14 Hour Burn!

[thephotohound]

I had no choice but to leave my Keystone from 6 AM to 8 PM yesterday. I threw in a couple of red oak "all-nighters" and some smaller splits, damped down to around 3/4 (the equivalent of about 20% primary air) and I came home to a warm house and LARGE coals to start a new load. That's definitely as far as I have pushed this stove, and I was NOT disappointed! Just thought I'd share.

 

[JimWalshin845]

Wonderful,

It is about 51 degrees here in south Jersey, sweating our tushies off with the stove still warm from this mornings burn.

Save the wood when it gets really chilly, but get those break-ins while you can still get into the woods to replenish for next years HU-RAAAHHHs.

Kidding aside, wonderful to hear that you are getting great results. Solid fuel is a lifestyle, not just a way to cut fuel costs.

Sweet burning,
Jim

 

[Sandor]

I was researching the Keystone before I bought it, and some one described it this way:

"You light a match in the fall, and stop feeding it in the spring"

I could do that, if the temps weren't 78 one day, and 45 the next. Like it is here right now.

The ash pan setup was the clincher for me.

 

[jpl1nh]

Last time I lit a match for my Keystone was sometime in the last week of October. Nor has the furnace been on once during that time, and it's been unseasonably cold here in NH with temps down to 9 and windchills down to -18. House generally is between 67 - 73 though it was down to 64 a couple of times. If anyone wants to know how to light a wood stove, I'm not gonna be able to help them cause I never need to. Photo, I find the same thing, if a throw in a giant piece of oak, black locust etc, up against the back and pack around with small and medium splits real tight, ignite the load well, then shut her mostly down, I bet there would be enough coals to relight 18 hours later or better, especially if there was a decent coal-ash bed to start. Wonderful ain't it? And with the bigger fire box of the Fireview like Todd has, you'd probably be able to tack on 4-6 more hours to that!

 

[thephotohound]

It's simply awesome. Granted, it was 29-32* all day, but still... kept the house at 68-70...

Sandor - the ash pan was one of the clinchers for us... the other being the expansive, uninterrupted glass front. I don't remember who it was (either Colin or Todd) that explained the only difference between the Keystone and Fireview (as far as heating ability goes) is the Fireview will give you the longer burn (with a firebox that is .75 cu ft larger, it makes sense). We're home every 7-8 hours, so it's not an issue. I love this stove now that I know how to run it!!

 

[Cearbhaill]

I was researching the Keystone before I bought it, and some one described it this way:

"You light a match in the fall, and stop feeding it in the spring"

I could do that, if the temps weren't 78 one day, and 45 the next. Like it is here right now.

The ash pan setup was the clincher for me.

I had two low 20's snow days/no school last week and mid 70's yesterday with all the windows open. As I am new to the area I don't know whether or not this is normal but it sure seems schizophrenic to me! We had morning temps of around 63º but are supposed to hit the 40's again in a couple of hours, then stupidly warm again tomorrow.

Do I build a fire or not build a fire?
Do I let it go out or keep it going?
I have these decisions every night as do lots of us.
AAcckk!

 

[begreen]

Sounds like you are starting to burn like a pro photohound. Congrats!

 

[thephotohound]

When I found this forum (late 2006), I couldn;t believe all of the posts about seemingly simply things regarding operation (how much primary air, types of wood, length of seasoning, etc). I thought to myself "it can't be this complicated!" Well, it is... until you get the hang of it, including learning a little bit about combustion, a little bit about nature, and a little bit about your own comforts. It has taken me a full calendar year (1 1/4 burning seasons) to truly get a grip on it... but the hard work is paying off with cutting my annual heating bills by 75-80% and keeping my house above 70* all winter long! Man, was it worth it!

 

[bcnu]

[quote author="ThePhotoHound" date="1197498885"]When I found this forum (late 2006), I couldn;t believe all of the posts about seemingly simply things regarding operation (how much primary air, types of wood, length of seasoning, etc). I thought to myself "it can't be this complicated!" Well, it is... until you get the hang of it

You nailed it Photo. My thoughts and experience exactly. I'm learning something new each day with the soapstone. Best of all, we're staying warm without using a drop of heating oil so far.

 

[Mike Wilson]

I did a 20 hour "burn" yesterday. I let the stove cool down so I could clean out some ash, and found a bunch of good coals buried in there. So I cleaned out the ash, moved the coals forward to the doghouse, added some splits, and viola, instant fire.

Sweet.

-- Mike

 

[bcnu]

Oh Oh, another new one for me. "The doghouse". Thought that was where I was most of the time. Must be toward the front of the stove but why the doghouse.

