WA BK Sirocco performance?

[jeffsk7]

Just curious what everyone is getting for burn times out of their sirroco 30/Ashford 30 stoves in western Washington. I'm trying to run a comparrison. I burn fir 15% moisture content. I can get about 15-20 hours maybe. It seems there is a very fine line with my thermostat. If I back it out of the normal zone to say about 1.75. I sometimes can kill the cat. Running at 1.5 is not possible for me on most days. Have kept it there at night before and woken up in the morning to a cat that was just falling inactive. Just wonder what you all think about my performance so far.
Thanks

 

[Highbeam]

It was 50 degrees last night. We haven't gotten to the part of the winter when you can really dial in the BK. I will say that burning doug fir I get some of my worst burn times, I think it is because of the nearly zero ash production from doug fir. Red alder is best.

 

[jeffsk7]

Wow. That's interesting. I'll load it up with some alder. I have plenty of that also. Thanks for the info.

 

[Highbeam]

Wow. That's interesting. I'll load it up with some alder. I have plenty of that also. Thanks for the info.

Both are relatively high btu woods for our area but I would trade DF for red alder any day.

 

[begreen]

It may depend on the stove. In our stove I have the reverse preference. Alder seems to burn up more quickly. Doug fir is denser and has about 2.6 MBtu/ cord more than alder. For very cold weather I'm now stockpiling hardwood. It's hard to beat it when you want a long hot burn.

 

[jeffsk7]

It may depend on the stove. In our stove I have the reverse preference. Alder seems to burn up more quickly. Doug fir is denser and has about 2.6 MBtu/ cord more than alder.

That's what I was thinking. I've never had alder out perform fir. But the ash explanation does make sense in a bk stove. In all my years of selling firewood no one wanted alder everyone wanted fir. Alder would sell, but for less money.

 

[begreen]

When I buy wood I ask for fir only. Never had an issue with a lack of ash. I usually have at least an inch or so on the firebox floor. Could be the pumice firebrick is doing its job well.

 

[Highbeam]

Fir is a great wood but not as great as alder. Alder is easier to split, less bark, no sap, no slivers, almost no knots, cleaner, and the ashes hold coals better. I would be happy with a mix of the two but 100% doug fir has left me with reduced burn times, plenty heat, and almost zero ash. Our PNW bigleaf maple is real similar to alder but has the same energy content as doug fir.

 

[begreen]

There are definitely different characteristics outside of how it burns but my preference is fir to alder. Big leaf maple has slightly higher heat content than fir, about .5 MBtus/cord more, but it creates a lot more ash which I don't need.

 

[Poindexter]

Wow @ 50 dF above zero tonight. Happy for you.

My Ashford really settled down once ambients stayed at or near freezing and seems to be hitting it's stride now that I have been below zero dF for 48 hours straight.

 

[begreen]

Yes, we are about 8F above normal still. It's 55F right now at 11pm. This won't last forever but it has been pleasant and a nice fuel saver.

 

[HotCoals]

Just curious what everyone is getting for burn times out of their sirroco 30/Ashford 30 stoves in western Washington. I'm trying to run a comparrison. I burn fir 15% moisture content. I can get about 15-20 hours maybe. It seems there is a very fine line with my thermostat. If I back it out of the normal zone to say about 1.75. I sometimes can kill the cat. Running at 1.5 is not possible for me on most days. Have kept it there at night before and woken up in the morning to a cat that was just falling inactive. Just wonder what you all think about my performance so far.
Thanks

Was there still a considerable amount of wood still in the stove?

 

[jeffsk7]

Yes. Just charred wood. Turn it up to three and it lights right off again!