East/West on Bottom? N/S on Top? (And pallet question)

orientation may play some role, but the size of the splits and how tightly the splits are packed play more of a role of how hot & how long a burn can be achieved. IMO loading N-S will give the tightest, fullest loading capabilities. As far as the pallet wood, all I can see that doing is helping with a quicker fire up due to low moisture content. I myself would forgo the pallet wood, as it is small and will burn away quickly regardless of where you insert it. Go for larger splits on bottom and pack what you can on top of them to give you the fullest, tightest load. Even if you have no larger splits, loading what you do have tighter, will eliminate extra air space which gives paths for air and faster burns.

Just curious how you want to define an overnight burn? What's been your experience so far that you're looking to get a longer burn? Just curious to know if we're talking marginal improvement or something on the order of a couple hours or so. Load orientation plays a slight role, but also stove operation dictates this game as well.

As for pallet wood, you could use it to get things started quicker. Just lay a piece along the coals.

Try and load the stove for the fewest air gaps and use the largest pieces you can fit at night. It seems nobody can agree or decide if orientation of the wood matters. It's mostly about airflow, or rather controlling it. My stove has a stepped roof, so it's more challenging to get large pieces on the top, but that would be the best way.

I have a tiny stove, so I'm getting pretty good at this. I try to wait until I have just enough super hot coals to light the fire, but also leave me a mostly open stove. I rake the coals to the front and try to put smaller pieces at the front/bottom and larger pieces higher or at the back. With the .84 CuFt box on our tiny morso I can usually wake up with coals after eight hours if I load it well. My biggest concern is being able to achieve a matchless relight in the morning.

If you do load the stove E/W, I suggest raking the coals forward, and placing the largest split you have all the way in the back and on the bottom. Try to slide all the splits together so they fill the gaps in, almost like a solid block of wood when you are finished. If you criss-cross them you will create too many air gaps.

I use an axe to “shape” my overnight splits so they fit tight together before I bring them in for the night. My goal is 4 pieces about 4-6 inches thick, all hardwood. (It will be Elm tonight) This takes me maybe 5 minutes. With a little practice you will know what splits fit the best to pack your stove full. Split wood shaped square or triangle works well for me. I run an Osburn 1600 insert.

The idea is for the fire to burn slowly from front to back. Make sure it’s well established before cutting the air back.
I find that I get about 4 hours of flame and 3 hours of glowing embers. Even after 8 or 9 hours I can take the coals forward and reload with no troubles in the morning.

I happen to have your sibling the S2400 what I did last night was load her ¾ up at 9:30 pm with 11 3” splits placed on a bead of leveled coals.

lAt 9:47 closed the air by 50% the flames slowed substantially (lazy)



At 10:00 closed the air down 50% (lever pushed in ¾ of the way) as the flame intensity had picked up again.


At 10:10 closed her down 50% (push lever in till ¼ inch showing) for the final adjustment of the night. Stove top at 500* with the fan on low and probe thermometer indication 300* flue temp.


At 10:30 she was cruising along at 600* stove top and 400* flue temp not much flame from the wood but good secondary flames taking place.
I woke up to coals at 6 am, gave them a stir and carried on with 3 big pine splits.


This site is loaded with lots of useful information and posters that has assisted me with improving all aspects of burning. It has been a four year learning curve
But well worth it!

Winterpeger said:

I happen to have your sibling the S2400 what I did last night was load her ¾ up at 9:30 pm with 11 3” splits placed on a bead of leveled coals.

l

View attachment 238310
View attachment 238311​

At 9:47 closed the air by 50% the flames slowed substantially (lazy)

View attachment 238312

At 10:00 closed the air down 50% (lever pushed in ¾ of the way) as the flame intensity had picked up again.

View attachment 238313
At 10:10 closed her down 50% (push lever in till ¼ inch showing) for the final adjustment of the night. Stove top at 500* with the fan on low and probe thermometer indication 300* flue temp.
View attachment 238314

At 10:30 she was cruising along at 600* stove top and 400* flue temp not much flame from the wood but good secondary flames taking place.
I woke up to coals at 6 am, gave them a stir and carried on with 3 big pine splits.

View attachment 238315
This site is loaded with lots of useful information and posters that has assisted me with improving all aspects of burning. It has been a four year learning curve
But well worth it!

