Been enjoying & learning from the threads

[Caw]

I thought I'd share my process for tonight in case it helps. I only put in a medium sized load last night since it was very warm and this morning I had coals at like 200 STT. I threw in some kindling splits to reheat everything then made a hearty morning fire 45 min later at like 8 am. When it was time to reload around 1 pm it was like 74 in the house so I decided to let it go out to clean out some ash and clean the glass.

Fast forward to 6:30 pm and its like 68 in here now. I had to decide whether to wait it out to 10:30 and start the overnight fire cold or make an in-between small fire to heat up the box. I almost always prefer a hot box heading into an overnight burn to speed up the ignition process and prolong the burn time. Less energy heating all that mass means more heat for me.

I loaded up a half ish load of bone dry maple and some kindling. After about 20 minutes we were here:



Bonus dog picture! Anyways like I've been saying, it takes off fast. Thatd why I was so shocked when you said it took you 1.5 hours to get to temp.

5-10 mins later:



After this pic I started shutting it down. As im posting here in real time I'm down to about 1/3 air with secondaries going strong. Ill probably take it down a little more then let it cruise as I only need a few hrs out of it and its a smaller load. That took what, 30-40 mins or so from striking the match to set it/forget it mode.

Sometime between 10-11 I'll have a very nice coal bed and a 300 STT ish stove ready to fire the overnight load. I still think it comes down to how good the wood/draft are. If those are top notch then it's just technique and time management really.

Hopefully all this helps. I'm happy to share more of the process if you'd like. Dont be afraid to let her rip! That's what it wants to do. Best of luck!

 

[NickW]

Thanks! Do you know what your air circulation pattern is and where the air supply comes in? In the NC30 there are 4 holes supplying 3 air locations creating a bottom toward the back, top toward the front pattern. Only 1 inlet is controllable. It seems like the E-W really messes the air flow up.

Small daytime loads are usually easy. Good coal bed, 250 stt, load it up and 10 minutes later over 400 and shutting it down. N-S full load on a hot bed is generally 45 minutes to walking away as long as it doesn't take off too bad. When it takes off I shut down the air completely, temp rises some more but it chokes out and the temp comes down, then I open it back up and go through the shut down process again after it fires back up. It's those full overnight loads I'm playing with.

 

[BrianVA]

Yeah, I'm slowly learning and getting better; but still trying new things.

My theory on the N-S bottom then E-W on top is that the air from the doghouse will flow through the N-S splits giving the air flow needed but not flow through the E-W slowing the burn down...

During the day I load 3 medium sized splits N-S in the middle on a good bed of coals spread over the whole bottom, let it take off and then 2-3 ash shovels full of dry bark & wood chips on each side (not sawdust). Splits give the flame, chips give the smoke, lots of secondaries from little wood and it'll last several hours.

Good idea on the chips and bark. I might give that a try tonight.

 

[Caw]

I run an Osburn 1600 insert. The air is pretty straight forward. The primary is from a single inlet that comes out of the bottom/front and blows air straight towards the back. The firebrick starts behind the air. The only other air is from the airwash and secondary tubes.

I will load right on top of the air inlet groove and pretty close to the glass in an effort to get as much wood as possible in the stove. The only thing I need to be careful of is making sure the logs start above that air inlet and don't block it off. If coals get down there eventually its fine, the air will work thru those. It just can't be obstructed to start. I often put 2 skinny kindling shims on the ash/under the logs when im starting cold to ensure air can flow under the wood. Once those catch itll all sink down onto the ash naturally.

 

[NickW]

Great coals and some charcoal this morning 9 hours later, glass was slightly smoked, 74 degrees stove room, 68 degrees upstairs. See photo after stirring it up and opening the air.

I read through some old NC30 threads before last nights fire and re-read this thread. Decided to go back to N-S and tweak my "process". Tried to do N-S bottom and E-W top, but I think BrianVA was right about the likelihood of it taking off. I couldn't get the E-W to sit flat on the N-S, so I changed it to all N- S.

In the interest of others as they learn too...

What am I changing?

