How much wood ?

[carlo]

I have a Hampton 300 wood burning stove. I've been putting in two splits at a time sometimes only one. The splits are normal size .... 16" pieces .... 1/4 splits.

I was at a friends house and he loaded up his stove and it really threw off the heat. Am I underloading putting in one split sometimes two ? Should I have 3 or 4 splits cooking ?

 

[karl]

EPA stoves burn better when you load them up, let them get burning, and then damper them down.

 

[begreen]

If you want heat, you need to feed the beast. For long burn times, many pack as much wood as they can safely fit in the firebox. Burning the stove too cool can also dirty up the flue (and front glass). Try 3-4 splits and I think you will see a nice improvement in heat output and burn times.

 

[jadm]

Important to remember when you do load your stove up - do not leave primary air wide open. More fuel = more heat. (I have an insert so I can only adjust the primary air. You probably have a damper too and I have no clue what to do with that control.)

Let wood char and establish a good flame that won't die down when air is cut. You will have to figure out at what temp. your stove is ready as it varies from stove to stove.

I usually cut my air back by 4ths until I have it as low as it will go and still maintain a flame and secondary burn. (After each adjustment I wait about 5 minutes to see how it is doing before cutting back more.)

Temps. in stove will rise when you cut air back since you aren't loosing the heat up your chimney.

It is great to have a flaming fire that will burn hot (500*-600*) for hours at a time.

Have fun and enjoy the heat.


:coolsmile:

 

[stejus]

Here's how I load my HI300.. no problem throwing heat. Do you have a blockoff plate or insulation in your damper area?

 

[Highbeam]

Great pic stejus. I too load her up to burn. Never less than three at a time so that they have friends.

 

[carlo]

Wow .... I guess I really underload the stove. One other question ...... I seem to only have a primary air control. I don't have a damper adjustment or if I do I don't know where it is and didn't read about it in the instructions. Anybody know about this for the hampton 300 ?

I guess I should load the stove about 3/4 full with fuel to maximize the beasts output.

I don't know what a block off plate is, nor do I know if I have insulation in the damper area.

 

[fossil]

carlo, do you have the H300 freestanding woodstove, or the HI300 woodburning fireplace insert? Rick

EDIT: And whichever it is, how is it installed? Can you post pics?

 

[carlo]

H300 freestanding wood burning stove is what I have. I don't know how to post pictures. It was installed by professionals. I have triple insulated stainless pipe connected to flue that runs about 4' inside and then goes outside where I have a run of about 15' of double insulated stainless running up the side of the house to the roof.

 

[fossil]

Don't worry about the comments concerning block-off plate/insulation...applies only to the insert installations. Rick

EDIT: Unless it's a "hearth stove" installation...sitting in front of or partially into an existing fireplace and vented into the existing fireplace flue...then the block-off plate/insulation question comes right back into play.

 

[begreen]

Do you have a thermometer on the stove top? It will help you see how the stove is performing. I recommend picking one up it you don't have one.