When the coaling stage is going on, am I better off just turning up the air and not breaking up the wood coals? or am I better off breaking them up? How long do all of ya keep the coal stage going before re-load?
Coaling stage advice please
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Different wood produces different types of coals. Some wood will produce little coaling and some will produce too much coaling. If you are getting all the heat you need out of a bed of coals, then I would say just leave them alone, but if your stove is full of coals and you are not getting the heat you want or need, then it might be a good idea to break them up a little, open the draft, and throw a couple small pieces of dry wood on top of the coals to burn then down a bit.
If your loaded up with coals and need more heat, you may be able to burn the down faster by cracking the door and opening the draft all the way.
What I do is pile them in a U with the open end facing the doghouse. Then I place a slab of bark (oak is great) over the top with an opening at the rear for a chimney effect. The bark doesn't really create any more coals but concentrates the heat in the coals. They usually turn white hot & the burning bark usually kicks off a little secondary action.
Al
Al
When coals start to buildup, I pull them to the front
and pile them up. Then place a 3or 4" pine split east and west.
Open the air at least half way, repeat as necessary.
Some times a piece of soft maple.
and pile them up. Then place a 3or 4" pine split east and west.
Open the air at least half way, repeat as necessary.
Some times a piece of soft maple.
During this time of year when the stove will have more coals, we open the draft full just before it is down to all coals. This will burn the coals down to a reasonable level while holding the stove temperature. Coals get down, then load it right away else you'll burn up all the coals. Never had this happen but I can see it happening to some. We just keep an eye on it and when the coals get down a bit, in goes the wood.
That's what I do in my Fireview too and it works for me. I think I do this because of a post from Dennis a few years ago.
Normally . . . I just leave things alone until the coals that remain are the size of plums or so . . . and then I stir up the coals allowing the ash to sift down into the ash pan . . . smooth out the coals and rake some forward in front of the incoming air, reload and away we go for another burn cycle.
However, when the temp is wicked cold as it is now I reload more frequently while the coals are maybe the size of baseballs . . . sometimes larger . . . and oftentimes what happens is I get a large build up of coals. Eventually the bed of coals is pretty thick so what I do to make some room is open up the air control, put in a single small to medium sized split (often softwood, poplar, soft maple, etc.) and in 15-30 minutes that split is burned up and the coal bed is burned down to a more manageable size.
However, when the temp is wicked cold as it is now I reload more frequently while the coals are maybe the size of baseballs . . . sometimes larger . . . and oftentimes what happens is I get a large build up of coals. Eventually the bed of coals is pretty thick so what I do to make some room is open up the air control, put in a single small to medium sized split (often softwood, poplar, soft maple, etc.) and in 15-30 minutes that split is burned up and the coal bed is burned down to a more manageable size.
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