I had read last year in a post to close the door at the first sign of secondaries. My process was door fully open until it was going enough that taking it down to open 1" wouldn't blow it out, then down to 1/4" open until secondaries, then close it and shut down the air incrementally once I hit stt of about 400. Sometimes it was good, sometimes it would take off and go over 700. Loaded big bottom, then medium, then tetris - typically 8-10 pieces. Tried both coals to the front and spread out. Didn't always have great coals, but this year I've been making a small fire first to get the temp up and have more coals if I let it die down too much.

Last night I had great coals all raked to the front, loaded similar, no tunnel but also making sure a crack between splits was right in front of the doghouse. Let it get going more with the door fully opened so the primary flames were on everything and roaring pretty good, stt still only about 300stt. Shut to 1" then 1/4" open about 2 minutes each. 5 minutes later stt 400 and start shutting down the air. Ended up at only 1/8 open to cruise, but I did get a little smoked. Top stt I saw was about 630, but it may have gone higher after I went to bed.

Tonight I'll do it the same but start earlier and leave it 1/4 open and watch the stt longer before going to bed. Maybe I'll get down to 1/8 open for a while to control it and open it back up to 1/4 open later to keep it breathing and not smoke the glass. I will document tonight better and post it if successful.

 

[Caw]

A little gray ash on the door is fairly normal after a long overnight burn remember. Its only worrisome when its dark/sunstantial. Sounds like you had a great burn.

Only thing I would say is that the STT thermometer often lags way behind on reloads so to me it sounds like you have the door open for a very long time. I can gave STT read 250 and have secondaries because the top of the box/gasses are at 500. Ive verified this with my IR gun shooting the pipe 1 inch above the stove (I have an insert so there's no flue thermometer) and early on a reload its consistently 150-300 degrees higher. It balances out eventually as the box warms up.

The reason I'm mentioning the door open time is it just chews thru wood possibly unnecessarily. That may not he the case for your stove and it's certainly not "wrong" but I think in general the sooner you can get it closed the better wood efficiency wise.

Im just a peasant EW loader in my 1.85 cu ft box haha. Not designed for N/S and id have to cut like 12 inch logs. Not much room for change, ive mostly made just subtle changes over time to improve everything.

 

[BrianVA]

Great coals and some charcoal this morning 9 hours later, glass was slightly smoked, 74 degrees stove room, 68 degrees upstairs. See photo after stirring it up and opening the air.

I read through some old NC30 threads before last nights fire and re-read this thread. Decided to go back to N-S and tweak my "process". Tried to do N-S bottom and E-W top, but I think BrianVA was right about the likelihood of it taking off. I couldn't get the E-W to sit flat on the N-S, so I changed it to all N- S.

In the interest of others as they learn too...

What am I changing?

I had read last year in a post to close the door at the first sign of secondaries. My process was door fully open until it was going enough that taking it down to open 1" wouldn't blow it out, then down to 1/4" open until secondaries, then close it and shut down the air incrementally once I hit stt of about 400. Sometimes it was good, sometimes it would take off and go over 700. Loaded big bottom, then medium, then tetris - typically 8-10 pieces. Tried both coals to the front and spread out. Didn't always have great coals, but this year I've been making a small fire first to get the temp up and have more coals if I let it die down too much.

Last night I had great coals all raked to the front, loaded similar, no tunnel but also making sure a crack between splits was right in front of the doghouse. Let it get going more with the door fully opened so the primary flames were on everything and roaring pretty good, stt still only about 300stt. Shut to 1" then 1/4" open about 2 minutes each. 5 minutes later stt 400 and start shutting down the air. Ended up at only 1/8 open to cruise, but I did get a little smoked. Top stt I saw was about 630, but it may have gone higher after I went to bed.

Tonight I'll do it the same but start earlier and leave it 1/4 open and watch the stt longer before going to bed. Maybe I'll get down to 1/8 open for a while to control it and open it back up to 1/4 open later to keep it breathing and not smoke the glass. I will document tonight better and post it if successful.

Sounds like you're on the right track! Thanks for sharing the results. Keep us posted. I think you're almost there as far as getting the performance you're looking for. I know it has taken me quite a bit of trial and error to figure out my insert. I'm more or less there, but continuing to tweak.

