Pat on the back then a kick in the butt

[jcapler]

Once in a while I sit in the recliner and give myself a big pat on the back. "You did it, she (the stove) is running like a champ." Get a nice secondary burn with the air shut down burns like a champ and runs around 600 (stove top). Feels like I have conquered the art of heating the house. Then the next day .... kicked right in the butt. Nothing I can do will replicate the night before when I felt like I won and the house is perfectly balanced.

I know there are so many variables that go into burning and I don't expect to be feeling that "pat on the back" feeling after being a second year wood burner. It is just nice to be so excited about that feeling. Yes my wife does make fun of me when I get the stove running perfect and there is a huge smile on my face.

Anyone else have those swings of joy to swings or sadness or frustration.
Still a learner and still trying to master a good burn. Sometimes I am my own worst enemy and I haven't even mentioned trying to set up for a solid overnight burn.

Here's to learning and trying to master an art.


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[begreen]

LOL, you have a lot of company.

Can you put your stove in your signature line when you get a chance?

 

[jcapler]

Can do. Hopefully it shows up now. When I get a chance I will get all the flue and chimney measurements added in there.


Woodpro WS-TS-2000

 

[begreen]

Good deal, it's showing now.

 

[xman23]

Yep, we all have those days. I don't tell anyone about the days it takes three trys to light a fire. What's the problem?

 

[jcapler]

Issues: some days I can't keep great secondary's and I have short burns. I have trouble getting a long burn (4 plus hours) some days. I get a big coal supply that will burn up but when I reload is bigger than I think it should be. Sometimes I just think I fiddle with it too much or start pushing the primary air in too quickly. This forces me to pull it back out and push it back in.
Pros: opposite of everything above. I can hold a house temp pretty steady (75) for the main floor (1100 sq ft). I had a new heating and ac system added this summer so I had the heating guy install return air vents at the ceiling in the stove room so it would pull hot air and distribute in the house. I could keep going ....


Woodpro WS-TS-2000

 

[jcapler]

Starting the stove earlier tonight. This is about mid process of reducing air. If I can remember air was half way in.


Woodpro WS-TS-2000

 

[begreen]

Try closing the air more aggressively down to a quarter or less when the burn reaches this point and see how she rolls.

 

[xman23]

That sounds about right. As you said there are a lot of variables that change every day and every fire. A bit of planning before you start helps. The hardest days can be the shoulder season. If you not cooking the house and wasting wood your doing good. My first few years it was normal to have upstairs windows open when it was single digit outside. In my stove, getting secondary burn takes a real hot stove. Most of the time much hotter than I need. Practice, will make it all second nature.

 

[huauqui]

Sounds like a normal week for me. A couple good days I start thinking I have it figured out then nothing works the way I think it should. Then I look at the propane tank that hasn't had a refill for over a year and all is good.

huauqui

 

[jcapler]

Actually one thing that has been running around in my mind is this. I bought a 30-ton splitter last year (was using the tractor). Well as I was splitting for the 18-19 season this last weekend it crossed my mind I was splitting to small. I do try and mix it up when I cut E-W vs N-S size. Anyway I was wondering how you guys split for size? By the way for some insight. I burn 90% ash, I moisture test all wood on fresh splits and stack my in 3 separate piles according to moisture. My wood supply is currently about 4+ years ahead of schedule. Most wood is knocked down a year before splitting and stacking. I do have some small amounts of maple / hackberry / oak / locust that I have mixed in with the ash (depends on moisture content).

Picture of a pile that was done 1 year ago. This won't make it to the house for burning till 2017 fall.




Woodpro WS-TS-2000

 

[jcapler]

Begreen: I will try that. I think I have attempted this but bailed because the secondary's were dying out and I was thinking of I would loose the whole thing to a smolder. I have been trying to wait till I hit 400-500 on the stove top temp gauge (sometimes verifies with temp gun) before going down further. Bad idea? Seems like I burn a lot of wood to get to that point.

