Castine question

[f700]

Quick question for the Castine owners. I am on my second year with the stove and it ran perfect last year. This year with well seasoned wood I am ending up with alot more coals then I did last lear? I recall only having fine ash, this year I get coals... The only difference is my splits are larger, but they are very well seasoned and are dry. Am I missing something? I have tried keeping my primary in different spots to no help. Also, I have noticed that last year, I could get the stove to hit 600 very easily, this year, not so easy it seems. The only change I can attribute this to is my split size. Thoughts

 

[dvellone]

This is my first year with my castine but the size of my splits doesn't affect how the wood burns down. My firewood is well seasoned - for me that's hard maple, yellow birch and some cherry split and stacked for at least 18 months.
What species of wood are you burning? If the splits are large and you're burning something real dense it may not be as well seasoned as you think.
Have you cleaned your chimney and checked your cap?

 

[begreen]

Is the wood the same species of tree? Various types of woods coal differently depending on the tree. To be sure the wood is really well seasoned, split a big chunk in half and press the freshly exposed wood to your cheek. If it's cool and damp, the wood is not quite fully seasoned.