How much wood in a Fireview???

[scotsman]

Now that the FV is in and operating and I've been properly chastised for my impatience, I need to know just how much, or to what level, I can load wood into this beastie! I read somewhere about not letting flame get to the combustor, but that is not quantifiable. Anybody got some guidelines/experience? Promise I won't ignore 'em!

Methinks I have a potentially effective combination in wood, but need your input(s): I have 60+ year old cedar and several types of dry hardwoods, mostly oak, from the pallet stringers. Anybody see any issues with loading the bottom with cedar, geting it going and then laying in a layer of oak on top? I'm guessing the hot burning cedar will get things up to cat temp faster and then the oak can take over prolonging the burn more than a load of straight cedar would. What do y'all think?

 

[gzecc]

Sounds like a great idea. Your cedar has been seasoning for 60 yrs. Is it some kind of building material?

 

[logger]

Is your oak split wood or processed wood? If its split wood, then I'd fill that bad boy up as close to the top as you can and open the air all the way. Let it crank and see how hot she gets, then cut the air back a little at a time when you reach your desired temp. Make sure you're using a stove thermometer. A new stove takes some experimenting and getting used to. If you're using factory wood of some sort, then I have no idea what to tell you. We split around here and Im not sure what the temp differences would be with that stuff. Best advice is keep fooling around to you learn what the stove likes and what fits your needs.

 

[scotsman]

Sounds like a great idea. Your cedar has been seasoning for 60 yrs. Is it some kind of building material?

Nope, it's what they used to use to keep 500 lb. bales of cotton off the ground (usually two to the bale) when outdoor storage was allowed. The Cotton Board has now banned outdoor storage, so now there are hundreds of thousands of tons of this dunnage sitting around unused. It has been sitting out in our very dry climate for 60 to 80 years, or more, just drying and drying and drying . . . It burns really well. So far, I've negotiated for two batches, which I've calculated at somewhere between 4000 and 4600 cords. There are several other batches available that I haven't even talked to them about. All this wood is no more than 24" long, 4-6" in diameter and only needs to be hauled and stacked . . . and burned, of course!

See "A few sticks of wood--" in the Wood Shed forum where there are photos. (I don't know how to provide the link, sorry!)

 

[scotsman]

Is your oak split wood or processed wood? If its split wood, then I'd fill that bad boy up as close to the top as you can and open the air all the way. Let it crank and see how hot she gets, then cut the air back a little at a time when you reach your desired temp. Make sure you're using a stove thermometer. A new stove takes some experimenting and getting used to. If you're using factory wood of some sort, then I have no idea what to tell you. We split around here and Im not sure what the temp differences would be with that stuff. Best advice is keep fooling around to you learn what the stove likes and what fits your needs.

This oak is 4 foot long 2 X 4 and 4 X 4s from the runners in wood pallets, so I guess you'd call it "processed". It's nice and dry and is definitely seasoned. Very dense wood! I got the stove up over 650 last night with a half load of cedar that I put in at 1700 yesterday. The stove was still at 300 this morning at 0500. The cedar burns hot, but faster. The oak has to burn slower than the cedar, it would seem.

 

[Slow1]

I'd run a bit careful at first just until you know how hot it will burn, but in general you can load up full then turn down the air all the way if necessary to regulate the burn.. The risk you run though is overheating the metal around the cat if it gets too much smoke feeding in - talk to Dennis (aka Backwoods Savage) about this issue as he has some really dry wood and has had this happen to him. I think you have him beat for dry wood though.

After you have completed your burn in fires (small ones to dry out the cement etc) per owners manual I'd go about 1/2 full, get it burning well and then engage cat and take air to about 1/2 or so and see what happens. if that goes well, then next burn I'd go 3/4 and so on...

 

['bert]

Terry, I think you need to be very careful here. The cedar sounds like it will burn like a match and the pallet wood (oak) is most likely kiln dried so you are dealing with wood that is all in the 10 % moisture range - perfect for over firing your stove big time. Do you have access to any normal cord wood? I think you need to mix some "normal" seasoned wood in with your other wood.

 

[fire_man]

I always thought the "Aurora Borealis" secondary flames came from burning the wood's volatile gases and volatile liquids. I would think 60 year old wood does not have much of these and would burn up quickly with no secondaries. But Texas Boy already proved his old wood burns a long time with great secondaries. The Resolute owner's manual says
"The best hardwood fuels include oak, maple, beech,
ash, and hickory that has been split, stacked, and airdried
outside under cover for at least one year. Avoid
burning cordwood that is over 2 years old as such fuel
can contribute to short burn times, backpuffing and
over-firing."
I don't know what to believe anymore. :ahhh:

 

[Slow1]

I always thought the "Aurora Borealis" secondary flames came from burning the wood's volatile gases and volatile liquids. I would think 60 year old wood does not have much of these and would burn up quickly with no secondaries. But Texas Boy already proved his old wood burns a long time with great secondaries. The Resolute owner's manual says
"The best hardwood fuels include oak, maple, beech,
ash, and hickory that has been split, stacked, and airdried
outside under cover for at least one year. Avoid
burning cordwood that is over 2 years old as such fuel
can contribute to short burn times, backpuffing and
over-firing."
I don't know what to believe anymore. :ahhh:

Just don't burn them in a Resolute - burn them in a Fireview and you will be fine....

