Hey Eco, that 3 big split layout on top of a row of regular stuff burned really well. It was dumb luck that was how I split it but worked out real well.
Diggin big split performance
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I like throwing some small ones on top of really hot coals then Some big ones on top gets it roaring in seconds.SolarAndWood said:
lukem said:
Gotcha, thought you were bustin my chops for burning so hot. The last number on my tstat is 3, then a dot for 3.5 and then a hard stop about where they would have printed a 4. When its cold and/or blowing, I am running at 3.25 with the blowers on. Any more than that and my perception is any extra heat is going up the stack instead of into the house. Even at 3.25, I think it is out of the sweet spot from an efficiency standpoint. But, in those conditions, I'm not nearly as interested in efficiency as output.
Real nice Solar - I've been leaving about 1/4 or my splits large, perhaps 7-8" square blocks - mostly red oak. They aren't needed for about 4 years, so I hope to see a firebox like yours in the future! I have some big splits of dry oak for this year, and I've filled the box on a few evenings - I agree with the comment you made on the heat pushed back later in the burn cycle. Seems like after 2-3 hours, the secondaries were in their glory and showing no sign of letting up. Cheers!
Seems like the only downside is dry time. The Beech, Locust and Maple seem to have done just fine with 3 years at 8x8. We'll see how the Oak does. With these results, I am thinking I will get an area set up for extended stacked drying for the big stuff and let everything else do the two years in the heap to the stove route. While I don't like the extra handling, I think it is probably worth it for that quality of fuel. Then, I just have to work on a source of bigger diameter logs that someone wants to drop off at my house on a fairly regular basis ;-)
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