Fireview veterans—please describe your typical burn cycles

[dreezon]

So, I've been futzing around, experimenting with different approaches with my fireview, and I'd really like to know from those of you who've had the fireview for a long time, what does your typical 24-hour burn cycle look like? To simplify things a little, let's say the daytime temperatures are in the mid to upper 20s and the lows are around 20º F.

How often do you load and at what times?
How full do you load it?
Where do you set the air control when you first close the door?
Do you drop it from that setting to one final setting until you reload or do you step down at all?
What is your standard air control setting at the time you walk away and leave it... when you're home, when you're gone, when you're in bed for the night?
What are your stove top temps at the various stages (upon reload, at peak, in the last half of the burn)?
Do you always go by Woodstock's 10-15 minute recommendation for engaging the cat?
Do you ever add just a log or two to try and keep the output at a certain temp, or to stretch a load until just before you go to bed?
When do you clean out the ashes and how? (Any tricks for cleaning out ashes without losing too many coals.

If you would, just walk us through a typical 24-hour period, perhaps in bullet points so it's easier to follow.

 

[Todd]

So, I've been futzing around, experimenting with different approaches with my fireview, and I'd really like to know from those of you who've had the fireview for a long time, what does your typical 24-hour burn cycle look like? To simplify things a little, let's say the daytime temperatures are in the mid to upper 20s and the lows are around 20º F.

How often do you load and at what times? 3 times per day

How full do you load it? Full as possible, usually 4-5 splits depending on size

Where do you set the air control when you first close the door? #1 or a smidgen more for Locust

Do you drop it from that setting to one final setting until you reload or do you step down at all? After 15 minutes I'll drop it down to .75

What is your standard air control setting at the time you walk away and leave it... when you're home, when you're gone, when you're in bed for the night? .75

What are your stove top temps at the various stages (upon reload, at peak, in the last half of the burn)? Reload 250-300, peak 550-650

Do you always go by Woodstock's 10-15 minute recommendation for engaging the cat? Yes

Do you ever add just a log or two to try and keep the output at a certain temp, or to stretch a load until just before you go to bed? No, always full loads

When do you clean out the ashes and how? (Any tricks for cleaning out ashes without losing too many coals. About every 3 or 4 days I rake the coals to one side and scoop the ash out leaving about 1/2". Get the ash bucket from WS, it's great.

If you would, just walk us through a typical 24-hour period, perhaps in bullet points so it's easier to follow.

 

[dreezon]

Thanks for the thorough response, Todd. If I were to follow this routine, I think I would feel better (more sane) and look less ridiculous.

One additional question. Do you follow the same routine when the temps are in the 40s? How about if they're around 0?

I'd really appreciate hearing from some of you other Fireview users too. Is Todd's routine about the same as yours?

 

[Todd]

When the temps are in the 30-40's I usually go with a 12 hour reload schedule and burn at .5, this gives me a longer lasting coal bed and less heat. When it gets really cold out like below zero I try to stick to the 3-8's but sometimes it's not good enough for the cold blooded wife and daughter so I'll either burn the upstairs fireplace or modify the 3 times per day to 2 hot fires during the day and one long slow burn at night.

 

[fire_man]

So, I've been futzing around, experimenting with different approaches with my fireview, and I'd really like to know from those of you who've had the fireview for a long time, what does your typical 24-hour burn cycle look like? To simplify things a little, let's say the daytime temperatures are in the mid to upper 20s and the lows are around 20º F.

How often do you load and at what times? 8pm (full load), 4am (1/2 load),8am (full load),3pm (1/2 load)
How full do you load it? full loads are stuffed to the top
Where do you set the air control when you first close the door? still experimenting - used to be .5, now trying .75 and 1
Do you drop it from that setting to one final setting until you reload or do you step down at all? I only stepdown when I burn Lucust and its from 1 to .5.
What is your standard air control setting at the time you walk away and leave it... when you're home, when you're gone, when you're in bed for the night? Home and want more heat = 1.0, gone = .75, bed = was .5 now trying .75 to burn to coals quicker- if I wake up in the middle of the night sometimes I open it up to 1.0 and it really helps
What are your stove top temps at the various stages (upon reload, at peak, in the last half of the burn)? Reload 200-250, peak = 700 (rare), last half of burn = 350-400
Do you always go by Woodstock's 10-15 minute recommendation for engaging the cat? Yes, sometimes more
Do you ever add just a log or two to try and keep the output at a certain temp, or to stretch a load until just before you go to bed? Absolutely yes. But its usually a minimum of 3 small splits - used to stretch the load till bedtime.
When do you clean out the ashes and how? (Any tricks for cleaning out ashes without losing too many coals. I am trying something new - rake coals to the front and leave ashes in back - remove from stove some of the ashes from back, spread a few hot coals over entire surface but keep most in the front so they burn off quicker.
If you would, just walk us through a typical 24-hour period, perhaps in bullet points so it's easier to follow.