I'm definitely going to start throwing a few pieces of bark in on most loads. In fact, I just did a few minutes ago.

 

[NickW]

Got home to around 150 stt a little while ago. Raked coals forward to fire them up, got up to about 190 only. Spread them out, threw on 3 splits, got them going, threw in 2 scoops each side, 10-15 minutes later secondaries, air down to 1/4 open & 350-400 stt. Small tunnel helps on these.

 

[NickW]

Caw, it was the brown/tan residue. Not real heavy, and burned of with the morning fire.

I've been considering getting a flue probe, but haven't yet. I take my cue's from how the fire is acting as much as stt. It takes a bit to get 8-14 pieces of wood charred enough to sustain the burn, but letting it go too far results in the bowels of hell. I do recall reading once that internal temperature is usually about double stt, but can obviously vary.

That NC30 thread most guys for hot burns did N-S, long burns E-W. E-W worked pretty good on a half load the other day keeping it off the back.

 

[NickW]

This'll be a fairly long one with lots of pics...

Last nights & this mornings fire documentation... Pardon the photos, my phone camera sucks. The super bright glow in the center and strong appearing primary flames are not nearly as strong as they look as I start choking it down. I hope the photos go in correctly with the steps...

26 degrees F outside, light breeze (enough to jingle the big wind chime occasionally). Stove room is 21×28 finished rec room in lower level.

8:27 - 230stt, 74 degrees in stove room, rake forward to fire up

8:44 - 240, 72 degrees, spread fired up coals across front

8:49 - loaded - 5 large, 3 med, 4 small


8:55 - firing up, close door to 1" open, 220stt


8:58 - door fully closed, 240stt


9:00 - strong primary, weak secondary, 260stt


9:03 - secondaries stronger, shut air to 1/2 open, 380stt


9:05 - blower on, shut air to 1/4 open, 460stt, 74 degrees


9:07 - primary's slowing, strong secondaries, shut air to 1/8 open, 500stt


9:10 - 510stt

9:14 - 500stt

9:22 - 510stt, 76 degrees


9:26 - 550stt, 78 degrees

9:39 - 600stt, 80 degrees, water in stovetop steam pot boiling


9:50 - 590stt, 82 degrees

5:12am - 200stt, 74 degrees, turn blower off, open air to 1/4 open. Glass slightly smoked and big pile of coals


Rake coals into pile in middle of stove

5:24 - 270stt, blower back on (low setting)


6:16 - 250stt, 78 degrees


7:00 - 210stt, 76 degrees, blower off, rake forward to fire up

7:15 - 230stt, 74 degrees, spread coals out over bottom of stove, load 3 med splits, get firing, add wood chips on both sides on hot coals - do not smother! Leave coals visible at edges


7:17 - firing, close door


7:21 - 350stt, blower on, close air to 1/2 open


7:23 - 400stt, close air to 1/4 open


7:26 - 450stt

7:30 - 470stt and cruising, 76 degrees

Every stove/fireplace and flue is different, but here are some of my observations.

Burn well seasoned wood! If you don't have it you can burn unseasoned wood but it is hard to keep going until the moisture is boiled out. Burn poorly seasoned wood HOT to reduce creosote buildup which will reduce burn times by burning it faster. Ash is probably the best hardwood to burn less than perfectly seasoned, oaks the worst.

I can close down on a small fire much more quickly than a big overnight fire. Big overnight fires I have to leave the doors open longer and get every piece of wood burning to prevent overfire later in the burn. I can get the temps with just the center burning, but later when the sides take off while the center is still going strong it's hard to control. If I get more scorched early and control it with the air, I can "usually" keep it from taking off later.

A full wood rack (1/4 cord) lasts me 7-10 or more days. Old smoke dragon was 5-7 max.

I'm typically around during the day, so I prefer 3 smaller fires throughout the day for more consistent heat and a large one overnight. N-S works best for full loads. E-W during the daytime smaller loads will extend burn times but don't get enough air to keep burning overnight in my setup.

Being able to burn softwood in shoulder season is awesome

 

[BrianVA]

Looking good. Seems like you're getting the most out of your new setup at this point.