Does more wood in the stove equal a hotter fire or does it equal longer burn time, all else being equal?
Question on the basics
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brad wilton
Feeling the Heat
WoodpileOCD
Minister of Fire
Depends on how much control you have with your stove. Burn time is obvious. 10 splits is going to burn longer than 3 splits no matter what the air settings are. As far as temps go, I can't get it up to as high of a temperature with a few splits as I can with a full load but if I load it about 1/3 to 1/2 I can get the same heat as a full load just for not nearly as long. Ask the guys with the Bk's. It's all about air control and it starts with a good install and a strong draft.
OK, I have a new PE Alderlea T5 insert. I love it. I'm not measuring temps, not sure if I should be. But now that the weather is getting warmer, there are times it's too warm. I throw logs in N/S, turn air up till they are going strong, then turn air down to medium for a few, then all the way down so there are flames on wood, or glowing on coaling. I'm trying to burn fewer splits at a time to decrease the heat output now, just trying to see if that makes sense to people.
WoodpileOCD
Minister of Fire
Absolutely in warmer weather you can control the heat output with less wood. Makes perfect sense. A thermometer of some sort would let you get a better sense of what your stove is doing than just by feel unless you've had your stove so long you just 'know' what it's going to do in most conditions. Also turn your blower off if you want less heat in the room.
prezes13
Minister of Fire
True, though less heat will be convected into the room. In mild weather we definitely cut back in the amount of wood. That means shorter, hot burns and then letting the fire go out. Shoulder season burning means lots of restarts out here. Fall and spring last a long time. SuperCedars help a lot with those frequent restarts.
Without measuring, how would I know if the stove itself is getting too hot? Is that a concern, if I don't use the blower, keeping in mind I wouldn't be loading it heavy.
It's unlikely that the stove will get too hot with a partial load of cord wood. You could invest in an IR thermometer for peace of mind or a 2" dial stove thermometer to put on the door corner, but I wouldn't worry too much about it.
prezes13
Minister of Fire
It probably won't get too hot if you are going to use less fuel. And without measuring the only give away I can think of would be glowing stove.
I think of thermometers on stoves like speedometers in cars. I don't really need either but they both can keep me out of trouble. For not much money.
HotCoals
Minister of Fire
brad wilton
Feeling the Heat
if one split takes 3 hours to burn down then ten splits will take 3 hours just ten pieces instead of one ?
Not really. You would have a hard time keeping one split burning. 5 splits (in a large stove) might burn for 6 hrs, but the coal bed remaining would be tiny and stove temp low, say 150F. 9-10 splits will get the stove hotter and with a good sized bed of coals remaining at the end of 8 hrs. and stove temp could still be 250.
Or if a cat stove, the fire could still be burning next week.
Or if a cat stove, the fire could still be burning next week.
brad wilton
Feeling the Heat
Wood Duck
Minister of Fire
In general, more wood means both longer burn and hotter burn. The heat of the burn, or the rate at which heat is released from the wood, depends on how fast wood and wood gases burn. You can to some degree control the rate of heat release by controlling the air going in to the stove, but you will never manage to make 6 splits burn twice as long as three, or make nine pieces burn three times as long. One way you can make more wood result in longer burn is to use larger pieces of wood, Larger pieces of wood have less surface area for a given mass of wood, so they burn longer. However, there is a limit to the size of wood that will effectively burn in your stove.
nola mike
Minister of Fire
I think airflow around the wood is as big a factor or more than how much wood is loaded. I've found that I can't get a super-hot fire even with the air full open if I have my insert packed tightly EW. More exposed surface area = hotter fire, more wood = longer fire.
nola mike
Minister of Fire
I don't think so. I can use the same wood and load it differently with different results. That effect is actually amplified when I use bricks. If I pack em in, there's less airflow/surface area and they don't burn as hot as when I leave spaces. Conceptually makes sense to me that this would be the case, no?
If all things are equal then yes, loading n/s can burn a little hotter and quicker. But this winter I had more than one load of e/w wood take off quickly and burn hot. Might have been the way I loaded or the wood. Go figure.
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