Burn time

[aircooledRN]

When you consider burn times what is left in the stove at the end of your burn time? Trying to determine how long I can go between refilling with wood and am unsure if I am waiting too long or not long enough.

Do you base this off of temp of the stove or what’s left of the fuel(wood) in the stove?

 

[begreen]

There is no set rule. Aggressive marketing would like it to be until the last spark of an ember is left. More honest marketing is when there are still enough hot coals for an easy relight. If one is relying on the stove for heat then it's better to go by stovetop temperature. That could be 200º or 300º depending on how much heat is needed to sustain a comfortable temp in the room.

 

[stoveliker]

I'd say the most useful measures are "(barely) enough coals to relight", or, if it's a cat stove, "when the cat falls out of the active zone". For me both of these are similar to the heat output measure mentioned above.

Anything else is marketing. May be true, but not very useful.

 

[begreen]

This discussion happens a few times a year. A ways back the conclusion was the most useful stat would be the period of meaningful heat. For most it was the round trip from a 250 or 300º stove back to that temperature when the wood was burned out. In these cases there were always coals for a relight.

 

[stoveliker]

This discussion happens a few times a year. A ways back the conclusion was the most useful stat would be the period of meaningful heat. For most it was the round trip from a 250 or 300º stove back to that temperature when the wood was burned out. In these cases there were always coals for a relight.

That is what I meant; the heat (250-300) correlates pretty well with reloading - for me. A stove with a high thermal mass may differ in this.

 

[ratsrepus]

This discussion happens a few times a year. A ways back the conclusion was the most useful stat would be the period of meaningful heat. For most it was the round trip from a 250 or 300º stove back to that temperature when the wood was burned out. In these cases there were always coals for a relight.

I call it usable heat, as long as my cat is active Im good. when I cant stay in the active range, its time to load up

 

[MMH]

Lol as stated this really is mostly arbitrary; for me, It’s when my cat is just about to fall in the inactive zone, with coals left to re light the new load this is usually a STT of 2-300 maybe.

 

[Highbeam]

When you consider burn times what is left in the stove at the end of your burn time? Trying to determine how long I can go between refilling with wood and am unsure if I am waiting too long or not long enough.

Do you base this off of temp of the stove or what’s left of the fuel(wood) in the stove?

It sounds like your question is a little different than “how to define burn time.” You say you are just worried about reloading at the wrong time. There is no wrong time, reload whenever you want. If you wait too long you will need kindling and maybe a match.

 

[MMH]

It sounds like your question is a little different than “how to define burn time.” You say you are just worried about reloading at the wrong time. There is no wrong time, reload whenever you want. If you wait too long you will need kindling and maybe a match.

I would disagree, albeit maybe common sense to some; if the stoves still rippin/high temps etc I’d say this precisely not the time for a reload

 

[aircooledRN]

These photos are about 9hours after loading the stove. First photo was how I found it vs after I moved the coals around and found a coal bed. It took a little to restart but I didn’t have to use much kindling to restart.

 

[MMH]

These photos are about 9hours after loading the stove. First photo was how I found it vs after I moved the coals around and found a coal bed. It took a little to restart but I didn’t have to use much kindling to restart.

View attachment 288321View attachment 288322

What kind of stove do you have? Also, what type and moisture content is your wood? I wouldn’t imagine you should need kindling to get another load going with those coals.

 

[Highbeam]

I would disagree, albeit maybe common sense to some; if the stoves still rippin/high temps etc I’d say this precisely not the time for a reload

Toughen up guy, if there’s room in there and you want to fill it, no problemo.

 

[Highbeam]

Looks kinda like a wood furnace?

 

[aircooledRN]

moisture runs about 12-15% in the wood being burnt

stove is a DS Energy max 160

 

[aircooledRN]

similar looking stove this morning after about 8.5 hour burn. Stacked with wood and had good relight and start in about 10 min with everything wide open.

 

[bholler]

Toughen up guy, if there’s room in there and you want to fill it, no problemo.

That depends on the stove and the setup. Some will uncontrollably overfire if you load to soon. Granted that is a problem with the install but you can't make blanket statements like that

 

[peakbagger]

My wood boiler goes from a full load to dead out in about 40 minutes. Three loads and I am done for the next 24 hours.

 

[Highbeam]

That depends on the stove and the setup. Some will uncontrollably overfire if you load to soon. Granted that is a problem with the install but you can't make blanket statements like that

Okay so “if properly installed” it’s fine. Sheesh.

Other unnecessary disclaimers might include to only use firewood and not dynamite. Only load firewood if the glass is not broken. I could think of a thousand ridiculous CYA statements.

 

[bholler]

Okay so “if properly installed” it’s fine. Sheesh.

Other unnecessary disclaimers might include to only use firewood and not dynamite. Only load firewood if the glass is not broken. I could think of a thousand ridiculous CYA statements.

A very large percentage of installs have excessive draft which can cause a runaway with a hot reload. So I really feel saying you can reload any time is a bit irresponsible.

