Typical Timing of Adding........

[soupy1957]

Taking into account, the typical and repetitive responses to many of the threads in here, "It depends on your particular setup,"........I'll ask.......

How often do YOU find that you are adding new splits to an existing fire, once established?

I'm trying to come up with some sort of average, based on users experience, and am finding that (when I can pay attention to the fire, like on a Sunday morning), I typically am adding a split or two about every 45 minutes or so.

I realize how the "it depends on your setup" relates here, and it's valid of course, but I just wanted to get an idea.

Obviously the size of the stove, the damper settings, the amount of draft, the type of wood (species and cut size)........all that applies.

Just curious. If I had 50 people respond, I could take the average of those responses, discount the differences in the systems and wood, and ..........


Awe crap.......forget it..........it's too dang early in the morning for being so anal and analytical!!

Never mind........I'll go crawl back into my corner.........

-Soupy1957

 

[North of 60]

Soupy, I fill my stove to the gills , set the stat after 15 min of a good burn and come back and fill it again in 12-14 hours. In between that time I go on with my day, work, play whatever. Simple.

 

[ecocavalier02]

Soupy, I fill my stove to the gills , set the stat after 15 min of a good burn and come back and fill it again in 12-14 hours. In between that time I go on with my day, work, play whatever. Simple.

+ 2 on that i know our stoves are different but every 45 min?

 

[North of 60]

Cat stoves can be such a pain in the A__ sometimes, cant they. :lol:

 

[soupy1957]

<Doesn't have a "Cat" stove.

-Soupy1957

 

[Pagey]

I burn in cycles 99.9% of the time. I start the stove with what I think I'll need based on the ambient temps. Then I simply let it burn to coals and then add more if needed.

 

[SolarAndWood]

24 hours this time of year, 12 when it gets cold.

 

[begreen]

Soup, adding wood every 45 minutes sounds a bit of overmanagement. I usually go by the room temp, but the greatest frequency, in milder weather might be every few hours. That is mostly to stop the stove from overheating the house. When is gets in the 30's I can load it up about 2/3ds and let it run for 6-8 hrs., below 30 and it gets a full belly for 8-10 hrs depending on how cold it is. This is with softwood, doug fir mostly, and some alder right now. We'll switch over to locust and cherry if daytime highs are only in the 20s.

 

[oldspark]

45 mins is a bit much, I try and go with how the weather conditions are and load accordingly and leave it alone for as long as I can, sure sometimes I add a few but that is not what I do as standard operating procedure.

 

[soupy1957]

I agtee BeGreen, that I do stay rather attentive to my stove, and perhaps add wood sometimes before it's necessary. I don't like NOT seeing some flames (even small ones) and only let the stove burn down to embers when I know we won't be able to tend it for one reason or another.

Like this morning, for example...........I've lit the stove at 4 AM, and have been keepin it crankin all morning. The wife told me about a half hour ago that she wants to take a ride up to Yankee Candle (45 minutes each way, and a couple of hours there), and so I added the last log about an hour ago. I'll let it burn out on its own now, knowing that when we get back after lunch, I MIGHT have enough embers in there for a hot start, but I might have to give it a little help.

-Soupy1957

 

[shawneyboy]

every 45 mins ???? Wow, even with smaller fires like now it might be every 4-5 hours for me, overnight I fill her up and then it is 8-10 hours, which is the plan when it really gets and stays cold out.

 

[NH_Wood]

A couple hours at Yankee Candle? There's your big problem! %-P Cheers!

 

[oldspark]

I agtee BeGreen, that I do stay rather attentive to my stove, and perhaps add wood sometimes before it's necessary. I don't like NOT seeing some flames (even small ones) and only let the stove burn down to embers when I know we won't be able to tend it for one reason or another.

Like this morning, for example...........I've lit the stove at 4 AM, and have been keepin it crankin all morning. The wife told me about a half hour ago that she wants to take a ride up to Yankee Candle (45 minutes each way, and a couple of hours there), and so I added the last log about an hour ago. I'll let it burn out on its own now, knowing that when we get back after lunch, I MIGHT have enough embers in there for a hot start, but I might have to give it a little help.

-Soupy1957

I hope you have a lot of wood!

 

[rdust]

I load in cycles, once a load is down to coals with a stove top temp of 250-300 I reload. I'd say in the last two seasons I can only recall adding wood to an existing fire once. This was the overnight fire and I timed the loading of it wrong so before bed I tossed a couple splits in and let it burn.

 

[begreen]

I agtee BeGreen, that I do stay rather attentive to my stove, and perhaps add wood sometimes before it's necessary. I don't like NOT seeing some flames (even small ones) and only let the stove burn down to embers when I know we won't be able to tend it for one reason or another.

Like this morning, for example...........I've lit the stove at 4 AM, and have been keepin it crankin all morning. The wife told me about a half hour ago that she wants to take a ride up to Yankee Candle (45 minutes each way, and a couple of hours there), and so I added the last log about an hour ago. I'll let it burn out on its own now, knowing that when we get back after lunch, I MIGHT have enough embers in there for a hot start, but I might have to give it a little help.