Click to expand...

Hi. Have you had any creosote problems with burning pine? My husband got a lot of pine for free but was told it's not good to burn so we are hesitant to use it. Was curious what you have experienced.

deborita3 said:

Hi. Have you had any creosote problems with burning pine? My husband got a lot of pine for free but was told it's not good to burn so we are hesitant to use it. Was curious what you have experienced.

Click to expand...

Myth. All wood species create creosote if it is not dry. West of the Mississippi most they have are softwoods like Pine. Millions of wood burners there. If the Pine is dry, it won't create more creosote than any other wood. Burn it or ship it to my house.

Jan Pijpelink said:

Myth. All wood species create creosote if it is not dry. West of the Mississippi most they have are softwoods like Pine. Millions of wood burners there. If the Pine is dry, it won't create more creosote than any other wood. Burn it or ship it to my house.

Click to expand...

What about all the sap in pine? That doesn't cause a problem with the liner?

deborita3 said:

What about all the sap in pine? That doesn't cause a problem with the liner?

Click to expand...

If it is well seasoned the sap will dry out. Just like with other species. I burn pine a lot and never have more than 2 cups of soot. I burn 24/7 with 2 stoves. All I burn is Pine and Oak.

Jan Pijpelink said:

If it is well seasoned the sap will dry out. Just like in other species.

Click to expand...

How long does pine need to season?

deborita3 said:

How long does pine need to season?

Click to expand...

In sun and wind, about 8-12 months, if split in 6 inch or smaller splits.

Jan Pijpelink said:

In sun and wind, about 8-12 months.

Click to expand...

Thank you! Appreciate the help.

Types of Wood You Should Not Burn in Your Fireplace

• Soft wood. Soft wood from trees like cypress, pines, or firs burns very rapidly, creates a great deal of smoke, and rapidly coats your chimney with soot. ...
• Endangered species wood. ...
• Oleander. ...
• Mexican elder. ...
• Anything Named Poison. ...
• Driftwood.

Jan 6, 2017

I was reading this and other articles on the internet and this is what made me hesitant to use pine but I see you have no issues with it.

deborita3 said:

Types of Wood You Should Not Burn in Your Fireplace

• Soft wood. Soft wood from trees like cypress, pines, or firs burns very rapidly, creates a great deal of smoke, and rapidly coats your chimney with soot. ...
• Endangered species wood. ...
• Oleander. ...
• Mexican elder. ...
• Anything Named Poison. ...
• Driftwood.

Jan 6, 2017

I was reading this and other articles on the internet and this is what made me hesitant to use pine but I see you have no issues with it.

Click to expand...

Do not believe everything what's on the internet. They are just opinions, often from people who have no clue.

Couldn’t agree more on being able to burn pine. Get it seasoned and it’s a great thing to have.

deborita3 said:

Types of Wood You Should Not Burn in Your Fireplace

• Soft wood. Soft wood from trees like cypress, pines, or firs burns very rapidly, creates a great deal of smoke, and rapidly coats your chimney with soot. ...
• Endangered species wood. ...
• Oleander. ...
• Mexican elder. ...
• Anything Named Poison. ...
• Driftwood.

Jan 6, 2017

I was reading this and other articles on the internet and this is what made me hesitant to use pine but I see you have no issues with it.

Click to expand...

Love pine. Internet full of misinformation. This site is a rare exception in most cases. Good to have found it.

deborita3 said:

Types of Wood You Should Not Burn in Your Fireplace

• Soft wood. Soft wood from trees like cypress, pines, or firs burns very rapidly, creates a great deal of smoke, and rapidly coats your chimney with soot. ...
• Endangered species wood. ...
• Oleander. ...
• Mexican elder. ...
• Anything Named Poison. ...
• Driftwood.

Jan 6, 2017

I was reading this and other articles on the internet and this is what made me hesitant to use pine but I see you have no issues with it.

Click to expand...

I’ll agree with the other posters that properly seasoned pine is a great resource for a woodstove, but I’d also say that the rest of the list makes a lot of sense to me given toxins in the wood. I doubt you personally have oleander, but I just thought I’d add a note for other readers of the thread that just because the softwood warnings don’t apply doesn’t mean that it’s safe to burn just any wood either.

