More or less air....

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bd911

New Member
Nov 10, 2010
47
Lowell, MA
Does hardwood require more or less air than softwood? Or vice versa? I have tried very few softwoods, but many, many, many hardwoods. My question to the forum is if you have burn a hardwood (or hardwood/softwood blend like lignetics green label) and you switch to a softwood (such as LG Granules or Vermont Wood Pellets) do you add or decrease air to achieve a similar flame height and relatively clean burnpot???? My EP stove runs perfect with ligs, stove chow, NEWP, with just a touch more air than the factory setting of 4 LBA. I set it at 5. But when changing to LG Granules I mess with the LBA up and down and see no significant difference. Meaning the flame goes up and down all the time, and pot is dirty much sooner than with hardwoods. It is quite possible I havent put the time and effort into finding a sweet spot like I did with the hardwood/ hardsoft blends. Any comments are appreciated!
 
I don't believe it is an issue of soft or hard, but more of an issue of density and size.
 
Czech said:
I don't believe it is an issue of soft or hard, but more of an issue of density and size.

You may be right. My Lignetics are very dense and somewhat longer than the LG Granules. The granules seem to snap in my fingers very easily and Ligs offer three times the resistance to breaking. I was just curious though if "physically" speaking with all things equal (density, size, moisture content) if softwood requires more or less air to yield the same heat.
 
Hardwood fiber versus softwood fiber is not all that different IMHO. I have burned so many brands and I found I can pretty much can set my stove up by the density and size of the pellet. Yes moisture will have some effect and may require a smidgen more air if they are slightly higher in moisture content. I do give the softwood's a smidgen more air but its minimal. Might be due to the sap content? I really don't know. But softwoods tend to burn with a bit more dark colored ash that sticks to the glass. If I don't give a little more air, I don't get the white talcum powder ash like the hardwoods. But this could also be just stove variance as they all seem to have a bit of a mind of there own.
 
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