Hello one and all. This is my first post here. I've been burning wood for a few years in this little Pacific Energy fireplace insert woodstove. On the first year, without really knowing what I was doing I used unseasoned (partly-seasoned, technically) firewood. This was for a couple of months one winter and we kept the fire hot, although it kept going out and smoking up the house.
After reading about how important it is to dry it out, I was happy to see a much better result the next year. However, the persnickety little fire kept going out from time to time, which would necessitate me opening the door to rearrange the sticks, which would then blow a gigantic amount of smoke into the house no matter how slowly and carefully the door was opened.
This year I thought I had gotten my technique down but there are still instances when the fire goes out and there's no choice but for me to smoke up the house just to get it going again. I would like to get it so that I don't do this anymore, ever. I have asthma, which could slowly kill me, but even worse, my girlfriend is gettin' mad! Just playing. But it's obvious that she doesn't appreciate it and neither do my lungs.
We got our woodstove new for around $3000 on the notion that eventually it would pay for itself. And after factoring in all the variables, including how much we would save vs cranking the electric heat to match the increased room temperature, and also the comfort this increased temperature provides us (inbetween smoking episodes, where I have to turn on the fans and it becomes cold again), we're wondering if this little stove is really, truly worth it.
The sad part is, this winter we're out of money and our seasoned firewood supply is dwindling. So that $3000 is really starting to be missed at this point. I'm working on a pile for next year but that stuff is wet as a sponge. For one thing I don't have a good splitting surface, so it's looking rather muddy on the ends so far. I wonder if it would be worth it to keep splitting like I'm doing or wait until I can find a pallet or something and fashion a splitting surface myself.
But, for this year I have logs to last maybe a month or two, depending on how it's used. So it is perhaps in my efforts to make the firewood last longer that I am allowing it to go out. I could make a hotter fire but that would mean no more for the year, and back to expensive electric heat.
So I suppose my main questions are: do I have to choose between spending all my time stirring the fire and smoking up the house just to conserve firewood, versus turning up the air and getting my time back but letting it burn away early? Is there a way I could save wood and close the vents but still have a fire that lasts for hours and doesn't go out? In my situation, do I want to use more, less, or a moderate amount of firewood in my small woodstove?
I am using well-seasoned firewood. I don't know the species. I am wearing many hats right now and I don't necessarily want to become an arborist as well. If it's important enough I can take photos of the firewood, but it seems as if it burns well when it's nice and hot, or when I have it arranged perfectly. If there are any firemaking tricks you guys could give me I would appreciate that as well. I've been reading about the top-down method and I wonder if that'll be a good way to do things.
A little more background, I have burned wood in a larger woodstove with a greater supply and it was much easier. That was for a bigger house though, and this small little woodstove can turn our 900-something-ft2 house into a sauna, granted we have enough wood to do it with. I can maintain a little fire if I keep coming back and stirring it every hour, but I sure could be doing great things with the time I spend making perfect stacks of sticks while smoke pours into the house.
Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance. By the way I am reading the mountain of threads recommended in the sticky. It's taking time but I'll try to commit it to memory.
After reading about how important it is to dry it out, I was happy to see a much better result the next year. However, the persnickety little fire kept going out from time to time, which would necessitate me opening the door to rearrange the sticks, which would then blow a gigantic amount of smoke into the house no matter how slowly and carefully the door was opened.
This year I thought I had gotten my technique down but there are still instances when the fire goes out and there's no choice but for me to smoke up the house just to get it going again. I would like to get it so that I don't do this anymore, ever. I have asthma, which could slowly kill me, but even worse, my girlfriend is gettin' mad! Just playing. But it's obvious that she doesn't appreciate it and neither do my lungs.
We got our woodstove new for around $3000 on the notion that eventually it would pay for itself. And after factoring in all the variables, including how much we would save vs cranking the electric heat to match the increased room temperature, and also the comfort this increased temperature provides us (inbetween smoking episodes, where I have to turn on the fans and it becomes cold again), we're wondering if this little stove is really, truly worth it.
The sad part is, this winter we're out of money and our seasoned firewood supply is dwindling. So that $3000 is really starting to be missed at this point. I'm working on a pile for next year but that stuff is wet as a sponge. For one thing I don't have a good splitting surface, so it's looking rather muddy on the ends so far. I wonder if it would be worth it to keep splitting like I'm doing or wait until I can find a pallet or something and fashion a splitting surface myself.
But, for this year I have logs to last maybe a month or two, depending on how it's used. So it is perhaps in my efforts to make the firewood last longer that I am allowing it to go out. I could make a hotter fire but that would mean no more for the year, and back to expensive electric heat.
So I suppose my main questions are: do I have to choose between spending all my time stirring the fire and smoking up the house just to conserve firewood, versus turning up the air and getting my time back but letting it burn away early? Is there a way I could save wood and close the vents but still have a fire that lasts for hours and doesn't go out? In my situation, do I want to use more, less, or a moderate amount of firewood in my small woodstove?
I am using well-seasoned firewood. I don't know the species. I am wearing many hats right now and I don't necessarily want to become an arborist as well. If it's important enough I can take photos of the firewood, but it seems as if it burns well when it's nice and hot, or when I have it arranged perfectly. If there are any firemaking tricks you guys could give me I would appreciate that as well. I've been reading about the top-down method and I wonder if that'll be a good way to do things.
A little more background, I have burned wood in a larger woodstove with a greater supply and it was much easier. That was for a bigger house though, and this small little woodstove can turn our 900-something-ft2 house into a sauna, granted we have enough wood to do it with. I can maintain a little fire if I keep coming back and stirring it every hour, but I sure could be doing great things with the time I spend making perfect stacks of sticks while smoke pours into the house.
Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance. By the way I am reading the mountain of threads recommended in the sticky. It's taking time but I'll try to commit it to memory.
