I'm glad you said it, I didn't have the heart to,trying to be kindler and gentler around XMAS.
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You will not achieve that with the unit you have,I had the same one 2 years ago when it got bitter below zero with wind chills,minus 15* 5 hours was a stretch with primo wood,a week after that cold spell I chit canned the 5700 and went with a BBK. Good luck.ohlongarm and HotCoals,
Yep Blaze King stoves are the cats pajamas.
If I had known about them I would have seriously considered the King or Princess.
Thermostatic control was one feature that I really wanted. I asked for it at all 3 local shops in Rochester, Mn.
Not one had a stove with thermostatic control and no one mentioned Blaze King.
The ACC feature on Quadra Fire was the closest thing to air control I could find at the time.
Think of the fun I will have trying to squeeze out 8-10 hrs of burn time on a 0F night.
In the mean time I have devised a temporary solution. At around 4 AM I will go downstairs and throw 4 specially selected splits in, set the controls to a little hottler than normal, set the ACC timer and go back to bed. I am very confident that the stove will not overfire under these conditions. The stovepipe damper was instrumental in this.
MnDave
Maybe not. My house has a lot of windows but otherwise is well insulated.
I do walk around in two layers of long underwear and sweat clothes.
Part of this is that my wood supply is limited at the moment.
MnDave
As noted above Jotul advertises a 9 hour burn time. Whatever "burn" means.
If I carefully load the stove with nearly full length wood seasoned white oak I can find a really good bed of coals ready to start a new load as much as 11 hours later. On the on the other hand, to maintain a surface temperature above 300 deg. f. for more than five hours would be difficult, I think.
I suspect that most factory test runs are performed with dimensioned lumber to make the tests repeatable and to maximize the amount of fuel available.
If I carefully load the stove with nearly full length wood seasoned white oak I can find a really good bed of coals ready to start a new load as much as 11 hours later. On the on the other hand, to maintain a surface temperature above 300 deg. f. for more than five hours would be difficult, I think.
I suspect that most factory test runs are performed with dimensioned lumber to make the tests repeatable and to maximize the amount of fuel available.
Burn time is a marketing term. It can mean what the seller wants it to. For many this is the 'start to restart from remaining coals' time. But folks that are heating 24/7 with the stove are more interested in the period of meaningful heat time. Typically this is from when the stove is getting warm, to when it returns to that same temp. So a stove that has a 16 hr burn time could very likely have a 12 hr period of meaningful heat.
No problem guys. I can take it. After all, it is my fault for swallowing that Quadra Fire "15-21 hr max burn time" BS hook, line, and sinker.
I thought something smelled fishy with those numbers. Glad, I opted for the largest stove they carry. The room is on the small side and the stove looks just right to me but my wife thinks it looks honkingly big. I'll take a picture and see what you guys think.
It is really not too big a deal for me (light sleeper) to get up at 4 or so and reload it. I just thought that, based on the advertised numbers, I would not have to.
Quadra Fire... I hope you're listening!
Well off to load her up and hit the hay. At least I got to go out on my sled this week. Yahoo!
MnDave
I have a 2.1cu ft firebox on my stove and get the advertised 10hr burn times regularly with stovetop temperatures still above 200 and enough coals to relight after 12hrs usually. So I am actually getting better than advertised burn times
I am 15 hours into a burn stovetop 500,cat 500 plenty of heat still being put out.I just cranked it to #3 and am getting blue flames.
MnDave, I always felt that the wood load to heat output ratio was pathetic with my Quad 5700..... I had nothing but dry ash, dead elm, and white oak,, 22-24 inch long splits. My stove just loved wood... Maybe I should have installed a damper,,, but I doubted I needed one with a through the wall installation going into a 22ft insulated liner. Plus I found myself always fine tuning the stove as it burned. Right now the stove sits in my barn covered up... eventually going to my garage once insulated.. In there I will go straight up and install a damper to see how she burns in that configuration. In the house I would say I got about 6 honest hours of useful heat.
Both of my stoves exceed manufactures burn time claims. Pretty happy with the overall performances as well.
I have the 5700 and get 6-8 hours with about a 75-80% load of good dry and seasoned cherry. MnDave, how is the damper working out? I do not have one. I did not buy the stove expecting to get 20-21 hours of burn time. I agree with some of the comments about loading the box. E/W N/S. I am still experimenting. The Cat Boys are always going to beat the non-cats on burn times. The thing is, they don't have the nice flame to look at thru the charred, black window that they have to scrape off with a chisel. I have never had to clean my window. Have you read the Blaze King thread? About 50% of the posts are about cats not functioning properly and where they can purchase a replacement for $250 to $500. Hang in there, I think with good wood the 5700 is as good as any non-cat.
My f-50 loaded e/w with good dry hard wood will go 11 to 12 hours easy but with soft woods I can expect about 5-7 hours max. We stuff the box up completely n/s a lot and that reduces our burn time quite a bit too but burns much hotter. After 12 hours e/w we usually have around 200 stove top with a big coal bed left. Some how we managed a 16 hour burn once but the angels don't see fit to let me do it again lol.
Pete
The space your trying to heat can contribute greatly to the burn time given all other factors in perfect alignment.
