Packing a stove for long burns.

the bigger the piece of wood the better!!

What you seek is illustrated nicely here:

http://www.woodheat.org/tips/technique.htm

What kinda bird you got?

Those with larger fireboxes have an advantage, but since your stove has soapstone lining the firebox, you'll probably be better off than others with stoves that have the same sized firebox. I agree, the larger the piece of wood, the longer the burn time. I purposely kept some small diameter pieces of wood (5-7 inches) as rounds rather than splitting them. I use them for overnight burns. The firebox on my stove is only 2 cf. (This is my first year with this EPA stove; the old smoke dragon had a cavernous firebox that was almost twice this one's size.) I've been pleasantly surprised that I get 6-7 hours overnight burn time with the new stove. In the morning it still has a nice bed of coals that allow me to easily get a fire going again by just laying splits on them. I don't miss the old smoke dragon at all (it took too long to warm up enough to throw off heat and ate wood like crazy). Good luck. Tinkering, you'll find the best way to achieve the longest burn time with your stove. By the way, that's a handsome stove that you've got.

Thick hot bed o coals, with as big a hard rounds as you can get on it, and dampened shortly down when she starts to take.

Its funny to see this thread because I was thinking the same exact thing earlier to day as i was loading my stove. i signed on to post it and hear it is already. I have mostly small diameter wood as it was cut and split last year for my old cookstove. Now I am burning it this year in my T6. The wood I am splitting for next year I am leaving in larger diameters. Having said that, does anyone have any tips for slowing down the small stuff? I dont want to starve it for air. I am stacking it as tight as possible in the firebox. i also heard that east/west loading might slow things down.

Old House said:

...I have mostly small diameter wood as it was cut and split last year for my old cookstove. ...
Having said that, does anyone have any tips for slowing down the small stuff? I....

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The more tightly packed the splits are, and the less air space between them the better off you are. Also, try to get most of the hot coals near the air inlet in the front and the fire will be more inclined to work it's way toward the back and 'time release' the burn.

Marty said:

Old House said:

...I have mostly small diameter wood as it was cut and split last year for my old cookstove. ...
Having said that, does anyone have any tips for slowing down the small stuff? I....

Click to expand...

The more tightly packed the splits are, and the less air space between them the better off you are. Also, try to get most of the hot coals near the air inlet in the front and the fire will be more inclined to work it's way toward the back and 'time release' the burn.

Click to expand...

Exactly like this and try and get the largest piece at the back of the stove that will fit there. Big as possible, because by the time the fire gets to it, it will be totally primed to burn. It will burn last but in the meantime it will have been sucking up all the heat from the wood in front of it. If all you really have is tiny splits then yes, you have to pack them as tight as possible, specially at the back of the stove. This is where you are gonna develop an affection for those welder`s gloves, or something like them

Good idea about the larger log in the back. I will make sure to set those aside for just that purpose. I have found the welding gloves to be an arm saver. Never needed them much with the top loading cook stove. Now I need to find a good ash rake. My clean out shovel doesn't cut it.

I had a VC DW cat stove and i would cut logs 25" long and 2"x 4" and 2"x6" and stack them in the stove tight to the top .

Reese Eshun said:

gotta keep the flame going for a cleaner/efficienter burn.

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Not necessarily true! What about the cat. stoves? Most of the time in fall and spring we have no flame at all! Even when we are burning hot during the winter, after the initial burn and dancing flames, it will settle down and at times look as though the fire has gone out completely, but the cat. will be glowing red and the chimney stays nice and clean. Extremely efficient.

i guess thats one nice thing about the non cat stoves,you can enjoy most all of the fire works...

zim, you can in a cat. stove too if you want!

I've been making larger splits with good results.........................