east-west loading help

[ohiofire]

I am new to the wood stove world, having just installed a Country Hearth stove in the last few weeks. I've had some small break in fires, and am just now getting in to some bigger fires since it is getting cold at night. The firebox is wider than it is deep by quite a bit, so after I get some coals, I'd prefer to load EW. I rake hot coals toward the front, then put maybe 3 or 4 splits in EW. It seems like they never take off.

I have had fires the last two nights, have kept the house warm (around 70), but none of them have left hot coals for the morning, because I don't really "load up" the stove before bed. I'm just not confident that it will burn. Anyway, are there people out there that load up there stove EW exclusively, or am I going to have to cut more to fit NS? If there are people out there, suggestions? Pictures may also be helpful, as I tend to be visual .

Also, this forum has been awesome help, and I'm pretty sure without it I would have felt frustrated so far. Great tips on here!

 

[Dieselhead]

nothing wrong with ew thats what I do. My firebox is about 24" so i make my splits about that legnth. For startup i do 2 bottoms ew then 2 diagnol across them then if i have 2 smaller ones they go ew on the third row.

 

[BrotherBart]

The key to the E/W burn is your "starter piece" on top of the coals. After you put your splits in the stove lay a small split on top of the coals and use it to get a good burn going with the rest of the load. Don't start closing down the air until the other splits are burning and the stove is up to a reasonable temp to maintain a burn. Four hundred or so stove top temp.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Totally e/w burn here. One of the big keys to any burn is good firewood and know what you have.


You state you are not confident yet. That is normal. Do you have weekends off? If so, that is a good time to experiment a bit and learn your stove. Stock it up in the morning and then sit back and see what the stove does. Realize too that every load will not necessarily burn exactly like your last load. The wood can be different; the splits a different size, etc.

When stocking up for the night I like to put a large piece in bottom rear of the stove. In the front bottom one of the hotter faster burning woods and for us that means soft maple. From there, we just fill with splits (at present we are using mostly white ash) and let the fire get established (usually 10 minutes more or less) before turning the draft down. We usually turn it down to about half way for another 10 minutes and then to the final setting, which for us is .75 on a scale of 1-4.

 

[DanCorcoran]

I find that my E-W fires really take off and burn well if I first put down two small pieces of wood in a N-S direction, one at each side of the firebox. They don't even need to be splits, necessarily, just something to elevate the E-W pieces by an inch or two, so that air can flow from front to back beneath the E-W pieces. Give it a try...I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Having good coals underneath helps, but you can even do a cold start this way, if you put your firestarter in the center beneath the E-W splits.

 

[ohiofire]

The key to the E/W burn is your "starter piece" on top of the coals. After you put your splits in the stove lay a small split on top of the coals and use it to get a good burn going with the rest of the load. Don't start closing down the air until the other splits are burning and the stove is up to a reasonable temp to maintain a burn. Four hundred or so stove top temp.

So, do you move all of your coals, and spread them across the front; or, do you leave some coals spread out in the bottom to set your other pieces on? I might still be thinking of running a "normal" fire from all of my camping, instead of running a stove.

 

[soupy1957]

I'll just add that you want to make sure you are allowing airflow between your pieces, regardless. Stacking your wood (whichever direction) with gaps, rather than one on top of another with NO gaps, will help get the fire going and sustaining the fire.

-Soupy1957

 

[cptoneleg]

Every stove is alittle different I guess, I rake coals to front and put splits in backto front how many depends on how hot I want it. And lay one or more on the hot coals. The tighter I pack it the longer the Burn.

I do not leave any gaps, so as you can see you just need to figure out what works for you.

 

[cptoneleg]

Ohio-- It helps folks help you if you decribe stove, tools and other woodburning tools in your signature.

 

[mecreature]

I find that my E-W fires really take off and burn well if I first put down two small pieces of wood in a N-S direction, one at each side of the firebox. They don't even need to be splits, necessarily, just something to elevate the E-W pieces by an inch or two, so that air can flow from front to back beneath the E-W pieces. Give it a try...I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Having good coals underneath helps, but you can even do a cold start this way, if you put your firestarter in the center beneath the E-W splits.

I do this even on cold starts. works fine.