Huauqui: I see the gas bill from the last year and try and lower it further. It's like a little game for me. Can I save even more this year.



Woodpro WS-TS-2000

 

[jcapler]

As we speak photo. Starting to drop the air down slowly. Getting close to half way in right now.


Woodpro WS-TS-2000

 

[jcapler]

Air has been shut down for 5 minutes or so. No flames coming from wood all secondary burn inside the firebox. This is usually where I attempt to get to (pat on the back type of night) I will usually let this run till I wake up and reload the firebox. Hope to get a good 4 hour burn out of this run. I have larger splits in there so maybe longer. The kiddo (2 month old) will wake me up at 1:00 am to eat so I will get a chance to check on the fire.


Woodpro WS-TS-2000

 

[jcapler]

Wait for it .... yeah now I feel the kick in the butt. Well this is the last of the fire in the box. As of right now there is no fire going (no secondary's and no flame on the wood). Stove top temp has been slowly dropping. Just under 600 at time of pic and now down to 400. I left the air closed to simulate or attempt an overnight burn. Feel like I have lost it. I want to open up the air control and then stir the fire. I will prob just leave it till I have to wake up. Front fire wood is burnt down pretty good and wood toward the back is still in log form. I am wondering about loading the short way in the firebox. Anyone have an opinion on loading the short direction?


Woodpro WS-TS-2000

 

[begreen]

At that juncture I would probably open up the air just a little to maybe 25%?

 

[Matt93eg]

At that juncture I would probably open up the air just a little to maybe 25%?

Was thinking the same thing. OP, like others said, this is something I think everyone for sure goes through. Sometimes I find depending on outside temp, etc that I cannot close my primary all the way down, sometimes I have to keep it 25% open to get enough draft. I have a short chimney. Once the temps out are in the 30s I have enough draw I can shut it all the way but sometimes when I find myself in your situation doing as begreen said does the trick. Key to is patience after making air adjustments.

 

[jcapler]

First off thanks for all the input. I have spent countless hours reading on this forum. Guys and gals on here are just wonderful. Remember the days when you didn't have forums to turn to [emoji51]

I have been trying to give all air adjustments at least five minutes to take full effect. Sometimes I go a little longer and sometimes I am impatient.

Last night before heading to bed I did end up cracking the air open a touch (not sure if I would say 25%) but it was open a little. This morning I have more coals and wood then I have ever had before. Stove top was around 250-300 range. So it feels like the overnight burn was probably better then most of my attempts.


Woodpro WS-TS-2000

 

[VirginiaIron]

Actually one thing that has been running around in my mind is this. I bought a 30-ton splitter last year (was using the tractor). Well as I was splitting for the 18-19 season this last weekend it crossed my mind I was splitting to small. I do try and mix it up when I cut E-W vs N-S size. Anyway I was wondering how you guys split for size? By the way for some insight. I burn 90% ash, I moisture test all wood on fresh splits and stack my in 3 separate piles according to moisture. My wood supply is currently about 4+ years ahead of schedule. Most wood is knocked down a year before splitting and stacking. I do have some small amounts of maple / hackberry / oak / locust that I have mixed in with the ash (depends on moisture content).

Picture of a pile that was done 1 year ago. This won't make it to the house for burning till 2017 fall.

View attachment 189113


Woodpro WS-TS-2000

I use to keep large splits, which was good for long burns. The last few seasons I experimented with much smaller spilts which gives super hot fires and enables me to to load the firebox fully. My cuts are generally 2 inches less than maximum length. The smaller splits also permit me to run quick and shorter fires.

***About the photo of your wood pile- How do you use that fence? For support? Do you keep the fence around it at all times? Open it for access? Cover it before use? Do the spaces permit better drying? I am wondering this because it seems like a lot less energy is used to store it this way than to stack it all up.

 

[NoGoodAtScreenNames]

I'm in a similar situation to the OP (third year burning and first year with consistently 2 year old wood).

