Most important load

[adrpga498]

WE all agree that an overnight burn is important. Although the load prior to the overnight is very important and I believe most important. Here are my reasons. 1. Load it too earily, then I have to reload a mini load to take me to around 11pm. 2nd. issue, Load too late then up waitng to set the "over night" load. 3rd. issue ( happens to me too often) Snooze on the couch prior to the "over night " load. Same procedure needed as #1. Anyhow, wondering what your most important load is. Plz keep the 3 stick 24 hr. burns to your selves , we know who you are. TY, & Happy Thanksgiving to all.

 

[basswidow]

lately, I have been suffering from alittle jet lag from traveling and I've been zonking out at 8pm. Four logs packed in and set for the night and I still get great results (warm all night and coals in the am). Used to set the last load at 10pm. This was good to discover - so I can get to sleep earlier if I want to. Finally getting some cooler temps. I've barely made a scratch into my 9 cords. Looks like I'll have some hold over wood for next year!

Happy turkey day to all.

 

[schortie]

I haven't really thought of it that way, but now that you say it, I agree. Getting the right amount of coals at the right time is not always easy to gauge. Thankfully, our present stove - F600 isn't as picky about a huge coal bed as our Defiant was. Lately, we haven't been needing to burn during the day so I start a small load when I get home from work at 4:30 or 5:00. This has been giving me enough coals to start the overnight load easily at about 10pm.

When I do have too few coals to really get the overnighter going easily, I just add some of kindling or smaller splits on the bottom. On top of a few coals, this seems to do the trick.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Perhaps it is because we've burned wood for so long but we rarely think in those terms. Usually we do find ourselves needing to add some wood late in the afternoon and by habit we look to see how long before we plan on going to bed and use that for determining how much wood to put in then. But as far as the most important, I still say the last load of the day is the most important, that is, the overnight load.

Even more important is choosing the right wood to put into the stove for that overnight burn. That means the right combination of wood plus the right sizes in order to load the stove with enough wood for that burn.

 

[Slow1]

I'm not sure I'd classify one load as 'most important' but perhaps there are some that are easier to schedule. This time of year with my stove it is really not all that hard as I have excess capacity in the stove - I am not really packing it totally full yet and the house has not been cold due to the stove going cold.

Now when it gets to being really cold out - say in January, the fun will begin. Last year I was packing two loads each day that would have to burn much like an overnight burn - one when I was at work and the other at night. This would then leave two smaller period of time - the waking until I leave for work (~3.5 hrs) and the home from work to bedtime (~4.5hrs). Those small loads were the tough ones for me as I wanted to heat up the stove/room as much as possible yet not have too much in the stove for the max load for the long-haul period to follow.

This year the wife is comfortable feeding the stove and will be home almost every day so I'll only have to worry about the overnight load - will be interesting to see how it goes. I suspect the challenge may be to keep her from feeding too frequently and building up a massive coal bed that I have to burn down before the overnight load goes in.

 

[SlyFerret]

At this point, I'm still only burning one load per day.

The house has been in the low 60's when we get home from work lately. We'll eat dinner, and then fire up the stove around 8:00pm to get us through the night.

I can't wait until the weather cools off a little bit more and I can keep this thing going instead of doing cold starts once a day.

I guess right now, that one load is the most important!

-MG

 

[BrotherBart]

I think me and Slyferret are burning the same way right now. I quit worrying about the art of the coal bed when I discovered these little cedar hockey pucks. I can now just wait until nine or ten o'clock at night, load'er up and fire off a half a Super Cedar under the middle of the load and let it play like it is a coal bed.

The night load and the morning one are the most important here. And require the most decision making relative to expected low and high temps.

 

[SlyFerret]

Those Super Cedar fire starters are the best things ever!

I break mine into quarters and use a quarter of one each time I start the stove cold. No newspaper, no kindling... just load up the splits, tuck in a hunk of Super Cedar, and let it do its thing! It works great if you've got good dry wood.

This is the 3rd season that I've had my stove now, and I've noticed that each year so far, I've gotten better at running the stove. So far each subsequent year, I've managed to keep the house temperature a little more consistent and comfortable, and because of that, I've burned less wood. Last year, I used less than 3 cords of wood, and about 60 gallons of propane for the whole winter.

The first season, I always wanted to watch the fire... as time has gone on, I'm getting into the mindset that the stove is for heat more than atmosphere. Keeping a bright dancing fire going all the time will produce more heat than you really need... which in turn ends up being a waste of wood.

-SF

 

[BrotherBart]

The first season, I always wanted to watch the fire... as time has gone on, I'm getting into the mindset that the stove is for heat more than atmosphere. Keeping a bright dancing fire going all the time will produce more heat than you really need... which in turn ends up being a waste of wood.

Da Ferret said it all right there.

 

[North of 60]

The first season, I always wanted to watch the fire... as time has gone on, I'm getting into the mindset that the stove is for heat more than atmosphere. Keeping a bright dancing fire going all the time will produce more heat than you really need... which in turn ends up being a waste of wood.

Da Ferret said it all right there.

Ahhh Bart, we agree on somthing again.
Back to old times. :lol:
Cheers