it burns pretty good, doesn't put out as much heat per minute, burns longer than it did at 2/3, and leaves a bigger stack of charcoal on the back wall.
I don't really care too much one way or the other about charcoal. I do care about ash buildup, and I do care about the oil furnace kicking on at 0300. I also care about keeping the cat in the active range. At lower settings I can open the door just as the cat is about to flicker out to inactive, stir the charcoal around, break up the chunks and have the cat halfway back up to an overfire condition in a matter of minutes.
This tells me the charcoal is capable of putting out cat food, but on a slow enough burn it is putting put cat food too slowly for the cat to feed.
So I have been fiddling with loading technique. My goal is to load the stove so I can leave the Tstat on full throttle for most complete burn possible, maintain my target house temp as long as possible, and then drift as slowly as possible back to the set point on my oil thermostat while keeping the cat active as long as possible for lowest emissions.
So I have been loading one enormous split in every load, and pinning it against a sidewall. Like an 8" round split once, or a 12" round split into three pieces. These pieces do take at least two years to season.
I have been taking a lot of night call lately, I don't have "numbers" to go with my observations, haven't been home for much except to load the stove and eat. I think what I am observing is the big chunk on the side keeps putting out cat food long enough for the cat to be feeding while the smalls all burn away to just ash. Then I can shovel out some ash, whack the big piece a couple time to restore my coal bed and reload. If I don't get numbers this weekend, Jan 10-11, my next day off work is January 31....
If you got some bigguns and don't want to feed the stove in the middle of the night during cold (OMG) weather this is the best idea I have had so far that you might try.
I do moderate the thermostat setting between getting the house warm after work and going to bed, but at bedtime I take it back up to 3/3.
Joining the discussion about fan settings and thermostat settings and so on, let me describe a framework first and then get into what I think I have found.
At the extreme ends of heating season we have the shoulder seasons. Do I have lower temps and better insulation than many, and a pretty short stack; yes, but we all know what shoulder season is, even though we are thinking of different local conditions and installs when we picture it.
To me shoulder season is when I can put two really big splits in the Ashford, light a fire in the valley in between those two splits, run the Tstat wide open, have a clean burn with active cat and not run myself out of the house. The (relatively) small surface area that is on fire at any given time keeps the total heat output into the house (relatively) low per minute, but it is enough to keep the cat active and the house warm.
Next, for want of a better term is cool weather, stove is running pretty much 24/7. I can load it with about anything, get 12 hour burn cycles with the cat pretty much active all the time, and moderate the temp in the house with the Tstat knob on the stove.
I personally don't much care what the fan setting is, but I do want it on. It seems, at least in my install, that if the fan kit is running the heat coming off the stove is better distributed both in the main room and to the distant rooms. With the stove mounted fans off, air temp varies with distance from the stove and pushing cold air towards the stove - at least at my house- doesn't make much difference.
I think what I am observing is running the factory fan kit on the Ashford, at any speed, breaks up the air flow near the stove so the box fans pushing cold air along the floor towards the stove have an opening instead of running head on into the radiated wall of heat put out by the stove - and bouncing off. I am confident this varies quite a bit by installation, stove location in the room and so on, but I have concluded I don't care what the fan speed is, as long as the fan speed is not zero.
So 1) shoulder season, 2) cool weather, category three and last is cold weather. Looks like we are all (relatively again) having a cold snap this week. If you would rather name the three phases of stove season shoulder, cold weather and OMG I am fine with that.
The first thing I tried in cold (OMG) weather last time I had a cold snap here was stuff the Ashford full of the smallest driest splits I could find of the highest BTU wood I can lay my hands on. I let that thing rip. If the stove couldn't handle the heat at "3/3" I am sure the knob would only go up to "2/3". It can handle full throttle just fine. Once the house was warmed up I turned the Tstat down, and woke up to the sound of my oil burning furnace kicking on shortly after the stove went out. It was not an hour normally associated with household chores.
What I have noticed is I get a better burn at higher Tstat settings. On say 2/3 it burns pretty good for a good long while, but leaves some charcoal stacked on the back wall. On 1/3 it burns pretty good, doesn't put out as much heat per minute, burns longer than it did at 2/3, and leaves a bigger stack of charcoal on the back wall.
I don't really care too much one way or the other about charcoal. I do care about ash buildup, and I do care about the oil furnace kicking on at 0300. I also care about keeping the cat in the active range. At lower settings I can open the door just as the cat is about to flicker out to inactive, stir the charcoal around, break up the chunks and have the cat halfway back up to an overfire condition in a matter of minutes.
This tells me the charcoal is capable of putting out cat food, but on a slow enough burn it is putting put cat food too slowly for the cat to feed.
So I have been fiddling with loading technique. My goal is to load the stove so I can leave the Tstat on full throttle for most complete burn possible, maintain my target house temp as long as possible, and then drift as slowly as possible back to the set point on my oil thermostat while keeping the cat active as long as possible for lowest emissions.
So I have been loading one enormous split in every load, and pinning it against a sidewall. Like an 8" round split once, or a 12" round split into three pieces. These pieces do take at least two years to season.
I have been taking a lot of night call lately, I don't have "numbers" to go with my observations, haven't been home for much except to load the stove and eat. I think what I am observing is the big chunk on the side keeps putting out cat food long enough for the cat to be feeding while the smalls all burn away to just ash. Then I can shovel out some ash, whack the big piece a couple time to restore my coal bed and reload. If I don't get numbers this weekend, Jan 10-11, my next day off work is January 31....
If you got some bigguns and don't want to feed the stove in the middle of the night during cold (OMG) weather this is the best idea I have had so far that you might try.
I do moderate the thermostat setting between getting the house warm after work and going to bed, but at bedtime I take it back up to 3/3.