-Soupy1957

I think I understand. Most of us are taking this from the perspective of burning wood for heat. But this sounds more like a case of wanting to play with fire, heating being secondary. It's less efficient, but if it gives you pleasure, go for it.

 

[soupy1957]

When I start a fire, it's for the heat.........do I "like" fires? Yea, sure! That's part of the reason I GOT a wood stove. "Playing" with it........nope........I don't open/close/open/close/open/poke/close...........

It isn't (as I tried to say before) that I NEED to add wood every 45 minutes, but rather that I like to keep the fire itself (flames) going. I'm not an "ember" person, I guess.

-Soupy1957

 

[LLigetfa]

There is no typical. It's not so much that “It depends on your particular setup” but rather it depends on what the outdoor temp is, what size wood I'm burning at the time, how much ash and coals are built up, time of day, desire for heat or ambience, etc.

I only load up the stove at bedtime or if I'm leaving the house for a while. When I'm around, I typically toss in 1, 2, or 3 splits every hour or so.

 

[soupy1957]

LLigetla: that's why I said "Taking into account, the typical and repetitive responses to many of the threads in here, “It depends on your particular setup,”..in my OP.

-Soupy1957

 

[precaud]

Soupy, these stoves aren't designed to be sources of eternal flames. They're batch burners. Part of the cycle of a batch has flame, and part doesn't. Every manufacturer gives operating instructions that reflect this fact. But of course you can operate yours however you wish. There's nothing wrong with it, until the coals build up too much.

I think the European approach is more like yours - constantly adding small amounts of fuel to maintain the flames. Their stoves generally have smaller fireboxes and their fuel is also cut smaller.

 

[oldspark]

[quote
It isn't (as I tried to say before) that I NEED to add wood every 45 minutes, but rather that I like to keep the fire itself (flames) going. I'm not an "ember" person, I guess.

-Soupy1957[/quote] Thats the definition of "playing" with it! :cheese:

 

[LLigetfa]

LLigetla: that's why I said "Taking into account, the typical and repetitive responses to many of the threads in here, “It depends on your particular setup,”..in my OP.

-Soupy1957

One could infer from the word "setup" that one is in control of the setup as in chosen stove, chosen house, chosen wood... lots of choices. While one can choose where they live, they cannot choose the weather. Again. there is no "typical".

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Taking into account, the typical and repetitive responses to many of the threads in here, "It depends on your particular setup,"........I'll ask.......

How often do YOU find that you are adding new splits to an existing fire, once established?

I'm trying to come up with some sort of average, based on users experience, and am finding that (when I can pay attention to the fire, like on a Sunday morning), I typically am adding a split or two about every 45 minutes or so.

I realize how the "it depends on your setup" relates here, and it's valid of course, but I just wanted to get an idea.

Obviously the size of the stove, the damper settings, the amount of draft, the type of wood (species and cut size)........all that applies.

Just curious. If I had 50 people respond, I could take the average of those responses, discount the differences in the systems and wood, and ..........


Awe crap.......forget it..........it's too dang early in the morning for being so anal and analytical!!

Never mind........I'll go crawl back into my corner.........

-Soupy1957

I do not think this fits into the category of "your particular setup" at all.

How often to add wood depends mostly upon the weather you are experiencing. How much heat you need. But regardless of the need, I see no good reason for continually adding splits to a fire. The biggest problem people have with doing that is they usually end up with a big batch of coals. It gets so bad that we also read on this forum about folks actually taking the coals out with the ashes! That to me is nothing but wasteful and foolish. It need not nor should be done in my humble opinion.

If someone wants to just sit and watch the pretty flame then perhaps at some point I could see adding a split but usually if you want flame all you need to do is turn the draft up a bit. You'll get flames until it is down to all coals.

Now you can come back out of your corner...

 

[LLigetfa]

I do not think this fits into the category of "your particular setup" at all.
...
I see no good reason for continually adding splits to a fire. The biggest problem people have with doing that is they usually end up with a big batch of coals.

Now, your statement certainly fits with the "your particular setup" comment. Don't you have a soapstone stove that holds and slowly releases heat?

Continually adding splits can be an effective way of controlling coal buildup. I choose the size and timing to do just that. Filling the firebox can lead to more coal buildup. Continually adding splits is less the root of the coaling problem than is an undersized stove, green wood, pilot error, etc.

 

[PapaDave]

Soupy, antsy this morning, eh? ;-P
With this old stove, it seems as though it doesn't matter how much wood gets put in. It wants to burn it all down to coals in a couple hours. The difference is that with more wood, I get more coals and more heat from them that lasts a little longer.
However, when I'm home, which is most of the time, I'll put in 2-3 splits, get 'em going, cut the air back, then hope the stove doesn't go into orbit. Couple hours later, usually when the spilts have gone to coals and the temp warrants, I'll add more wood, and do it all over. It's all dependent on the outside temps though. I keep an eye on a thermometer I have on my desk too.

 

[adrpga498]

Is Soupy loading those Yankee candles E-W or N-S?