 

[dreezon]

So, I've been futzing around, experimenting with different approaches with my fireview, and I'd really like to know from those of you who've had the fireview for a long time, what does your typical 24-hour burn cycle look like? To simplify things a little, let's say the daytime temperatures are in the mid to upper 20s and the lows are around 20º F.

How often do you load and at what times? 8pm (full load), 4am (1/2 load),8am (full load),3pm (1/2 load)
How full do you load it? full loads are stuffed to the top
Where do you set the air control when you first close the door? still experimenting - used to be .5, now trying .75 and 1
Do you drop it from that setting to one final setting until you reload or do you step down at all? I only stepdown when I burn Lucust and its from 1 to .5.
What is your standard air control setting at the time you walk away and leave it... when you're home, when you're gone, when you're in bed for the night? Home and want more heat = 1.0, gone = .75, bed = was .5 now trying .75 to burn to coals quicker- if I wake up in the middle of the night sometimes I open it up to 1.0 and it really helps
What are your stove top temps at the various stages (upon reload, at peak, in the last half of the burn)? Reload 200-250, peak = 700 (rare), last half of burn = 350-400
Do you always go by Woodstock's 10-15 minute recommendation for engaging the cat? Yes, sometimes more
Do you ever add just a log or two to try and keep the output at a certain temp, or to stretch a load until just before you go to bed? Absolutely yes. But its usually a minimum of 3 small splits - used to stretch the load till bedtime.
When do you clean out the ashes and how? (Any tricks for cleaning out ashes without losing too many coals. I am trying something new - rake coals to the front and leave ashes in back - remove from stove some of the ashes from back, spread a few hot coals over entire surface but keep most in the front so they burn off quicker.
If you would, just walk us through a typical 24-hour period, perhaps in bullet points so it's easier to follow.

Hmm... interesting reload schedule. Are you getting up at 4 pm just to feed the stove or is that when you wake up in the morning? And also, what is the purpose of the half loads at the other times?

Another question for you guys and anyone else who responds... about how much would do you go through in burning season? I noticed you both mentioned black locust, which I have a lot of. What else are you burning?

 

[fire_man]

So, I've been futzing around, experimenting with different approaches with my fireview, and I'd really like to know from those of you who've had the fireview for a long time, what does your typical 24-hour burn cycle look like? To simplify things a little, let's say the daytime temperatures are in the mid to upper 20s and the lows are around 20º F.

How often do you load and at what times? 8pm (full load), 4am (1/2 load),8am (full load),3pm (1/2 load)
How full do you load it? full loads are stuffed to the top
Where do you set the air control when you first close the door? still experimenting - used to be .5, now trying .75 and 1
Do you drop it from that setting to one final setting until you reload or do you step down at all? I only stepdown when I burn Lucust and its from 1 to .5.
What is your standard air control setting at the time you walk away and leave it... when you're home, when you're gone, when you're in bed for the night? Home and want more heat = 1.0, gone = .75, bed = was .5 now trying .75 to burn to coals quicker- if I wake up in the middle of the night sometimes I open it up to 1.0 and it really helps
What are your stove top temps at the various stages (upon reload, at peak, in the last half of the burn)? Reload 200-250, peak = 700 (rare), last half of burn = 350-400
Do you always go by Woodstock's 10-15 minute recommendation for engaging the cat? Yes, sometimes more
Do you ever add just a log or two to try and keep the output at a certain temp, or to stretch a load until just before you go to bed? Absolutely yes. But its usually a minimum of 3 small splits - used to stretch the load till bedtime.
When do you clean out the ashes and how? (Any tricks for cleaning out ashes without losing too many coals. I am trying something new - rake coals to the front and leave ashes in back - remove from stove some of the ashes from back, spread a few hot coals over entire surface but keep most in the front so they burn off quicker.
If you would, just walk us through a typical 24-hour period, perhaps in bullet points so it's easier to follow.

Hmm... interesting reload schedule. Are you getting up at 4 pm just to feed the stove or is that when you wake up in the morning? And also, what is the purpose of the half loads at the other times?

Another question for you guys and anyone else who responds... about how much would do you go through in burning season? I noticed you both mentioned black locust, which I have a lot of. What else are you burning?

My normal schedule is to be at work by 5am (painful ). The purpose of the half loads is to stretch the burn cycles. If I fully loaded it at 4am the fire would be out by noon (or at least the stovetop temperature would be ver low) and nobody is around to reload until 3pm. so I load 1/2 full at 4am, its burned down by 8am for my wife to fully load and then she's gone. This lasts until 3 or 4 pm. I have to now stretch this until the 8pm bedtime reload so its another 1/2 load. Weekends are easier - its more of an 8 hr schedule of roughly 3 full loads. The trick is to figure it out so that the previous load has enough time to burn down to get ready for the next filling - but you want to put as much in as possible at each load to get max heat output. I think part of my problem is the house is big and drafty, a little too big for the stove. If it could go 10 hrs between reloads another schedule might work better. I am burning mostly birch and beech, which is not nearly as good as oak and locust. Locust burns long but its hard to get started.

