Seems like this may have been touched on a little here and there but wanted to get several ideas on the quickest way to get to around the 3" coal bed before cat engagement recommended/required by at least a few or more of stove manufacturers. Right of it seems to be use just Pine or maybe Poplar kindling followed by bigger pieces of the same. For me 've been using Oak scraps but it takes me near an hour to get this coal bed established. But I'm sure there are other methods out there better/quicker. Thanks.
Fastest way to a coal bed?
- Thread starter Kevin Weis
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How dry is your wood? If you have dry wood, you can start a top-down fire with no coal bed. I think a lot of the manual instructions just assume that the user will have wood that isn't dry, and they're gonna need a big coal bed to drive off moisture and get the wood burning. For me, if my meters are right and the wood is catching, I know I'm OK to close the bypass and get a cat light. No need to burn up the wood required to build a coal bed. Not sure what your stove is? You can put it in your signature if you want, then people know what you've got to work with.
If I do have coals, I may pull them forward and get a little fire going on them with kindling or a firestarter, then load. Or I may shove them back and bury them, and start a top-down in front.
If I do have coals, I may pull them forward and get a little fire going on them with kindling or a firestarter, then load. Or I may shove them back and bury them, and start a top-down in front.
I'm working with the new VC Intrepid. Manual insist 2-3" coal bed and before reloads to bank coals up in front fire back. With the VC stoves you need that coal bed to maintain enough heat for the cat to be happy. Their design IMO doesen't allow for enough draft sustain the cat otherwise or it's very difficult. You can run it in non cat mode though and it's not as particular.
Ah, OK, I think I've seen the coal bed mentioned in the VC thread. In that case, small Oak is a pretty good choice..it coals well. I don't think Pine and Tulip will yield as much coal, you'd want a wood that coals better but burns down faster than Oak..Cherry maybe?
EbS-P
Minister of Fire
Pine and poplar get to coals quickly especially when split small but my experience is that the coaling stage doesn’t last long. What’s the purpose of the coal bed- it’s generating heat and insulating the firebox so it just keeps the temps higher for a longer period extending your low heat output burn time and makes sure you keep the cat temp high enough. While it may be ideal I’m not sure that it would be critical for med to high heat outputs. Where firebox temps are high enough to keep the cat going.
My suggestion would be top down fire. Criss crossed for plenty of air flow keeping the bottom splits on a couple pieces of kindling. My slow starts usually related to bad air flow or not enough paper or both.
Just my thoughts. Evan.
My suggestion would be top down fire. Criss crossed for plenty of air flow keeping the bottom splits on a couple pieces of kindling. My slow starts usually related to bad air flow or not enough paper or both.
Just my thoughts. Evan.
The best hardwoods for coaling are oak, hickory, ash and maybe locust. Maybe beech- it's been too long since I burned any.
Cherry isn't too bad and red maple, meh. The fastest way to a coal bed would be burning high density high BTU hardwood at a full tilt boogie setting like you would when pushing a stove on high in extremely cold weather.
Eastern white pine, hemlock and the poplars: aspen, cottonwood, poplar (not tulip poplar because that's not a poplar) don't coal worth a damn. In fact this last group are good to burn on top of a deep coal bed in a normal stove to get rid of the coal bed because it isn't pumping out enough heat instead of throwing even more hardwood on top exacerbating the coal bed problem.
Cherry isn't too bad and red maple, meh. The fastest way to a coal bed would be burning high density high BTU hardwood at a full tilt boogie setting like you would when pushing a stove on high in extremely cold weather.
Eastern white pine, hemlock and the poplars: aspen, cottonwood, poplar (not tulip poplar because that's not a poplar) don't coal worth a damn. In fact this last group are good to burn on top of a deep coal bed in a normal stove to get rid of the coal bed because it isn't pumping out enough heat instead of throwing even more hardwood on top exacerbating the coal bed problem.
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