When do you reload your stove?

[RSNovi]

Growing up my parents had a regular old fireplace that you were constantly adding logs and stoking the fire to keep it hot. When do you reload your freestanding stove? Do you wait until all of the logs have burned down to coals or do you keep adding pieces of wood as room is created. I have been doing the latter, but this doesn't allow you to get a long burn since I can add two fresh logs and have two half burned logs already in the stove. Just wondering.

 

[oldspark]

Growing up my parents had a regular old fireplace that you were constantly adding logs and stoking the fire to keep it hot. When do you reload your freestanding stove? Do you wait until all of the logs have burned down to coals or do you keep adding pieces of wood as room is created. I have been doing the latter, but this doesn't allow you to get a long burn since I can add two fresh logs and have two have burned logs already in the stove. Just wondering.

they say let it run its cycle until you have coals and then reload

 

[logger]

Yep. Cycles give you the most effecient energy from your wood, especially with the Oslo. However, when temps are real cool, I'll load after a couple of hours to keep a full firebox and the house warmer. It's really a preference thing for most burners, but cycles would be the proper way.

 

[SolarAndWood]

My wife and I fight about this constantly. She is a throw a log on the fire burner and I tell her to keep her hands off anything on the stove with the exception of the thermostat. If you are going for a 6 or 7 month burn, I find it works a lot better to burn in full cycles instead of constantly adding.

 

[weatherguy]

I load my stove up full and let it burn down to coals, I load it back up when the temp drops on my thermo to about 1/2 (BK theremo doesnt have numbers). That was I only have to looad twice a day in cold weather, three times if its frigid out because I run it hotter. When I first got the stove I used to add logs here and there but that was only because it was a new toy, now I let it do its thing.

 

[fire_man]

If you reload before its all burned down you smother the coals so they burn slower and with less heat output. You also have less room to add fresh wood - and it's fresh wood that gives better heat output. Non of this matters during shoulder season when high heat output is less of a big deal, but in the dead of winter you will build up a huge useless coal base and you are tempted to scoop coals out to fit new wood. If you have to reload before it burns down completely it probably means the stove is too small for the demand or you are burning wet wood.

 

[kayakkeith]

also me being a rookie and having a soapstone I would assume I would get more out of my wood burn by letting the coals keep heating the stove and adding when its just down to coals?/

I know the other night there was no wood left at midnite but a good coal bed and it stayed very warm until like 9am the next morning

so build up a good heat with the wood load then let it burn down to coals and add again seems to be the deal

I will experiment with that tonite as we are supposed to have some snowflakes

 

[vvvv]

try to get the wood to burn from the top down, however so

 

[thewoodlands]

Growing up my parents had a regular old fireplace that you were constantly adding logs and stoking the fire to keep it hot. When do you reload your freestanding stove? Do you wait until all of the logs have burned down to coals or do you keep adding pieces of wood as room is created. I have been doing the latter, but this doesn't allow you to get a long burn since I can add two fresh logs and have two half burned logs already in the stove. Just wondering.

We have a Lopi Liberty and I have been reloading when the stove top temp hits 350, last night when I did this I reloaded five splits of three year old cherry and it shot up to 700. If I'm heating with higher btu wood like sugar maple or beech and reloading at 350 I'll close down the air quicker.



zap

 

[Seth22]

I would also vote for "cycles". This would be the best way to burn hot smaller fires, rather than large smoldering ones.

 

[RSNovi]

I am having a fire right now since it is low 50's, cloudy, and windy. I just now let it burn down to coals prior to reloading. I redistributed the coals for a consistent bad and then tossed in 4 logs. It is much easier to load the stove this way too. When you have a large fireplace, it is no problem to add wood when there are partially burnt logs present, but not enough room with a stove. Unfortunately my wood got a little damp last night from the rain so it is holding the fire back a little.

 

[pen]

definately cycles. Constantly "adding a few" tends to build the coals up too much.

pen

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Pretty much all stoves made now will perform much better by doing it in cycles. The one log at a time just does not work well. Also, like Tony stated, come winter time, if you keep adding a log to a time you are going to fill that firebox with so many coals you won't have room for the wood.


What we've found best in this time of year is to light a fire and let it burn to almost being out and then add a little more, depending upon needs. We never fully load the stove at this time of the year. During the winter months, we usually go with a full load only during the night time hours. During the daytime we usually do not need that much heat. During the daytime we burn maybe a half load or perhaps 3 or 4 splits. When the stove top temperature drops to near 500 we will start opening the draft a bit (maybe to half). When the stove is down to coals or just before it is down to coals we open the draft full. Usually the stove top is around 350 when we reload (during winter months). Doing it this way we get the coals to burn down and they also give us useful heat. Otherwise, you will end up with too many coals and you don't want to get into any habit of throwing out the coals. That would be like buying a gallon of gas and throwing out a quart. Very wasteful.

 

[firefighterjake]

+ whatever to burning with the cycles . . . only difference for me is when it's really cold outside and I want to keep the heat up I'll add wood sooner rather than later . . . in other words whereas I would normally add wood to coals that are soft-ball sized I might do it when they're the size of grapefruit. or so.

 

[madison]

Cycles, or you end up with a huge stove full of coal chunks, with 24/7 burning in the winter, it becomes more of an issue.

Easy now in the shoulder season, where it is a matter of trying to maintain a comfortable temp... and the my favorite game of restarting a fire while not using a super cedars. The past week I've been able to go 14 hrs after 3 splits, and get it going without a piece of cedar.

Always playing games.

 

[RSNovi]

I am really liking the cycle burning. I can load the stove nice and neat and not worry about logs falling on the glass, etc... Plus it is easier to regulate the heat in the room too.

 

[iceman]

Cycles period! If you want to load more then use less wood for a.cycle ... the more u open the stove door the more u lose efficiency.. these stoves do their best work once we close them down and leave them alone ..
What I have noticed is if I need big heat I will reload the stove at 300-400 which will make it shoot up to 700+ rather quickly... but I let it run the cycle... if you keep throwing in splits here and there to keep a big flame you will go through your wood supply faster

 

[PapaDave]

Cycles. But, for the last 4 years, they have tended to be kind of short.
Maybe this winter will be different. Very few coals make it into the ash shovel.

 

[Treacherous]

Cycler here as well

 

[summit]

I always go by: how comftorable am I? Do I want more heat? If I want more, I dump some more wood into her. If only it was so simple in other aspects of life as well! When it's nightime, wanna goto bed & burn all night: stuff it full, wait about 10 minutes, then shut down.

 

[shawneyboy]

+1 for cycles.... Used to run cycles in my old mans insert when I was at his house, and Irun cycle now, makes it a whole lot easier long term IMHO.