Single Piece of Wood at a Time vs Packing it In

You will probably be inundated by the "three at a time" evangelists, and the tight wads that say opening the door three times wastes heat. If you have a coaling problem when stoking, putting the splits in one at a time is a good way to combat the coaling. Just so long as you overlap the timing so that there are esentially three pieces at different stages in there all the time.

On days like today, when I'm home and watching football or whatever, I usually do two 4-5" splits at a time.

You will probably be inundated by the “three at a time” evangelists

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I usually click my heels, say three hale Mary's and toss them in, door wide open, from across the room....if the hale Mary's work and they make perfect spirals through the stove door without bouncing off, then they were meant to be there in the first place and should provide hours of crazy heat.

If not, then they go into my discard pile where they are later burned at the stake for blasphemy against the hearth.


TS

I'm learning Jenga.

When we're in and about the house 1 split next a partially burned one does the trick. It's locks down the coaling up problem and gives a steady stove top temp between 5 and 600. That temp will radiate the heat we need so why load up with more if we're home and not sleeping? Isn't the temp the same comfort wise whether 1 log or 5logs are in the stove...I dunno seems right to me though.

I'll do the toss 1 or 2 in at a time thing, every now and then. But with the big fire box of my PE T-6, seems I need to let quite a bit of air enter for a clean burn. Only concern I have with this method is keeping the stack temp up high enough, and keeping the secondary burn going, to prevent creasote build up.

I'm a one at a time guy when I'm at home, I mean, sometimes I'll put 2 or maybe 3 pieces of something or other in there, but I don't pack it on a Saturday or Sunday. Unless I'm going out for several hours or for overnight.

One split on top of the coal bed does me just fine.

I never do one piece at a time. Usually 3/4 to packed full. Seems like a single piece in my stove would be a waste of time, heat and wood. I always thought these new EPA stoves were designed to be burned with pretty much a full load for max efficiency. If there is a coaling problem there is probably a problem with draft, stove or firewood.

Todd said:

I never do one piece at a time. Usually 3/4 to packed full. Seems like a single piece in my stove would be a waste of time, heat and wood. I always thought these new EPA stoves were designed to be burned with pretty much a full load for max efficiency. If there is a coaling problem there is probably a problem with draft, stove or firewood.

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Cat vs. non cat. Anyone with a cat will load it full every time. Too much hassle to wait for the cat to get to temp with 1 or 2 pieces of wood. If they say they load a few pieces at a time then they must not have a cat or don't understand how to run a cat. my 2 cents.

roac said:

Todd said:

I never do one piece at a time. Usually 3/4 to packed full. Seems like a single piece in my stove would be a waste of time, heat and wood. I always thought these new EPA stoves were designed to be burned with pretty much a full load for max efficiency. If there is a coaling problem there is probably a problem with draft, stove or firewood.

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Cat vs. non cat. Anyone with a cat will load it full every time. Too much hassle to wait for the cat to get to temp with 1 or 2 pieces of wood. If they say they load a few pieces at a time then they must not have a cat or don't understand how to run a cat. my 2 cents.

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Thanks for the confirmation... I load mine to the gills... start her up and engage the cat when the temp is up... 12 hour or so later I repeat the process. I don't have the paitence to baby sit the stove.

Is the OP's Quadrafire 2700i a cat stove? If not, then cat talk is off topic.

LLigetfa said:

Is the OP's Quadrafire 2700i a cat stove? If not, then cat talk is off topic.

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How so? It goes to the direct explanation of whether people sometimes run just a single or a few pieces or pack it in mostly. Just face it all that we do in life eventually boils down to cat or no cat. ;-P

roac said:

How so?

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Because a cat stove is operated differently. Different stove, different rules.

BrotherBart said:

When I am at home I burn two at a time. Seems to use more wood but I can manage the temperature better.

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A question along these lines comes up as I read these threads...When throwing just 1 or 2 logs in are you burning with primary air all the way open or can you shut it down? Non cat stoves/inserts.

for me it seems like it goes through more wood when your tossing a split here and there every couple hours versus a big load up ,today its very frigid and windy here and ive been throwing big splits in eveyr 3 hours or so which is important to me as to keep the strong high burn temps i shoot for versus that less flashy cooling effect the big dump load makes

Adding one or two pieces at a time allows me to not change the air setting whatsoever. If I pack it, i have to open it up to get the burn started properly again and close it back down to whatever. Plus, the full flame of couple logs on hot coals is prettier than a bunch of smoke swirling around a bunch of logs.

I also find I can manage a more consistent heat range with adding 1 or 2 rounds at a time during the day. If I load the T6 up it will go to 8oo and really pump but if I just load 1 or 2 small rounds or splits the temp will not go as high and if it does it will not stay there as long. If I have a hot stove with lots of big coals and it is cold out say -35 I might just put one big 20" by 10" round in. If the bed is hot that round will burn even for a long time. Also I then do not have to split it. I have alot of options as I have many different sized pieces in the basement.

I have to make a decision on what size I will be cutting next year. Its looking like 17" for NS and some large rounds at 20" for daytime burning. Of course the winters young and things could change.

I'm not trying to start a cat vs non cat debate here. I won that argument a long time ago! :coolgrin:

The OP has a coaling problem and it makes no sense to burn his stove one split at a time. There is something else going on here, more likely a draft problem or stove not run hot enough. I've noticed over the years of burning whether it's cat or non cat, when it gets colder like below 10, your going to need more heat so you need to feed the beast more often with more air. This may mean cutting back from an 8-12 hour reload schedule down to a 6-8 hr or less. More splits equals more BTU's, you need to figure a way to put more in that fire box.

BB,
I'll be running a brush down next month sometime. Should be half way through my firewood (1.5 cord) by then.

Todd said:

The OP has a coaling problem . . . likely a draft problem or stove not run hot enough.

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or a stove run too hot with not enough air.

You find what works for you, your stove, your wood, your house, and run with it. We could change the person, the stove, the wood, and/or the house, or we can accept that what works best for you might not for Peter or Paul.

I have noticed i am better off filling my insert full.
I seem to keep hotter temps for longer periods of time,
if i do one split at a time the temps are all over the place.
I would rather get it hot and keep it there, unless the house hits 83
like last night. Even then i let it burn down to coals and load fully when i need more heat.

Brad

i load 3-4 logs in, and let it burn for 5-6 hours when i'm home.. other wise i pack it full and let it burn for 8-10 hours

I always load full - which for me is 5 - 6 pieces, with 1 exception: when I have splits that are too long to put into a full firebox, I'll use them to lay diagonal across the top of the coal bed 1 at a time - usually on the weekend when I can mess with the stove every 2 hours.