 

[scotsman]

Terry, I think you need to be very careful here. The cedar sounds like it will burn like a match and the pallet wood (oak) is most likely kiln dried so you are dealing with wood that is all in the 10 % moisture range - perfect for over firing your stove big time. Do you have access to any normal cord wood? I think you need to mix some "normal" seasoned wood in with your other wood.

You are correct--the cedar burns like gasoline! Well, yes I have access to "normal" wood, but I'd have to BUY it, which is against my charter! Of all the wood I've secured, there probably isn't any that would register 10% moisture, probably more like 6%-8% at most. As I've mentioned, the cedar has been sitting out for more than 60 years. The oak, that I posted photos of in Wood Shed has been sitting outdoors, but under cover for more than 50, so, if anything, it is MORE dry than the cedar.

Speaking of which (overfiring), what does one do when one thinks one's stove is headed for 4000 degrees? The only thing I can think of is to cut the air completely off. That or install a Halon system in the stove! The manual does not really deal with that issue.

BTW, I did some readings with the office's heat meter last night. I took a reading on a spot inside the stove (with the loading door open) that was "red" hot and got a reading of 1350-1425 degrees. At that time, the flue pipe was just under 600, while the stove thermometer was reading 625. The top point on the front window was 550. The top above the plate over the combustor was 520. We use this device to find hotspots in burn sites that may not show flame. It uses a laser sighting beam to identify the reading spot. Very interesting to take readings around the stove and on it. It showed there was a 12 degree difference between the surface of the ceiling (@ 10') and the surface of the floor.

 

[scotsman]

I don't know what to believe anymore. :ahhh:

That makes two of us. This is all new to me, too, even though I've heated with wood for many years--but that was back in the "olden" days! I thought the older/drier the wood, the better, but then what do I know? I guess I'll keep burning what I've got until someone provides a compelling argument for me not to. :-S

 

[Todd]

I'd run a bit careful at first just until you know how hot it will burn, but in general you can load up full then turn down the air all the way if necessary to regulate the burn.. The risk you run though is overheating the metal around the cat if it gets too much smoke feeding in - talk to Dennis (aka Backwoods Savage) about this issue as he has some really dry wood and has had this happen to him. I think you have him beat for dry wood though.

After you have completed your burn in fires (small ones to dry out the cement etc) per owners manual I'd go about 1/2 full, get it burning well and then engage cat and take air to about 1/2 or so and see what happens. if that goes well, then next burn I'd go 3/4 and so on...

Ditto, what he said. With that super dry wood it's going to be easy to over fire with a full load. Take it in steps and watch your temps.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Terry, I do hope you have done the correct burn-in's on the stove.

Another word of caution: with your super dry wood I would be extremely careful lest you do overheat. Your idea of the cedar on the bottom and then oak should work nicely but as others have stated, go in stages. Don't fill full the first time and find out that you do get overheating. Better to start half full, then 3/4, etc.

Another word of caution: if you are starting with a cold stove, beware that you can actually heat up that stone too fast. We heat ours up quite fast compared to most but I would not want to go any faster. That stone should be heated a bit slow rather than fire it right up right away.

On overheating: If you do find that temperature getting to 700 degrees, bypass the cat and turn the draft completely off. But do not expect the flame to die down even with the draft closed! It simply will not happen. However, by bypassing the cat for just a few minutes, even up to 5 minutes or more, the stovetop temperature should begin to drop and it has been our experience that once it starts to drop we can then engage the cat again and it will cool back to 600-650. But even at that point, we leave the draft closed until the wood is down to coaling stage. Then we open the draft to burn down the coals.

We've had a couple of times that we've had to do this but now I can usually tell by looking at the fire how hot that thing is going to get. When it looks like it will get hot, I turn the draft off and let it go and all is well.

Good luck to you.

 

[scotsman]

The stove is cooled down now and I'm all better (I've snapped out of it! The aliens are gone!) I'll inspect it carefully and report, but I didn't hear anything unusual, just the sounds of things heating up, along with the sounds of the cedar popping. I'm pretty sure it's okay and I'll be better about managing it now.

Given that I've done what I've done, what should I do now? Thanks--

 

[Mesquite]

[quote
Given that I've done what I've done, what should I do now? Thanks--[/quote]

Given that the horse is out of the barn, I would quit worrying about that aspect and find that owners manual and read it slowly.