NC 30 mountain of coals

Doing The Dixie Eyed Hustle said:

Not true.

Both stoves are my only heat source.

Seasoned firewood, good burning practices, and the experience that come with that will teach you that it's best to let it cycle.

That being said, I had to use pine / kindling to burn down a coal bed before reload during this cold snap more than once. Mostly due to coming home to a to cool house, and over compensating with the first night time reload to pump heat through the house before the over night load.

Worked like a charm

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What does letting the stove cycle through the coal stage have to do with needing constant 700 degree stove top temps? The OP stated he needed those constant high stove temps to keep his house warm during this weather. Perhaps read the entire thread before quoting them with "Not true", thanks.

I still struggle to understand the practice of removing hot coals from a hot stove so more wood can be put in. You're throwing away heat just to keep recreating the same problem. I guess my thrifty nature and old fashioned stubborn attitude just leads me to put on a sweatshirt if I get a little chilly in the house.

claydogg84 said:

What does letting the stove cycle through the coal stage have to do with needing constant 700 degree stove top temps? The OP stated he needed those constant high stove temps to keep his house warm during this weather. Perhaps read the entire thread before quoting them with "Not true", thanks.

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The OP asked about a mountain of coals. Letting a stove cycle is the best way to do that.

I know how to read, but thanks for the suggestion.

Doing The Dixie Eyed Hustle said:

The OP asked about a mountain of coals. Letting a stove cycle is the best way to do that.

I know how to read, but thanks for the suggestion.

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He asked about the mountain of coals because he needs high stove top temps to keep his home warm. Would you say letting the stove cycle gives you constant 500+ temps? I'll answer It for you, no. He needs these temps in his application, as the coals alone don't produce enough heat by themselves. Letting the stove cycle will absolutely reduce the coal load, at the cost of less heat output. Try reading it again, maybe slower this time. Your suggestion may work for you, but then again I don't think you started this thread? My suggestions on the other hand, will work. So your "not true" statement doesn't really fit. Take care

claydogg84 said:

He asked about the mountain of coals because he needs high stove top temps to keep his home warm. Would you say letting the stove cycle gives you constant 500+ temps? I'll answer It for you, no. He needs these temps in his application, as the coals alone don't produce enough heat by themselves. Letting the stove cycle will absolutely reduce the coal load, at the cost of less heat output. Try reading it again, maybe slower this time. Your suggestion may work for you, but then again I don't think you started this thread? My suggestions on the other hand, will work. So your "not true" statement doesn't really fit. Take care

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No stove is going to give constant 700 degree temps. That's the point, not my reading / comprehension capabilities, as you so graciously pointed out.

Advice asked for, and offered. Nothing more, nothing less.

I'm done here.

To the OP, I hope things work out for you, I apologize for the derailment. It wasn't warranted. So not what this place is about.

Doing The Dixie Eyed Hustle said:

No stove is going to give constant 700 degree temps. That's the point, not my reading / comprehension capabilities, as you so graciously pointed out.

Advice asked for, and offered. Nothing more, nothing less.

I'm done here.

To the OP, I hope things work out for you, I apologize for the derailment. It wasn't warranted. So not what this place is about.

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Your advice would have been fine if not for trying to tell me that my advice was "not true" - when in fact it is 100% true in regards to his situation, so try to be passive all you'd like. I do agree this place is not about these personal confrontations whatsoever, but it was started by your challenge to my post, which I defended, and always will if I believe it to be true.

