Getting longer burn times...split arrangement

Hello

I am sure other people do this but I was just really pleased with the burn times I have been getting with this arrangement. Much longer than I expected.

I have an Englander 17-VL which I use for supplementary heat and with Mesquite I have been able to get 10+ hour burn times. By this I mean in the morning the stove has big coals and still producing warmth.

I attached a sketch of what I do. The two rounds are about 5 inch diameter and the split on the bottom is about the same. All this placed on a good bed of coals. It seems to be like a time released arrangement since they don't all burn entirely at once.

Anyway this is my first wood stove and really enjoying it!

I think so. It is not a super hot burn so I may throw in some more smaller pieces for more heat. I really only need about 8 hours.

Poindexter said:

Yup, but he has mesquite.

When I was building experimental rocket stoves a couple years ago I was looking for max BTU's per cubic centimeter. I bought a bag of mesquite chunks for the grill, set them up on my drill press and then strung them together on bamboo skewers to make mesquite-kabobs.

Mesquite has a shockingly high number of BTUs per cord ;-)

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Yes Mesquite is great! It is amazingly dense and has been curing on my farm for years now.

I always like to pick up a piece and tell someone, "imagine how much you think this weighs."

Then I hand it to them. They are always surprised. lol

I wil add a bit more as I get a feel for the stove though. Still learning.

blacktail said:

If you're getting 10 hours out of three pieces of wood, I'm curious what temp your stove is running at, and if you have any visible smoke out of your stack.

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The temperature was hovering around 350. I didn't 't see smoke coming out. I do wonder if it gets too low in the night? But it was very warm in the morning.

It was 3 good sized logs but that was on a big fresh bed of coals.

FPX Dude said:

You get AM started on an over night fire so I think you're doing fine. My setup is more of a "lincoln log" load at 45 degree angle all packed in and then I'm good thru the next day.

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Do you have this stove also? It definitely seems to burn on the tamer side.

blacktail said:

I just looked at the specs for that stove. At 1.1 cubic feet, I guess you won't be fitting that much more wood in it. Sounds like that high powered wood will make the most of the stove though.

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Yes it is pretty tiny in there. It is tall but super shallow. I also have a lot of oak around here but it doesn't seem nearly as dense.