I've found that I get myself in trouble if I try to turn it down so that I'm getting nothing but secondary burn. It makes me feel good when it's happening but it will only last so long before it putters out. I like to keep a little primary burn on the wood or make sure the wood is hot and glowing in addition to whatever is going on with the secondaries.

Even though I mostly follow the gradual adjustments method I've also found that a quick slam down is pretty effective. If I'm getting to the kick in the butt area I'll open the air all the way. This gets the fire roaring and the draft going well and fire engulfs the whole box. I'll leave like that for less than a minute and then shut it down hard in one shot. The hot fire warmed the tubes to support the secondary ignition and the strong pull of the draft gets diverted into the secondary tubes. At least that's what I think is happening - seems to work pretty good for my stove with a tall flue. Also saves a lot of tinkering time.

 

[sportbikerider78]

For me and the NC30...the biggest thing is just adding enough wood. I love it when temps are in 20's. Huge draft. Load the stove full and it will burn secondaries for hours. It is tough to get the secondaries to stay light when you have a 1/4 to 1/2 load and the temps are high 30's-low 40's.

 

[jcapler]

***About the photo of your wood pile- How do you use that fence? For support? Do you keep the fence around it at all times? Open it for access? Cover it before use? Do the spaces permit better drying? I am wondering this because it seems like a lot less energy is used to store it this way than to stack it all up.

Here is my current situation for how I put the wood up.

I usually mow as short as possible where I have the location picked out. I lay down pallets (4 wide and 2 deep) and maintain all the tall grass around the pallets during the summer. I put a steel fence post in around the pallets, location mostly is on the corners of the pallets but I do run a couple extra on the long side of the pallet area. I get some hog panels and put that around 3 sides of the pallets, I have it both ways, one opening on the short side and one opening on the long side. I really don't know which one I like better.

Fence is a double feature, I helps keep the wood pile in one location and keeps the dogs (German Shorthairs) from scattering the wood everywhere. They really like to get up on the wood pile and start moving wood around for me. Mostly it is so that the wood doesn't fall out of the pile, lets me get more wood piled up in one location. I don't usually cover anything as far as those wood piles. I will leave these wood areas setup until I need to replace the pallets on the bottom.

During the late summer / fall season I usually start to bring the wood home and that gets piled up in a little wood shed I have so it gets under a cover then. I am not really sure if this method helps dry the wood faster or slower. I have so much to split that I didn't want to spend the extra time stacking it neatly (I have done it that way before). It is nice just to pull the splitter up to the stack, start splitting and tossing in. I know I can sure get through a lot of splits this way and for me that is more important. The wood location is about 70 miles from where I live so I like to get as much done when I get there as possible. Thankfully I have family land to use and he is always willing to come out and split wood with me. We usually get some good beer drank during these times.

 

[BigFir]

For me and the NC30...the biggest thing is just adding enough wood. I love it when temps are in 20's. Huge draft. Load the stove full and it will burn secondaries for hours. It is tough to get the secondaries to stay light when you have a 1/4 to 1/2 load and the temps are high 30's-low 40's.

Totally agree with the 30, it has to be full!

As for split sizes, the way I see it is you can always make the smaller....It is difficult to make them bigger. You don't want to come into winter realizing all your splits are too small. Also, I would try to load N/S, most stoves are easier to control this way.

 

[BeAfraid]

That sounds about right. As you said there are a lot of variables that change every day and every fire. A bit of planning before you start helps. The hardest days can be the shoulder season. If you not cooking the house and wasting wood your doing good. My first few years it was normal to have upstairs windows open when it was single digit outside. In my stove, getting secondary burn takes a real hot stove. Most of the time much hotter than I need. Practice, will make it all second nature.

I could only pray that my windows upstairs would have to be open because my downstairs was too warm..I have a long way of learning to go before that will ever happen

 

[VirginiaIron]

Be mindful that open windows may condensate and ice up preventing you from closing them when you need.