Hogwildz said:

If that is the case, it is more realistic to burn softer woods that leave less coals. He may have to reload full loads more than with hard wood, but would actually be less work than adding a split or two every hour or two.
I love Oak, Hickory, hardwoods etc, but when I need a quick, hot fire, but don't want a ton of coals when time for full load, I go to pine & poplar. A few large splits of soft wood, can last a decent amount of time.
Our western burning brethren are doing it 24/7 with excellent results.
This is why I turn down no wood species. Each has a place and time for burning. And as much as we all love the hard stuff, some may benefit better from soft, minimal coaling wood species.
I know we are in these temps for the next week or so here, so I will be mixing my wood up as need requires.
I needed 3 hrs worth of burn when I got home off the road today, to last me till midnight until a full reload. I loaded 3 semi large splits of poplar, temp up fairly quick in the house, yet when I go for full reload in a couple more hours, it will be ready for it, just enough coals, and stove temp ready and waiting.
I still feel it takes several seasons to really know the stove, the wood, and when & what to do. Honing skills year after year makes wood burning easier and even more economical as each season we learn something new, or adjust with better results.

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Sounds like some good advice. I'm trying out some softwoods right now. Would make the poplar on the property more appealing. Thanks.

Last night when I got up around 1am, I opened the air up most of the way, since the fire had already begun to coal. Woke up to a nice low bed of small coals and a comfortable house.
If I needed to get a constant 700, I'd have to add a log every half hour or so and I'd have to get a shovel and scoop out red hot coals every day, wasting a lot of heat. A furnace or some other form of supplemental heat would be a must, no getting around it.

Leaving the door open or even cracked open for long periods of time will actually cool the house by sucking warm air right through the system. Yes, you can feel heat right near the stove and door and yes the coals are hot and burning down but the O2 that is feeding them is coming right from your house - the heated air you have already created and is being replaced but some cold air from somewhere outside. Not a savvy solution in the long run.

Truth is there are limits to what a steel or stone box full of fire can do and unless you have two or more stoves that you can full load at differing cycles you are going to have some coaling issues during extreme low temps.

This was discussed a TON last year during the 60+ days of zero or below temps and the solutions were all some variation of the above mentioned with a few sweaters, cold mornings and unavoidable coal management. Just ride it out the best you can. Its going to be near 30 here this weekend and then a good clean out will be taking place.

The one real true solution that best fits this situation is better insulation throughout your home. A tight, well insulated home will hold onto heat - my drafty a$$ house does not. So when the wind comes it gets tougher. When the wind comes in conjunction with extreme low temps I suffer.

I keep around a bag of pellets and toss a short scoop on top of the coals. Gets those coals bright cherry red with yellow & blue flames and typically adds up to 100F to the stovetop temp for 20-30min or so.

Spirlis,

Does that help with the coals? Interesting. I put some bio-bricks on but those last for a couple of hours and some times I do not have enough coals left or have to wait for them to burn down more. Might give your technique a go. Now can anyone recommend a good pellet for this?

hamsey said:

Spirlis,

Does that help with the coals? Interesting. I put some bio-bricks on but those last for a couple of hours and some times I do not have enough coals left or have to wait for them to burn down more. Might give your technique a go. Now can anyone recommend a good pellet for this?

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I bet the pellet brand doesn't matter at all. Fwiw, I had a bag of Lignetics (green) and Somersets (right now). Only reason I ran out of lignetics is I kept tinkering with loading lots of them for fun... lol

A bio-brick is too big IMO. Pellets are like super tiny biobricks, probably dryer than them, and offgas/burn like wildfire. It works great for this purpose. Also easy to fit them into the nooks & crannies of the different coals so you get all the coals rip roarin' hot

Hogwildz said:

If that is the case, it is more realistic to burn softer woods that leave less coals. He may have to reload full loads more than with hard wood, but would actually be less work than adding a split or two every hour or two.
I love Oak, Hickory, hardwoods etc, but when I need a quick, hot fire, but don't want a ton of coals when time for full load, I go to pine & poplar. A few large splits of soft wood, can last a decent amount of time.
Our western burning brethren are doing it 24/7 with excellent results.
This is why I turn down no wood species. Each has a place and time for burning. And as much as we all love the hard stuff, some may benefit better from soft, minimal coaling wood species.

