Ideal time to reload??

[Boozie]

I have a hot fire going (almost 1200 on the cat thermo) with lots of coals. But it is burning down. I am torn on whether to open the door and put more wood in to keep it going (and lose all that heat) or wait until it burns down to just coals. At what point is the best time to reload??

I know this probably sounds like a dumb question to some of you sage burners. :-/

 

[shawneyboy]

Best time to reload is when you need the heat. There is no pat answer. It is best to burn in cycles, burn down coals. If you keep doing reloads too often you will get a huge pile of coals.

 

[raiderfan]

I reload when the stove top temp reads 300*. That usually is still giving me enough heat at that point. On really cold days, I will reload at 350-375*. At any of these temps I'm burning coals.

 

[summit]

Best time to reload is when you need the heat. There is no pat answer. It is best to burn in cycles, burn down coals. If you keep doing reloads to often you will get a huge pile of coals.

+1

 

[xjcamaro89]

In my non EPA stove I wait to reload when there are no visable flames, just a pile of really glowing coals. Thats seems to be the point with my stove that the temp starts to dip. So if i get into that cycle I can keep consistant heat.

 

[ryanm527]

Best time to reload is when you need the heat. There is no pat answer. It is best to burn in cycles, burn down coals. If you keep doing reloads to often you will get a huge pile of coals.

That's interesting to know because I keep ending up with a huge pile of coals in the evenings before I turn in for the night. But the reason I keep adding wood is because the room gets cold otherwise.

 

[yooperdave]

when you squeeze the trigger and you hear a "click"---it's time to reload!

aw, i couldn't help it. seriously, if you are just loading to keep the fire going, just put the least amount in. like everyone else has stated, reload when you want the heat.

at this house, she (99 lbs.) used to reload every 2 to 3 hrs. i finally let her know that she doesn't have to do that just to keep the fire going. (used to be over 82-84f and would lay on the floor like a slug.) now the house is from 66-67f night time to 70-72f daytime. a lot more manageable. in defense of her, she did help out with the wood pile back then so i guess she was entitled to try to melt everyone.

 

[Wood Duck]

I reload when I am down to coals, or sometimes because my schedule calls for reloading. When I reload I usually alternate big loads with loads that involve piling up the coals and adding just a split or two, in order to burn down the coals. If I add big loads too often I end up with piles of coals. Piles of coals are OK during the day, and by adding a split or two on coals I can get the stove top to 450 or so for an hour or so, then add another split and after a load or two like this the coals are much reduced and I can add another big load. However I don't want to end up with a big pile of coals at the end of the evening because it reduces space for wood for a long burn (I wish I could say an overnight burn, but my stove won't burn overnight.

There are also times when I have to open up a 500 degree stove and add wood because it is almost bedtime, I have to leave, or I won't be able to reload for a while. I can't always work with the rhythm of the stove.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I have a hot fire going (almost 1200 on the cat thermo) with lots of coals. But it is burning down. I am torn on whether to open the door and put more wood in to keep it going (and lose all that heat) or wait until it burns down to just coals. At what point is the best time to reload??

I know this probably sounds like a dumb question to some of you sage burners. :-/

Well Barb, this probably sounds like a dumb answer to some. ;-)

We always wait until the stove is down to coals before reloading. Also, before the burn is down to all coals we will have turned the draft open full. This squeezes out some extra heat while starting to burn those coals down. When the temperature of the stove top gets down to 350-400 then it is time to reload....in cold weather. Next month that will be too soon to reload.

With the present cold weather we do have to add a split or two when down to all coals to help burn them down but we can usually maintain the temperature of 400 + so that is not bad. Sometimes if it gets really cold we will reload before the coals have burned down just so we can maintain the heat in the house. These periods of time are short lived though.

Main thing is, stay warm!

 

[szmaine]

Best time to reload is when you need the heat. There is no pat answer. It is best to burn in cycles, burn down coals. If you keep doing reloads to often you will get a huge pile of coals.

That's interesting to know because I keep ending up with a huge pile of coals in the evenings before I turn in for the night. But the reason I keep adding wood is because the room gets cold otherwise.

Yes, alot of folks have experienced this, this thread will help...

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/69602/

 

[bboulier]

Barb, Like you, I have an insert. I usually wait until I am down to some fairly well burning coals to replenish the wood. When I first start a fire, the amount of coals tends to be small, so I start adding fuel sooner than the second round when I have a healthier bed.

 

[Boozie]

From what I'm gathering from all your input is that I should hold off throwing a couple more logs on the fire until it has burned down a bit more; otherwise, I will be dealing with a lot of coals.

 

[jadm]

Funny you brought this topic up. I was just thinking about this very thing today when I was reloading my insert.

