Are my timings right?

[Molson]

I got a new stove last week, and with the knowledge I have gained here, tips from the installer and friends I have been doing the following, and want to know if its right, or what I can improve on. Here is a typical day:

715am, wake up (ugh) House is chilly. Stove top at 200. Rake coals to the front, load stove pretty much full leaving about 2 inches below the baffle/secondary tubes. Load a small split, or kindling on the front coals. Sit and wait for it all to catch, close air as I can until closed, go to work.

4:30pm, come home, stove top at 200, good coals. Rake forward, load 3-4 splits on for the evening heat.

10:00-10:30pm, lots of hot coals, stovetop 300-350, load full, like the morning load, wait to catch, close air, go to bed.

What concerns me is loading the cold wood on the large amount of hot coals at night, it doesn't take a long time to get going, and the temps peak around 800.

Thanks for any advice.
Jim

 

[ControlFreak]

What concerns me is loading the cold wood on the large amount of hot coals at night, it doesn't take a long time to get going, and the temps peak around 800.
Jim

Sounds like you have this figured out quite well.

I don't see anything wrong with loading cold wood on hot coals. To me, that's what I would prefer, since you spend less time waiting for it to take off, and there's less time when it's not running clean.

A peak temp of 800 sounds too hot to me, but then it really depends upon your stove. I don't want my stove getting above 600.

My rule of thumb: Close off the draft control as early as possible, but without hindering the secondary burn. Doing this, you'll find that there is a peak temperature where your stove likes to operate. Adjust your final position depending upon how deep the coal bed is in the morning. Too many coals, open it up a tiny bit. Nothing left, close it off more.

Dan

 

[BotetourtSteve]

Ditto word for word from ControlFreak. (including the 800 - whew)

 

[Molson]

Thanks guys, I'm glad I'm on the right track. This stove seems to like the high temps, its hard to keep it below 700-800 when the load gets going. It only climbs that high once the draft is closed down and the secondaries are cooking, nice white/blue flames. Once it peaks, it drops to 500-600 for the long run.

 

[Jimbob]

Thanks guys, I'm glad I'm on the right track. This stove seems to like the high temps, its hard to keep it below 700-800 when the load gets going. It only climbs that high once the draft is closed down and the secondaries are cooking, nice white/blue flames. Once it peaks, it drops to 500-600 for the long run.

That Osburn is a nice heavy stove, and will easily withstand the 800 degree temps. I think the owner's manual for some of the Osburn stoves say you can run it at 840 degrees.

....Taken from one of their owner's manuals:

CAUTION: DO NOT OVER FIRE THIS HEATER. Do not burn fuel in the stove at a rate higher than that
which will cause the ember bed level to exceed half the door opening height. If burning hot fires
regularly, purchase a stovetop thermometer, and do not exceed 840o F (450o C) as measured on the
Cook top. If the door handle of the stove becomes excessively hot to the touch, consider this to be
an indication of over firing. Over firing can result in a safety hazard and can permanently damage
the stove and chimney. This damage is not covered by the warranty.

 

[Molson]

awesome, thanks Jimbob. All my manual says is don't get the stove glowing red.

 

[gpcollen1]

To get a better all day burn, I add just a few splits in the morning when I first get up, let them catch and run the stove while I take a shower and get the kids up. Then I hit the stove again, like you do before bed, and it is running at 400 or so - nice and hot. I rake what is in there forward a bit and load her up. This gets the big load going quicker as the stove is good and hot already. I leave the house at 7 and do not get home til 6 - and have some nice coals when I get home - but the stove has cooled down to that 200 range. I do have a large stove. Sometimes the wifey surprises me and stokes it back up for me/us - then again, sometimes hse just dirties the glass.

 

[SlyFerret]

10:00-10:30pm, lots of hot coals, stovetop 300-350, load full, like the morning load, wait to catch, close air, go to bed. What concerns me is loading the cold wood on the large amount of hot coals at night, it doesn't take a long time to get going, and the temps peak around 800.

I had a similar case last weekend. It was the first weekend that our schedules had worked such that we could burn the stove from Friday night through Monday morning. I had the smoke alarm going off at 4:00am after reloading at 3:30 (I'm not loading quite as full so a midnight feeding was necessary). My stove was at 720 and the paint on the stove pipe was curing a little more and setting off the smoke detector.

When I asked around I was told that a temp spike like this is normal when you have a good thick bed of coals when you reload, and that to help reduce the spike, it was suggested that I wait a little bit longer on the reload to allow the coals to burn down a little bit more first.

I've been trying to let the stove cool down to under 300 before I reload.

My situation might be a little different though... my house is pretty well insulated and is turning out to be VERY easy to heat. I'm finding if I reload when the stove is over much over 300, I'm likely to have the stove room in the mid 90's and the bedrooms in the mid 80's.

-SF