Anyone else fighting a big coal bed in these temps?

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WoodpileOCD

WoodpileOCD

Minister of Fire
Jan 19, 2011
722
Central NC
I've been running my stove about as hard as I can I the last couple of days. Usually run two load a day with maybe a few splits in between to get me between cycles. Turn it all the way down and get mostly ashes but last night and today I've run two large loads with some small splits in between to burn the coals down. House was cooling down too fast so had to load it up again before I got the coals burned down enough. Now I'm trying to do a big night load but have a 3-4" coal bed to deal with. Been burning with the air partly open which gives me great beat but lots of coals. It's going to be an hour or more before I can load up again or I will just compound the problem.
Anybody have any suggestions on how to avoid this when you have to run it hard just to try to keep up in this weather?
 
At the end or a bit sooner of the first full reload burn cycle, put some large (3 or so splits) of soft wood, pine, poplar, anything soft, burns hot, and leaves minimal coaling. This will produce good heat, for a shorter time between the loads. When second nigh time full load comes, you will ahve a good temp on stove yet, and enough coals for the reload. Hard wood will only create more coaling, that won't burn down in time for the next load.
 
Hogwildz said:
At the end or a bit sooner of the first full reload burn cycle, put some large (3 or so splits) of soft wood, pine, poplar, anything soft, burns hot, and leaves minimal coaling. This will produce good heat, for a shorter time between the loads. When second nigh time full load comes, you will ahve a good temp on stove yet, and enough coals for the reload. Hard wood will only create more coaling, that won't burn down in time for the next load.
Click to expand...
I knew that but forgot it should be soft wood. I've had nothing but oak in the house and was using small oak splits to try to burn it down. Tks.
 
Roger that.
I have at least 2+ cords of poplar & pine. For shoulder season, & really cold days/nights, when the oak coals nearing end stage, just don't give off enough heat, yet are not ready for a load.
The poplar has been the shat for me. Great, shorter bursts of heat. Now I want oak & pine & poplar on my list. Never thought I would be wishing for soft stuff.
 
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Small splits or big kindling will help a bit. Small poplar almost goes nuclear on hot coals!
 
I've been putting soft Maple or Cherry against the side walls of the Buck, the last wood in the load to burn. I'm hoping it will gas faster at the end of the burn and keep stove temp up. Coals left from that soft stuff burn up faster when I pull 'em forward and open the air.
 
If I'm home to babysit the stove I can keep my temps up around 400 without fighting a coal problem. As soon as the fire enters the coaling stage (no more flames) I open the air all the way. All the coals in the stove start to really glow and throw a ton of heat. Doing that keeps the top around 400 for an hour or more. Once the coals can't maintain 350 to 400, its time for a reload.
 
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I found out that burning coals down with eco bricks works great. They will work in the same fashion as a soft wood mentioned by Hogwildz. You just can't load stove full of them on a big bed of coals. Throw two or three and it will do it. At least it works for me.
 
Doing the same as prezes13. Usually the third burn. Although last pm I think I waited too long as I did not have much of a coal bed for the reload but it eventually got going.
 
I do the same but I use two large wood blocks under a large piece or two of oak to start with ( using just 1/4 of a Super Cedar ) & the wood blocks burn completely down to a very fine ash & burns down the oak with it . This is my routine now & I get the longest burn times that I have ever gotten with my stove . A significant amount of burn time is in the coaling stage but it still puts out plenty of heat & no coaling ................
 
From a suggestion here (long ago), I took a coal shovel and bent it forward to make a coal hoe (the suggestion was to make a rake, but my laziness in not cutting out tines worked well, because the hoe is useful). I first hoe the pile backward, not quite scraping the bricks, and the burnt heavy fines filter low while the fluffier coals pile high. Then I hoe the coals forward. By this time, the coals are heating up and my knuckles are roasting under the gloves. The coals are now clear of air-blocking ashes and nearer the air supply so they are burning much hotter/faster. It is fun to see whisps of deep blue flames at this time. Blue tends to indicate a higher energy chemical bond release.
 
+1 on using bio-logs, or parts of bio-logs, to keep the stove and cat hot while burning down coals. I have plenty of spruce in the shed, but if there is none in the house bio-log parts work great.
 
A few years ago I picked up a kid-sized all steel garden hoe from Lowes and I use it as a coal rake. It's perfect.
 
I have always just pulled them as far forward as possible, pulled the damper open to half and let it burn... get another couple hours of heat from it.
 
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I have a massive pile of coals right now. I usually just open the door and leave it open. Seems to be twice the heat coming out with the door open. Also I stir up the coals every once in a while and let it burn down. Once it's down to a reasonable amount of coals I load up and start over.

Ian
 
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When I have a large bed of coals I open the door, turn them with a shovel and let them burn down with door open, I get an hour of radiant heat that heats up the room nicely..... image.jpg
 
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When my coal bed is large I throw 4 compressed wood bricks on. Burn hot, dont coal much, and 3 hours later the coals are much lower.
 
fitter9 said:
If I'm home to babysit the stove I can keep my temps up around 400 without fighting a coal problem. As soon as the fire enters the coaling stage (no more flames) I open the air all the way. All the coals in the stove start to really glow and throw a ton of heat. Doing that keeps the top around 400 for an hour or more. Once the coals can't maintain 350 to 400, its time for a reload.
Click to expand...
X2
 
No issues ... haven't even had to burn down any coal bed by opening up the air and tossing on a split.
 
By using a combination of oak and eco bricks I found that it is possible to keep my insert between 500-600 24/7. Sure it gets hot in the summer, but proving a point comes at a cost.
 
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Add me to the list. Have been burning nothing but seasoned black locust, which is great. Before this cold snap, it was 2 loads a day. Nice and simple.

With this very cold weather, I have been doing 2 medium loads during the day and a full load for overnight. The issue is that this locust burns so slow that when I want to reload, there are still more coals than I would like.

I have been doing just as Hogwildz suggested, by pulling coals forward and laying a split or 2 of Ash on top to burn them down. It does help. I actually wish I had some more Ash, but I don't have much left. Tons of locust though. Burned all my other softwood in the fall.
 
I solve this by pushing them to the back, then loading a pair of splits up front. This way is like burning EW and the back "log" is the coals. Does a great job burning them down and getting in reloads faster.
 
maverick06 said:
I solve this by pushing them to the back, then loading a pair of splits up front. This way is like burning EW and the back "log" is the coals. Does a great job burning them down and getting in reloads faster
Click to expand...
+1 I have done this on several occasions with my Jotul F600 and it works out great as this stove tapers in
at the back and is too short for my longer splits.
 
When it is really cold, I rake the coal in line frount to back in the center of the stove. I then put a split on each side N-S creating a channel. Then I load split on top east-west. I close the door, open the air fully open and wait about 15 min. The air rushing in the channel super heat the coal and this help establishing the fire once again, then I adjust the air down. The coal burn before the top split collapse and I do not have coal buildup problem. But I do it on every load. I do not wait for coal to buildup. When it is not super cold, I revert back to regular cycle. Works great for me. Burning mostly ash and some maple.
 
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