Tunnel of Love

I get more action from the stove.

Small firebox. If I rake them much at all they end up on the floor.

Beisdes the importance of good seasoned wood, thats the next best thing I have learned from this forum.

I get more action because of the stove. When it's too hot in the house it makes the argument for taking ones clothes off.

So that was one time that your wood was too dry?

My stove isn't big enough to waste that space on the sleepers, but I've laid an E/W load directly on the coals after making a trough in them. But I usually just try for the long burn from front to back, so I want to keep the flame up front at the beginning.

I used to have a 1.7 cf firebox. I used to rake coals forward enough that I could get a large split or round to sit EW on ashes in the back of the stove. Then load another medium sized split on the coals in front of that, and load NS on top of those. Of course making the valley in the coals and ash (aka tunnel or love). Then jam as much wood as I could get in there.

This is what i do.

I'm a little confused on how to make this work still. After moving all the coals to the front of the stove do I make a v or tunnel in the piled up ash? And is this tunnel n/s in the middle of the pile? I normally scoop all the ash away from the sides and the front and back walls then make a n/s tunnel in the middle of my coals. I'm thinking this is the same thing except piling all the ash to the front before i make the tunnel in the middle?

Could this burn the wood faster, more air flowing under the loaded splits? May even add to why our EPA stoves overfire. Just wondering.

Not sure. I've never experienced a stove running too hot that didn't have to do with an error on my part (air controls open to far/long, door cracked too long) or a strong draft (which I suspect is the issue with the Defiant's temp climb as it moves through the burn cycle).

I will be sure to post when/if I experience an "oh s**t" moment with the 30.

Never had that happen to me the biggest thing is to turn the air down when the stove reaches like 400.

I guess I'm missing the point. In one thread, folks are suggesting every possible way to slow down the burn. "Don't put your splits right on the hot coals, rake them forward and throw the big splits low in the back. Pack the firebox tight, and do a top-down burn." Here you guys are outline a method which is sure to make the load burn much faster. Do I need to go back to school?

I just do this when i want more fast heat.

I do it as I do not have a problem with stoves running away from me. It speeds up the reload time, which means less time I am tending to a stove.

If I burn E/W with a full load, the stove will give me 9-10 hours of heat whether I use the tunnel or not. If I want less heat, I just use less wood for this stove.

I have found out this year that the mag loves burning E/W it makes for some very nice dancing blue flames.

Corey you should post a pic of your stove, with the secondaries kickin.

I thought about uploading a video when the weather cools back off did not even have a fire today.

Me neither, supposed to be 60 tomorrow