 

[cmonSTART]

I actually had a really good burn last night. I stuffed the stove full about 9 PM and got the fire established, then shut it down to about 25%. When I woke up around 5 AM it was still 70 degrees in the living room, the stove was still very warm, and there was a good pile of coals in there still producing heat. I love when things work out!

 

[JimWalshin845]

ThePhotoHound Posted: 12 December 2007 06:47 AM 14 Hour Burn!

Congrats... post this again but change the header to "Not Afraid To Burn ALL Day All Night with New Stove"

So many posts coming up with new owners and we know they want to hear your story!

 

[Gibbonboy]

I put 4 splits into the stove yesterday before I left for work, just before 8 am. Got home after 4, got fooling around with the snowblower, then went ahead and cleared everything. Went in at ~7 pm, there was only a very small pile of coals waaaay in the back of the firebox (mine is 30", door to back wall). Shoveled them carefully to the front, got some small kindling and it started right back up. That was with 4 splits, maybe 6-7 inches on a side, 24" long. When I jam the firebox full (a LOT of wood), I get 14 hour plus burns with a lot of coals left at reload. 12 hours is a great goal if you can do it and burn clean, I know that unless it's way below zero, I don't need to be home for 16 hours or more. And my house lacks insulation, so a well-insulated house would probably then stay warm another 5 or 6 hours easy. Pushing 24 hours with wood, not bad.

4 or 5 splits is my normal "overnight" load, though. Don't like reloading on top of a lot of coals before leaving.

 

[thephotohound]

That's great... it's so nice to hear so many stories of efficient stoves and heating without oil! I think I was most amazed with my 14 hr burn because I only have a 2.2 cu ft firebox... barely 18 inches.

 

[Todd]

Good job Photohound. It's really nice how these stoves hold coals. I pack my stove the same way, biggest split or rounds towards the back, then fill in the rest. I think I've had hot coals for over 20 hours and the stone still feels warm. My furnace is yet to kick on and I have it set at 67. Outside temps have dipped to as far as -13 so far this year. I kind of wish my stove had an ash pan tho, I just dumped a shovel full of ash on the hearth!

 

[jpl1nh]

That's great... it's so nice to hear so many stories of efficient stoves and heating without oil! I think I was most amazed with my 14 hr burn because I only have a 2.2 cu ft firebox... barely 18 inches.

Actually, acording to my math the firebox is only about 1.5 cu ft. :wow: which makes a 14 hour burn even more impressive!

 

[thephotohound]

JPL -

I stand corrected! The Fireview is 2.2 cu ft. More impressive than I thought!!

 

[cstrail]

Great job PhotoHound I know my family really enjoys our Fireview stove for that reason. We burn it 24/7 and usually load 3 - 4 times a day, depending on if it is a weekend or weekday. During the week we load in morning, when coming home from work, and right before bed. My wife loves the stove, she usually is the one loading when she comes home from work.

Anyway, I get made fun of from the guys at work who burn wood, they don't believe it will go that long and keep the house warm. I asked one of them how many times they reload and his reply was "every time someone walks by." I sure am glad I don't have that problem. One of them even told me that I could probably throw a candle in my stove and heat for a week!... We all cut wood together and share the loads, needless to say, they always tease me and say that I only need about 9 pieces a day with my woodstock, so I don't get as much wood as them. I think they are just jealous.

Oh, and I always make sure I get my fair share of wood, they are all good guys and know that these stoves are awesome.

 

[bcnu]

My Homestead seems to do pretty well on the burn times but the Woodstocks sound impressive. Is it mainly the cat that allows such long burns? Did load it with some oak and ash one morning this week at 9am, got back at 6 pm and still had coals to rekindle. House temp had dropped from 71 to 66 but still felt pretty good and outside temps were high 30's. It did take awhile to get the house temps back into the low 70's. Probably need to get the rest of the oil furnace line reconnected for times like that.

 

[jpl1nh]

The cat allows you to burn the stove at a really low air level. The bottom line though is that out of any given poundage of wood you only get a certain amount of BTU's. While the low air cat burn extends the burn time, and the soapstone helps hold coals for a long time, the heat output is also relatively low through that time span. If it is -10F out and I try for a 12 hour "burn" we'd end up pretty cold by the end of that 12 hours with our little 1.5 cu ft firebox. In more moderate weather, its great. Very contollable burns.

 

[thephotohound]

I second that. If it's -10F out, I definitely won't allow a 12 hr burn (unless I have no other choice). In order to keep the house above 70, I'd need to reload (probably) every 6-8 hrs. However, weather like now (lows in teens, highs in low 30's), I load approximately every 8-10 hrs (unless it's windy)

JPL - can't sleep?? (3:30 AM post!)