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Softwoods coal up too. It really comes down to trying to make an undersized stove work to keep you warm. It is easy to avoid coaling if you can loaf your stove along at low temps and ride out the cool parts of the cycle. When you need to run your stove at high output, you will have to deal with the coals somehow. Methods on how to reduce coals is what this thread is about, the man needs heat.

I too have an NC30 like the OP and I certainly try to maintain 700 degree temps in an effort to maximize output. I'm burning 100% softwoods and can tell you that softwoods make plenty of coals when you are trying to burn a stove hot.

Pellet stoves don't coal up. Buy a big enough pellet stove and run it hard.

tjcole50 said:

Just looking for strategies to burn these down furthe.

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Do you have any Pine in your stacks? I run a small (relative since my insert is tiny) load or two of Pine to burn down coals.

I like the set up you have in the shop highbeam, looks like the perfect hideout, except I do not see a beer fridge

Highbeam said:

Softwoods coal up too. It really comes down to trying to make an undersized stove work to keep you warm. It is easy to avoid coaling if you can loaf your stove along at low temps and ride out the cool parts of the cycle. When you need to run your stove at high output, you will have to deal with the coals somehow. Methods on how to reduce coals is what this thread is about, the man needs heat.

I too have an NC30 like the OP and I certainly try to maintain 700 degree temps in an effort to maximize output. I'm burning 100% softwoods and can tell you that softwoods make plenty of coals when you are trying to burn a stove hot.

Pellet stoves don't coal up. Buy a big enough pellet stove and run it hard.

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No loafing here in this weather. The guy asked for remedies for coaling issues, I gave him some. I have both hard and soft woods, burn both as situations call for. Soft wood does coal, especially if your constantly throwing splits on an already establish burn( any wood will), and impatient to letting the existing load burn down. That is the nature of that beast. But, soft wood coaling does not compare to hard wood coaling, unless your loading that stove a lot, or the wood is not as dry as maybe it should be, which appears that is not his issue.
I have no issues with coals when throwing poplar or pine in to get heat, less coals for the soft wood, and also burn down the coals from the oak I burn from the previous full load. Works quite well for me, so I offered input to the question asked.

If your trying to keep the stove at a constant 700, you might as well use another source for heat, pellets being a good suggestion, but if he wanted a pellet stove, he would have bought such.
Wood burning is an art, and he will hone his skills as he burns more seasons, and I bet he will also find he has less issues with coaling as he hones his burning skills.
As limited as the real time and skill involved to operate a stove, there is still technique involved, which also evolves over the course of a few seasons. This is as important as any other aspect of wood burning.
Some may find it impractical to run a shop stove constantly at 700 with what realistic time is spent in a shop. But to each their own, and everyone has their own needs & wants.

I have offered my input of what has been working for me. May or may not work for others, but saying go get a big pellet stove is not addressing the issue he is having with his wood burning stove that is in place.
Again, I suggest some folks burning habits or technique is not as sound as they may think.

charger4406 said:

I like the set up you have in the shop highbeam, looks like the perfect hideout, except I do not see a beer fridge

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There's a beer fridge. Just a little dorm sized one to hold two 5 gallon kegs and the gas bottle. It's in the little room behind the stove.

Hey HB, out out of curiosity, how does the BK hold up against any coaling issues? Does it even have any coaling issues? I understand they hold steady temps, but I guess it must drop some near the end of the burn? No issues with having to top off to bring temp back up?

I have a stove that is smaller but similar to an NC30, and I haven't been able to find a way to maintain constant near-peak temperature without the buildup of coals. I usually load wood onto hot coals overnight to keep the temperature up (and to minimize the time I have to watch the stove before going back to sleep), and it gives me a pile of coals in the morning. The nice thing about this is that I can burn one or two thin splits on a pile of coals and get a pretty hot stove for an hour. I repeat this process a few times in the morning to burn down the coals and get some decent heat from the stove while burning only a few splits.

This works at reducing coal buildup and I don't have to shovel useful coals from the stove, but it doesn't keep my stove constantly near peak temperature, which is what the OP is trying to do.