When I first started heating with wood I thought I had to add wood whenever the flames went out. I had not found this forum then so that is what I did. By mid-afternoon I had so many coals I had to empty some out in order to add more wood.

Since finding this forum and reading up on what a burn cycle is I now reload 1x a day. I build a fire in the morning when I get up and even on really cold days (last week we had temps. as low as -10°) that load will keep the house between 70° and 77° until about 6PM. My house faces south so I get help from the sun every afternoon around 3:00. I am home throughout the day so I rake coals up to the front of the firebox and slowly give it more air as the coals burn down. They produce a lot of heat. (I cringe to think of all the 'heat' I was throwing out when I first started burning...)

I generally have hot coals left at 6:00 which help get another fire going again that will last throughout the evening. I usually add some small twigs to the coals and a couple of small splits followed by larger splits and the flames are in full swing in no time at all and house temp. starts to climb again keeping us nice and warm.

Now I use a whole lot less wood. I burn what I do burn a lot more efficiently - only have to clean ashes out about 1x a week. An extra bonus - we stay warmer too.

Check out the threads that deal with burn cycles. It really does help to understand what is going on inside the firebox and it is interesting. I never would have figured it out on my own. I am so grateful for all the people who take the time to share their knowledge here. I love this forum and all that I have learned here!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

From what I'm gathering from all your input is that I should hold off throwing a couple more logs on the fire until it has burned down a bit more; otherwise, I will be dealing with a lot of coals.

You are right. One has to complete the burn and burning the coals is part of the cycle.

 

[szmaine]

From what I'm gathering from all your input is that I should hold off throwing a couple more logs on the fire until it has burned down a bit more; otherwise, I will be dealing with a lot of coals.

You are right. One has to complete the burn and burning the coals is part of the cycle.

But you can also burn down the coal and keep up the heat output a little more if you rake up the coals to knock of the ash, pull them to the front where most of the air is directed and put one smallish split on top - then burn it with more air than usual. This will simultaneously give you some more heat and help burn the coals down.
I have been doing it this way as I learned here and it really works very to keep the heat going better than just waiting for the coals turn burn down on their own.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Yes, you can rake the coals to the front (or wherever the air enters), but if you have a huge bed of coals then you have to wait on moving them until some gets burned down. As for placing a split on top of the coals, yes, we do that a lot during the coldest part of winter but if it is not that cold outside, we can usually just burn the coals down without doing anything special other than opening the draft full.

We usually open that draft to full open even before the burn gets down to all coals. Then there is too much in the stove to even think about opening the firebox door. But by opening the draft full, we get the heat while at the same time burning down the coals. Yes, after they have burned down a good ways, then we will rake the coals toward the front, the same as when we reload.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

Best time to reload is when you need the heat. There is no pat answer. It is best to burn in cycles, burn down coals. If you keep doing reloads to often you will get a huge pile of coals.

best answer so far. Last night I reloaded at 4am, stove was at 400, but outside temps were down to zero, and with my undersized stove, we push it a little hard when temps get that low... woke up to -1 outside, 66 inside. Reloaded at 8:15, some coal build up, but not bad. Raking and burning down coals will keep us warm until this evening probably since it's sunny and going into the mid 20's today. But by the weekend it will warm up and we won't reload but once a day, at 200 or so.

 

[logger]

Yep, best time is when you want more heat. Most people will say that the proper loading technique would be to do it in cycles, letting one load burn down to embers and then a reload. This is true, but if its colder out, you're going to go through more wood and load it more often to keep temps where you feel comfotable.

 

[firefighterjake]

Best time to reload is when you need the heat. There is no pat answer. It is best to burn in cycles, burn down coals. If you keep doing reloads to often you will get a huge pile of coals.

+1 whatever . . .

If you need the heat, reload sooner rather than later . . . otherwise wait until you're at the coaling stage . . . if heat is needed more frequent reloads will result in more coals . . . but there are ways to deal with this (i.e. once the house is up to temp, opening up the air and placing a single split on the coals).

 

[Wood Duck]

From what I'm gathering from all your input is that I should hold off throwing a couple more logs on the fire until it has burned down a bit more; otherwise, I will be dealing with a lot of coals.

What I do is pull those coals to the front and place a wide, flat split on top. The combination of split and coals keeps the stove hotter (about 400 to 450 on top) and reduces the amount of coals. The wide split seems to make the coals burn faster - or at least makes it obvious which coals have burnt because a gap appears beneath the split showing the change in the coal pile. If I just let the coals burn down by themselves I don't get as much heat. I am not sure which method results in faster burning of the coals, but by adding a split or two I get good heat, without the split the stove gets too cool.

 

[BrotherBart]

I do it the same way Wood Duck does.

Of course if you have a Blaze King the time to reload is Thursday. ;-)