I've been burning in my Heritage for about a month now. Overall, the stove performs really well. I've been burning mostly pine (9-10% moisture according to my meter). On colder nights I'll mix in some ash an elm. I'm saving my meager supply of oak for colder weather.
My only disappointment is the length of time I get out of each burn cycle. I'm reloading every 3-4 hours, burning 3 or 4 splits of pine. I reload a little before I need to, I know. When I reload, my stovetop temp is usually around 350-400 and I have large active coals. When reloading, I get good active flame and the load is charred after 5-15 minutes, depending how hot the coal bed is. Then I cut back the primary air. I've discovered I can actually cut my primary all the way back and still maintain a nice slow secondary burn. Burns are very clean - no chimney smoke and my glass is clean.
Now I know I can get longer cycles out of the stove, because I get 7 hour overnight burns with enough coals in the morning to easily get a load going. The reason I reload often is to keep the stove temperature up above 450. I've mentioned in other threads that my stove is a bit undersized for my space, and this reinforces that point. To keep the house above 70F, I have to keep the stove above 450.
As an experiment, I loaded the stove about 80% full of ash today at noon. It was about 35F here and overcast. We took the kids out for a hike and came home at 5. The stove top was still 300 and I had a great bed of coals, but I really would have like to have gotten another 1-2 hours out of a rather large load of good hardwood.
From what I've read, my burn cycles are quite a bit shorter than many of you other members. Are you guys getting high-heat burns that last much longer than this or are you just more patient, letting the cycle go longer before reloading?
Thanks,
-john
My only disappointment is the length of time I get out of each burn cycle. I'm reloading every 3-4 hours, burning 3 or 4 splits of pine. I reload a little before I need to, I know. When I reload, my stovetop temp is usually around 350-400 and I have large active coals. When reloading, I get good active flame and the load is charred after 5-15 minutes, depending how hot the coal bed is. Then I cut back the primary air. I've discovered I can actually cut my primary all the way back and still maintain a nice slow secondary burn. Burns are very clean - no chimney smoke and my glass is clean.
Now I know I can get longer cycles out of the stove, because I get 7 hour overnight burns with enough coals in the morning to easily get a load going. The reason I reload often is to keep the stove temperature up above 450. I've mentioned in other threads that my stove is a bit undersized for my space, and this reinforces that point. To keep the house above 70F, I have to keep the stove above 450.
As an experiment, I loaded the stove about 80% full of ash today at noon. It was about 35F here and overcast. We took the kids out for a hike and came home at 5. The stove top was still 300 and I had a great bed of coals, but I really would have like to have gotten another 1-2 hours out of a rather large load of good hardwood.
From what I've read, my burn cycles are quite a bit shorter than many of you other members. Are you guys getting high-heat burns that last much longer than this or are you just more patient, letting the cycle go longer before reloading?
Thanks,
-john