What do you consider a "full" stove?

I finally got my Hampton HI300 squared away since broken glass and bad seal after 3 days of use. I can absolutely see the difference in the burn time since I've been able to completely shut the door air tight. Alot of control of the flame as well. My question is, when you "fill" your stove in order to maximize refill time, how full are you making it? Are you filling completely to the top or what? Thanks for the help.

Todd

My firebox is 22" wide, but my splits are 16"-18", so I stack to the top leaving about 6" space on one side, then slide some shorties into the gap on the side. Probably adds up to 6-8 splits E/W, then 2-3 more on the side.

Well... full is full. Anything less is less than full. Now the manufacturer will specify how close to the glass you can put it.

If'n when I fill the stove it is limited by how close I can have it to the glass and based on split length, there will be some space at the sides. I seldom ever feel the need to fill the stove.

90-100 lbs of oak is usually full, around 80 lbs of white ash, maybe 60-70 lbs of cherry and soft maple.

I don't like the wood to be closer than about three inches from the glass or else I get coals and ash piled on the ledge in front of the door and spilling out when I open the door. In addition I usually don't fill closer than about two inches from the secondary burn tubes at the top (OK, sometimes I do but I try to leave some space up there for secondary flames to occur.) So, for me full is as much wood as I can fit inside the box leaving a couple of inches clear at the door and the top. Due to the irregular shape of my firewood I probably average less than 75% full even when I am trying to fill the stove.

To me - full is when there is no room for another "regular" split. I don't bother with throwing twigs between splits, etc. Just regular cord wood piled in till it will hold no more.

For me "full" is when I have pretty much every square inch packed with wood, and I mean packed. Splits in the middle, or squished to one side, right up to the griddle top (sometimes even a bit of a push on the griddle is needed to get it closed), then I fill the gap, or gaps, with cookies, short rounds, cut offs, twigs, whatever.

Don't do this too often because it takes too long and I usually need a cold stove. A more normal "full", is splits to the griddle top and then whatever I have handy that will fill some of the gaps. If there is nothing handy, just spits - 21" on the bottom, down to 16" or so on top (the top load restrticts the length of your split as the firebox fills up).

"Full" for me is probably not "full" for other folks . . . I tend to put in 4-5 splits or rounds, but keep the wood away from the glass a couple inches and usually there is an inch or two gap between the wood and the baffle board and secondary burn tubes.

I long ago decided that there is nothing wrong with stacking wood up against the glass. Also, nothing wrong with wood touching the top tubes. I have a side door so the ash coals that would fall out of the front door are not an issue. All along, a full stove is a stove that you can't fit any more wood into.

With my HI300, full is 6 or 7 splits. I tend to split smaller because of the small firebox. Smaller splits give me more options for filling.

There's a flag on the play. "Unnecessary roughness, offense, using Blaze King numbers. "

My metrosexual Quad 4300 has a stated firebox capacity of 2.4 cubic feet. If I play Rubik's cube, I can fill it near the tubes but that is pushing it, and it burns better with a gap in there anyway. To modify Bing Crosby's legend,

"Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii'm dreaming, of a Blaze King Princess
Just like the one at the hearth show
Where the firebox glistens, and drunken hot babes listen
To hickory splits as they glow"

Fill it until you can't get more wood in. I see posts about getting wood against the glass but our stove has andirons so that is no problem.

Thanks for all of the replies!... I really appreciate it... I'm still learning here but getting a lot of good info from some even better people on here.... Thanks again.

Todd

Something like this is full for me, this was 54lbs of oak, ash, silver maple with some ironwood fillers. If I would've loaded oak or ash without the silver maple I see no problem reaching the 60lbs that BK claims will fit in the Princess.

Mine is full when I can't fit any more wood in it....except splits kindling size or smaller...or sawdust.

I only load to top of Firebrick. Most I have loaded in the HT was about 40 lbs.

Here are a few stoves with full loads http://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/87880/.

Great pictuire Rdust. Fine job there.

Ya, that's full.

That looks like it is on hot coals, so I assume it starts after a while?? I can't seem to get that much in with coals and be able to get it going well enough. Is it easier to do NS instead of EW, my 7100 is easier to load EW.

Here's mine, good for 8 hours

I stuff mine as high as possible.

Some of my older splits are longer and haven't had an issue next to glass either. I usually try to keep it at least 1/2 inch from glass though. I can get a 19 inch split N/S. in my stove.

HOly chit, I can't even carry 80+lbs. to load my stove. Ok, "BKK envy" with maybe the same results after loading 2 loads of 45lbs. each to get the same results.

It don't last long, BG. Heck, after it starts to char and settle in, all the pointy, nobby, points are burned off and the wood will settle enough to give a reasonable gap. At least with the ugly wood that I burn, it does. :coolsmile:

Hmmm, now I know why you complain about burn times as that stove really doesn't hold much does it.