 

[begreen]

Toughen up guy, if there’s room in there and you want to fill it, no problemo.

Definitely not a good idea with an already hot fire. The fresh wood charge will outgas rapidly. This is when we start getting posts about a runaway stove and overfiring. This can happen with a properly installed stove. It is particularly bad advice for a new user like the OP.

 

[Highbeam]

I thought runaway stoves were a myth? Does the operator’s manual for your stove prohibit loading while the stove is hot? Or is this runaway another issue that only occurs if your stove is improperly installed?

Regardless, it was hypothetical anyway and if it makes you feel safer you can burn each load down to coals before reloading.

 

[begreen]

Hypothetical, myth? I thought this was a pretty good definition:

It's a runaway because that larger secondary fire bakes the wood more which releases more wood gas faster which makes a bigger secondary fire, and on and on to a runaway. This is because in most stoves, the secondary air is at full throttle so this fire feeds itself.

Controlling the non-cat stove

The wife running the stove when I am gone was a huge part of the decision when we purchased the Oslo. She doesnt have much interest in wood burning and that doesnt bother me at all. She has enough to worry about with the kids, dog, laundry, house, cooking, etc. I wanted her to be able to throw...

www.hearth.com

This guy is really fussy about having his install perfect

I've had this happen in a Lopi and my hearthstone,

Light mods to a NC-30

Okay, first, define my perceived problem.----Don't like the term of anything "going nuclear" in my shop, it makes me fearful and I don't like being fearful. Fixing the problem----Being able to control all air sources. On my 30, using a inspection mirror, it would appear the primary air...

www.hearth.com

I experienced about as much of a runaway BK as I believe is possible.

North Idaho Energy Logs in BlazeKing

Every so often I need to burn my stove with as little smoke as possible. I usually burn softwoods (doug fir, and red alder) in my princess during our long burn season which is about 9 months. The stove and cat are just starting their third season. On this hearth I previously had a noncat...

www.hearth.com

 

[MMH]

Hypothetical, myth? I thought this was a pretty good definition:

Controlling the non-cat stove

The wife running the stove when I am gone was a huge part of the decision when we purchased the Oslo. She doesnt have much interest in wood burning and that doesnt bother me at all. She has enough to worry about with the kids, dog, laundry, house, cooking, etc. I wanted her to be able to throw...

www.hearth.com

Light mods to a NC-30

Okay, first, define my perceived problem.----Don't like the term of anything "going nuclear" in my shop, it makes me fearful and I don't like being fearful. Fixing the problem----Being able to control all air sources. On my 30, using a inspection mirror, it would appear the primary air...

www.hearth.com

North Idaho Energy Logs in BlazeKing

Every so often I need to burn my stove with as little smoke as possible. I usually burn softwoods (doug fir, and red alder) in my princess during our long burn season which is about 9 months. The stove and cat are just starting their third season. On this hearth I previously had a noncat...

www.hearth.com

Interesting…I thought they were being facetious..perhaps not..

 

[Highbeam]

But did it ever hurt anything? As we get older and look back I never melted a stove to the point of danger. Never started a house on fire. These stoves will run away but will they ever get anything more than just hot?

Again, does your operator’s manual say you must wait to add more fuel until the previous fuel is consumed?

Remember we’re talking about adding fuel when a stove is already hot. No big deal. Not somebody with a bad install trying to abuse his stove.

These stoves are UL listed for safety. I expect that one of the tests is wide open throttle.

 

[Highbeam]

Hypothetical, myth? I thought this was a pretty good definition:

Controlling the non-cat stove

The wife running the stove when I am gone was a huge part of the decision when we purchased the Oslo. She doesnt have much interest in wood burning and that doesnt bother me at all. She has enough to worry about with the kids, dog, laundry, house, cooking, etc. I wanted her to be able to throw...

www.hearth.com

This guy is really fussy about having his install perfect

Light mods to a NC-30

Okay, first, define my perceived problem.----Don't like the term of anything "going nuclear" in my shop, it makes me fearful and I don't like being fearful. Fixing the problem----Being able to control all air sources. On my 30, using a inspection mirror, it would appear the primary air...

www.hearth.com

North Idaho Energy Logs in BlazeKing

Every so often I need to burn my stove with as little smoke as possible. I usually burn softwoods (doug fir, and red alder) in my princess during our long burn season which is about 9 months. The stove and cat are just starting their third season. On this hearth I previously had a noncat...

www.hearth.com

I read each of the linked posts and nothing there would say or even suggest it’s unsafe to load a hot stove. What are you trying to say Begreen? We know adding fuel to a hot stove will keep the stove hot and maybe make it hotter unless you have good control.

Emissions controls in modern stoves take away a lot of control to make sure that the smoke is burned before becoming ugly chimney emissions. This means that you can’t always slow every stove down when you fully load it.

Maybe you misunderstood something I wrote?

Perhaps you don’t agree with me or realize that I believe you can have a runaway stove that doesn’t become an unsafe stove.

There’s a funny movie quote that I try and keep in mind these days…,”but did you die?”