I can go total EW on restarts. I just put a part in the middle of coals. and stack on top.
Just that little part allows enough air to go front to back down the middle. Poof, up and running.

 

[Blue2ndaries]

I find that my E-W fires really take off and burn well if I first put down two small pieces of wood in a N-S direction, one at each side of the firebox. They don't even need to be splits, necessarily, just something to elevate the E-W pieces by an inch or two, so that air can flow from front to back beneath the E-W pieces. Give it a try...I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Having good coals underneath helps, but you can even do a cold start this way, if you put your firestarter in the center beneath the E-W splits.

I do this even on cold starts. works fine.

I can go total EW on restarts. I just put a part in the middle of coals. and stack on top.
Just that little part allows enough air to go front to back down the middle. Poof, up and running.

+1 I only load E-W. For reloads on hot coals I rake and part the coals down the middle, creating 2 piles on left and right, and place 2-3 splits on top depending on how hot I need to go. This allows the new splits to sit up an inch or two and the air to flow front to back underneath the new splits. I believe this has been called the "tunnel of love" in the forum. At night I will pack the stove tight, E-W, let it run for a bit, and then slide the air control down to 1/3 to 1/4 open (for my stove). I did this last night and got a 8.5hr burn.

 

[begreen]

I find that my E-W fires really take off and burn well if I first put down two small pieces of wood in a N-S direction, one at each side of the firebox. They don't even need to be splits, necessarily, just something to elevate the E-W pieces by an inch or two, so that air can flow from front to back beneath the E-W pieces. Give it a try...I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Having good coals underneath helps, but you can even do a cold start this way, if you put your firestarter in the center beneath the E-W splits.

+1 That's what I found worked best in the Castine, especially for partially seasoned wood.

 

[wrxtance]

+1 I only load E-W. For reloads on hot coals I rake and part the coals down the middle, creating 2 piles on left and right, and place 2-3 splits on top depending on how hot I need to go. This allows the new splits to sit up an inch or two and the air to flow front to back underneath the new splits. I believe this has been called the "tunnel of love" in the forum. At night I will pack the stove tight, E-W, let it run for a bit, and then slide the air control down to 1/3 to 1/4 open (for my stove). I did this last night and got a 8.5hr burn.

About the same here. I pull coals to the front, then blow a 4" wide trough right through the middle then spread these hot coals in the back of the firebox. This really helps letting air scoot under the front log so the back splits burn sooner and hotter. It also seems to help reduce the coal size since the air rushing through that trough really "erodes" the coals.

 

[babzog]

So, do you move all of your coals, and spread them across the front; or, do you leave some coals spread out in the bottom to set your other pieces on? I might still be thinking of running a "normal" fire from all of my camping, instead of running a stove.

I'm a bit anal, but this works for me. I move all the big and "useful" coals to one side, then rake/drag the remaining ash and small coals forward and to one side of the air inlet (which is at the front-center of my F2100). Move all the good coals to the now cleaned up side and rake forward all the ash/small coals from the other side. Next, I'll spread out the good coals around the back 2/3 or so of the firebox (depends how many coals I have) and make a "trench" of sorts from the air inlet to the back of the firebox. Splits go in either EW or NS, depending on my mood at the time and what size splits I have at hand. I prefer loading NS because it's so much easier to pack the firebox (vs trying to get the upper layer of splits wedged in above the lower layer, all while keeping things from moving around too much). A tight packing of logs in either orientation seems to make no difference to my burn times, so it's purely a matter of preference.

Open up the air and maybe crack the door till a few flames appear. Close door and let the fire build for 10-15 mins or so (till temp hits 500-700). Back air to (I'm guessing) 4/5 (it's only pulled out .5"). Sometimes I'll stagger the air reduction, sometimes not, depends how vigorously it's burning. Enjoy blast of heat while patting cat and go to bed.

During the day, I'll load fewer splits (usually only two at a time) and leave the air open further - maybe only halfway.

The next morning, I'll shovel out 2-3 scoops of ash and tiny embers from the front of the firebox. Adjust coals to a pile nr the back of the firebox (or, as was the case this am, just spread 'em as per a normal reload as I had lots of coals!), add a cedar kindling stick and/or a newspaper knot, depending how cold the coals are and a few smalls and watch it roar back to life.