Am I doing something wrong??? Burn Time...

[claybe]

I have seen a lot of pictures of peoples stoves stacked to the gills and people saying they are getting 10 hour burn times, etc. I have an Avalon Zero Clearance Insert. I start the fire and get her up to around 600 degrees, then I put in a couple of splits every hour or so. The stove stays at 500 to 600 degrees and keeps the house at 75 to 78. But when I go to bed I do not wake up every hour to load it up again. I am worried that if I stuff the thing for an overnight burn that it would over fire. Am I missing something or doing something wrong? Can I fill her up or should I just stick to my couple splits per hour routine???

 

[semipro]

How big (cross section) are the splits you're using?
You could try larger ones, preferably of a harder denser wood for overnight burns.

 

[weatherguy]

I would practice loading ity up to the gills in the day and see how it acts so your mind will be at ease when you go to bed. Most people I know load the stove full before bed.

 

[webby3650]

I load my Lopi insert all the way up! I let the wood get a decent char on it, then I close the air 3/4 of the way off. It burns this way for hours. You aren't gonna see big burn times if you are opening it every hour, nor is as efficient with only a piece or two. Load the thing up e/w, from back to front and you will be amazed at the difference!

 

[ironworker]

Are you using your draft control, if so just stuff it let it get hot and shut the air down, the owners manual should instruct you on how to overnite if not you can try wood heat.org, it is very instructional.

 

[Hogwildz]

I load my Lopi insert all the way up! I let the wood get a decent char on it, then I close the air 3/4 of the way off. It burns this way for hours. You aren't gonna see big burn times if you are opening it every hour, nor is as efficient with only a piece or two. Load the thing up e/w, from back to front and you will be amazed at the difference!

I think you meant East?West = side to side?

 

[Dieselhead]

more you can turn down the air without the fire going out the longer the load will last

 

[BrotherBart]

Sounds like that last couple of splits for the night are going on top of a mostly burned pile of coals. Burn the stove down to coals and do the night load with fresh wood on coals in a stove that is down to around 300 degrees. Then level out the burn over the next hour before going to bed.

And as advised above, practice it in the daytime so you know how the load and the stove react. Or you may end up staying up all night the first time.

 

[pen]

I can't tell from the company brochures if their inserts come standard with a blower or not.

With that said, does yours have a blower? Are you using it at all? If you do have one, is it automatic or are you running it on low, high, varies?

As far as the air control goes, how far open or closed are you keeping it w/ the stove top (and / or possible blower operation) that you are seeing?

pen

 

[Lighting Up]

I can tell you what I do because I think I have the same insert. Hate to say it but DRY wood is the key (2 year split) with these small stoves. Ran out of wood thinking I had enough last year. The stove will burn the so called seasoned wood but you have to adjust more air and you will burn more wood.

That being said...Like you, I put in 2-3 small splits on top of a good bed of hot coals. Once it burns for about 20 min and the wood is charred I shut the air down almost closed. When you do that you will see the tubes fire up on top (second Burn). Sometimes I will leave it open just a crack, I stopped watching that temp gauge and watch the fire as my gauge.

If your not doing this it will take a little getting use to it because it looks like the fire is going out. But that's your second burn lazy flames. It's a different looking fire IMHO, I use the glass as a guage if it starts to get dirty I open the air a crack. When you do this those logs will last hours and your stove temps should be 400-500. Like others have said do it when your up and you will find the right spot on your stove to make the wood last.

You won't get 10 hour burns with that little stove. The most I got was 7-8, meaning I had coals, small but hot ones. Good Luck hope this helps you.
MD

 

[claybe]

Thanks for the input. I have a blower but don't use it (for some reason I find that it burns faster when I use the blower???). I use the air control a lot. I open it about 1/4 of the way when I put new logs on to get the fire started (on hot coals), once it is going I put it to only a hair open and that seems to prolong the burn. I guess my initial thought was if you put more wood in, the hotter it will get??? Am I wrong???

 

[semipro]

I think I'm giving up on "bumping" posts.
Its seems every time I do it with the intent of getting others to speak up my post gets ignored.
Or, maybe that's not the reason it gets ignored Oh well.
Cheers!

 

[trailrated]

Keep in mind that everyone's definition of burn time may be different. You may be able to squeeze a 7-8 burn time by having hot enough coals to restart with no effort, but heat output may not be ideal to keep house at 75 all night long with air shut all the way down. I define burn time as how long I can get decent heat from my stove per load.

 

[claybe]

I agree. I just want to be able to make it through the night without the furnace kicking on. Thats how i am defining burn time!

 

[claybe]

Oh, and yes, I love my secondary! My wife even sees it too!

 

[dafattkidd]

It's usually recommended to burn in cycles. Load the stove up, and let it burn down. Then reload a full load and so on. If your house is that hot you may have better results with waiting a little longer between reloads.

Here's a thread about burning in small fireboxes that I found really helpful when I had a smaller firebox. https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/63883/

Hope that helps.

 

[aansorge]

I bet you end up scooping out a lot of coals, claybe. It sounds as though you are getting a lot of heat but are probably using a lot of wood and worse yet, having to load it all the time (and losing sleep because of it).

Load her all the way up, get it good and hot, close down the air as much as possible (with good wood you should be able to shut it all the way down), let it burn for 2 to 4 hours, then open the air up all the way and let the coals burn down for another 2 hours, reload and do it again. At night forget the opening up of the air for the final two hours. Just get a good nights sleep and load her up in the morning.

Using this method, you should get almost as much heat with much less work and way more sleep. Sure the furnace may need to kick on here and there, but that won't cost you much and you won't get burned out on burning wood.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Thanks for the input. I have a blower but don't use it (for some reason I find that it burns faster when I use the blower???). I use the air control a lot. I open it about 1/4 of the way when I put new logs on to get the fire started (on hot coals), once it is going I put it to only a hair open and that seems to prolong the burn. I guess my initial thought was if you put more wood in, the hotter it will get??? Am I wrong???

Claybe, the standard way to do a reload is to open the draft to full open. Do this about a minute before you open the firebox door. The reason for doing it a bit before opening the door is to get a good draft going up the chimney which will ensure you don't get a face full of smoke or any smoke leakage out the firebox door. Load that thing! Leave the draft full open until the wood gets a bit charred and then start closing the draft. Most folks will first close the draft to about 1/2 or maybe 1/4 open and then after maybe 10 minutes drop that draft to where you normally run it.

If you put more wood in, will it get hotter? Maybe but most times it will reach only a certain temperature and that is as high as it goes. The nice part is with a full firebox the temperature will stay at the peak for a longer period of time. For example, I've kept track many times with the firebox 1/2 full, 3/4 full and then full. The peak temperature is almost always within 20-30 degrees but the temperature stays there for a while with 3/4 or a full firebox. With only a half, it does not take long before the temperature starts dropping, albeit slowly. I hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I think I'm giving up on "bumping" posts.
Its seems every time I do it with the intent of getting others to speak up my post gets ignored.
Or, maybe that's not the reason it gets ignored Oh well.
Cheers!

Think nothing of it. It happens quite often to many. Perhaps you should check your deodorant? :lol:

 

[webby3650]

I load my Lopi insert all the way up! I let the wood get a decent char on it, then I close the air 3/4 of the way off. It burns this way for hours. You aren't gonna see big burn times if you are opening it every hour, nor is as efficient with only a piece or two. Load the thing up e/w, from back to front and you will be amazed at the difference!

I think you meant East?West = side to side?

I meant for the OP to load it E/W, and from back to front. Meaning stack it full, starting in the back, not just throw a few pieces in.