Top Down Burn Only Works If......

[Rob From Wisconsin]

......your stove totally burns its load of wood (no bed hot coals in the morning).
Don't get me wrong, I love top-down burning - it's the "cat's meow"!!
But, when I wake up in the morning, and I am able to dig-up a decent bed of coals
to re-start my fire, top-down is out-of-the question - I need to build my fire conventionally.
Otherwise, I'm stuck scooping out a full bucket of mostly coals.
Doing it this way, I'm able to go for 3 days + between ash removal.

At that time, "top-down" is still the preferred method of "cold start".

 

[WoodpileOCD]

If you can get a good bed of coals, why do you need to "build" a fire anyway. A few sticks of kindling (cedar preferably) and some splits on top of that and 10 min later I am off to the races. I love top down starts but but when I think of 'starting' a fire, I think of paper and matches. If I have coals, thats not something I need to do. Not sure I quite understand the scooping out a bucket of coals. Do you burn them down with a wide open draft and a couple of small splits? Granted, I'm not in an area where sub zero temps are bleeding my house so I can afford to be a little more patient with the process.

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

If you can get a good bed of coals, why do you need to "build" a fire anyway. A few sticks of kindling (cedar preferably) and some splits on top of that and 10 min later I am off to the races. I love top down starts but but when I think of 'starting' a fire, I think of paper and matches. If I have coals, thats not something I need to do. Not sure I quite understand the scooping out a bucket of coals. Do you burn them down with a wide open draft and a couple of small splits? Granted, I'm not in an area where sub zero temps are bleeding my house so I can afford to be a little more patient with the process.

Exactly......
In my setup, where I'm literally burning 24/7, even though I have a small stove, there always seems
to be enough hot coals you can dig-up & use some kindling, along with a bellows, to get your fire re-started.
Otherwise, to get an effective top-down burn, I'm stuck shoveling out a firebox of unburned coals
(you'd be surprised how much of the total volume that takes up).

To make a long story short, top-down has become an occasional thing (not daily).

 

[Slow1]

I always figured that "top down" is a way of starting a fire, not keeping it going. If you are doing 24/7 burning and don't light a match then you don't need the method. However, if you are supplying your own ignition source (vs using coals in the stove) then go for it. I would never shovel coals on top of my pile to light up.

 

[BrotherBart]

Yeah. I believe that is why it is called a fire starting method. I don't throw Super Cedars on top of hot coals either. :coolsmirk:

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

I guess what I'm finding out is I can burn for extended periods
before I need to empty-out my ashes - it's the unburned coals that are/were
taking up the majority of my ash volume.

The top-down observation is a bit of an afterthought......

 

[oldspark]

Yeah. I believe that is why it is called a fire starting method. I don't throw Super Cedars on top of hot coals either. :coolsmirk:

If you threw in a couple of shovel fulls I bet it would be a hot fire, maybe I could get my summit to 700 that way. :cheese:

 

[grommal]

......your stove totally burns its load of wood (no bed hot coals in the morning).
Don't get me wrong, I love top-down burning - it's the "cat's meow"!!
But, when I wake up in the morning, and I am able to dig-up a decent bed of coals
to re-start my fire, top-down is out-of-the question - I need to build my fire conventionally.
Otherwise, I'm stuck scooping out a full bucket of mostly coals.
Doing it this way, I'm able to go for 3 days + between ash removal.

At that time, "top-down" is still the preferred method of "cold start".

Top-down is a method of cold start. If you have a bed of coals, just toss in the splits and you're off to the races.