Extremely Low Burn Times

[Grimlock13]

Reading all your posts I feel like I'm doing something incredibly wrong. I have a PE Neo 2.5 free standing stove. No matter what I do how , how much I fill the stove I'm lucky to get 2 hours of burn time out of it. Letting it get down to coals possibly 3-4 nowhere near the advertised rates. The wood burns easy and is seasoned.
What can I be doing wrong? The stove only has one lever adjustment which I chock down about 25% every 15 minutes. Feel like I'm loading this thing way too much and wasting too much wood. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Osagebndr]

Have you been keeping track of your temps as you shut it down.what kind of wood are you burning? Soft wood will burn hot and quick.

 

[Grimlock13]

Yes, I look at at temps and how the wood is burning. The max temp is about 450 but it only cruises there shortly. Sadly I'm not entirely sure what type of wood I'm burning.
I believe the east / west firebox is also contributing to my problem.

 

[PWash]

can you post pictures of the wood, bark? do you have a very tall chimney?
loading wood east-west should burn slower than north-south.

 

[prezes13]

East west would give you longer burns. You said wood is dry. How dry? Did you take a measure with a moisture meter? Are you able to close you primary air completely or close to it? Are you getting secondary burn?

 

[Ash]

Yes, I look at at temps and how the wood is burning. The max temp is about 450 but it only cruises there shortly. Sadly I'm not entirely sure what type of wood I'm burning.
I believe the east / west firebox is also contributing to my problem.

While north south loading may increase burn times a bit I doubt that is your problem. My east west loading Isle Royale's burn time is 12-14 hours for enough coals to reload and 6-8 hours of usable heat depending on outside temperatures. I do have a slightly larger firebox though.

 

[Fod01]

Thickness of splits as well as how tight/full you pack the stove also affect burn time.

If memory serves, you're on LI. I've barely had more than kindling fires in my insert due to mild temps. Are you running full loads already?

Do you notice that the fire changes when you move the air control? Perhaps that is not functioning properly.

 

[Squisher]

Seems odd it could devour wood like that without running hotter, or to hot even. I have a PE summit going for a handful of days now and have been really impressed with the burn times. Overnight about 9hrs I can easily have enough coals to throw small splits on in the morning to revive it. This is with well seasoned fir, no hardwoods.

 

[Grimlock13]

Wood is gray last time i checked it was about 18(says pic file is too large), should i be shutting off the air all the way? The air control works the flames change when i open and close it. Chimney is not that tall about 15 ft . So frustrated with these 2 hour burn times!!

 

[Grimlock13]

Actually just took some more moisture readings nothing over 15, perhaps I'm not stacking it tight enough?

 

[Babaganoosh]

Actually just took some more moisture readings nothing over 15, perhaps I'm not stacking it tight enough?

Are you resplitting the wood and then testing the freshly split face?

 

[Grimlock13]

Yes, would is good not the problem.

 

[begreen]

How thick are the splits that are being burned?

 

[Grimlock13]

How thick are the splits that are being burned?

The first fire mostly small, on a bed of coals i try and go large

 

[begreen]

That sounds good. Large being ?? thick across?

 

[electrathon]

Cottonwood would do that.

 

[lexybird]

How tall is your chimney and have you measured your draft or just assumed everything is fine

 

[cookin2night]

I would turn your stove down almost all the way and check your times again

 

[Squisher]

I would suspect the first part of the solution is identifying the wood. Moisture may not be the problem species might be. There will be a certain amount of btu's in good firewood and they're either going up the chimney or....?

 

[brad wilton]

Did you do a dollar bill test on your door you might have air getting in and quickening the burn

 

[Starstuff]

I'm curious what exactly you consider "burn time"? Do you mean like, the time there are actual flames? Or the amount of time the stove is putting out good heat even with coals. On my super, I probably only see flames for 3-4 hours even on a stuffed load, but the stove continues to pump out 350+ heat from the coals for another few hours. I think in general, the term "burn time" doesn't really have a clear definition. But I don't know, I may have missed the international convention on burn time standards...

 

[Seanm]

Also with the weather we are having right now in southern bc you will have less draft which increases burn times. You should be able to pack that puppy with wood and turn it down all the way and have coals 7 hours from now if not longer even on pine. (learn how to use the stove first before you do this of course). If my timing is off I can throw a few splits in to carry me for three hours until my next big load. I would try the suggestions above like the dollar bill test, tree species id. Heck start a thread in the wood shed, we love helping people figure out what species of trees they have. I might get one right for a change!! I havent burned cotton wood that I can recall so if you have that maybe thats what youre burning. Keep us informed!

 

[electrathon]

Cottonwood burns very fast, makes very little heat, leaves lots of ash.

 

[begreen]

With the weather mild I am burning through some cottonwood now just to get rid of it. It's a lightweight heating wood. Burn time is about half of what it would be with good hardwood and there's lots of ash after just a few fires.

 

[Squisher]

Cottonwood shouldn't be burned in a stove.........is what I've been taught.

I logged for a long time and then had my own residential arboriculture company for a decade. I've burnt more giant piles of cottonwood, Lombardi, Chinese elm, Manitoba maple and various other junk woods than you could shake a stick.........or a match at!