Chimney Smoke said:

I still struggle to understand the practice of removing hot coals from a hot stove so more wood can be put in. You're throwing away heat just to keep recreating the same problem. I guess my thrifty nature and old fashioned stubborn attitude just leads me to put on a sweatshirt if I get a little chilly in the house.

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It's called patience, and learning to accept the temp swings involved with wood burning. You are not only thrifty, you get it, and are realistic. Kudos

Hogwildz said:

Hey HB, out out of curiosity, how does the BK hold up against any coaling issues? Does it even have any coaling issues? I understand they hold steady temps, but I guess it must drop some near the end of the burn? No issues with having to top off to bring temp back up?

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The BK in the house burns the exact same wood but is a properly sized cat stove in a house with a smaller heat load. I only need to run it a medium or low output. The way the cat stove burns is quite different, there might be a flame but the wood load just sits there and bakes. The splits turn black, then glow, then turn white, and then fall into dust. There are essentially no coals and nearly no ash. I get weird clinkers too.

The NC30 is the biggest non-cat stove I could find.

Hogwildz said:

But, soft wood coaling does not compare to hard wood coaling

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There it is for me. With a small firebox I have a lot of coal issues. I find that Pine is very effective in helping me manage them. I should also note that managing them means helping me get to my "overnight" load. No matter what I put in there at bedtime I'm coming downstairs to just enough coals to get started at 5AM. I also plan to try pellets as was also suggested above.

Su

Highbeam said:

The BK in the house burns the exact same wood but is a properly sized cat stove in a house with a smaller heat load. I only need to run it a medium or low output. The way the cat stove burns is quite different, there might be a flame but the wood load just sits there and bakes. The splits turn black, then glow, then turn white, and then fall into dust. There are essentially no coals and nearly no ash. I get weird clinkers too.

The NC30 is the biggest non-cat stove I could find.

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Sounds like then house is dialed in, the shop is as best as can be. Sounds like maybe you should have snuck an old pre-epa mammoth stove in the shop. But I'm sure that would go through some serious wood.
I get the clinkers also. Usually in the front near where the boost air enters. I'm thinking the jet blast that comes from there occasionally is so hot, it bakes whatever minerals in the wood and ash to form those clinkers. I had one bigger then my hand opened up, and about 3/4" think the other day. Makes for easy scooping thought. Almost like a huge chunk of used kitty litter.
I saw a BK Sirocco 20 for sale up in NY, supposedly 5 face cords run through it "like New", but the front was looking surface rusty, and had that white haze near the tops front. They want $2,500.00 for it. I was initially temped till I saw the pics, and then saw the firebox size. Pass.
I am thinking about maybe a BK in the addition, although I have an Englander 30 waiting to be installed. Would be perfect for a BK for low output. Still toying with the idea.

Hogwildz said:

Su

Sounds like then house is dialed in, the shop is as best as can be. Sounds like maybe you should have snuck an old pre-epa mammoth stove in the shop. But I'm sure that would go through some serious wood.
I get the clinkers also. Usually in the front near where the boost air enters. I'm thinking the jet blast that comes from there occasionally is so hot, it bakes whatever minerals in the wood and ash to form those clinkers. I had one bigger then my hand opened up, and about 3/4" think the other day. Makes for easy scooping thought. Almost like a huge chunk of used kitty litter.
I saw a BK Sirocco 20 for sale up in NY, supposedly 5 face cords run through it "like New", but the front was looking surface rusty, and had that white haze near the tops front. They want $2,500.00 for it. I was initially temped till I saw the pics, and then saw the firebox size. Pass.
I am thinking about maybe a BK in the addition, although I have an Englander 30 waiting to be installed. Would be perfect for a BK for low output. Still toying with the idea.

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I actually acquired a big pre-epa papa bear or grandpa or grandma or whatever with a big box and 8" flue but to get this permitted I needed an EPA stove. Sold the fisher for a profit after a fresh coat of paint.