How do you load your stove?

If you have a lot of that birch, I'd use it when starting fires then move up to the maple and oak. What works best for me is making sure there is good air flow through the logs in the begining stages (sometimes I'll mix up N/S and E/W). Once things start heating up I usually push the logs closer together. When a good bed of coals is established I strictly go E/W and fill the box as tight and full as I can get it and leave the air control on high for a short time before cutting it back and watching the secondaries take flight.

On a hot bed of coals I've been stacking north-south leaving a gap in the middle for the north-south burn tube.

Not getting the advised 9 hour burn time, but reasonably close counting lingering red cherry coals.

If your wood isn't dry enough, gapping and crossing them to create air spaces helps. N/S also helps. Good dry wood isn't so fussy. I load E/W.

For large loads, I first use my ash shovel upside down to shove everything to the back of the stove. Doing so tends to raise the coals to the surface. I then I rake the coals forward, leaving the ashes behind and set my larger pieces in the back with progressively smaller pieces in front. The smallest splits on top of the coal bed take off nicely and I get an even front-to-back burn.

For smaller loads, I run the poker through the ashes which raises the coals to the top giving them air. I then set two or three splits on top of the coals, again with the larger splits in back.

If I get a buildup of coals, I do the same as for large loads except I don't put any big wood in the back, just some small splits on top up front to quickly burn them down.

Thanks for the question. We have a new Quadrafire 4100 and i've been wondering the same thing. It seems if there's too much air circulation the wood burns pretty fast. (less than 2 hours) If it's packed tight it never seems to get going. I have also wondered about the bottom up burn versus top down. ???? But the posts have helped! Thanks! (Snow this weekend - YEAH!)

Heidi

Heidi245 said:

I have also wondered about the bottom up burn versus top down.

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While you can have top-down starts, I don't think continuous top-down burns would be practical. Front-back burns however are easy to do as they are a variation on bottom-up.

For me and my insert its been a real learning experience with the way the wood is loaded.

In the mornings after a long low burn, I like going with splits N/S to get the fire up and running hot because I have to go to work. This seems to light up fast with more fire much faster than doing a E/W load.

Now when I get home from work I like to put in 3 or 4 smaller splits N/S and get the stove running hot again for a half an hour. Seems to clean up the glass and keep things clean and running good.

Then I reload in an hour and a half with a big load going E/W in the evening for a slower burn that will last until morning and then do it all again!

I am having so much fun, can I have another beer.

I do basically the same thing as you just described, only I always load North/South.

In the mornings I pull the air control all the way out, rake the coal bed around, which there is plenty of coals to reestablish a fire I leave the door cracked for about 5 min to get the coals nice and hot and then I load it up, within 30min my air is turned down stove is hot and I’m off to work.

After work I like to load 3 to 4 small splits but before I do, this is when I clean some of the ash out, with the 3 or 4 small splits I run the stove hot and only push in the air control a little , which seems to clean everything glass and all real good. Doing this also gives me a great coal bed around 9:30pm to 10pm where I load it up for my over night burn.

Next morning cycle starts all over again.

For overnight burns, I pick through my splits like it was a jigsaw puzzle and pack it in with the least possible amount of spaces. I leave the air open until the smaller pieces in front on top of the coals get a good char going and then I close it right down as low as it will go. In the morning I still have lots of coals.

As I said before, good dry wood doesn't need extra encouragement.

I also have a small stove and I think that it takes some extra work to get a good secondary burn for a long period of time, and to get a long burn. My stove has a 1.6 cubic feet firebox size.

When I do a cold start, I put kindling N/S on each end of the stove, and two or three small splits E/W on the bottom, then some thin pieces of kindling on top, then more E/W splits. For a cold start, I like to have 5 or 6 splits.

When I reload, I try to reload no lower than when the stove is at 350 degrees. Then, I rake coals forward, put kindling N/S on each end of the stove, then put two larger (4 inches or maybe a little less on a side) E/W on top of the kindling, then some small pieces of kindling N/S, then two or three more medium size splits. I try to maintain a little room around them for air flow, and I try to keep the pieces from touching the back of the firebox or else I'll get more smoldering (and smoke). Then, I'll open the primary air, let it get to 550 to 600 degrees, and then start shutting it down, which takes about 20 minutes before I'm at a stable burn. I'll get a four hour time between re-loads with this method.

Three things that really helps are as follows:

1) a pair of elbow length welders gloves allow you to place the splits in a hot stove really well to maximum use of the space.
2) planning out how the splits fit in the stove to pack the max in really helps.
3) splits that are more squarish - easy to do if you split with a hydraulic splitter - make it easier to fit more wood in and then burn longer.

Well I don't know if this will help any of you since the Oslo's firebox is on the medium to larger size . . . although still a lot smaller than the old Shenandoah and Ashley woodstoves I used back in the 1990s.

Starting a fire (cold restart) . . . incidentally I did a step-by-step pictorial showing this process not too long ago if any of you want to do a search

1. I start out by leveling the ashes in the firebox to 1-2 inches in height, making sure the air holes in the front of the doghouse have plenty of space around them.
2. I add 2-3 medium sized splits at the base.
3. I add 2-3 smaller sized splits or rounds on top of the base wood.
4. I add some kindling.
5. Occasionally I might burn a small cardboard box . . . but often I just ball up (or make some bowties) out of newspaper.
6. I strike the match, keep the door ajar and wait . . . when the flue temp is high enough I'll shut the door and eventually when the wood starts to char, the stack temp is good and the stove top temp is good start "dialing" down the air control.
7. Once this first fire goes to large coals I'll typically do a reload . . . note: I often load earlier rather than later as I would once the fire has been established and burning for several hours.

Starting a fire (coals)

1. I start off by raking the ash and seeing if there are enough coals in the ash . . . if there are enough coals (you'll know -- before long the entire firebox is full of glowing coals and if you're barehanded your hand will be very, very hot just from the coals)
2. I throw in 4-6 pieces of kindling.
3. On top of this I'll add two or three smaller splits . . . or sometimes 1-2 pallet pieces.
4. On top of this I'll add 2-3 medium splits or rounds.
5. The air is open all the way, door is ajar . . . and like before once the flue temp is hot enough I'll close the door . . . and when the temps on the flue and stove are good and the wood is charring I'll start dialing down the air control.

Reloading the stove

1. I generally wait until the coals in the firebox are about the size of golfballs or plums.
2. Place 2-3 small splits on top of the coals.
3. On top of this place 2-3 medium to larger splits or rounds.