Good for you for doing research and asking questions.

deborita3 said:

Types of Wood You Should Not Burn in Your Fireplace

• Soft wood. Soft wood from trees like cypress, pines, or firs burns very rapidly, creates a great deal of smoke, and rapidly coats your chimney with soot. ...
• Endangered species wood. ...
• Oleander. ...
• Mexican elder. ...
• Anything Named Poison. ...
• Driftwood.

Jan 6, 2017

I was reading this and other articles on the internet and this is what made me hesitant to use pine but I see you have no issues with it.

Click to expand...

I also burn pine! It’s a lot easier for me to acquire here for free than hardwood as everyone is convinced you shouldn’t be burning it.

If your husband has a bunch of it, just stack it up somewhere sunny in the spring (id recommend top covering, but that’s up to you) and you should be good to burn it next winter.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Jan Pijpelink said:

Myth. All wood species create creosote if it is not dry. West of the Mississippi most they have are softwoods like Pine. Millions of wood burners there. If the Pine is dry, it won't create more creosote than any other wood. Burn it or ship it to my house.

Click to expand...

All wood species create creosote, period. If you burn good dry oak or anything else and smolder because the "room is to hot" or "the fire won't last all night" or any of another dozen excuses I've heard, you will build up a ton of creosote in the chimney. Good for me, bad for you. The best wood to burn is free wood with the condition that it has been properly dried. I tell all my customers that the wood should be cut and split for a full year before burning. I've seen comments on here that soft woods should sit for 2 but if it's split and stacked I've never had a problem with only 1 year. 6-8 months is fine if you live in Arizona maybe but I'd avoid it if I could. The biggest difference you will see is the amount of heat produced and possibly how fast you go through a load of wood. Another issue with pine is the little pockets of sap that explode in the fire. You'll get them even when burning kiln dried 2x material and they can be quite exciting around a campfire but they're no concern in a closed wood stove.

I like burning pine. It burns quick and really hot. No problem with creosote as long as its dry. Last year I burned about a cord of pine and 1.5 cords of oak/locust mix. At the end of the year I got about 1.5 cups of powder creosote from my chimney .

Not burning Pine is one of the biggest misconceptions that I can think of in heating with wood. It's easy to see how it got started, people burned unseasoned Pine and it did burn, but then later they had a chimney fire and the story starts and then goes on forever. Also, there's something about seeing the sap in the unseasoned Pine that allows people to visualize that going up the chimney and collecting as creosote.

if you think of the sap as fuel that gets burned in the stove you won't worry about it.

I don't burn much Pine here, we try to sell our Pines as Christmas trees , but I sometimes have access to Pine from one of my neighbors and have come to love it. Dries quickly and then is so useful - I'll sometimes put a small split or two in when starting a fire or doing a re-load if I don't have tons of coals - it will help to get things going. I also keep a little stash of Pine if I want a quick "flamey" fire.

I appreciate all the feedback. Luckily my husband kept the pine in our backyard. Alot of people give it away for free, probably because they were concerned like me or they don't have a stove and just wanted it off their property. Good to hear it's OK to use it! Should the pine be mixed with other woods or can you use it by itself? It would be good to use when it gets warmer out and I just want to get the chill out of the house since it's a softwood and doesn't burn as long. Thanks again for all the help! Great forum!

Dug8498 said:

I also burn pine! It’s a lot easier for me to acquire here for free than hardwood as everyone is convinced you shouldn’t be burning it.

If your husband has a bunch of it, just stack it up somewhere sunny in the spring (id recommend top covering, but that’s up to you) and you should be good to burn it next winter.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

He got two truck loads of it. We found someone who was giving it away. There's alot here for free.

DuaeGuttae said:

I’ll agree with the other posters that properly seasoned pine is a great resource for a woodstove, but I’d also say that the rest of the list makes a lot of sense to me given toxins in the wood. I doubt you personally have oleander, but I just thought I’d add a note for other readers of the thread that just because the softwood warnings don’t apply doesn’t mean that it’s safe to burn just any wood either.

Good for you for doing research and asking questions.

Click to expand...

Thank you! I am new to burning and want to learn as much as I can. This forum has taught me alot!