I guess 4-6" splits. Mostly Doug Fir cut split and stacked in early spring - so about 9 months dry. I know that's far short of the 2-3 yrs that many people on this site advocate. But it burns great, and no sizzling out the end which is what I got with the "seasoned" wood I bought my first year. A lot of the wood I get has been down for a year or more, so that probably helps the seasoning. This spring I am planning a big push to bring in 4-6 cords and get ahead a year or two so I can see if I get even better burns with 2 yr old wood.
Here's a post on the topic from a while back . . .
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...-night-burn-hampton-hi-300.72960/#post-930092
I don't have any secret tricks . . . Just followed the standard advice on this forum.
1. Use dry wood.
2. Use large splits.
3. Shut the air way down. Looks like I can get away with shutting it almost completely off with my new dry wood.
4. Rake the coals forward and set the splits E-W with the largest in the rear of the firebox.
I live in the Pacific NW where the climate is pretty mild, so I don't need massive heat production. I mostly am an overnight burner. I get home from work and if the temp. Is supposed to go below ~45F, I'll light a fire for overnight. If it's going to be warmer than 45, I am content to let the heat pump run.
I might add that when I reload for an overnight burn I stuff the firebox as full as I can get it. I load right up to the secondary burn tubes. Really cram it in. Even though E-W is definitely better for burn times, I mostly load N-S for three reasons. Burn times are long enough; reloading is more convenient; no worries about logs rolling forward into the glass.
like generators the stove companys could do a standard burn time rate that could be uniform. what they could do is like generators have a run time advertised with them like 8 hrs on a half load or 6 hrs on half load. the stove companys could do the amount of time run at say 500 degrees and that could be a good start point to give the user a idea of how long it can burn, that could eliminate the people that run at 400 or the people that run 700. and also at that temp they could do a btu rate that could be the proper size stove for the house. my stove will keep my house warm at 300 stove top temp, and if i load it with 24 inch red oak or locust splits ( and that could be about 9) and smolder it, it will burn at that temp for 20 hrs. but i will need a drill to drill out my chimney from the creosote buildup
frank
frank
Amen ,Todd one can definitely get a 40 burn with a BBK,but let's face it your stove is 200*with enough tiny coals in an ash bed to restart. Burn times with heat output on a BBK my experience is easily 12 to 20 hrs. again good enough for me.
Some CatBoys have a beautiful clear large window and incredible flames to look at whenever they choose over a burn time that exceeds 12 hours easily....and BK CatBoys seem to also have this when they settle for 8 to 12 hour burn times....they just like there low heat producing extended burn times more than they like a view of the fire....Cats rock. Save wood and are easy to run, heat well and for long cycles. Some are beautiful and exceedingly well built as well...lifetime stoves.
Exactly! When I'm on a 12 hour burn schedule with my BK it throws a ton of heat and the glass stays just as clean as any non cat. Turn it down to a longer burn and yes the glass stays dirty but having the flexibility is what counts for me.
No way I'm going to get cat burns out of my non cat. But I have many times seen a 500 degree stove top at the 8hr mark if I load with really good hardwood and get it packed tight.
Twelve hour burn times is about the norm for me,during that burn time my house temp will hardly ever fluctuate more than a degree up or down,in the evening when we're up a setting of 2.5 provides as much fire viewing as any other stove brand.Also a ton of heat oftentimes we crack the door a foot or two even when it's in the teens,and stay plenty warm.Once again to all burners, I cannot emphasize the importance of dry wood it MATTERS,in that department I'm a stickler,sometimes I feel guilty burning 3 year old wood,considering I've got 8 year old in the last half of the woodshed that I hope to burn someday.
Mitch,
The stovepipe damper worked out great. I now have exactly the control I wanted. Even with the damper vertical, the stove is way less apt to runaway.
I still occassionally forget to open the damper before I open the door. The smoke alarm reminds me in about 5 seconds. There is no visible smoke but I have the ionization type detectors vs the photocell type.
MnDave
Last night it got into the single digits here (at least they were positive). At midnight, I loaded with my scraggly mix of hard and soft. I gazed at the fire for at least an hour while I enjoyed a cold beer. The secondary burn was steady and just enough to keep the stovepipe temp at 300F. The stovetop measured around 375F with the IR handheld. The fan was going full. The house was 68 when I went to bed. I got up at 8 and it was 66 in the house and there were plenty of coals, more than usual such that I had to wear gloves to stoke and reload. The stove was still giving off usable heat. So that was a 7-8 hour burn.
The only adjustment I made was to the burn rate control. Instead of setting it at the top of the 3rd bar, I set it at the bottom of the 3rd bar. Any lower and the secondary burn appeared flakey.
Since my splits are only 16-18 inches long there is a 6-8 inch gap in the front of the 24 inch deep box. Tonight I am going to stack a couple 4-6 inch splits E/W at the back of the box before load N/S.
This is far from primo wood. 1 or 2 of 5 pieces are oak and the rest is soft. Maybe an occassional piece of elm.
MnDave
The only adjustment I made was to the burn rate control. Instead of setting it at the top of the 3rd bar, I set it at the bottom of the 3rd bar. Any lower and the secondary burn appeared flakey.
Since my splits are only 16-18 inches long there is a 6-8 inch gap in the front of the 24 inch deep box. Tonight I am going to stack a couple 4-6 inch splits E/W at the back of the box before load N/S.
This is far from primo wood. 1 or 2 of 5 pieces are oak and the rest is soft. Maybe an occassional piece of elm.
MnDave
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