One thing I learned (from this site) is after insulating my home and putting in a block off plate is that I did not need a bigger stove. This may not be the case for you but I sealed up every nook and cranny in my home and my .09 cu ft firebox keeps my 1200 sq ft home nice and warm. I am lucky to see flames for 3 hours but can usually start up after 8 hours using kindling. Using NEILS I can start up using regular splits after an overnight burn. Hard woods at night and soft to start usually works well. Like you, I have contemplated getting a bigger box just cause it is easier but my last place had an Osburn Matrix (2.1 cu ft) and even though I could get longer burn times, my current stove puts out more heat and has no blower. The true test I suppose would be to put the Matrix here but I cannot do that. I would also fear that getting a bigger box would heat me out of the home after all the insulating.
I would guess that with the suggestions above and your firebox size, your maximum will probably be 5 hours. It'll take some time figuring it out to get to that point along with good, dry wood, but 4 hours is a good goal.
To add to this, I have a 2.3 cuft box but most times I'm only putting in 4 splits loaded E-W. On cold starts, I'll probably get 3-4 hours out of it, on reloads, closer to 5 and sometimes longer. Especially if I put in hardwood, there's still enough coals after 6 hours to restart a new load if I need to let the temperature fall a bit to be comfortable.
2 years is not long enough for Oak or Hickory. Hickory can sometimes take longer. Unless you're splitting that stuff super small. Do you have a lot of unburnt coals at reload time?Burn time. I am calling seeing flames. If heat out put/coals I get 6hrs restarting with fatwood. The wood Im using is 2yr old oak and hickory.
Im cutting up some trees going to cut 14" long.
3 years or more ahead eliminates the headaches. And makes splitting time more enjoyable & leisurely, with no stress of playing catch up. Of course some folks may not have the room for that amount of wood.Two years seasoning would be best, I agree. I like to stay at least a year ahead it avoids a lot of headaches.
Got 5 hrs last night off a load. 9pm-2 am so shorter pieces helped
I have a 1.8 CF box. I can load it at 2100hrs before bed and easily have enough coals at 0600hrs to throw some wood on and let it take off.
I won’t have a ton of heat in the morning but my house will be plenty warm enough.
The hardest wood I have is white birch.
Glad to hear you're getting some improvement.
This isn't a knock on you personally, but this is part of the problem of trying to describe burn times as we're crossing the line of is it possible for me to start a new load with coals and do I have the heat output I need? There's a balance there that needs to be considered. At night, it may be ok but during the day it may not be. I can go 10+ hours at night and reload in the morning on some coals, but when I'm up and at em during the day, I don't do this because I need/want the heat.