long burn

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jjmelt

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Jun 24, 2008
31
southern NY
I have the New englander 30 I have no trouble getting the fire going but it only last about 6 hours. Burning only seasoned red and white oak. Any thoughts?
I was thinking would it be better to spit the logs smaller then I can fit more in a bit tighter. Now I can only get about 5 logs in.

Thanks
 
Which way are you loading them in? East/West or North/South. You may get a longer burn E/W or sideways.
 
Loading N/S I will Try E/W never thought of that. How do you remove the ash without letting stove burn all the way off?

Not much left lots of ash and some coals. Sometimes half a log. It looks like it may have rolled to the side and never fully burned.
 
Rake the coals to one side and shovel the ash. Another thing to extend your burn is to leave an inch of ash in there. It helps insulate the coals.
 
jjmelt said:
I have the New englander 30 I have no trouble getting the fire going but it only last about 6 hours. Burning only seasoned red and white oak. Any thoughts?
I was thinking would it be better to spit the logs smaller then I can fit more in a bit tighter. Now I can only get about 5 logs in.

Thanks
Click to expand...

What is seasoned red and white oak? The reason for asking is that those two take different lengths of time to season. Red oak needs minimum of 2 years!

Splitting logs smaller will not get you a longer burn, it will get a shorter and hotter burn. 5 logs of red or white oak should be ideal.
 
jjmelt said:
Loading N/S I will Try E/W never thought of that. How do you remove the ash without letting stove burn all the way off?

Not much left lots of ash and some coals. Sometimes half a log. It looks like it may have rolled to the side and never fully burned.
Click to expand...

I agree with Todd. Leave at least an inch of ashes in the bottom. Also, don't clean out the ashes too often! I've seen people cleaning out ashes daily or every other day. Not necessary.
 
A half burned log- as in not coaling- is normally a bad sign as to how dry the wood is.

Load E/W, pack it up, close the air down when it's maintaining secondary flame, and go outside and see if there's smoke at the chimney or not.
 
In general - smaller splits will give a lot of heat for a shorter period, larger splits will give a little less heat for a longer period. If you're looking to extend the burn time, try larger chunks of wood.
 
When the weather's mild like it's been for the last 7/10 days it's not easy getting a long burn unless you smolder...and you want to avoid that.

Once you're burning 24/7 on a regular schedule...because it's COLD you'll find its way easier to get a longer fire and wake up to a solid bed of coals. Now if you wood isn't seasoned properly don't go for the long burns, just burn hot and enjoy the stove when your in and about the house. When the house is empty set the thermostat at 55, that way you're still saving coin and can enjoy good heat when the family's in the house.

Well seasoned wood will easily and efficiently burn on low but that's not the case with with unseasoned wood. And the one thing you don't want to do as the new wood burner in the neighborhood is bring attention to yourself with a chimney fire trying to get a long burn out of green wood. Good luck brother.
 
I have a 30 as well. Wednesday night I fired up the stove around 5 pm. around 7:00 Stocked it with about 5 splits maple and oak, got it up to 500ish, shut the damper down to within 3/4 inch from shut. Came down the next morning at 7:00AM to a 350 stove with enough coals to just throw 5 more splits in and had it back up to temp in about 20 minutes. Shut her down for the day...Got home at 8 pm. 300 degree stove and again coals enough to just throw some logs in and up to temp again in 20-30 minutes!!! My wife (who thinks I am a wack job with my wood obsession) was even impressed to still see useable coals after 13 hours. I am loving the stove and chimney set-up. Performing way above what I had expected.
 
Sorry guys I was away.
Thanks for info. Maybe I'm expecting to much. This is my first time burning so I need to learn.
How can I check if would is seasoned? I don't see any moisture bubbling out when wood is burning.
Still very dificult to get the ashes out without removing all the coals. To keep this going 24/7 I will need to figure a easy safe way.
How much wood would you guys guess I will burn if I burn 24/7. That would be like 3 loads a day? Want to be sure I have enough. Or do I go with the old saying of get as much wood as you think you need .... then double it.
I was also thinking of running a duct from the fireplace area to my A/C return then I could blow air through the whole house. Any thoughts?

I'm actually suprised its been below 40 and my house is comfy. Just figured a way to get freash air to the unit so thats next. Should help.

Sounds like I should get a small thermostat. Is 500 degrees what i'm looking for before I close down air intake?
 
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