 

[Slow1]

Great thread - one other ask for those responding if I may add to the list? How long have you been burning the Fireview and/or this schedule.

Thanks.

 

[dreezon]

Great thread - one other ask for those responding if I may add to the list? How long have you been burning the Fireview and/or this schedule.

Thanks.

Yeah, you get bits and pieces of this information here and there, but I thought it would be great to have the full rundown from several experienced fireview owners all in one place. I really hope we can get a few more to respond.

I have been trying the 8 hour cycles with full loads, and it was working really well in moderate temps, but in the extreme cold and wind we've been seeing, I find I want to add a little wood to boost the output toward the end of the hours. I didn't this afternoon, and my furnace ended up kicking on. The wind is just sucking the heat right out of the house. It's a pretty big (2000 square feet +) old pre-insulation-era house.

 

[dreezon]

Oh, another bit of pertinent information that would be nice to have is the size, layout and insulation level of the house. That might well affect the way a person burns.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

So, I've been futzing around, experimenting with different approaches with my fireview, and I'd really like to know from those of you who've had the fireview for a long time, what does your typical 24-hour burn cycle look like? To simplify things a little, let's say the daytime temperatures are in the mid to upper 20s and the lows are around 20º F.

How often do you load and at what times?

When temperatures are as stated above, we usually only put in 2-3 splits during the daytime and probably load twice during the day. Fill the stove before going to bed plus a small reload whenever we get up.

How full do you load it?

For nights, load to about 3" or more from the top.

Where do you set the air control when you first close the door?

Open full.

Do you drop it from that setting to one final setting until you reload or do you step down at all?

We usually step down. Most times are at 2 before engaging the cat. Once the cat is engaged, usually to 1 or less, depending on what fuel is loaded.

What is your standard air control setting at the time you walk away and leave it...

From .25 to .5

when you're home, when you're gone, when you're in bed for the night?

As above.

What are your stove top temps at the various stages (upon reload, at peak, in the last half of the burn)?

That depends upon the weather. Assuming winter, reload around 300, peak around 650 which gradually cools down to the 300.

Do you always go by Woodstock's 10-15 minute recommendation for engaging the cat?

No. Sometimes we go longer. Never shorter.

Do you ever add just a log or two to try and keep the output at a certain temp, or to stretch a load until just before you go to bed?

Yes, but rare.


When do you clean out the ashes and how? (Any tricks for cleaning out ashes without losing too many coals.

During winter usually about every 4th day. Less at other times. No tricks. Let coals burn down pretty good, move coals to front or back, scoop out the ashes. Move coals opposite direction and scoop out more ash. Handle gently! Reload stove.

If you would, just walk us through a typical 24-hour period, perhaps in bullet points so it's easier to follow.

Our weather is usually so varied that I don't know what is typical! However, I'll try. Get up in morning, open draft full, set bypass. Rake through ashes. Move coals to front. Place one or two soft maple splits in front of firebox and ash, elm, cherry or similar in rear. Leave draft full until fire gets going good then turn down to 2. After 10 minutes or longer if needed, engage cat, turn draft to 1. Usually within 10 minutes the draft gets cut to .25 or .5

Usually put in 2 or 3 really small splits around noon. Do the same late afternoon if needed to get through until full night load. Then load full before going to bed leaving draft set at .25.

This is in a drafty old house but we stay warm.

 

[Todd]

Great thread - one other ask for those responding if I may add to the list? How long have you been burning the Fireview and/or this schedule.

Thanks.

Yeah, you get bits and pieces of this information here and there, but I thought it would be great to have the full rundown from several experienced fireview owners all in one place. I really hope we can get a few more to respond.

I have been trying the 8 hour cycles with full loads, and it was working really well in moderate temps, but in the extreme cold and wind we've been seeing, I find I want to add a little wood to boost the output toward the end of the hours. I didn't this afternoon, and my furnace ended up kicking on. The wind is just sucking the heat right out of the house. It's a pretty big (2000 square feet +) old pre-insulation-era house.

A cold wind can be a big problem with heat loss. It could be calm and -20 outside and the stove has no problem keeping the house above 70, but if I have a strong wind with temps in the single digits I find I need to burn hotter to keep the house up to temp.

Dreezon,
Have you looked into 3M plastic for your windows til you buy replacements? I have found in the past it really helps. How's your attic insulation? This can make a huge difference and is a cheap diy project.

 

[greenhat]

great thread!! saved me a lot of time typing questions. thanks for the contribution.